JP2001157147A - Digital recording and reproducing device having animation thumbnail display function and method for displaying the animation thumbnail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a thumbnail display by a moving image, in the case of thumbnail display in a digital recording and reproducing device. SOLUTION: Data are recorded in the format of an OPF in an HDD 119. In the case of thumbnail display, a list of titles recorded on the basis of the title file information of the OPF is prepared and displayed. Title file information corresponding to a title selected by a user is retrieved and digital data discretely recorded in a container unit are subjected to fast forwarding reproduction, on the basis of the retrieved title file information. When the user changes or decides the title selection, the fast forwarding reproduction of the digital data is stopped.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital recording / reproducing apparatus having a moving image thumbnail display function and a moving image thumbnail display method, and more particularly, to a randomly accessible recording medium such as a hard disk or a magneto-optical recording medium. The present invention relates to a digital recording / reproducing apparatus having a moving image thumbnail display function and a moving image thumbnail displaying method, which can execute recording and reproduction of digital data by using the function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as a recording and reproducing apparatus for data such as a television signal, a digital recording and reproducing apparatus using a randomly accessible recording medium such as a magneto-optical recording medium and a hard disk has been proposed. Some of these digital recording / reproducing apparatuses include, for example, one system of recording channels, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-138318.
There has been proposed a device that has a function of reproducing data recorded while executing a recording operation on a recording medium by providing one system of reproduction channels.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional digital recording / reproducing apparatus, the Graphical User
When displaying thumbnails using Interface (hereinafter, GUI), only thumbnails using still images are displayed.

The present invention relates to a digital recording / reproducing apparatus and a moving image thumbnail display method capable of displaying thumbnails of moving images using a recording medium adopting a file format in which discretely recorded data can be easily managed and processed. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a digital recording / reproducing apparatus having a moving image thumbnail display function for recording and reproducing digital data on a randomly accessible recording medium. A first area for discretely recording digital data for each basic operation unit, and a second area for recording title file information for linking the basic operation unit of digital data discretely recorded for each title. Region. The digital recording / reproducing apparatus responds to the user's instruction, creates a list of titles recorded on the recording medium based on the title file information, and outputs the list for display, and responds to the user's instruction. Means for selecting a title from the list, means for searching for title file information corresponding to the selected title from the second area, and means for searching for the first area based on the searched title file information. A means for fast-forwarding playback of digital data discretely recorded in basic operation units and a means for stopping fast-forward playback of digital data in response to a change or determination of selection of the title by a user.

Preferably, the means for fast-forward playback of digital data includes means for skipping and playing back a basic operation unit of digital data linked by the searched title file information for every predetermined number of basic operation units.

[0007] More preferably, when the fast-forward reproduction of the digital data based on the retrieved title file information is completed, there is further provided a means for repeating the fast-forward reproduction of the digital data based on the same title file information.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a moving image thumbnail display method in a digital recording / reproducing apparatus using a randomly accessible recording medium, wherein the recording medium discretely stores digital data for each basic operation unit. A moving image thumbnail display method includes a first area for recording, and a second area for recording title file information that links basic operation units of digital data recorded discretely for each title. Creating a list of titles recorded on the recording medium based on the title file information in response to the user's instruction, and outputting the list for display; Selecting a title from the second area, and searching for the title file information corresponding to the selected title from the second area. Fast-forward playback of digital data discretely recorded in the first area in basic operation units based on the retrieved title file information; and responding to a change or determination of the selection of the title by the user. Stopping fast-forward playback of digital data.

Preferably, the step of fast-forward reproducing the digital data includes a step of skipping and reproducing the basic operation units of the digital data linked by the retrieved title file information for every predetermined number of basic operation units.

[0010] More preferably, the method further comprises a step of repeating fast-forward playback of digital data based on the same title file information when fast-forward playback of digital data based on the retrieved title file information is completed.

According to the present invention, by using a file format in which discretely recorded data can be easily managed and processed, thumbnail display with moving images can be realized for a randomly accessible recording medium. Can be.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Overall Configuration of Digital Recording / Reproducing Apparatus] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, signal lines indicated by thick lines are signal lines indicating the flow of video and / or audio data, and signal lines indicated by thin lines are signal lines indicating the flow of control signals.

Referring to FIG. 1, a signal wave of a television broadcast, for example, received by antenna 100 is given to tuners 102 and 103 in common.

The tuner 102 selects a signal wave of one channel specified by the user from the signal waves received by the antenna 100, demodulates the signal wave into an analog television signal including a video signal and an audio signal, and selects
04 to one input. The other input of the selector 104 is connected to an external input terminal 101 to which various external television signal sources such as a video tape recorder (VTR) and a camcorder can be connected.

The selector 104 selects one of the output from the tuner 102 and the input from the external input terminal 101 and supplies the selected signal to the A / D converter 105 and also to one input of the graphic controller 124.
Generally, the selector 104 selects the input from the external input terminal 101 when some external signal source is connected to the external input terminal 101, and selects the output of the tuner 102 when not connected.

The A / D converter 105 includes a selector 10
The video signal and the audio signal of the analog television signal output from 4 are converted into digital signals, and the digital video signal is supplied to the MPEG2 video encoder 107 and the digital audio signal is supplied to the audio encoder 109.

The MPEG2 video encoder 107 compresses a given digital video signal and performs a
The signal is supplied to the demultiplexer 111, and the audio encoder 109 compresses the supplied digital audio signal and supplies the compressed digital audio signal to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111. The multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 multiplexes the supplied video signal stream and audio signal stream and converts them into an MPEG2 system stream.

On the other hand, the tuner 103 includes the antenna 100
1 from the signal wave received by
A signal radio wave of one channel is selected, demodulated into an analog television signal composed of a video signal and an audio signal, and A / A
The signal is supplied to the D converter 106 and to another input of the graphic controller 124.

The A / D converter 106 includes a tuner 10
The video signal and the audio signal of the analog television signal output from 3 are converted into digital signals, and the digital video signal is supplied to the MPEG2 video encoder 108 and the digital audio signal is supplied to the audio encoder 110.

The MPEG2 video encoder 108 compresses a given digital video signal and converts it into a multiplexer / demultiplexer.
The audio signal is supplied to the demultiplexer 111, and the audio encoder 110 compresses the supplied digital audio signal and supplies the compressed digital audio signal to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111. The multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 multiplexes the supplied video signal stream and audio signal stream and converts them into an MPEG2 system stream.

This digital recording / reproducing apparatus has a hard disk drive (hereinafter, HDD) 1 having a built-in hard disk as an example of a randomly accessible recording medium.
19 is removably mounted. In the following description, this single HDD 119 itself will be regarded as a writable and readable recording medium for convenience. This HDD 119
Writing data to and reading data from the HDD 119 are executed by the HDD controller module 118 as described later.

A first data bus including a buffer memory 116 in the middle and a second data bus including a buffer memory 117 in the middle are provided between the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 and the HDD controller module 118. Are provided.

In addition, digital data from another device externally connected via a digital input 128 can be input to the buffer memory 116, while the digital data in the buffer memory 117 is the digital output 1
29, it is possible to output to another device externally connected.

