JP4576447B2 - Recording method, recording apparatus, reproducing method, reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a multimedia data recording / reproducing method and apparatus for recording at least a moving image by being recorded on a recording medium and read from and reproduced from the recording medium. When playing back these video files from a recording medium on which a compressed video file is recorded while reading them continuously, selective branching to a plurality of predetermined stories is performed by a branch instruction at the playback point of a video Realize playback, and as before,
The present invention relates to a multimedia data recording / reproducing method and apparatus capable of smoothly reproducing and displaying individual moving picture files independently.

CD (compact disc) developed as a recording medium for digital audio has a large storage capacity and is used as an external storage medium such as a personal computer. These are called CD-ROMs. Since the CD-ROM has a large capacity, image data such as moving images and still images, audio data such as music and sound effects, and reproduction control data describing a procedure for reproducing the image data and audio data, etc. In recent years, the use of so-called multimedia software as a recording medium has been attracting particular attention, in which image data and audio data are recorded in accordance with the playback control data and user instructions.

Also in the field of home game machines, CD-ROMs have begun to be used as game software (hereinafter referred to as game software) becomes more complex and larger. In game software, the effect of an image is great in order to make the user more realistic. In general, the visual effect is stronger for moving images than for still images. For these reasons, the importance of moving images in game software is increasing.

However, since the CD-ROM was originally developed for audio, the transfer speed is insufficient for applications that require a huge amount of data such as moving images to be transferred at once.

To solve this problem, prepare a compressed image that reduces the absolute amount of data by compressing the video data, record it on a recording medium, and restore the compressed image when playing back the image. Therefore, technology for displaying moving images has been developed. By using this technique, it has become possible to reproduce a moving image even when a recording medium having a relatively low data transfer rate such as a CD-ROM is used. Further, a technology that develops the above-described technology, records compressed image data and compressed audio data on a CD-ROM, and reproduces the audio without interrupting the image as the image data is reproduced. It is disclosed in Document 1.

With the development of such technology, game software has also diversified. One example of diversification is the appearance of game software with a story, commonly called a role-playing game. In this role playing game, a number of story developments are prepared in advance. The development of a story is often determined by some condition accumulated by the user's selection and the progress of the game. Actually, several branch points are provided in the story, and the story branches according to the condition at the branch point. Play back images prepared for different stories. Depending on the storyline,
The image once displayed may be used again.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the concept of such linked display of moving images. For example, it is assumed that image branching is set as shown in FIG. Here, A, B, C,..., F are names of moving image files to be displayed. That is, in this example, after the moving image file A is displayed, it means that any of the moving image files B, C, and D is displayed. FIG. 8 (2
) Shows an example of story development when there is a linked display setting as in (1).
In the moving image file A, a scene in which the main character running on the road encounters a cliff is displayed, and the user takes some workaround for the main character on the screen. In the case of this example, when three branch conditions are set and the main character jumps (that is, when the user operates the jump so that the main character jumps: the same applies hereinafter), when the moving image file B is not performed The story branches so that the moving image file C is displayed, and the moving image file D is displayed when a dash is made.

Conventionally, such branching reproduction of moving images is performed as follows. FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a conventional moving image concatenated reproduction method. Here, it is assumed that the moving image files necessary for reproduction are collected into one file in units of several seconds to several tens of seconds in display time and recorded in advance on a CD-ROM. It is assumed that all devices necessary for moving image playback are available. FIG.
When there is a connection setting as in (1), the moving image A is first read from the CD-ROM and displayed. In the recording area of the moving image A on the CD-ROM, information indicating the recording position of the moving image files B, C, and D which are branch destination candidates is recorded together with the moving image A data. FIG. 9 (2) shows the control contents executed by the moving image playback apparatus. That is, a branch condition for determining an image to be reproduced next is generated by a user operation during a period (several seconds to several tens of seconds) in which the moving image A is displayed. When the next image to be displayed is determined according to the branch condition, the branch destination moving image data is sought and read according to the recording position information of the branch destination candidate previously read together with the moving image A data. Ideally, as in the example in which the moving image display in FIG. 9 (3) continues, it is desirable that the determination of the branch destination and the reading of the branch destination moving image data are performed within the display period of the moving image A (such as this The operation of reading the next image within the display period of a certain image is hereinafter referred to as a preload operation). If the preload operation does not end within the display period of the moving image A, the display of the image is stopped until the preload operation is completed and the display of the branch destination moving image is started, or the last frame of the moving image A is displayed. (Refer to the example where the moving image display in FIG. 9B is interrupted). That is, in the above example, one of the following conditions must be satisfied as a condition for continuously displaying moving images. That is,
(A) The display period of the moving image A is sufficiently long. (B) The branch destination is determined within the display period of the moving image A and at a sufficiently early stage. It can be seen that it is a necessary condition for continuous playback of moving images to be performed within the period. Note that there is an example disclosed in Patent Document 2 as a technique for realizing the moving image branching display control as described above.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-28652 JP-A-4-332969

