JPH1097766A - Optical disk recording and reproducing device, and reproducing control method applied to the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize restart of continuous reproduction operation and to improve operability relating to production by an user by effectively functioning so-called resuming operation even if it is taken out from an optical disk device. SOLUTION: This device is an optical disk recording and reproducing device using an optical disk 1 such as a DVD in which data of large capacity can be recorded and reproduced. A CPU 11 detects a reproduction stop position of a recording region conforming to an indication of stopping reproduction from an input device 12, and records a resuming address showing this reproduction stop position in an UTOC(user table of contents) region of the optical disk 1. Also, the CPU 11 records resuming environment information showing a reproduction environment state at the time in the UTOC region. When the optical disk 1 is reset and the start of reproduction is instructed, the CPU 11 checks the resuming address and resuming environment information required for the resuming operation referring to the UTOC region. The CPU 11 restarts continuous reproduction operation at the time of reproduction stop by the resuming address and the resuming environment information and reproduces a reproduction environment state at the time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing, for example, moving image information on an optical disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus which uses an optical disk as a recording medium and records and reproduces image information, audio information, character information, and the like of a still image and a moving image has been developed. In particular, an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus using a recording / reproducing DVD (digital video disk or digital versatile disk) capable of increasing the capacity has attracted attention.

[0003] This DVD device (optical disk and drive)
Can record and reproduce a video (moving image) such as a movie and a high-quality sound of, for example, 4 hours or more on a single disk by using a digital image compression method of moving image called MPEG2. If such a DVD device is connected to a television receiver or a personal computer, it is possible to configure an information processing system including multi-functions, especially image information processing.

[0004] Specifically, in addition to reproducing video, a function of reproducing audio in a language selected by the user from a plurality of languages, and a function of allowing a user to arbitrarily edit video such as a television program or a movie. It becomes easy to have. Among these various functions, resume
A reproduction control function called a function is one of the important functions particularly when continuously reproducing long-time information such as video.

[0005] Here, the resume function means that when a user once stops reproduction during the reproduction operation of information such as a video, the video is continuously reproduced from the previous reproduction stop state at the next reproduction operation. Function. With this resume function, even if the user stops playback of a movie or the like in the middle, for example, the next operation of the playback switch can automatically start playback from the previously stopped image or the next image.

Conventionally, some apparatuses using a read-only optical disk such as a CD (compact disk) or an LD (laser disk) are provided with the resume function or a function similar thereto. Such a device stores the address on the disk in which information to be played is stored in the built-in memory of the device, and refers to the built-in memory when resuming playback after stopping the playback. Has been realized.

[0007]

A conventional read-only optical disk device is provided with a resume function for resuming continuous reproduction of information such as video after stopping reproduction by referring to an address stored in a built-in memory. There are things. However, in the above-described conventional device, once the optical disk is removed from the device, the storage content of the built-in memory is cleared, and even if the same optical disk is inserted again, the resume operation does not function. Therefore, after the user stops playback,
When the optical disk is taken out, in order to insert the same optical disk next and to continuously play back from the previous time, it is necessary to search for the playback position by manual operation.

Further, for example, moving images such as movies, sound,
When reproducing so-called multi-information including character information such as subtitles, there is reproduction control information called reproduction environment information indicating the reproduction environment state. Using this playback environment information, there is a method of resuming playback including a Japanese audio output by a resume operation when a movie or the like is being played back by, for example, outputting a Japanese audio when the playback is stopped. However, since the internal memory is used as described above, once the optical disk is removed from the device, the resume operation does not function. Therefore,
The user needs to perform an operation to reset the same reproduction environment state as the previous time. For this reason, in an exchangeable optical disk apparatus in which an optical disk is frequently taken out, the conventional resume function is not user-friendly, and it is desirable to improve reproduction operability.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a replaceable optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus that enables a so-called resume operation to function effectively even when an optical disk is taken out of the apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to realize the resumption of the continuous reproduction operation and to improve the operability related to the reproduction of the user.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a DVD, for example.
An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus for reproducing using a large-capacity recordable / reproducible optical disk, detects a reproduction stop position of a recording area where reproduction is stopped in accordance with a reproduction stop instruction, and detects position information indicating the reproduction stop position. Recording means for recording the information in a specific recording area of the optical disc, and reading position information from the specific recording area of the optical disc at the start of the reproducing operation,
A resuming means for restarting the information reproducing operation from a predetermined position in the recording area where the reproduction was stopped during the previous reproducing operation based on the position information.