Therefore, as will be described later, the MPEG2 system stream data is transmitted between the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111, the HDD controller module 118, the digital input 128 and the digital output 129 via the buffer memories 116 and 117. Will be exchanged.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
Is the M received from buffer memories 116 and 117
The PEG2 system stream is demultiplexed into a video signal stream and an audio signal stream, and the former is supplied to an MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the latter to an audio decoder 113.

The MPEG2 video decoder 112 decodes the supplied video signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 114, and the audio decoder 113 decodes the supplied audio signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 114. give. The D / A converter 114 is
The applied signals are converted into analog signals, respectively, and an analog television signal including a video signal and an audio signal is supplied to another input of the graphic controller 124.

The graphic controller 124 includes a selector 104, a tuner 103, and a D / A converter 1
14 and select one of the analog television signals given to the television monitor 126 connected to the outside of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
The operation of the graphic controller 124 is controlled by a control signal provided from the system controller 120.

The digital recording / reproducing apparatus includes a digital input 128 and a digital output 129.
Control signal from the system controller 120 is connected to a system controller (not shown) of another device via the digital input 128 (thin line) when the external device is connected to the system controller (not shown). Is supplied to the system controller 120 of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus via the digital output 129 (thin line).

A user interface 122, a memory 121, and a real-time clock module 127 are connected to the system controller 120.

The basic operation principle of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1, such as recording, reproducing, erasing, etc., is related to the file format of the recording medium (hard disk in the embodiment) used in the present invention. The characteristic operation of the present invention will be described first with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1 and the timing diagrams of FIGS.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the digital recording / reproducing apparatus has at least two MPEG2 encoding circuits (MPEG2 video encoders 107 and 108) and at least one MPEG2 decoding circuit. System (MPEG2 video decoder 11
2) It is possible to simultaneously operate any two of these systems while maintaining real-time properties.

[Normal Recording Function] First, FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the recording operation of one channel of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.

At the time of normal (timer) recording, for example, the user selects the channel of the television program to be recorded, the recording start time,
The recording end time is set by operating the user interface 122. For example, if channel 1 is set to record from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, the system controller 120 designates the tuner 103 as channel 1 at 8:00 pm based on information from the real-time clock module 127, The tuner 103 selects and demodulates the signal radio wave of the channel 1 from the signal radio wave received by the antenna 100.

The demodulated signal is supplied to the A / D converter 106, the MPEG2 video encoder 108,
Audio encoder 110 and multiplexer /
The data is converted into an MPEG2 system stream via the demultiplexer 111.

The system controller 120 selects the first data bus including the buffer memory 116, and the MPEG2 system stream is transmitted to the HDD controller module 11 via the buffer memory 116 in response to the selection.
8 given. HDD controller module 118
Writes data into the HDD 119 using an interface command with the HDD 119.

In FIG. 2, (a) shows a time axis,
(B) shows the write processing time from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the buffer memory 116, and (c)
Indicates a write processing time from the buffer memory 116 to the HDD 119 via the HDD controller module 118.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
Is continuously sent to the buffer memory 116 provided on the first data bus at the bit rate of the system stream.

The amount of data in the buffer memory 116 is H
When the data amount is monitored by the DD controller module 118 and exceeds a certain threshold value, a process of writing the data amount corresponding to the threshold value to the HDD 119 is performed. Since the writing speed to the HDD 119 is higher than the bit rate of the system stream,
The processing time for writing to the HDD 119 by the controller module 118 is short. That is, the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 at the time indicated by the thick line in FIG.
The amount of data transferred from the
The amount of data transmitted from the buffer memory 116 to the HDD 119 at the time indicated by the thick line in (c) is the same.

As described above, the recording of the channel 1 is performed from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and the recording ends at 10:00 pm.

[Normal Playback Function] FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the playback operation of one channel of the digital recording / playback apparatus shown in FIG.

At the time of normal reproduction, for example, the user operates the user interface 122 to instruct reproduction of a desired title. The system controller 120 responds accordingly to the HDD controller module 118 by setting H
An instruction to read data of a desired title from the DD 119 is issued.

At this time, the system controller 120
Selects the first data bus including the buffer memory 116, and the data read from the HDD 119 in response thereto is transferred to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 via the HDD controller module 118 and the buffer memory 116. .

In FIG. 3, (a) shows a time axis,
(B) reads data from the HDD 119 via the HDD controller module 118 and stores the data in the buffer memory 1.
16 shows the processing time for writing to the memory 16, and (c) shows the processing time for writing from the buffer memory 116 to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111.

When the reproduction start is instructed by the system controller 120, the HDD controller module 1
Reference numeral 18 performs a process of reading data from the HDD 119 and writing the data to the buffer memory 116. At this time, the HDD controller module 118 monitors the amount of data in the buffer memory 116 and, when the amount of data falls below a certain threshold, reads out a certain amount of data from the HDD 119 and writes it in the buffer memory 116.

Data writing from buffer memory 116 to multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 is performed constantly at the bit rate of the system stream. Since the reading speed from the HDD 119 is higher than the bit rate of the MPEG2 system stream,
The processing time for writing into the buffer memory 116 by the D controller module 118 is short.

That is, the amount of data transferred from the HDD 119 to the buffer memory 116 at the time shown by the bold line in FIG. 3B, and the amount of data transferred from the buffer memory 116 to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 11 at the time shown by the bold line in FIG.
1 is the same as the amount of data transferred.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
The video signal and the audio signal demultiplexed in are transmitted to the MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the audio decoder 113, respectively.

The video signal decoded by the MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the audio signal decoded by the audio decoder 113 are D / A
The signal is converted into an analog television signal by the converter 114 and is reproduced and displayed on an external television monitor 126 via the graphic controller 124.

[2 Channel Simultaneous Recording Function] Next, FIG.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining a simultaneous recording operation of two channels of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.

At the time of simultaneous recording of two channels, the user operates the user interface 122 to set the channel of the television program to be recorded, the recording start time, and the recording end time. For example, if channel 1 is set to record from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm and channel 3 is set to record from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm, the system controller 120 uses the information from the real-time clock module 127 to record. At 8:00 pm, tuner 10
3 is designated as channel 1, and the tuner 103 selects and demodulates the signal radio wave of channel 1 from the signal radio wave received by the antenna 100.

The demodulated signal is supplied to the A / D converter 106, MPEG2 video encoder 108,
Audio encoder 110 and multiplexer /
The data is converted into an MPEG2 system stream via the demultiplexer 111.

At this point, since the first data bus including the buffer memory 116 and the second data bus including the buffer memory 117 are not used, the system controller 120 transmits the first data bus including the buffer memory 116 to the first data bus including the buffer memory 116. The bus is selected, and the MPEG2 system stream is transferred from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the HDD controller module 118 via the buffer memory 116 in response to the selection of the bus. The HDD controller module 118 writes data to the HDD 119 using an interface command with the HDD 119.

The system controller 120, based on information from the real-time clock module 127,
At 9:00 pm, the tuner 102 is designated as the channel 3, and the tuner 102 selects and demodulates the signal radio wave of the channel 3 from the signal radio wave received by the antenna 100.