In the moving image branch reproduction according to the conventional example, a moving image may be interrupted depending on conditions, and smooth branch reproduction cannot be performed. In addition, even when videos are continuous, a branch period image data readout period is required from when the branch destination is determined until the next image is actually displayed.
If there is a request to display the branch destination image immediately after the branch destination is determined, this cannot be met.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable a moving image stream that enables linked reproduction of moving images and also realizes branch reproduction during the linked reproduction. An object of the present invention is to provide a creation method, a creation means for realizing the creation method, a playback method for a moving image stream created by the creation means, and a playback means for realizing the playback method.

Another object of the present invention is to realize a file management method with high access efficiency in a recording medium used for recording and reproducing a moving image stream suitable for continuous reproduction and branch reproduction of the above-described moving image. Here, the moving image stream refers to the entire series of moving image files recorded on the recording medium.

In order to solve the above-mentioned object, the present invention uses the configuration described in the claims as an example.

As described above, according to the present invention, in the creation and playback of a series of moving image streams accompanied by story branches, the preload portion of the branch destination candidate image is added or inserted into the file for continuous playback. Even in the case where the branch decision input timing is at the end of the branch source image display period, the preload portion can be reproduced and the subsequent data can be loaded during this time, so that smooth moving image branch reproduction can be realized.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 and FIG.
A procedure for creating a moving image stream will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, a CD-ROM is taken as an example as a recording medium for the created moving image stream.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a moving image stream creation apparatus to which the present invention is applied. Reference numeral 100 denotes a moving image stream creation apparatus main body including constituent elements described later. The moving image file arrangement order determining means 102 determines the moving image file arrangement order based on the file size information of the moving image file stored in the moving image database 108, and is displayed next to the moving image file being displayed. For a preload operation for preloading a part or all of an image to be preloaded, preload image size determining means 103 for determining the size to be preloaded, 103 is an image of the preload size determined by the preload image size determining means 102 , Generated from a moving image file read from the moving image database 108 described later A preload image generation unit 104 generates reproduction control information 109 (to be described later) used when reproducing a moving image file in accordance with the arrangement order information of the moving image file determined by the moving image file arrangement order determination unit 101. The control information generation means 105 is stored in the preload image generated by the preload image generation means 103 and the moving image database 108 described later according to the arrangement order information of the moving image file determined by the moving image file arrangement order determination means 101. A moving image stream generating means 106 for generating a moving image stream 110 to be described later using the moving image file, 106 describes information relating to the connection setting of moving image files as shown in FIG. To determine the order of moving image files The moving image file consolidated information,
Reference numeral 107 denotes an access speed of the CD-ROM drive 501 in FIG. 5 which records a moving image stream 110 (to be described later) generated by the moving image stream generation means 105 and reproduces a moving image from a CD-ROM medium 500 in FIG. 5 (to be described later). Is a moving image database that can record a large number of moving image files in which image data used as material of the moving image stream 110 is compressed in advance by data compression means (not shown), 109 is reproduction control information generated by the reproduction control information generation means 104, 110 is a moving image stream generated by the moving image stream generation means 105, 11
Reference numeral 1 denotes a CD-ROM in FIG. 5, which will be described later, containing reproduction control information 109 and a moving image stream 110.
This is a CD-ROM media creation means for creating the media 500.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the moving image file connection information 106, which is text data as illustrated. The text includes the following three types of information.
(1) Video file name (NodeName in Fig. 2)
(2) If the branch condition does not occur, the moving image file name displayed after the file in (1) (
(DefaultLink in Figure 2)
(3) Branch destination candidate file name when a branch condition occurs (InputLink in Fig. 2)
These three types of information are handled as one set, and there are as many information sets as there are moving image files necessary to form a moving image stream.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the moving image stream 110 created by the moving image stream creation device of FIG. 1 and the concept of the reproduction operation. 300 is a part of the moving image stream 110, 30
Reference numeral 1 denotes an enlarged portion near the boundary between the moving images A and B, and reference numerals 302 and 303 denote preload portions (described later in detail) of the moving image B.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a recording state of the moving image stream 110 created by the moving image stream creation device of FIG. 1, wherein 400 is a part of the moving image stream 110 and 401 is a part 400 of the moving image stream. Of these, it corresponds to the moving image file B.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for creating a moving image stream performed by the moving image stream creating apparatus shown in FIG.

