JP2000175133A - Information recording and reproducing device, method therefor and provision medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record only a still picture of a main program by detecting a commercial program included in a television broadcast program. SOLUTION: A CM detection circuit 21 discriminates whether or not a signal received from a tuner is a CM for each frame and outputs its discrimination result to a timing signal generating circuit 22. The timing signal generating circuit 22 uses a detection result of a CM received from the CM detection circuit 21 and a prescribed period signal received from a timer 23 to generate a timing signal, which is fed to an image reduction circuit 25. The image reduction circuit 23 generates a thumbnail picture of a video signal received from a delay circuit 24 synchronously with the timing signal fed from the timing signal generating circuit 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording / reproducing apparatus and method, and a providing medium, and more particularly to an information recording / reproducing apparatus which records a television broadcast video signal as a thumbnail image at predetermined time intervals. And a method, and a providing medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, VCRs for recording television broadcasts
Some (Video Cassette Recorders) have a function of recording index information such as the broadcast date and time, channel, and genre of a recorded program at the beginning of a video cassette tape.

According to such a VCR, it is possible to obtain the index information of the recorded program only by reproducing the beginning of the video cassette tape on which the program is recorded. , You cannot know the specific contents of the recorded program.

Therefore, as a method of allowing a user to grasp the specific contents of a recorded program without reproducing the entire video cassette tape, for example, a predetermined signal is recorded from a video signal of the recorded program at the time of recording. The still images (or thumbnail images) are extracted at intervals of, and are collectively recorded at a predetermined position on the video tape. When confirming the contents of the program recorded on the video cassette tape, only the predetermined position is used. There is a method of playing back.

[0005]

However, in the method for extracting still images at predetermined intervals as described above,
Since still images of parts that are unrelated to the contents of the program (main part), such as commercials broadcast during the program (main part), are also extracted and recorded, the still image of the CM grasps the program contents. There was a problem that hindered when doing so.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and is intended to record only a main still image by detecting a commercial included in a television broadcast.

[0007]

An information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 comprises a detecting means for detecting a commercial included in a television broadcast, and a timing signal which is periodic in a period which is not a commercial detected by the detecting means. Generating means for generating a reduced image of a television broadcast video signal in synchronization with the timing signal,
Recording means for recording the reduced image generated by the generation means on a recording medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information recording / reproducing method comprising: a detecting step of detecting a commercial included in a television broadcast; and a generating step of periodically generating a timing signal in a non-commercial period detected in the detecting step. Generating a reduced image of a video signal of a television broadcast in synchronization with a timing signal;
Recording the reduced image generated in the generation step on a recording medium.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a providing medium, comprising: a detecting step of detecting a commercial included in a television broadcast; a generating step of periodically generating a timing signal in a non-commercial period detected in the detecting step; A computer that causes an information recording / reproducing apparatus to execute a process including a generation step of generating a reduced image of a television broadcast video signal in synchronization with a signal and a recording step of recording the reduced image generated in the generation step on a recording medium. A readable program is provided.

In the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information recording / reproducing method according to the third aspect, and the providing medium according to the fourth aspect, a commercial included in a television broadcast is detected and detected. In a non-commercial period, a periodic timing signal is generated, a reduced image of a television broadcast video signal is generated in synchronization with the timing signal, and the generated reduced image is recorded on a recording medium.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In order to clarify the correspondence between each means of the invention described in the claims and the following embodiments, each means is described. When the features of the present invention are described by adding the corresponding embodiment (however, an example) in parentheses after the parentheses, the result is as follows. However, of course, this description does not mean that each means is limited to those described.

The information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a detecting means for detecting a commercial included in a television broadcast (for example, the CM detecting circuit 21 in FIG. 2) and a detecting means for detecting a commercial which is not a commercial. A generating means for generating a periodic timing signal (for example, the timing signal generating circuit 22 in FIG. 2) and a generating means for generating a reduced image of a television broadcast video signal in synchronization with the timing signal (for example, in FIG. An image reduction circuit 25) and recording means (for example, the writing circuit 6 in FIG. 1) for recording the reduced image generated by the generation means on a recording medium.