As described above, the demodulated signal is sent to the selector 104, the A / D converter 105, the MPEG2 video encoder 107, the audio encoder 109, and the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to output the M signal.
It is converted to a PEG2 system stream.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
Since the first data bus including the buffer memory 116 is already used for recording channel 1 from 8:00 pm, the system controller 120
A second data bus including the buffer memory 117 is selected, and accordingly, the MPEG2 system stream is
HDD controller module 1 from multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 via buffer memory 117
18 given. HDD controller module 11
8 writes data into the HDD 119 using an interface command with the HDD 119.

At this time, the HDD controller module 118 converts the two MPEG2 system streams into two streams.
The data is alternately written to the HDD 119 in units of a fixed length. That is, the system stream data of channel 1 is read from the buffer memory 116 and the HDD 119
During the period in which the system stream data of channel 3 is accumulated in the buffer memory 117, while the system stream data of channel 3 is read from the buffer memory 117 and written in the HDD 119,
Channel 1 system stream data is stored in the buffer memory 116. As described above, from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm, a state in which two channels of channel 1 and channel 3 are simultaneously recorded continues.

In FIG. 4, (a) shows a time axis,
(B) shows the write processing time from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the buffer memory 116,
(C) shows the write processing time from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the buffer memory 117,
(D) shows the write processing time from the buffer memory 116 to the HDD 119 via the HDD controller module 118, and (e) shows the write processing time from the buffer memory 117 to H
HDD1 via the DD controller module 118
19 shows the processing time for writing to the N.19.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the start of the first recording for channel 1 is instructed, the recording processing described with reference to FIG. 2 is performed. Thereafter, when the start of the second recording for channel 3 is instructed, both the writing process from buffer memory 116 and the writing process from buffer memory 117 are performed on HDD 119. Arbitration of these two writing processes is performed by the HDD controller module 118.

As specifically shown in FIG. 4, when the data amount of the buffer memory 117 exceeds a certain threshold after the start of the second recording, the HDD 119 is in a usable state. Data write processing is performed. While this process is being performed, the data amount in the buffer memory 116 exceeds the threshold value, and writing to the HDD 119 is requested. However, since the HDD 119 is in use, H
The process waits until the writing process of the DD 119 is completed. When the writing from the buffer memory 117 to the HDD 119 is completed, the writing process from the buffer memory 116 is started.

Conversely, after the start of the second recording, when the amount of data in the buffer memory 117 exceeds the threshold, the HDD 1
If 19 is in use, the process of writing from buffer memory 117 to HDD 119 is performed after waiting until it becomes available. After the simultaneous recording of the two channels as described above, the recording of channel 1 ends at 10:00 pm
At 11:00 pm, recording on channel 3 ends.

As described below, data transfer is performed at a high speed between the HDD controller module 118 and the HDD 119, so that the two buffer memories 116 and 11
7, real-time recording of two streams of MPEG2 system stream data can be realized.

The capacity of each buffer memory depends on the unit block length of write / read, HDD controller module 118
Data transfer rate between HDD and HDD 119, MPEG2
, And the worst value of the seek time of the HDD 119. This calculation will be described later in detail.

The memory 121 stores a file system for managing a free area of the HDD 119 and managing files. Therefore, the logical address to which the system stream is to be written / read next is determined by the file system
It is specified to the controller module 118. As a result,
Even when recording two channels simultaneously, the file system manages the logical address to be recorded next.
The DD controller module 118 may write / read data to / from the logical address specified by the system controller 120. The management by the file system will be described later in detail.

In the above-described example, simultaneous recording of two channels of television broadcasting has been described, but the external input terminal 101 shown in FIG.
When a VTR, camcorder, or the like is connected to the system, the system controller 120 instructs the selector 104 to select external input. As a result, the television broadcast HDD
It is also possible to simultaneously perform dubbing from the external television signal source to the HDD 119 via the external input terminal 101 while recording to the HDD 119 via the tuner 103.

[Chase Playback Function] FIG. 5 is a timing chart for explaining the so-called chase playback function of the digital recording / playback apparatus shown in FIG.

The so-called "chasing playback" refers to a function of simultaneously playing back a recorded program while recording a television broadcast.

For example, the user sets channel 1 to 8 pm
If you set to record from 10:00 to 10:00 pm,
At 8:00 pm, the system controller 120 designates the tuner 103 as channel 1 based on the information from the real-time clock module 127, and
03 selects and demodulates the signal radio wave of channel 1 from the signal radio wave received by the antenna 100.

As described above, the demodulated signal is A / D
Converter 106, MPEG2 video encoder 10
8, the audio stream is converted into an MPEG2 system stream via the audio encoder 110 and the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111.

At this point, since both data buses are not used, the system controller 120
Selects the first data bus including the buffer memory 116, and accordingly, the MPEG2 system stream is transferred from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the HDD controller module 118 via the buffer memory 116. The HDD controller module 118 writes data to the HDD 119 using an interface command with the HDD 119.

When the user returns home at 9:00 pm and wants to view the title of channel 1 being recorded from the beginning, the user operates the user interface 122 to instruct reproduction of the title being recorded. In response, the system controller 120
Corresponds to the HDD controller module 118.
Instruct the reading of the title being recorded from D119.

At this time, since the first data bus via the buffer memory 116 has already been used between the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 and the HDD controller module 118, the second data bus via the buffer memory 117 is used. The instruction to use is given by the system controller 120.

The data read from HDD 119 is H
DD controller module 118, buffer memory 1
17 through the multiplexer / demultiplexer 11
Transferred to 1.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
Demultiplexes the MPEG2 system stream received from the buffer memory 117 into a video signal stream and an audio signal stream, and
2 to the video decoder 112 and the latter to the audio decoder 113.

The MPEG2 video decoder 112 decodes the supplied video signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 114, and the audio decoder 113 decodes the supplied audio signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 114. give. The D / A converter 114 is
The supplied signals are converted into analog signals, respectively, and an analog television signal including a video signal and an audio signal is supplied to one input of the graphic controller 124.

The graphic controller 124 supplies the supplied analog television signal to a television monitor 126 connected to the outside of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus, and reproduces and displays the television signal.

By operating the user interface 122, the television signal output to the external television monitor 126 is converted into the television signal from the tuner 103, or the tuner 102 and the external input terminal 101 are switched by the selector 104. It is also possible to switch to the selected television signal for output display. Furthermore, from these three television signals, optionally, 2
By selecting one or three signals and performing clipping processing by the graphic controller 124, it is also possible to display them at once.

In the case of this chasing playback, the HDD controller module 118 alternately transmits the two MPEG2 system streams to the HDD 1 in units of a fixed length.
19 will be written / read. That is,
While the system stream data of channel 1 is read from the HDD 119 and written to the buffer memory 117, the system stream of channel 1 generated by the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 is accumulated in the buffer memory 116.

On the other hand, the system stream data of channel 1 is read out from buffer
While the data is being written to the MPEG-2 video decoder 112 and the audio decoder 113, the channel 1 system stream data stored in the buffer memory 117 is supplied via the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111.

With reference to the timing chart of FIG. 5, the chase reproduction operation using these two channels will be described in more detail. In FIG. 5, (a) shows a time axis,
(B) shows the write processing time from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to the buffer memory 116,
(C) shows the write processing time from the buffer memory 116 to the HDD 119 via the HDD controller module 118, and (d) shows the data read from the HDD 119 via the HDD controller module 118 and writes it to the buffer memory 117. (E) shows the processing time.
The write processing time from the buffer memory 117 to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 is shown.