2 to 4 are described so as to correspond to the moving image file connection setting example shown in FIG.

The moving image file arrangement order determining means 101 is the moving image file connection information 1 illustrated in FIG.
Read 06 and know the connection and branch settings of the video file. According to the example of FIG. 8, it is understood that the moving image A is reproduced first, and then branches to any of the moving images B, C, and D. Therefore, after the moving image A, the arrangement order is determined so that B, C, and D are arranged successively. Here, together with the determined arrangement order information, the size of each moving image file is also added as information (FIG. 10, process 1001).

In order to perform branch reproduction smoothly, it is necessary to preload a branch destination image (in this example, any one of B, C, and D) within the display period of the moving image A. When the display period of the moving image A is short as in the example, or when the file size of B, C, D is large, B
, C, D may not be preloaded. In order to solve this, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the head portions of B, C, and D are cut out and newly defined as preload images, and these preload images are defined as a moving image file A. A new moving image file is created by appending to the end of the file name, and a file name “A_IN_STORY” meaning the moving image file A constituting the story is attached. In addition, in the data portion of only the moving image file A that does not include the preloaded image portion connected at the end,
A file name “A_SINGLE” is added to indicate that the file is a single file.

At the time of linked playback of moving images, as shown in FIG. 3B, by loading “A_IN_STORY”, the head part of the branch destination candidate image can be loaded at the same time.
The display of the branch destination image can be started even in the worst case determined at the end of the display period. And
If the remaining part is accessed during the display period of the head part of the branch destination image, the display is not interrupted.

On the other hand, when only the moving image A is reproduced alone, “A_SINGLE” may be loaded. The size to be cut out as the preload image is determined by the size of the moving image A and the playback device access specification information 107, and is sent to the preload image generation means 103 and the playback control information 104 (FIG. 10, processing 1002, 1003). The preload image generation unit 103 reads out the moving images B, C, and D from the moving image database 108, cuts out data from the head portion of these files by the size determined by the preload image size determining unit, and B, C, D To generate a preload image corresponding to the video stream generation means 1
05 (FIG. 10, process 1004). The moving image stream generation unit 105 connects the B, C, and D preload images generated by the preload image generation unit to the end of the moving image A. Next, with reference to the arrangement order information sent from the moving picture file arrangement order determining means 101, the moving picture B is connected following the moving picture A with the preloaded image connected at the end. For the moving image B, the leading portion is connected to the trailing portion of the moving image A as a preload image, but the leading portion is also connected without being cut. Therefore, the preload portion of the moving image B is 2
It exists in the moving image stream. This is because when a moving image B is reproduced alone, file management becomes easier and access is faster if one file is recorded continuously. This state is shown in FIG.

As described above, the moving image stream of this embodiment generates files for independent reproduction and continuous reproduction based on one moving image file, and manages them by assigning different file names to them. Yes. In addition, since the entities of these two files are duplicated except for the preload portion, the recording efficiency to the recording medium is hardly lowered. In the following, for the moving images B, C, and D, preload images are generated and connected in the same manner to create a series of moving image streams 110 (FIG. 1).
0, processing 1005).