A DVR (Digital Video Recorder) to which the present invention is applied
An example of the configuration of (rder) will be described with reference to FIG. The tuner 2 of the recording system demodulates the RF signal of the television broadcast input from the terminal 1 and obtains the obtained video signal, audio signal, and signal indicating the audio multiplex mode (hereinafter, referred to as audio multiplex mode signal). To the thumbnail image creation circuit 4
Output to The tuner 2 outputs a video signal and an audio signal to the modulation circuit 3.

The modulation circuit 3 converts the video signal and the audio signal input from the tuner 2 into a predetermined format (for example, MPEG
2), and further modulates the data by a predetermined modulation method (for example, EFM modulation method) and outputs it to the writing circuit 7. The writing circuit 7 records the video signal and the audio signal of the modulated program on the recording medium 9.

The thumbnail image creation circuit 4 includes a tuner 2
A commercial (hereinafter, referred to as a CM) broadcasted in the middle of a program (main part) is detected using the signals input from. The thumbnail image creation circuit 4 extracts a still image from a video signal at a predetermined timing in a main part other than the detected CM, generates a thumbnail image (reduced image) of the obtained still image, and sends the thumbnail image to the modulation circuit 5. Output. Further, the thumbnail image creation circuit 4 outputs to the writing circuit 6 information on the timing at which the CM is detected.

The modulation circuit 5 includes a thumbnail image creation circuit 4
The data of the thumbnail image input from the
Similarly to the above, compression encoding is performed by a predetermined method (for example, JPG method), and further modulated by a predetermined modulation method (for example, EFM modulation method) and output to the writing circuit 6. The writing circuit 6 records the modulated thumbnail image data on the recording medium 8. Further, the writing circuit 6 deletes the data of the thumbnail image of the CM recorded on the recording medium 8 based on the information on the timing at which the CM is detected, which is input from the thumbnail image creating circuit 4. The recording media 8 and 9 are, for example, randomly accessible media such as a CD-R, a magneto-optical disk, a hard disk, and a semiconductor memory.

The reading circuit 10 of the reproducing system reads and demodulates the data of the thumbnail image recorded on the recording medium 8 in response to a command input by the user, and supplies the data to a monitor (not shown). The reading circuit 11 reads and demodulates a video signal and an audio signal of a program recorded on the recording medium 9 in accordance with a command input from a user, and supplies the demodulated signal to a monitor (not shown).

Note that the write circuits 6, 7 and the recording medium 8,
9 and the reading circuits 10 and 11 may be integrated with each other to record the video signal and the audio signal of the program and the thumbnail image of the CM on the integrated recording medium.

Next, the operation will be described. This DV
In R, in response to a recording command from the user,
A signal (video signal and audio signal) of a television broadcast program received by the tuner 2 is modulated by the modulation circuit 3 and recorded on the recording medium 9 by the writing circuit 7. In parallel with the above-described program recording process, the thumbnail image creation circuit 4 uses the C of the television broadcast received by the tuner 2.
A thumbnail image of the main part other than M is created, and the created thumbnail image is modulated by the modulation circuit 5 and recorded on the recording medium 8 by the writing circuit 6.

In the DVR, a read circuit 11 reproduces a video signal and an audio signal of a program recorded on the recording medium 9 in response to a reproduction command from a user. Further, in response to the thumbnail image reproduction command from the user, the reading circuit 10 reproduces the thumbnail image recorded on the recording medium 8 corresponding to the recording medium 9. The reproduced thumbnail image is used when grasping the contents of the program recorded on the recording medium 9 or when performing a search.

FIG. 2 shows the thumbnail image creation circuit 4 shown in FIG.
Is shown. The video signal, the audio signal, and the audio multiplex mode signal input from the tuner 2 are input to the CM detection circuit 21 in the thumbnail image generation circuit 4. The video signal is also input to the delay circuit 24. C
The M detection circuit 21 determines, for each frame, whether each signal input from the tuner 2 is a CM, and outputs the determination result to the timing signal generation circuit 22. In addition, CM
The configuration of the detection circuit 21 will be described later.