When recording start is instructed, the recording process described with reference to FIG. 2 is performed. Thereafter, when a reproduction start is instructed, the reproduction processing described with reference to FIG. 3 is performed. At this time, both the writing process from the buffer memory 116 and the reading process for transferring the data to the buffer memory 117 are performed on the HDD 119. Arbitration of these two processes is performed by the HDD controller module 118.

Specifically, in FIG. 5, when the reproduction is started, the HDD 1
Since 19 is in a usable state, a process of reading data from the HDD 119 and writing it to the buffer memory 117 is performed. While this processing is being performed, the amount of data in the buffer memory 116 exceeds the threshold, and the HDD 119
May be required. However, in this case, since the HDD 119 is in use, writing is waited until the processing is completed.

When the reading of data from HDD 119 is completed, the writing process from buffer memory 116 is started. Conversely, if the HDD 119 is in use at the start of the reproduction, the data is read from the HDD 119 and written to the buffer memory 117 after waiting until the HDD 119 becomes usable.

As described above, from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm, the recording of channel 1 and the reproduction of the title of channel 1 being recorded are being performed simultaneously. At 10:00 pm, recording of channel 1 ends, and playback of the title recorded at 11:00 pm ends.

In this chasing reproduction, data transfer is performed at a high speed between the HDD controller module 118 and the HDD 119.
Only by providing 16 and 117, real-time recording / reproduction of two MPEG2 system streams can be realized. The capacity of each buffer memory and the unit block length of writing / reading necessary for each buffer memory not to be empty during reproduction are determined by the HDD controller module 118.
Data transfer rate between the HDD and the HDD 119, and the HD
D119 and the worst value of the seek time.

[Other Recording / Reproducing Functions] In the above example,
I explained the chase playback of the title being recorded,
While a certain title is being recorded, another previously recorded title may be reproduced, or while a certain title is being reproduced, timer recording of a certain channel may be started.

Since the buffer memory 117 is also connected to the digital output 129, the HDD 11
9 can be output to the digital output 129 via the buffer memory 117 via the MPEG2 system stream read via the HDD controller module 118. Alternatively, a television signal obtained by selecting either an input television signal from the tuner 103 or an output of the tuner 102 and an input through the external input terminal 101 by the selector 104 is digitally compressed, and then subjected to multiplexer / demultiplexing. MPEG formed by multiplexing by the multiplexer 111
2 can also be output to the digital output 129 via the buffer memory 117.

Similarly, the buffer memory 116 is also connected to the digital input 128, so that the system stream input from the digital input 128 can be recorded on the HDD 119 via the buffer memory 116 and further via the HDD controller module 118. On the other hand, the data is demultiplexed by the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 via the buffer memory 116, and the video signal and the audio signal streams are decoded by the MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the audio decoder 113, respectively. It can be reproduced and displayed on the monitor 126. The two input / output buses passing through the buffer memories 116 and 117 can be arbitrarily designated through the user interface 122.

[System Configuration with Multiple Players] FIG.
Two players configured as the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in the block diagram of FIG. 1 are arranged, and the digital output 129 of one player is connected to the digital input 128 of the other player. And 1
Two system streams are simultaneously read from the HDDs 119 of one player, and one system stream is read from the buffer memory 116.
Is transferred to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 via the buffer memory 117, and the other system is output to the digital output 129 via the buffer memory 117.

Multiplexer / Demultiplexer 111
Are demultiplexed into a video signal stream and an audio signal stream, transferred to the MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the audio decoder 113, respectively, decoded, and output to the external television monitor 126. Playback is displayed.

On the other hand, the MPEG2 system stream output from the digital output 129 reaches the digital input 128 of another player by cable or wirelessly. The MPEG2 system stream input to the other player from here can be recorded on the HDD 119 via the buffer memory 116, further via the HDD controller module 118, or via the buffer memory 116. Then, the streams of the video signal and the audio signal are demultiplexed by the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 and decoded by the MPEG2 video decoder 112 and the audio decoder 113, respectively, and the television connected externally to the other player Monitor 1
It is also possible to reproduce and display it on.

When data is recorded on the HDD 119 of another player, the HDD 11 of another player
9 means that the data has been copied to the HDD 119 of another player. Also, the reproduced data is
When the data is decoded by one player and reproduced and displayed on the external television monitor, the HDD 1 of one player
19 data has been reproduced by another player, and 1
This means that the data in the HDD 119 of one player can be shared by a plurality of players.

In the embodiment shown in FIG.
Two data buses are running between the demultiplexer 111 and the HDD controller module 118. (System stream rate)
× N (N is an integer) is the HDD controller module 1
If the transfer rate of the data between the HDD 18 and the HDD 119 does not exceed, if the parameters such as the unit block length for writing / reading and the capacity of the buffer memory are tuned up, N streams can run simultaneously in real time. is there.

However, it is necessary to consider the worst value of the seek time of the HDD 119 between the transfer of the unit blocks. This will be described later in detail.

When N = 3, the multiplexer / demultiplexer 11 in the configuration of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.
Another buffer memory is inserted between the HDD controller module 118 and the HDD controller module 118 so that a total of three data buses run. In this case, in addition to the two-channel simultaneous recording described above, the reproduction of an arbitrary title being recorded or recorded in the HDD 119 can be simultaneously performed.

When a player is connected to one player, when each connected player has a bus of n streams, M = an streams are provided for all a players. I will run. The number N of buses of one player to which a player is connected is N = M. When N = M, the buffer memory is M between the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 and the HDD controller module 118 in the configuration of FIG.
The configuration is such that M buses each run.

Considering a configuration in which one player has (M-1) digital outputs, connecting this player to another (M-1) player enables the HDD 119 of this player to be connected. Can be shared with other (M-1) players.

[Overall Configuration of Simple Player] FIG.
HDD 1 of digital recording / reproducing apparatus (player) shown in FIG.
It is a block diagram of a client type simple player when 19 is a server.

Referring to FIG. 6, a signal wave of, for example, a television broadcast received by antenna 200 is provided to tuner 202, and tuner 202 converts the signal wave of one channel designated by the user from the received signal wave. The radio wave is selected, demodulated into an analog television signal including a video signal and an audio signal, and applied to one input of the selector 204. The other input of the selector 204 has an external input terminal 2 to which various external television signal sources can be connected.
01 is connected.

The selector 204 selects either the output from the tuner 202 or the input from the external input terminal 201 and gives it to one input of the graphic controller 224.

On the other hand, the MPEG2 system stream input from another externally connected player (FIG. 1) via the digital input 228 is transferred to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 211, and the multiplexer / demultiplexer 211 receives the stream. The MPEG2 system stream is demultiplexed into a video signal stream and an audio signal stream.
The latter is given to an audio decoder 213, and the latter to a video decoder 212.

The MPEG2 video decoder 212 decodes the supplied video signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 214. The audio decoder 213 decodes the supplied audio signal stream and supplies it to the D / A converter 214. give. The D / A converter 214
The supplied signals are converted into analog signals, respectively, and an analog television signal including a video signal and an audio signal is supplied to another input of the graphic controller 224.