In parallel with the generation processing of the moving image stream 110, the reproduction control information generation unit 104 performs reproduction control based on the arrangement order information from the moving image file arrangement order determination unit 101 and the preload image size data from the preload image size determination unit 102. Information 109 is generated (process 1006 in FIG. 10). The playback control information 109 includes the playback order of the moving image file, the branching condition in the moving image file having a branch point, and each file inside the file in which the preload image is connected to the end of the main image (for example, “A_IN_STORY”). It includes the preload image recording start position and recording size information.

The reproduction control information 109 and the moving image stream 110 created by the above procedure are stored in the CD-ROM.
The medium creating means 111 burns the CD-ROM (FIG. 10, processing 1007).

Next, a CD-ROM playback procedure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, 8, and 11. The connection setting of the moving image file to be reproduced is the same as that described so far, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a moving image file playback apparatus according to the present invention.
CD-ROM media created by the moving image stream creation device of FIG. 1, 501 is a CD-RO
CD-ROM drive for reading data from the M media 500, 502 is a CD-R
Reproduction control information storage means 503 for storing reproduction control information read from the CD-ROM medium 500 using the OM drive 501 is provided at a branch point provided in the story.
Branch decision input means for inputting branch conditions, 504 is a playback apparatus control means for controlling the entire moving picture file playback apparatus, and 505 stores preloaded images among the moving picture data sent from the CD-ROM drive. A moving image storage unit 506 stores a branch source moving image storage unit 507 that stores a branch source moving image to be displayed temporally before a moving image stored in the preload moving image storage unit 505. The compressed video data stored in the preload video storage unit and the branch source video storage unit 506 is restored to generate video data, and the video file decoding unit 508 sends the video to a display device 508 described later. A display device for displaying.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of playback control performed by the moving image file playback apparatus of FIG.

First, continuous playback and branch playback will be described. When the moving image file playback apparatus is turned on and the CD-ROM medium 500 is loaded in the CD-ROM drive 501, the following initialization process is performed. The playback device control means 504 first starts with the CD-ROM medium 500.
The reproduction control information 109 is read out from the reproduction control information storage means 502 and stored in the reproduction control information storage means 502. Next, referring to the reproduction control information 109, a moving image file to be displayed first (moving image A, file name:
A_IN_STORY) is started, and if the moving image A has a branch setting, a default branch destination is determined in preparation for the case where there is no branch determination input from the user (FIG. 11, processing 1101).

Next, the data of the moving image file “A_IN_STORY” is read from the CD-ROM medium 500 by one sector, and the moving image data (that is, moving image A) and the preload image (that is, the preloaded portion of moving images B, C, and D) are read. Sorting process (FIG. 11, process 1102,
1103).

If it is a preload image, it is stored in the preload video storage means 505 (FIG. 11, processing 1104), and if it is a branch source video, it is stored in the branch source video storage means 506 (see FIG. 11).
FIG. 11, process 1105). The data of the moving image A stored in the branch source moving image storage unit 506 is transferred and restored to the moving image file decoding unit 507, and the display on the display device 508 is started (FIG. 11, processing 1106). Here, when there is a branch decision input from the user via the branch decision input means 503, the next branch destination moving image file is determined with reference to the reproduction control information 109 stored in the reproduction control information storage means 502. (FIG. 11, process 1107).

Next, it is determined whether or not to end the display of the branch source moving image (moving image A) currently being reproduced (FIG. 11, processing 1
108) If the display of the moving image A continues, the next sector is read from the CD-ROM drive 501, and the procedure described so far is repeated.

In this embodiment, since the preload image is connected to the end of the branch source image, the above process is usually repeated for the number of sectors in which the moving image A is recorded.

When the data decoding / display processing for the moving image A is completed after reading in units of sectors (FIG. 11, the case of YES in processing 1108), the branch destination moving image file determined in processing 1107 in FIG. The preload portion of the moving image B) is read from the preloaded moving image storage means 505 and transferred to the moving image file decoding means 507 (
FIG. 11, processing 1109), and playback is started with the moving image B as the next playback video file (FIG. 1).
1, processing 1110).