The timing signal generation circuit 22 detects the CM detection result input from the CM detection circuit 21 and the timer 23
A timing signal is generated by using a predetermined periodic signal (for example, a signal transmitted every one minute) input from the CPU and supplied to the image reduction circuit 25. Further, the timing signal generation circuit 22 outputs the CM detection result input from the CM detection circuit 21 to the writing circuit 6.

The delay circuit 24 delays the video signal input from the tuner 2 by the time required for processing by the CM detection circuit 21 and the timing signal generation circuit 22, and outputs the delayed video signal to the image reduction circuit 25.

The image reduction circuit 25 generates a thumbnail image of the video signal input from the delay circuit 24 in synchronization with the timing signal supplied from the timing signal generation circuit 22, and outputs the thumbnail image to the modulation circuit 5.

Next, the operation of the thumbnail recording system of the DVR will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The thumbnail image recording process is started in response to a recording command from the user, and includes a tuner 2, a modulation circuit 3,
It is executed in parallel with the processing of the program recording system comprising the write circuit 7 and ends when the processing of the program recording system ends.

In step S1, the CM detection circuit 21 of the thumbnail image creation circuit 4 detects a CM on a frame basis using the video signal, the audio signal, and the audio multiplex mode signal input from the tuner 2, and detects the detection result. To the timing signal generation circuit 22. In addition, this CM
Details of the detection processing will be described later.

In step S2, the timing signal generation circuit 22 generates a timing signal using the CM detection result input from the CM detection circuit 21 and the one-minute periodic signal input from the timer 23, Image reduction circuit 2
5 Further, the timing signal generation circuit 22
The information indicating the CM detection result input from the CM detection circuit 21 is output to the writing circuit 6. Details of the timing signal generation processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S11, the timing signal generation circuit 22 determines whether or not the processing of the program recording system has been completed. If it is determined that the processing of the program recording system has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S12. In step S12, the timing signal generation circuit 22 resets the timer 23.

In step S13, the timing signal generation circuit 22 determines whether or not the measurement time of the timer 23 has elapsed one minute. If it determines that the measurement time has not elapsed one minute, the timing signal generation circuit 22 proceeds to step S14. move on.

In step S14, the timing signal generation circuit 22 determines whether or not information indicating the start point of the CM has been input from the CM detection circuit 21. If it is determined that the information indicating the start point of the CM has not been input, the process returns to step S13. Then, in step S13,
If it is determined that the measurement time has passed one minute, the process proceeds to step S16.

In step S16, the timing signal generation circuit 22 outputs a timing signal to the image reduction circuit 25.

If it is determined in step S14 that the information indicating the start point of the CM has been input, the process proceeds to step S1.
Go to 5. In step S15, the timing signal generation circuit 22 determines whether information indicating the end point of the CM has been input from the CM detection circuit 21, and waits until it determines that the information indicating the end point of the CM has been input.

If it is determined in step S15 that the information indicating the end point of the CM has been input, the process proceeds to step S1.
Proceed to 6.

This timing signal generation processing is repeated until it is determined in step S11 that the processing of the program recording system has been completed.

FIG. 5 shows a timing signal generation timing by the above-described timing signal generation processing. That is, in the main part of the television broadcast, a timing signal is generated at a predetermined interval (in this embodiment, one minute interval), and no timing signal is generated in a section from the CM start point to the CM end point. Immediately after the CM end point, a timing signal is generated again at predetermined intervals (one minute intervals).

Returning to the description of FIG. In step S3, the image reduction circuit 25
Delay circuit 2 in synchronization with the timing signal
A thumbnail image is generated from a television broadcast video signal input through the input unit 4. Details of the thumbnail image generation processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In step S21, the image reduction circuit 2
5 extracts a still image (frame image) from the television broadcast video signal input via the delay circuit 24 in synchronization with the timing signal input from the timing signal generation circuit 22.