The specific recording area of the optical disk is, for example, a UTOC (User) located on the inner peripheral side of the optical disk.
This is a control information area called a “Table of Contents” area, and the position information is an address (resume address) indicating a position at which reproduction is stopped. When resuming the reproduction operation, the resume means continuously reproduces information such as a moving image from the previously stopped position, or resumes reproduction from a position backward by a predetermined time from the stopped position.

Further, according to the present invention, together with the position information, for example, the reproduction environment information for setting the reproduction environment state such as the language of the sound attached to the moving image and the presence / absence of superimposed subtitles is recorded in a specific recording area of the optical disk. . Thereby, at the time of the resume operation, information reproduction of a moving image or the like can be continuously resumed from the position where it was stopped last time, and the reproduction environment information at that time can be reproduced.

With this configuration, even if the user removes the optical disk from the apparatus, the same optical disk is inserted and the reproduction is resumed, thereby reproducing the continuous reproduction from the previous reproduction and the reproduction environment state at that time. be able to.
Therefore, the resume operation automatically and effectively functions only by the user inserting the same optical disk. That is, specifically, even when the playback is stopped in the middle of a movie or the like, and the optical disc is once ejected and the continuation of the above is played back, the user can fast-forward halfway as usual and determine whether or not there is a subtitle supermarket. The resetting or the resetting for selecting the language of the sound can be unnecessary. In addition, the following usage methods are possible. That is, conventionally, it has been possible for a user to divide information into a plurality of parts and record a position (address) corresponding to each division point in a specific area on the disk, thereby reproducing information at each division point. On the other hand, in the present invention, there is no need for the user to record division points or to perform an operation for deleting the division points after reproduction.

[0014] The present invention specifically relates to the U
In addition to the addresses indicating the start and end of moving image information in the TOC area, the reproduction end position at the end of the previous reproduction for each recording area of predetermined moving image information, and reproduction environment information such as the presence or absence of subtitles in the moving image information, etc. Is provided with an area for recording the control information. When the resume operation after the stop of the reproduction is performed, the resume position of the reproduction operation and the reproduction environment state to be reproduced are determined with reference to the UTOC area.

In the UTOC area, control information necessary for the resume function is recorded for each predetermined recording area.
For example, it is possible to restart reproduction of moving image information or the like selected for each user. Since position information corresponding to the reproduction end position is also recorded in the UTOC area, the user can arbitrarily set the resume function by selecting a resume function or a normal reproduction start state. By such a resume function of the present invention, for example, during a reproduction operation in which a moving image reproduction, audio output in a plurality of languages, and reproduction of character information such as superimposed subtitles of a movie are simultaneously performed, reproduction is temporarily stopped. Even when the optical disk is taken out, the reproduction can be resumed from the state where the reproduction was stopped only by operating the reproduction switch next time. In this case, continuous reproduction may be resumed from the reproduction state at the time of the reproduction stop, or continuous reproduction may be resumed from the state in which the reproduction state at the time of the reproduction stop is reversed.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus relating to the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the format of an optical disc related to the present embodiment, FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrams showing an example of the contents of a UTOC area on the optical disc related to the present embodiment, and FIG. It is a flow chart for explaining operation of an embodiment. (System Configuration) The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment uses an exchangeable optical disk 1 such as a DVD drive, and uses a moving image compression circuit 16 and a moving image decompression circuit 14 using a moving image compression method called MPEG2. Is assumed.

That is, the present apparatus comprises a rewritable optical disk 1 as a recording medium, an optical pickup 2, a preamplifier 7, a binarization circuit 8, a signal processing circuit 9, a memory controller 10, and a CPU 11. Have. The optical pickup 2 irradiates the optical disk 1 with a laser beam by being driven by a laser driver 18 and optically reads / writes information. The preamplifier 7 amplifies the read signal read by the optical pickup 2 and outputs it to the binarization circuit 8. The binarizing circuit 8 converts the read signal into binary data. During the reproduction operation, the signal processing circuit 9 demodulates (decodes) the original information and executes an error detection and correction process. At the time of recording operation, processing such as addition of an error correction code to input information is executed.

The memory controller 10 stores reproduction information such as moving picture information (compressed information) output from the signal processing circuit 9 in the buffer memory 13 or stores the reproduced information in the buffer memory 1.
3 and outputs the reproduction information to the moving image decompression circuit 14. The buffer memory 13 is a memory for storing reproduction information and temporarily storing moving image information (input information) compressed by the moving image compression circuit 16. CPU
Reference numeral 11 denotes a microprocessor constituting a main control device of the apparatus, which executes control operations such as control of information recording / reproduction operation, reproduction control such as a resume operation related to the present invention, and processing of an input command from the input device 12. I do.