The graphic controller 224 responds to an operation of the user interface 222 by the user.
As an output television signal to the television monitor 226, a television signal from the D / A converter 214 or an output of the tuner 202 and the external input terminal 201
Can be switched to one of the television signals selected by the selector 204 and displayed, and can be displayed at once by clipping both signals. It is.

The commands such as search, selection, deletion, timer reservation, reproduction start, pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop of the title to be reproduced from the HDD 119 (FIG. 1) on the server side are transmitted to the system controller 220. Are transmitted as commands to the server-side player via the digital input 228, and are received by the server-side digital output 129 (FIG. 1). The command is transferred to the server-side system controller 120 (FIG. 1), where the command is executed.

As described above, the digital input 128 and the digital output 129 of the player shown in FIG.
Regarding the digital input 228 of the simple player of
“Input” and “output” mean the direction of input and output of MPEG2 system stream data (thick line), respectively. Actually, in addition to these data, control commands such as start and stop of reproduction are also included. The transfer direction of these control commands (thin lines) is opposite to the transfer direction of stream data.

[Capacity of Buffer Memory] Next, as described above, the capacity C of the buffer memory, the unit block length L of writing / reading, and the HDD controller required for simultaneously handling a plurality of stream data in real time. The relationship between the worst case data transfer rate Bhdd between the module 118 and the HDD 119, the rate Bsys of the MPEG2 system stream, and the worst value Tw of the seek time of the HDD 119 will be described in detail.

However, the worst value Tw of the seek time is
It is not only the time required only for head seek, but also the error correction such as seek time, rotation waiting time, head switching time, ECC / EDC, etc., which is required from the start of seek to the start of actual data writing / reading. This is a time that takes into account all the worst values of the group delay such as the time required.

Assuming that the number of streams to be simultaneously processed is N, the following equation must be satisfied in order to maintain the real-time properties of all the streams.

Bhdd × Ts> N × (Tw + Ts) × Bsys (1) where Ts is a time required for writing / reading the unit block length L of writing / reading to / from the HDD 119, and Ts = L / Bhdd.

The above equation (1) is used to read (reproduce) data.
In the case of (1), the amount of data read in a unit block in a certain stream is within the sum of N seek times and N data write / read times required to process N streams. It means that it must be designed so that it is not consumed.

Furthermore, in the case of writing (recording) data,
In the worst case, the amount of data stored in the buffer memory during the time required to process N streams is N ×
(Tw + Ts) × Bsys.

Therefore, the capacity C of the buffer memory is
The following equation must be satisfied. C> N × (Tw + Ts) × Bsys (2) By performing a design that satisfies the above equations (1) and (2), it becomes possible to simultaneously process N streams in real time. However, Bhdd> N ×
N must be set within a range that satisfies Bsys.

[OPF] Next, the file format of the recording medium (the HDD 119 in the embodiment) used in the present invention will be described.

The file format described below is
For convenience, it is called Objective Pool Format (hereinafter, OPF). FIG. 7 is a diagram for schematically explaining the structure of the OPF file.

As shown in FIG. 7, the file format of the OPF is a real-time extent 301, a container information file 302, a title set file 3
03 and a title file 304. The role of each of the above files will be described below with reference to FIG.

(1) Container A container is a basic unit of data operation in the OPF. In the system of the present invention, each container is an MP
The data structure of the EG is closed, and data reproduction by the container alone is guaranteed. The size of the container in the system of the present invention is as follows: (Sector size of HDD 119) * 5376 = 512 bytes * 5376 = 2752512 bytes A container of this capacity stores video data and audio data for a certain period of time. . Note that in the system of the present invention, video data (Group
of Pictures (hereinafter, GOP) and audio data corresponding thereto are multiplexed by the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to form a system stream.

Since the number of pictures of one GOP is set to 15, the reproduction time of one container is as follows.

5 * (15/30) = 2.5 seconds Here, it is verified whether or not these parameters are guaranteed to be reproduced in container units.

In the above definition, assuming that the unit block (container) length of writing / reading is L = 27552512 bytes, the rate Bsys of the MPEG2 system stream
Is Bsys = L / 2.5 = 1110004 bytes / sec.

In the system of the present invention, the number of streams is N = 2 and the worst value of the seek time is T
Assuming that w = 50 ms and the worst case data transfer rate between the HDD controller module 118 and the HDD 119 is Bhdd = 5 MB / sec, Ts = L / Bhdd = 550 ms holds. Therefore, Bhdd * Ts = 5 × 10 ＾ 6 * 550 = 2.7 × 10
＾ 6 N * (Tw + Ts) * Bsys = 2 * (50 + 550)
* 1101004 = 1.32 × 10 ＾ 6 holds, which satisfies the above expression (1). Therefore, the reproduction of data in container units is guaranteed with these defined parameters.

(2) Real-time extent The real-time extent 301 is
MPEG2 created by demultiplexer 111
Is an area of the HDD 119 in which the above-described system stream is stored as the above-described container-based data. Therefore, the total capacity of the real-time extent 301 is
It is always an integral multiple of the capacity of a single container. Further, even in the HDD 119 that performs recording in sector units, the start address of the real-time extent 301 must be from an address corresponding to a container delimiter. This is because the disk space is regarded as an address space in units of containers in the container information file 302 described later.

(3) Container Information File The container information file 302 considers the real-time extent 301 of the recording area of the HDD 119 as an address space in container units, and stores container numbers (R0, R1, R
2,...) Are defined in order to manage the recording information of each container. When the number of references (link count) for each container is 0, it indicates that MPEG2 data is not recorded in the container from the beginning or that the user has performed a data erasing operation. Indicates that new data recording is possible. In the example of FIG. 7, containers R8 and R15 correspond to recordable containers. If the number of references (link count) is 1, it indicates that the container is referenced by at least one of the title files (MPEG2 data is stored) and that the container is not recordable. .

(4) Title File The title file 304 records link information about the title. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, header information and address information of the start position of the container to be referenced in the real-time extent 301 are sequentially recorded in each title file. In FIG. 7, the title file (title 0) 304-1 stores the start addresses of the real-time extents R0 to R3 and R6, and the title file (title 1) 304-2 stores the real-time extent R
4, R5, R7, and R9 to R12 are stored in the title file (title 2).
04-3 are real-time extents R13, R14,
The start address of each of R16 is stored.

(5) Title set file The title set file 303 is the title file 3
04 is a file for managing the file. The configuration includes header information and a start address of each title file in the HDD 119. In FIG. 7, the title 0 descriptor is a title file (title 0) 304-
1 is stored, and the title 1 descriptor is a title file (title 1) 304-2.
The title 2 descriptor stores the start address of the title file (title 2) 304-3.

[Recording / Reproducing Operation Using OPF]
The basic operation of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention using the above-described OPF file format will be described in detail.

The above OPF files are all H
Although recorded on the DD 19, when the digital recording / playback apparatus is started, the container information file 302 and the title set file 303 of the OPF are read out to the memory 121 and used for address control by the system controller 120. The updated contents of the file in the memory 121 are written into the file in the HDD 119 at an appropriate timing, and the OPF is updated.