When the reproduction of the moving image B starts, a default branch destination image is set with reference to the reproduction control information 109 stored in the reproduction control information storage unit 502 (FIG. 11, process 1111).
Thereafter, the first sector of the file “B_IN_STORY” is transferred to the CD-ROM drive 50.
1 and the processing from step 1102 in FIG. 11 is repeated.

As shown in (2) of FIG. 4, the file “B_IN_STORY” has a start address of the top sector of 1020. With reference to FIG. 4 (1), this address is the rest of the moving image B excluding the preload portion. Points to the beginning of the part. Therefore, the remaining part can be read smoothly after the head part of the moving image B preloaded previously. In this way, by preloading the leading portion of the branch destination image by loading the branch source moving image A, even if the branch decision input is made at the final display portion of the moving image A, Images can be played smoothly without being interrupted.

In the above, continuous and branch playback of moving images has been described. However, depending on the application, it may be possible to request that each moving image file be played independently. For example, when it is desired to reproduce the moving image B, the file “B_SINGLE” may be read from the CD-ROM drive 501. As mentioned in the previous moving image stream creation procedure, the preload portion of the branch destination image is recorded redundantly at the end of the branch source image and the head portion of the branch destination image. As shown in FIG. 4 (2), the file for single reproduction (in this example, “B_SINGLE”)
On the CD-ROM medium 500, recording is performed in a continuous area from the start address 1000 to 1000 sectors. Therefore, even in the case of single reproduction, since it is a continuous area access, it can be read at high speed.

As described above, in this embodiment, a single playback file and a continuous playback file are generated based on one moving image file, and different file names are assigned to them on the CD-ROM medium 500. I try to manage it. Since the preload portion of the branch destination candidate image is added to the end of the file for continuous playback, smooth branch playback of a moving image can be realized regardless of the branch decision input timing. In addition, even in the case of single reproduction, since the recording area of each moving image file is continuous, efficient access is possible. In addition, the above-mentioned file for single playback and continuous / branch playback is C
Since there is duplication on the D-ROM medium 501, except for the preload portion, the recording efficiency is hardly lowered.

Note that the reproduction control information storage unit 502 and the preload moving image storage unit 50 in the present embodiment.
5, the branch source moving image storage means 506 can be realized using a semiconductor memory or the like.

Next, a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. A characteristic difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that a moving image stream 110 created by the moving image stream creation device of FIG.
It is in the configuration. Therefore, in the description of the present embodiment, the portions overlapping with those of the first embodiment are omitted, and the characteristics in the structure of the moving image stream 110 and the control method in the case of reproducing the moving image stream 110 in this case are described. To do.

  6 and 7 are added in the description of this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a recording state of a moving image file in the moving image stream 110 and a linked reproduction method in the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 6, 600 is a part of the moving image stream 110, and 601 is an enlargement of several sectors in which the moving image A is recorded in the part 600 of the moving image stream 110.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of recording states of data sectors of the moving image stream 110 and names given to files for management in the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
700 is a part of the moving image stream 110, and 701 is a moving image B in the moving image stream 110.
Is an enlargement of the recorded sector. 6 to 7 are described so as to correspond to the moving image file connection setting example shown in FIG. In the first embodiment, the preload portion of the moving images B, C, and D, which are branch destination candidate images, is added to the end of the branch source moving image A. However, in this embodiment, this preload portion is used. It is characterized by interleaved recording with the data of the branch source image.

As shown in FIG. 6A, in this example, the preload portion of the moving image A and the moving image B is 3:
Interleaved recording at a ratio of 1. Then, different channel numbers are allocated to the sector in which the moving image A is recorded and the sector in which the preload portion of the moving image B is recorded (
In FIG. 6A, 0 is assigned to A and 1 is assigned to B).