In step S22, the image reduction circuit 2
5 performs low-pass filter processing to remove high-frequency components of the spatial frequency of the still image extracted in step S21. In step S23, the image reduction circuit 25
The pixel of the still image from which the high-frequency component has been removed is thinned out at a predetermined interval to reduce the size of the still image by a predetermined size, and the obtained thumbnail image is output to the modulation circuit 5.

Returning to step S4 in FIG. In step S4, the modulation circuit 5 modulates the data of the thumbnail image input from the thumbnail image creation circuit 4 by a predetermined method, and outputs the data to the writing circuit 6. The writing circuit 6 records the modulated thumbnail image data on the recording medium 8.

FIG. 7 shows a screen obtained by monitoring the operation of the thumbnail recording system of the DVR in real time. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7A, in steps S1 to S4 of the thumbnail image recording process (FIG. 3), the main image thumbnail image which is not a CM is periodically recorded on the recording medium 8, but as shown in FIG. As shown in B), a thumbnail image of a CM may be recorded on the recording medium 8 due to a delay in processing of each unit.

Therefore, in step S5, the write circuit 6 uses the information indicating the CM detection result of the CM detection circuit 21 input from the timing signal generation circuit 22 as shown in FIG. The thumbnail image of the CM erroneously recorded on the recording medium 8 is deleted. As shown in FIG. 7D, the thumbnail image immediately after the end of the commercial is displayed at the position where the thumbnail of the deleted CM section was displayed.

Here, the CM detection circuit 21 of FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 8 shows a configuration example of the CM detection circuit 21. In the CM detection circuit 21, the audio multiplex mode signal input from the tuner 2 is supplied to a CM section detection unit 36, the video signal is supplied to a delay unit 34 and a scene change detection unit 35, and the audio signal is A / D converted. It is supplied to the unit 32.

The silence threshold value determining section 31 calculates a threshold value used for the silent section detecting process using the audio signal digitized by the A / D conversion section 32 and supplies it to the silent section detecting section 33.

The silent section detecting section 33 detects a silent section by comparing the level of the digitized audio signal input from the A / D converting section 32 with the threshold value supplied from the silent threshold determining section 31. Then, the result is output to the scene change detection unit 35.

The scene change detecting section 35 includes two frame images (current frame and delay section 34) which are simultaneously inputted.
, The presence or absence of a scene change in a silent section is detected, and the result is output to the CM section detecting section 36.

The CM section detection unit 36 binarizes the audio multiplex mode signal and the scene change information supplied from the scene change detection unit 35 for each frame, stores them in a built-in memory, and based on the information. Detect CM section,
The start point and end point of the CM section are output to the timing signal generation circuit 22. Note that information for the past minute is stored in a memory incorporated in the CM section detection unit 36. In that case, the capacity of the built-in memory is 60 (seconds) × 30 (frames) × 2 (data) × 1 (bits).

Next, the operation of the CM detection circuit 21 will be described.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The CM detection process is started when each signal is input from the tuner 2 to the CM detection circuit 21. In step S31, the silence threshold value determination unit 31 of the CM detection circuit 21 outputs the threshold value used for the silent interval detection process (step S32) to the silent interval detection unit 33.

Here, the silence threshold value determination processing will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S41, the A / D conversion unit 32 outputs the audio signal (analog) for a predetermined minute time input from the tuner 2
Is digitized at a predetermined sampling frequency and a predetermined quantization level, and the obtained digital audio signal (for example, FIG. 11A) is output to the silence threshold value determination unit 31. The silence threshold value determining unit 31 determines in step S42 that the A / D conversion unit 3
The digital audio signal input from step 2 is converted into an absolute value as shown in FIG. 11 (B), and in step S43, the average value of the level of the sample converted into the absolute value (FIG. 11 (C)) is calculated.

In step S44, the silence threshold value determining section 31 compares the average value obtained in step S43 with the threshold value stored so far, and stores the smaller value as a new threshold value.