(1) Recording Operation First, the operation for recording MPEG2 system stream data on the HDD 119 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the user operates the user interface 1
When the system controller 120 instructs recording by operating (Step S1), the system controller 120 refers to the container information file 302 read from the HDD 119 to secure a writable area (container) in the real-time extent 301 (Step S1). S2). That is, the container information file 302 is searched for a container whose reference number (link count) is 0. Then, in the case of the two-channel simultaneous recording described above, one is added to the number of the corresponding container for which the reference number of the container information file 302 was 0 so as not to be used by another recording procedure (step S3). Then, data for one container is written to the real-time extent 301 of the HDD 119 corresponding to the searched container number (step S).
4).

When a termination instruction is received from the user via the user interface 122 (step S5), the title file 304 is generated, the title set file 303 is updated, and the recording process is terminated (step S5).
6).

If there is no end instruction, step S2
Steps S5 to S5 are repeated. Note that the recording stop request from the user is instructed at an arbitrary timing after the start of recording, but this instruction request is temporarily stored in the memory 121 and is processed in step S5.

In the state shown in FIG. 7, when a recording instruction is received in step S1, the area (container) initially secured in step S2 is R8 having a reference number of 0. Then, in step S3, 1 is set in the R8 area of the container information file 302. Step S4
HDD1 at the start address of container R8
Multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 in area 19
Of the MPEG2 system stream data for one container. Then, in step S2, a region R15 next to the reference number 0 is secured, and the recording operation is repeated in the same manner. When an instruction to end recording is received in step S5, step S5 is performed.
In step 6, a title file (title 3) is generated.
Stores link information consisting of discretely recorded container numbers. Then, the title set file is updated, and the recording ends.

(2) Reproduction Operation Next, the operation for generating MPEG2 system stream data recorded on the HDD 119 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user operates the user interface 122 to specify a title to be reproduced (step S1).
1), the system controller 120 initializes a container pointer for reproduction (step S12). The container pointer is a pointer indicating which container is currently pointed in the corresponding title file.

Then, the corresponding title file 304 is selected from the title set file 303, the link information to the container referred to therein is scanned by the value of the container pointer, and the container to be reproduced is searched (step S13). . H corresponding to the searched container number
The data for one container is read from the real-time extent 301 in the disk area of the DD 119 and reproduced (step S14).

Here, when an end instruction is received from the user via the user interface 122 (step S1).
5) The end processing is performed, and the reproduction operation ends (step S18). The reproduction stop request from the user is instructed at an arbitrary timing after the reproduction is started, but the instruction request is temporarily stored in the memory 121 and is processed in step S15. If there is no end instruction, one is added to the container pointer to refer to the container to be reproduced next (step S16). Here, it is checked whether or not the container pointer has reached the end of the corresponding title file 304 (step S17). When the end of the title file has been reached, the process proceeds to the end process (step S18), and the process ends. When the container pointer has not reached the end of the title file 304, steps S13 to S17 are repeated.

A specific example will be described with reference to FIG. When an instruction to reproduce the title number 1 is received in step S11, the start address of the title file (title 1) is searched in step S13, and the container number R4 to be referred to is obtained. In step S14, H
1 from the address corresponding to the container number R4 of DD119
The data for the container is transferred to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111, and the data is reproduced. Step S
If no reproduction stop command is received in step 15, one is added to the container pointer in step S16.

Returning to step S13, the container number R5 indicated by the container pointer is obtained. Reproduction is performed by repeating the same procedure. Reproduction proceeds and container number R1
When 2 has been reproduced, when 1 is added to the container pointer in step S16, it is determined that the end of the title file has been reached in step S17, so the end processing of step S18 is performed, and the reproduction operation ends.

(3) Erasing Operation Next, the operation for erasing the MPEG2 system stream data recorded in the HDD 119 in units of title files 304 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user operates the user interface 122 to specify a title file to be deleted (step S21), the system controller 120 sets the HDD 1
The title file 304 to be deleted is searched from the title set file 303 stored in the file No. 19, and the link count of the container information file 302 corresponding to the container number indicated by the title file 304 is decremented by 1 (step S22). As a result, the container having the link count of 0 becomes a free area because it is not referenced in any title file. Next, the designated title file is deleted (step S23), and the title set file is updated (step S24).

For example, assume that an instruction to delete the title file (title 0) has been received from the state shown in FIG. 7 (step S21). Accordingly, in step S22, R0 to R3, R6 in the container information file 302 are set.
The link count of the portion is reduced by 1 to 0. Then, in steps S23 and S24, the title file (title 0) is deleted, and the title zero descriptor is deleted from the title set file. Thus, the erasing operation ends.

[Special Playback Using OPF]
The special reproduction operation (fast forward, rewind) of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention using the F file format will be described in detail.

In the normal reproduction operation using the above-mentioned OPF, the data of the container is reproduced by sequentially tracing the link information to the container referred to in the title file 304 of FIG. 7 one by one. The special reproduction operation in the OPF described below is realized by reproducing data in units of containers while skipping and following links to containers at certain intervals.

During the special reproduction operation, if there is a further request from the user, the speed is increased to perform fast forward or rewind. This is realized by enlarging the interval of interlaced scanning every time a request is made from the user. Hereinafter, each of fast forward and rewind will be described in detail.

(1) Fast-forward operation The operation of fast-forwarding the reproduced MPEG2 system stream data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user operates the user interface 122 to specify a title to be reproduced (step S3).
1), the system controller 120 initializes a container pointer for reproduction (step S32).

Then, the corresponding title file 304 is selected from the title set file 303, the link information to the container referred to therein is scanned by the value of the container pointer, and a container to be reproduced is searched (step S33). ). Data of one container is read from the real-time extent 301 in the disk area of the HDD 119 corresponding to the searched container number, and is reproduced (step S34).

Here, when an end instruction is received from the user via the user interface 122 (step S3).
5) The end processing is performed, and the reproduction operation ends (step S42). On the other hand, if there is no end instruction, a determination regarding fast-forward input is made as described below.

Here, as to how much the container is skipped in response to the fast-forward instruction, the number of elements of the skipped container is defined as X, and the number of skipped containers is n. X is initialized to 0 in advance in step S32.

During the reproduction operation, the user interface 122
When fast-forward is instructed via the command (steps S36, S
37), the system controller 120 sets X to a value obtained by adding n to the initialized value 0 of X (step S39). When the user instructs to stop fast-forwarding (step S36), the value of X is set to 0 (step S38).

As in the case of the normal recording and reproducing operations, a request to end reproduction or fast-forward (or stop the reproduction) from the user is given at an arbitrary timing after the operation is started. This instruction request is temporarily stored in the memory 121 and is processed in each step.

Next, in order to refer to the container to be reproduced in the title file, the value of the container pointer is set to (1+
X) is added (step S40). This is obtained by adding the increment 1 to the next container in normal reproduction and the number X of skipped elements. In this process (step S40), interlaced scanning during the fast-forward operation is realized.

Thereafter, it is checked whether or not the container pointer has reached the container at the end of the title file 304 (step S41). When the container pointer has reached the end of the title file, the process proceeds to the end processing S42.
The process ends. If the end of the title file has not been reached, the above steps S33 to S41 are repeated.