When the recording of the preload portion of the moving image B is completed, the moving images C and D are similarly recorded in an interleaved manner, and the channel numbers are assigned to sectors in which C and D are recorded, for example, C is 2, D is 3, and so on. Assign it. When the recording medium is a CD-ROM, the channel number is defined by the standard to be written in the subheader portion in each data sector. However, the correspondence between channel numbers and file names cannot be written in a directory entry in the CD-ROM standard. Therefore, the correspondence between channel numbers and file names is shown in Fig. 1.
The reproduction control information generating unit 104 writes the reproduction control information 109.

FIG. 7A shows a state in which the moving image B and the subsequent branch candidate images are interleaved and recorded. Addresses 1000 to 1020 are the preload portion of the moving image B, which is also recorded in an interleaved manner in the recording area of the moving image A as described above.

Since the preload portion at addresses 1000 to 1020 is a portion that is not used during continuous playback, as in the case of the first embodiment, the branch destination candidate image of moving image B (
In this example, the moving images E and F) are not interleaved. The subsequent address 102
Interleave recording starts from address 0 onwards. At this time, channel number 1 is assigned to moving image B, and channel numbers 4 and 5 are assigned to moving images E and F, respectively, and are written in the sub-header portion of each data sector. Then, addresses 1020 to 2080 (moving image E
And the file name “B_IN_
STORE ”is the file name“ B_SINGLE ”in the data from address 1000
give. As in the first embodiment, this is for continuous reproduction and single reproduction.

In order to continuously reproduce the moving image stream recorded by the above method, a buffer for each channel number as shown in FIG. 6 (2) is provided in the moving image file reproducing device, and the CD-ROM 50 is provided.
The channel number assigned to the sector read from 0 is referred to and stored in the corresponding channel number buffer. Then, it is read from the buffer and displayed in accordance with the correspondence between the channel number and the file name written in the reproduction control information 109.

The moving image file playback device in FIG. 5 is configured as follows, for example. That is, a storage unit for each channel number is provided in place of the preload image storage unit 505 and the branch source moving image storage unit 506. For this, separate storage means may be provided for each channel number, or a single storage means may be used, and an internal storage area may be selectively used according to the channel number. For example, when the file “A_IN_STORY” is read, the channel number 0 is stored in the sector where the moving image A is stored, and the channel number 1 is stored in the sector where the preload portion of the moving image B is stored. Since it is written in the subheader part, it is only necessary to store data in a buffer corresponding to each channel number. When there is a branch decision input during the display of the moving image A, the name of the branch destination image and the corresponding channel number are read from the playback control information 109, and the rest of the file (this In this case, since a file corresponding to “remaining” is managed with a dedicated name, the application does not need to be aware of “remaining”. That is, if the branch destination is B, “B_IN_STORY” is read.

In addition, when each video file is played back independently, “A_SINGLE”, “B_SIN”
It is sufficient to read out a file with a dedicated name “GLE”. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7 (1), the preloaded image is interleaved in the file for single reproduction as well. By referring to the number, data unnecessary for single reproduction can be discarded.

As described above, in this embodiment, the preload image is not added to the end of the branch source image as in the first embodiment, but is recorded in an interleaved manner in the branch source image. In comparison, preload image data can be obtained at a previous stage in time.

For this reason, in this embodiment, even when the branch decision input is made at a relatively early stage within the display period of the branch source image, the branch destination image can be displayed immediately. Has the effect of becoming possible.

  In addition, in this embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the above-described two embodiments, a moving image stream recording medium is a CD.
-The ROM is taken as an example, but the effect of the present invention is not limited to this, and physical file access is also required for linked playback on recording media and magnetic recording media using other optical discs. Since processing (track access or the like) occurs, the same effect can be obtained.

In addition, the moving image compression method is not specifically mentioned, but if the recording method is such that the output time of the data is longer than the time for loading the data from the recording medium,
For example, the effect can be exhibited even in a compression method such as the MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group) method or a recording / reproduction method of uncompressed data.

Furthermore, in each example, the story branching of the video file was explained.
Even if other multimedia data such as a compressed audio file or a mixed file of compressed audio and images needs to be continuously reproduced, story branching can be realized by applying the present invention.