More specifically, the CPU 11 uses the reproduction environment memory 17 to store reproduction environment information at the time of reproduction stop or reproduction end for each predetermined information unit. Here, the predetermined information unit corresponds to a recording area in a logical format, and the information amount differs depending on the information content, for example, one movie. In this embodiment, the information unit is expressed as a track. Therefore, the track is not a physical and fixed recording area on the disk, but a logical unit corresponding to the set information content (file).

Furthermore, the reproduction stop / end position at the end of reproduction or at the end of reproduction is stored for each predetermined information unit by using the reproduction end position memory 15 via the memory controller 10. As described above, the reproduction environment information is control information for setting the reproduction environment state such as the language of the audio and the presence / absence of subtitles.

The apparatus further includes a servo circuit 6, a motor driver 5, a spindle motor 3, a linear motor 4, and an input device 12. The servo circuit 6 is a focus servo signal detected by the optical pickup 2,
Input a tracking servo signal, etc., and
The motor driver 5 is controlled by a control signal from the PU 11. The motor driver 5 drives the spindle motor 3 and the linear motor 4 to execute driving of the optical pickup 2 such as focus, tracking, and seek. The input device 12 includes a recording key 12a, a reproduction key 12b, a reproduction stop key 12c, a program selection key 12d, a disc ejection key 12
e, and the like, and a command corresponding to the input key device of the user is input to the CPU 11. (Basic operation of this apparatus) First, when the optical disk 1 is inserted by the user, the optical disk 1
And is driven to rotate. When the playback key of the input device 12 is operated, the CPU 11 starts a playback operation, controls the drive of the linear motor 4, moves the optical pickup 2 in the radial direction of the optical disc 1, and records information to be accessed. It is positioned on the track (recording area).

The information recorded on the optical disk 1 is read by the optical pickup 2 and amplified by the preamplifier 7,
The signal is input to the signal processing circuit 9 through the binarization circuit 8. The signal processing circuit 9 performs signal processing such as information demodulation and error correction. The memory controller 10 temporarily stores information output from the signal processing circuit 9 (such as compressed moving image information) in the buffer memory 13. Memory controller 10
Reads information from the buffer memory 13 and outputs the information to the moving image decompression circuit 14. The moving picture information and the like compressed by the moving picture decompression circuit 14 are decompressed into the original information and transmitted to, for example, a display of a personal computer or a television receiver.

On the other hand, when the recording key of the input device 12 is operated, the CPU 11 starts a recording operation (recording operation) of moving image information and the like. First, the moving image compression circuit 16 compresses a video signal (digital information) transmitted from, for example, a television receiver, and outputs the resultant signal to the memory controller 10. The memory controller 10 temporarily stores the compressed moving image information and the like in the buffer memory 13, reads the compressed moving image information from the buffer memory 13, and outputs the read information to the signal processing circuit 9.
The signal processing circuit 9 outputs a signal to the laser driver 18 after performing signal processing such as modulation and addition of an error correction code. The laser driver 18 drives the optical pickup to record the compressed moving image information or the like at a designated position (controlled by the CPU 11) of the optical disk 1. (Structure of Optical Disk 1) As shown in FIG. 2A, the optical disk 1 has a lead-in area 21 called TOC, which is a table of contents area, on the innermost circumference side. U that can be rewritten by the user
A TOC region 22 is provided. Further, an information data area 23 occupying most of the center of the optical disc 1 outside the UTOC area 22 is provided, and a lead-out area 24 is arranged at the outermost periphery. Information data area 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes an area in which moving image information, audio information, and character information, which are ordinary information (user information), are recorded.

In the present embodiment, the UTOC area 22 is a specific area for storing a resume address and reproduction environment information related to the resume function.
Is an area for recording table information for detecting each of these recording areas when is divided into predetermined recording areas (tracks).

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, TNO-1 to TNO-n, which indicate track numbers, have UTOC.
An address relating to information recorded in the information data area 23 such as the first to n-th moving image information in the area 22 and an address storing control information such as environmental information are recorded. That is, when the CPU 11 accesses the area of TNO-1, the track number TNO-1 of the information data area 23 is accessed.
The address at which the control information necessary to access the information is stored is detected (see FIG. 2B). Thus, the start address SA, the end address EA, the resume address RA, and the resume environment information (reproduction environment information) corresponding to the recording area of the track number TNO-1 can be accessed. Start address S
A is the head position of the moving image information and the like recorded in the track number TNO-1 of the information data area 23. Also,
The end address EA is the end position. As will be described later, the resume address RA and the resume environment information are control information necessary for the resume operation of the present embodiment, and respectively indicate an address indicating a reproduction stop / end position and a reproduction environment state at the time of reproduction stop / end. Information. (Operation of the present embodiment) Hereinafter, the operation of the present embodiment will be described mainly with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, when the recording key 12a of the input device 12 is operated by the user, as described above, the CPU 11 executes a recording operation of recording input information input from, for example, a television receiver on the optical disc 1 (step S1). NO, S7).
Here, the input information is moving image information including audio information and character information of subtitles.