Next, a specific example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 13, the link information indicating the container of the real-time extent is called “address”. In this example, the number of skipped containers is n = 2. That is, if fast-forwarding is instructed once, two containers are skipped (equivalent to five seconds in the system of the present invention), and if fast-forwarding is requested again, four containers are skipped.
The jump width is increased by two containers, for example, for six containers.

For example, upon receiving an instruction from the user to reproduce title number 3 in step S31, the start address of the title file (title 3) is searched in step S33, and a container number R8 to be referred to is obtained. At this point, the number X of elements of the container to be skipped
Is initialized and is 0. In step S34, data of one container is read from the address corresponding to R8 of the real-time extent of the HDD 119 and sent to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 111 to perform a reproduction process.

When a fast-forward instruction is received (step S
37), X initialized in step S39
Is added to n, and X becomes 2. Therefore, the container number to be reproduced next is 1 + X in step S40.
= R18 after 3 containers. That is, R1
Since 5 containers and R17 were skipped by 2 containers, it means that 5 seconds were skipped.

Next, the process proceeds to steps S41, S33, and S34, and after the data of the container number R18 is reproduced, the next container number to be reproduced is R21 after three containers in step S40.

After the R21 has been reproduced in step S34, a further fast-forward instruction is received (step S3).
7), n = 2 is added to X in step S39, and X becomes 4. Subsequently, in step S40, the next container number becomes R29 after 1 + X = 5 containers. In other words, since four containers R22, R25, R27, and R28 have been skipped over, skipping for 10 seconds has been performed.

The process further proceeds to steps S41, S33 and S34, and in step S40, the next container is R34. After playing R34 in step S34, when a fast-forward stop instruction is received from the user in step S36, X is set to 0 in step S38. Therefore, the container pointer to be reproduced next advances by 1 in S40, and becomes R35. Since the continuous containers R34 and R35 in the title file are continuously reproduced, the user can determine that the normal reproduction has been resumed.

When 1 has been added to the container pointer in step S40 when the containers R36, R37, and R38 have been reproduced, it is determined in step S41 that the end of the title file has been reached. Ends.

(2) Rewinding Operation The operation for rewinding the reproduced MPEG2 system stream data will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user operates the user interface 122 to specify a title to be reproduced (step S5).
1), the system controller 120 initializes a container pointer for reproduction (step S52).

Then, the corresponding title file 304 is selected from the title set file 303, the link information to the container referred to therein is scanned by the value of the container pointer, and the container to be reproduced is searched (step S53). ). Data of one container is read from the real-time extent 301 in the disk area of the HDD 119 corresponding to the searched container number, and is reproduced (step S54).

Here, when an end instruction is received from the user via the user interface 122 (step S5).
5) The end processing is performed, and the reproduction operation ends (step S63). On the other hand, if there is no termination instruction, a determination regarding rewind input is made as described below.

Here, as to how much the container is skipped in response to the rewind instruction, the number of elements of the skipped container is defined as X, and the number of containers returned and skipped is n.
And X is initialized to 0 in advance in step S52.

During the reproduction operation, the user interface 122
When rewinding is instructed via the command (steps S56 and S56)
57), the system controller 120 sets a value obtained by subtracting n from the initialized value 0 of X as X again (step S59). When the user instructs to stop rewinding (step S56), the value of X is set to 0 (step S58).

As in the case of the normal recording and reproducing operations, a request to end reproduction or rewind (or stop the reproduction) from the user is given at an arbitrary timing after the operation is started. This instruction request is temporarily stored in the memory 121 and processed in each step.

Next, in order to refer to the container to be reproduced in the title file, the value of the container pointer is set to (1+
X) is added (step S60). If this value is added to the container pointer, the container pointer will decrease. When the value of the container pointer becomes a negative value (step S61), the normal reproduction is performed from the beginning of the title.
Jump to In the above-described processing (step S60), the jump operation in the rewind operation is realized.

Thereafter, it is checked whether or not the container pointer has reached the end container of the title file 304 (step S62). When the end of the title file has been reached, the process proceeds to an end process (step S63) and ends. If it is not the end of the title file, steps S53 to S62 are repeated.

Next, a specific example will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 13, the link information indicating the container of the real-time extent is called “address”. In this example, let n =
Let it be 2. That is, if rewinding is instructed once, two containers are skipped (equivalent to five seconds in the system of the present invention), and if there is a request for rewinding again, four containers, six containers, Thus, the jump width is increased by two containers.

For example, when the user receives an instruction to reproduce title number 3 in step S51, the title file (title 3) is reproduced in step S53.
Of the start address of the container number R8
Get. At this point, the number of elements X of the skipped container has been initialized and is zero.

In the same procedure as in the normal reproduction, the container reproduction is repeated, and when the reproduction to the container of R34 is completed, when a rewind instruction is received (step S57), step S57 is performed.
At 59, n = 2 is subtracted from the initialized X, and X becomes -2. Therefore, in step S60, the container number to be reproduced next is R33, which is 1 + X = -1 containers ahead, that is, R33 returned by one container. This is 2 from the scene where the container of R34 has been played.
This means that the container has been moved back, that is, 5 seconds.

Next, the process proceeds to steps S62, S53 and S54, and after the container number R33 is reproduced, the next container number to be reproduced is two containers back from the scene where the container of R33 has been reproduced in step S60. R
It becomes 32. Thereafter, the containers to be reproduced next in step S60 are R31, R30, R29,.

In the rewinding operation, when the reproduction of R27 is completed, an instruction for rewinding is further received (step S5).
7), X becomes -4 in step S59. Subsequently, in step S60, R21, which has been advanced by 1 + X = -3 containers, that is, returned by 3 containers, is the container to be reproduced next. This means that four containers, that is, 10 seconds, have passed since the scene where the container of R27 was completely reproduced.

Next, the process proceeds to steps S62, S53, and S54, and after the container number R21 is reproduced, the next container number to be reproduced goes back by four containers from the scene where the container of R21 has been reproduced in step S60. R
It becomes 18. Thereafter, the containers to be reproduced next in step S60 are R18 and R8.

Rewinding proceeds, and in step S54, R
After the reproduction of No. 8 is completed, the next reproduction container is searched in step S60. Since the value of the container pointer becomes a negative value, the process jumps from step S61 to step S52. In this step S52, X is initialized to 0 and the container pointer is also initialized, so that it returns to the normal reproduction state and continues the normal reproduction operation.

[Movie Thumbnail Display Using OPF] Next, a new thumbnail display function of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention using the OPF file format will be described.

In the conventional thumbnail display, a part of AV information is displayed in a scene where video and audio information (hereinafter, AV information) provided by a user interface using a GUI is selected from a list display (list) and displayed. Is used as a reduced display in the case of a still image, and is used as a thumbnail display by displaying only one scene as a still image even in the case of a moving image.

In the embodiment of the present invention described below, when AV information is selected from a list display, A
A part of the V information is reproduced as a moving image, and a thumbnail display using a moving image is performed. By performing such a moving image thumbnail display, it is possible to more reliably grasp the contents of the AV information to be selected just by watching the thumbnail.

FIG. 14 shows a file list display screen displayed on the monitor 126. Here, it is assumed that the AV information is managed in content units of the content “title”.

The list display screen of FIG. 14 is created by the system controller 120 and is displayed as a GUI operation display portion 603 on the display screen 602 of the monitor 126. The GUI operation display part 603 includes a thumbnail display part 604 and a title information display part 605.

The title information on the title information display portion 605 is extracted from the header information stored in each title file 304 and displayed in order. On the thumbnail display portion 604, a moving image is displayed at a size smaller than the image size actually recorded on the HDD 119.

The moving image thumbnail display of the present invention is shown in FIG.
This is performed using the fast-forward reproduction function by the OPF shown in FIG. The operation of this moving image thumbnail display will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the display screen 602 is displayed on the monitor 126 for the first time, the system controller 120
The reference area 606 of FIG. 14 moves to the first title (title A in the example of FIG. 14) (step S71). Next, the system controller 120 sets the reference area 606
The title file 304 corresponding to the title information pointed by is searched from the title set file 303 (step S72). Then, a moving image thumbnail is reproduced for the searched title file (step S).
73).

FIG. 16 shows the reproduction of the moving image thumbnail.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In step S73 of the moving image thumbnail playback, basically, the fast forward playback described with reference to FIG. 11 is executed. Here, the interval at which the jump operation is performed is n = 4 (equivalent to 10 seconds) in the number of containers.

In the title information display portion 605, since the reference area 606 has selected the first title A, the system controller 120 searches the HDD 119 for the corresponding title file (title A) 304-5 and reproduces the thumbnail. Do. Play the first container, R8, on the thumbnail display part 604,
Next, containers corresponding to every 10 seconds are sequentially selected from the title file 304-5 and reproduced.

On the other hand, the reference area 606 moves on the display of each title information by the user interface 122. Here, in step S74, if the user operates the user interface 122 to move the reference area 606 to the title B, the thumbnail playback is stopped, and the process returns to step S72, in which the title file 304 is transferred from the title set file 303 again. Search for. In step S73, the system controller 120 stores the title file (title B) 304-6 in the HD
D119 is searched and thumbnail playback is performed. The first container R78 is reproduced on the thumbnail display portion 604, and then containers corresponding to every ten seconds are sequentially selected from the title file 304-6 and reproduced.

If the user does not move the reference area 606 (step S74), it is next checked whether or not a decision operation has been performed on the title being referred to (step S75).

If the decision has been made, the currently performed thumbnail reproduction is stopped (step S76), and the normal reproduction operation is performed on the decided title file (step S77). On the other hand, if the determination has not been made (step S75), it is checked whether or not the thumbnail reproduction has been completed (step S78). If the reproduction has been completed, the thumbnail reproduction is repeated (step S73). To prepare for the operation (movement of the reference area) by the user.

In the above-described embodiment, two television signal encoders and one television signal decoder are provided, but the number N of data buses (channels) is increased as described above. When N = M is added,
Encoders and decoders may be added as appropriate.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, an example was described in which the HDD 119 having a built-in hard disk was used as a recording medium. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Can be used.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[0192]

According to the digital recording / reproducing apparatus and the moving image thumbnail display method of the present invention, a recording medium that can be randomly accessed using a file format that can easily manage and process discretely recorded data is used. Since the thumbnail display using the moving image is realized, the contents of the AV information to be selected can be grasped more reliably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining a one-channel recording operation of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining a one-channel reproducing operation of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining a two-channel simultaneous recording operation of the digital recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a timing chart illustrating a chasing playback operation of the digital recording / playback apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a simplified player according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a file format used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a normal recording operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a normal reproduction operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an erase operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a fast-forward playback operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a rewind reproduction operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a file format for explaining the principle of the trick play operation of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a file list display screen on a monitor.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a moving image thumbnail display operation according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a file format for explaining the principle of the moving image thumbnail display operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100, 200 antenna, 101, 201 external input terminal, 102, 103, 202 tuner, 104, 2
04 selector, 105,106 A / D converter,
107, 108 MPEG2 video encoder, 10
9,110 audio encoder, 111 multiplexer / demultiplexer, 112,212 MPEG
2 video decoder, 113, 213 audio decoder, 114, 214 D / A converter, 116, 11
7 buffer memory, 118 HDD controller module, 119 HDD, 120, 220 system controller, 121, 221 memory, 122, 222
User interface, 124, 224 graphic controller, 126, 226 television monitor, 127 real-time clock module, 12
8,228 digital input, 129 digital output, 211 demultiplexer, 602 monitor screen, 603 GUI operation display part, 604 thumbnail display part, 605 title information display part, 606
Reference area.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) // H04N 5/44 H04N 5/44 Z 5/445 5/445 Z 5/78 510 5/78 510Z 5 / 765 5/781 510L 5/781 G11B 27/00 E 27/10 A F term (reference) 5C025 AA25 BA27 BA30 CA02 CA09 CB06 CB10 DA10 5C052 AA01 AC01 AC05 AC08 CC11 DD04 5D044 AB07 AB08 BC01 CC04 DE02 DE03 DE22 DE54 EF05 FG24 GK12 HL04 5D077 AA22 BA04 BA08 CA11 DC12 HA07 HC05 HC17 HC50 5D110 AA13 AA28 DA05 DB02 DC01 DC11 DE01

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A digital recording / reproducing apparatus having a moving image thumbnail display function for recording and reproducing digital data on a randomly accessible recording medium, wherein the recording medium uses the digital data as a basic operation unit. And a second area for recording title file information for linking the basic operation unit of the discretely recorded digital data for each title, Means for responding to a user instruction, generating a list of titles recorded on the recording medium based on the title file information and outputting the list for display, Means for selecting a title from the list in response to the request, and the title file corresponding to the selected title. Means for searching for file information from the second area; means for fast-forward reproducing digital data discretely recorded in the first area in basic operation units based on the searched title file information; Means for stopping fast-forward playback of the digital data in response to a change or determination of the selection of the title by the user. 2. The digital data fast-forward playback means includes means for skipping and playing back a basic operation unit of digital data linked by the searched title file information for each of a predetermined number of basic operation units. Claim 1
A digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. When fast-forward playback of the digital data based on the searched title file information ends,
3. The digital recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for repeating fast-forward reproduction of the digital data based on the same title file information. 4. A moving image thumbnail display method in a digital recording / reproducing apparatus using a randomly accessible recording medium, the recording medium comprising: a first recording medium for discretely recording the digital data for each basic operation unit. And a second area for recording title file information for linking the basic operation unit of the discretely recorded digital data for each title, wherein the moving image thumbnail display method includes: In response to creating and displaying a list of titles recorded on the recording medium based on the title file information, outputting the list in response to a user instruction; Selecting a title; and loading the title file information corresponding to the selected title from the second area. Searching for; fast-forward playback of digital data discretely recorded in the first area in basic operation units based on the searched title file information; and changing the selection of the title by the user. Or stopping the fast-forward playback of the digital data in response to the determination. 5. The step of fast-forward reproducing the digital data includes a step of skipping and reproducing a basic operation unit of digital data linked by the searched title file information for every predetermined number of basic operation units.
The moving image thumbnail display method according to claim 4. 6. When fast-forward playback of the digital data based on the searched title file information ends,
The moving image thumbnail display method according to claim 4, further comprising: repeating fast-forward reproduction of the digital data based on the same title file information.