As described above, in this embodiment, in the creation and playback of a series of moving image streams with story branches, independent playback and continuous playback for constructing a moving image stream based on each moving image file. Two types of files are generated and managed on the recording medium with different file names. Since the pre-load portion of the branch destination candidate image is added or inserted into the continuous playback file, the pre-load portion is played even when the branch decision input timing is at the end of the display period of the branch source image. Since the subsequent data can be loaded during this period, smooth branching reproduction of moving images can be realized. Further, the size of the preload image is determined by parameters such as the length of the display period of the branch source image, the performance of the playback device of the recording medium, or the buffer size provided in the playback device, and can be freely set by the application. In addition, even in the case of single reproduction of a file, since the recording area of each moving image file is continuous, efficient and high-speed access is possible. In addition, since the entity for the single reproduction and the continuous / branch reproduction is duplicated on the recording medium except for the preload portion, the recording efficiency is hardly lowered.

When a branch destination file is specified by the branch destination determination input means during continuous / branch playback of the multimedia data stream in the multimedia data playback device, the branch destination file stored in the preload file storage means is stored in the branch destination file. If the file with the name for continuous / branch reproduction corresponding to the branch destination file is loaded while reproducing the corresponding preload file, the reproduction can be continued without interruption.

Then, in the continuous / branch playback, when there is a branch decision input during playback of any multimedia data file, the multimedia playback device accesses the branch destination file by the continuous / branch playback name, In the single reproduction, since the individual reproduction name is used for access, the single reproduction can be performed smoothly. Moreover, it is not necessary to determine the content of the file (for single playback or continuous playback) on the playback device side, and it is only necessary to access the file by looking at the name, thereby simplifying the configuration of the device.

Block diagram of video stream creation device Diagram of moving image file connection information Recording status and playback method of moving image files Recording state diagram of moving image file Video file playback device Interleaved video and linked playback method Recording state diagram of moving image file Conceptual diagram of linked display of moving images Conventional video connection and playback method Creating a video playback stream Playback control procedure

Explanation of symbols

300... Moving image stream, 301... End of moving image A and head of moving image B, 302... Preload file, 303.

Claims (4)

A recording method for recording a first data stream, a second data stream, and a third data stream managed as separate files on a recording medium,
Recording the first data stream;
Recording the second data stream;
Managing the first data stream as a first file;
Managing the second data stream as a second file;
Before Symbol As third said by the data stream are reproduced in the first data stream and the second data stream is continuously regenerated, and some containing the end of the previous SL first data stream recording method characterized by managing the also connected part including the head of the second data stream, as a separate file with the first file with the second file. A recording apparatus that records a first data stream, a second data stream, and a third data stream managed as separate files on a recording medium,
Generating means for generating the data stream;
Recording means for recording the data stream on the recording medium;
Managing the first data stream as a first file;
Managing the second data stream as a second file;
Before Symbol As third said by the data stream are reproduced in the first data stream and the second data stream is continuously regenerated, and some containing the end of the previous SL first data stream recording apparatus characterized by managed as a separate file also was ligated a part with the first file with the second file including the head of the second data stream. A reproduction method for reproducing a first data stream, a second data stream, and a third data stream managed as separate files from a recording medium,
The first data stream is managed as a first file;
The second data stream is managed as a second file;
Is a concatenation of a portion including the head of the second data stream and a portion including the end of the previous SL first data stream is managed as a separate file with the first file with said second file And
Playing the first data stream;
Playing the third data stream;
Playing the second data stream;
Reproducing method characterized by pre-reproduction Symbol said second data stream and said first data stream continuously by playing a third data stream. A playback device that plays back a first data stream, a second data stream, and a third data stream managed as separate files from a recording medium,
Playback means for playing back the data stream;
Control means for controlling the reproduction means;
The first data stream is managed as a first file;
The second data stream is managed as a second file;
Is a concatenation of a portion including the head of the second data stream and a portion including the end of the previous SL first data stream is managed as a separate file with the first file with said second file And
Wherein, prior Symbol successively reproduced as the second data stream with the first data stream by reproducing the third data stream, and controls said reproducing means Playback device.

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