Here, it is assumed that the moving picture information is recorded, for example, in a recording area corresponding to track numbers TNO-1 to TNO-3, as shown in FIG. At this time, control information for each recording area is recorded in the UTOC area 22 on the optical disc 1, as shown in FIG. That is, the moving picture information belonging to the track number TNO-1 has the address 10 in the information data area 23 set to the start address SA.
The end address EA is recorded in the recording area of the address 50. Similarly, the moving image information belonging to the track number TNO-2 has the start address SA of the address 51 of the information data area 23 and the end address EA recorded in the recording area of the address 100. In the moving image information belonging to the track number TNO-3, the address 101 of the information data area 23 is set as the start address SA, and the end address EA is recorded in the recording area of the address 170.

In this recording state, when the reproduction key 12b is operated by the user, the CPU 11 starts the reproduction operation (YES in step S1). That is, CPU
Reference numeral 11 refers to the UTOC area 22 on the optical disk 1 and reproduces moving image information designated by the user from the information data area 23 on the optical disk 1 (step S2). Here, as shown in FIG.
Starting from the address 10 of the track number TNO-1
It is assumed that the moving image information in the recording areas corresponding to .about.TNO-3 is reproduced in order, and the video, audio, and subtitle superimposed by the respective moving image information are displayed on the screen of the television receiver.

At this time, when the user operates the reproduction stop key 12c of the input device 12, the CPU 11 shifts to the reproduction stop operation and the resume operation of the present embodiment (step S).
3 YES). That is, the CPU 11 reads the resume address R indicating the reproduction stop position from the reproduction end position memory 15.
A is read out and recorded at a corresponding position in the UTOC area 22 on the optical disc 1. Further, the CPU 11 reads the reproduction stop reproduction environment information from the reproduction environment memory 17 and records it as the resume environment information at a corresponding position of the UTOC area 22 on the optical disc 1 (step S4).

Now, suppose that the position at which the user stopped playback is
It is assumed that the moving image information is recorded at the position of address 72 in the recording area corresponding to TNO-2 shown in FIG. At this time, as the reproduction environment state, audio output in English has been performed, and there is no superimposed subtitle. Therefore, the playback stop operation causes the UTOC area 2 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the control information of TNO-2 of No. 2 changes the resume address RA from "51" to "72",
The resume environment information changes from "JAPANESE" to "ENGLISH". Here, "JAPAN
"ESE" means voice output in Japanese, and "ENGL"
"ISH" means voice output in English. In any case, there is no subtitle supermarket.

Next, when the user operates the disc ejection key 12e of the input device 12, the optical disc 1 is ejected from the device (YES in step S5, S6). Then, when the same optical disk 1 is inserted into the apparatus again, the optical disk 1 is chucked by the spindle motor 3 (YES in step S8). Here, the user inputs the reproduction key 12a.
Is operated, the CPU 11 refers to the UTOC area 22 of the optical disc 1 and searches for a resume address RA different from the start address SA (step S10). Here, at the end of normal reproduction, the resume address RA becomes the same address as the start address SA. Therefore, when there is no resume address RA different from the start address SA, the resume operation does not function (NO in step S11).

In the TNO-2 of the UTOC area 22, as shown in FIG. 5, the resume address RA is "5".
Since it has changed from "1" to "72", the CPU 11 executes the resume operation (YES in step S11).
That is, the CPU 11 reads the moving image information at the position next to the position of the address “72” of the resume address RA from the information data area 23, and starts a reproducing operation for reproducing (step S12). Accordingly, the user can continuously check the moving image information on the screen from the previous stop of the reproduction only by operating the reproduction key 12b. At this time, CPU1
Reference numeral 1 denotes an audio output in English, which is a reproduction environment state at the time of the previous reproduction stoppage, and reproduces an environment state without a subtitle superimposed based on the resume environment information.

At the start of the reproduction operation by the reproduction key 12b, the CPU 11 sets the start address S as described above.
Although the execution of the resume operation is determined based on A and the resume address RA, a function selected by the user may be provided. That is, when the user does not select the resume function, the reproducing operation is started based on the start address SA. Further, the case where the reproducing operation is started from the position next to the position of the resume address RA has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. Specifically, the reproduction operation may be started from a position backward by a predetermined time (for example, several minutes) from the position at which the reproduction was stopped. With such a method, since the user can reconfirm the moving image information before the reproduction is stopped, when performing the continuous reproduction,
It is easy to recall the memory. Further, as another modified example, for example, the reproduction may be performed from the head position for a few minutes at the start of the reproduction operation, and thereafter, the reproduction operation may be continuously shifted from the stop of the reproduction. In such a system, for example, when playing a movie or the like, a movie title or the like is usually included at the beginning, so that the user can reconfirm the movie title to be played continuously on the screen. There are advantages that can be done.

[0033]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in an exchangeable optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus, even when the optical disk is ejected from the apparatus after the reproduction is stopped, a so-called resume operation can be effectively functioned. Therefore,
The continuous reproduction or reproduction from the reproduction state at the time of the previous reproduction stop can be realized without re-searching the position of the reproduction information at the time of reproduction stop or resetting the reproduction environment state at that time. If the present invention is applied to an exchangeable optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus in which an optical disk is frequently taken out, operability particularly relating to a reproducing operation can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view showing an example of a format of an optical disk according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a UTOC on an optical disc according to the embodiment;
The figure which shows an example of the content of the area | region.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a UTOC on an optical disc according to the embodiment;
The figure which shows an example of the content of the area | region.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a UTOC on an optical disk according to the embodiment;
The figure which shows an example of the content of the area | region.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical disk 2 ... Optical pickup 3 ... Spindle motor 4 ... Linear motor 5 ... Motor driver 6 ... Servo circuit 7 ... Preamplifier 8 ... Binarization circuit 9 ... Signal processing circuit 10 ... Memory controller 11 ... CPU 12 ... Input device 13 ... Buffer memory 14: Moving picture expansion circuit 15: Memory for reproduction end position 16: Moving picture compression circuit 17: Memory for reproduction environment 18: Laser driver

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information on / from an optical disc which is a recording medium, wherein the reproducing means reproduces information from a designated recording area from the optical disc, and reproduces information by the reproducing means. Instructing means for instructing a stop of the reproducing operation, detecting a reproduction stop position of a recording area where reproduction is stopped in accordance with a stop instruction of the instruction means, and outputting position information indicating the reproduction stop position to the specific recording of the optical disc. Recording means for recording in an area; reading out the position information from a specific recording area of the optical disc at the start of the reproduction operation by the reproduction means; and performing a predetermined reproduction of the recording area stopped during the previous reproduction operation based on the position information. An optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a resume unit for resuming an information reproducing operation from a position. 2. The recording means records, in a specific recording area of the optical disc, reproduction environment information indicating a reproduction environment state of the information at the time when reproduction is stopped, together with the position information. 2. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of resuming a reproducing operation including a reproducing environment indicated by the reproducing environment information when the reproducing operation of the information is resumed. 3. A specific recording area of the optical disk is an area for recording the position information and the reproduction environment information together with a start address and an end address of each predetermined recording area. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus is distinguished. 4. A storage device for temporarily storing the position information and the reproduction environment information, wherein the recording device outputs the position information from the memory device when the reproduction operation by the reproduction device ends. 3. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said reproducing environment information is read out and recorded in a specific recording area of said optical disk. 5. The recording means sets the position information to the same content as the end address when the reproduction operation by the reproduction means ends reproduction to a final position of a predetermined recording area indicated by the end address. 4. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the recording is performed in the specific recording area by recording. 6. When the resume means resumes an information reproducing operation based on the position information, a predetermined reproducing operation is performed from a position next to a previous reproduction stop position of a recording area to be reproduced last time or from the reproduction stop position. 2. The optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reproducing operation is continuously resumed from a position returned by a time. 7. An information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information on / from an optical disc which is a recording medium, a start address and an end address of each information recording area being recorded on the optical disc, and a specific recording area which is distinguished from a normal information recording area. A reproduction control method applied to an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus provided with: a method for detecting a reproduction stop position of a recording area according to a reproduction operation stop instruction when information is reproduced from a specified recording area from the optical disk. Recording the position information indicating the detected reproduction stop position and the reproduction environment information indicating the reproduction environment state of the information before the stop of the reproduction operation in the specific recording area of the optical disc. Reading the position information and the reproduction environment information from a specific recording area of the optical disc, and performing a previous reproduction operation based on the position information; Resuming the information reproduction operation from a predetermined position in the recording area where reproduction has been stopped, and reproducing the reproduction environment state at the time of the previous reproduction operation indicated by the reproduction environment information. Method.