In step S45, the silence threshold value determining section 31 determines whether or not the processing of steps S41 to S44 has been performed on all the channels, and determines that the processing has not been performed on all the channels. If so, the process proceeds to step S46. In step S46, the silence threshold determining unit 31 outputs a channel switching signal to the tuner 2. The channel is switched according to the channel switching signal.

Thereafter, in step S45, when it is determined that the processes of steps S41 to S44 have been executed for all the channels, the silence threshold value determination process ends. This silence threshold value determination process is repeatedly executed at predetermined intervals (for example, every 10 minutes).

It should be noted that the silence threshold value determination processing may be performed by a method other than the above-described method. For example, at the broadcast start time and broadcast end time of each channel, the audio signal is received, and a predetermined offset value Δ is added to its level n, although there is a video signal but the level of the audio signal is definitely 0. The value n + Δ may be used as the silence threshold. However, it is assumed that the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time of each channel are known.

Returning to FIG. In step S32, the silent section detecting unit 33 detects a silent section based on the threshold value input from the silent threshold determining unit 31 in step S31. Details of the silent section detection processing will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In step S51, the A / D converter 32
Is a digital audio signal (for example, FIG. 11A) obtained by digitizing an audio signal (analog) for a predetermined minute time inputted from the tuner 2 at a predetermined sampling frequency and a predetermined quantization level. To the silence threshold determining unit 31
Output to In step S52, the silence section detection unit 33 converts the digital audio signal input from the A / D conversion unit 32 into an absolute value as shown in FIG.
At 53, an average value of the absolute value of the sample level (FIG. 11C) is calculated.

In step S54, the silence threshold determining unit 31 determines whether the average obtained in step S53 is smaller than the threshold input from the silence threshold deciding unit 31, and the average is smaller than the threshold. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S55. In step S55, the silent section detecting section 33 determines that the section is a silent section, and outputs the information to the scene change detecting section 35.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S54 that the average value is not smaller than the threshold value,
Proceed to 56. In step S56, the silent section detecting section 33 determines that this section is not a silent section (it is a sound section), and outputs the information to the scene change detecting section 35.

Returning to step S33 in FIG. In step S33, the scene change detection unit 35
A scene change in two frames before and after the input frame is detected, and the result is output to the CM section detection unit 36. For details of the scene change detection process, see FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In step S61, the scene change detecting section 35 determines whether or not the information input from the silent section detecting section 33 indicates a silent section, and the input information is the information indicating the silent section. If it is determined that there is, the process proceeds to step S62.

In step S62, the scene change detection unit 35 calculates a correlation value E between the two preceding and succeeding frame images. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14, an image (delayed image) input via the delay unit 34
Then, the sum of the absolute values of the pixel values of the corresponding pixels of the image (through image) input without passing through the delay unit 34 is calculated as the correlation value E by the following equation. E = Σ | Dij−Sij
| However, Dij and Sij represent the pixel values of the coordinates (i, j) of the delayed image or the through image, respectively. The correlation value E increases as the degree of correlation between frames decreases, and decreases as the degree of correlation between frames increases.

In step S63, the scene change detecting section 35 determines whether or not the correlation value E obtained in step S62 is larger than a predetermined threshold, and the correlation value E is larger than the predetermined threshold (inter-frame (The degree of correlation is small), the process proceeds to step S64.

In step S64, the scene change detecting section 35 determines that there is a scene change between the two frames immediately before and after the inputted frame, and outputs the information to the C frame.
It outputs to the M section detection unit 36.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S63 that the correlation value E is not larger than the predetermined threshold value (the degree of correlation between frames is large), the process proceeds to step S65.

In step S65, the scene change detecting section 35 determines that there is no scene change between the two frames before and after the input frame, and outputs the information to the CM section detecting section 36.

If it is determined in step S61 that the information is not information indicating a silent section, the information is determined to be CM information.
It is output to the section detection unit 36.

The process returns to step S34 in FIG. In step S34, the CM section detection section 36 determines the CM section based on the audio multiplex mode signal for each frame in the past minute stored in the built-in memory and stored in the memory and the information from the scene change detection section 35. judge.

That is, as shown in FIG. 15, the memory incorporated in the CM section detection unit 36 has a stereo mode of 1, a monaural mode and a bilingual mode for an audio multiplex mode signal (Audio_Multi []). Regarding the information (Scene_Change []) input from the scene change detection unit 35 and recorded as 0, 1 is recorded in a frame that is a scene change and 0 is recorded in a frame that is not a scene change.

The CM section detection unit 36 refers to the built-in memory and, as shown in FIG. 16A, a section (scene change point) for each frame (scene change point) in which a signal indicating a scene change is 1. Scene change sections 0 to 10), and the number of frames constituting each scene change section is 3
By dividing by zero, the time of the section is calculated.
Also, as shown in FIG. 16B, the CM section detection unit 36 sets a continuous frame in which the audio multiplex mode signal is 1 as a stereo section. Further, the CM section detection unit 3
6 shows a case where the time of a single scene change section or the total time of a plurality of adjacent scene change sections is an integral multiple of 15 seconds and is a stereo section as shown in FIG. It determines that the section is a section, and outputs a signal indicating the start point and end point of the CM section to the timing signal generation circuit 22.

As described above, in the thumbnail image recording processing of the DVR to which the present invention is applied, only the main part of the television broadcast is periodically reflected, especially immediately after the end of the CM which often strongly reflects the contents of the main part. Is recorded, the thumbnail image recorded on the recording medium 8 is useful when grasping the contents of the main part or searching.

It should be noted that the computer program for performing each of the above processes can be provided to the user via a network medium such as the Internet or a digital satellite, in addition to a medium such as a magnetic disk or a CD-ROM. it can.

[0070]

As described above, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first aspect, the information recording / reproducing method according to the third aspect, and the providing medium according to the fourth aspect, the information is included in the television broadcast. A commercial image is detected, a periodic timing signal is generated in a period that is not the detected commercial, and a reduced image of a television broadcast video signal is generated in synchronization with the timing signal. Only to be recorded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a DVR to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a thumbnail image creation circuit 4 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a thumbnail image recording process of the DVR.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the timing signal generation circuit 22 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a timing signal generation timing.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a thumbnail image generation process in step S3 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a thumbnail image recording process of the DVR.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a CM detection circuit 21 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the CM detection circuit 21.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a silence threshold value determining unit 31 of FIG. 8;

11 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the silence threshold value determining section 31 in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a silent section detection process in step S32 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a scene change detection process in step S33 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a scene change detection process.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining information recorded in a memory incorporated in the CM section detection unit 36.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining processing of a CM section detection unit 36;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 tuner, 3 modulation circuit, 4 thumbnail image creation circuit, 5 modulation circuit, 6,7 writing circuit,
8, 9 recording medium, 10, 11 reading circuit,
21 CM detection circuit, 22 timing signal generation circuit, 23 timer, 24 delay circuit, 25 image reduction circuit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Katsunari Miyata 6-35-3 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Toshimichi Hamada 6-35-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation F term (reference) 5C052 AA01 AA17 CC02 CC20 DD10

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a television broadcast program, comprising: detecting means for detecting a commercial included in the television broadcast; Generating means for generating a timing signal; generating means for generating a reduced image of the video signal of the television broadcast in synchronization with the timing signal; and recording means for recording the reduced image generated by the generating means on a recording medium. An information recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: 2. The information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generating means generates the timing signal immediately after the end of the commercial. 3. An information recording / reproducing method for an information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a television broadcast program, comprising: a detecting step of detecting a commercial included in the television broadcast; A generation step of periodically generating a timing signal in a period; a generation step of generating a reduced image of the video signal of the television broadcast in synchronization with the timing signal; and a storage medium storing the reduced image generated in the generation step. And a recording step of recording. 4. An information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing a television broadcast program, comprising: a detecting step of detecting a commercial included in the television broadcast; A generating step of generating a timing signal; a generating step of generating a reduced image of the video signal of the television broadcast in synchronization with the timing signal; and a recording step of recording the reduced image generated in the generating step on a recording medium. A computer-readable storage medium for providing a computer-readable program for executing a process including: