JP2001275087A - Recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that the conventional device requires a defragmenting means to secure a data transfer rate since information (file system) indicating a recorded program and its recording position on a recording medium is complicated and data are fragmented more and more as programs are recorded and erased repeatedly. SOLUTION: The recording medium 4 is divided into N fixed-size areas (zones) 101 to simplify program management by recording the whole or a part of a single program in one area and also secure the data transfer rate even when data are fragmented more and more as programs are recorded and erased repeatedly, thereby eliminating the need for defragmentation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus used for a digital broadcast receiver having a recording / reproducing function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art MPEG (M
oving Pictures Experts Gr
As a conventional apparatus for recording / reproducing an (out) stream, there is a recording / reproducing apparatus disclosed in JP-A-11-39850. FIG. 9 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus based on a computer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-39850. In the figure, reference numeral 901 denotes a microprocessor;
Is a main memory, 903 is a bus bridge, 904 is an I / O
O (Input / Output) interface, 9
05 is an auxiliary storage interface, 906 is a hard disk connected to the auxiliary storage interface 905, 9
07 is an MPEG real-time encoder board with a built-in TV tuner, 908 is an AV processing circuit, and 909 is an AV processing circuit.
Memory (VR) used by the processing circuit 909 for image display processing
AM).

The microprocessor 901, the main memory 902, and the bus bridge 903 are mutually connected via an internal bus, and the remaining blocks are mutually connected via an expansion bus. The bus bridge 903 is
An internal bus and, for example, PCI (Peripheral C)
component interconnect (ISA) bus or ISA (Industry Standard Arc)
control of data exchange with an extension bus such as a (height) bus.

The auxiliary bus includes an auxiliary storage interface 905 and an MPEG real-time encoder board 90.
7, an AV processing circuit 908 is connected, and a hard disk 906 is connected to the auxiliary storage interface 905.

The microprocessor 901 executes various application programs recorded on the hard disk 906 under the control of the operating system recorded on the hard disk 906, for example,
It performs recording, reproduction, editing, decoding of an image, and other predetermined processing.

[0006] MPEG real-time encoder board 9
07 converts images and sounds in real time, for example, M
It encodes according to the PEG1 standard,
A TV tuner for receiving a television broadcast program is built in, and the program received by the TV tuner can be MPEG-encoded.

The AV processing circuit 908 is, for example, a VGA
(Video Graphics Array), a three-dimensional accelerator (neither is shown), or the like, and performs display on a display and audio output to a speaker. The AV processing circuit 908 has a built-in NTSC encoder, and can output an image conforming to the NTSC system to, for example, a VTR.

[0008] The application program recorded on the hard disk 906 records, reproduces,
Processing such as editing and decoding is performed. For example, MPE
The television broadcast program received by the TV tuner of the G real-time encoder board 907 is encoded into an MPEG stream, and the data is recorded on a hard disk 906 via an extension bus. Furthermore, during the recording,
Reproduction of an arbitrary scene of already recorded video (image) is also performed.

[0009]

The conventional recording / reproducing apparatus configured as described above is based on a computer,
Since data recording on the hard disk is performed in accordance with the file system provided by the operating system, there is a problem that the file system becomes complicated.

Further, since the file system of the computer is configured so that even a small file can be recorded efficiently, it is possible to record one stream continuously on the hard disk by repeating recording and erasing. However, fragmentation of the recording progressed, and a process (defragmentation) for eliminating the fragmentation was required.

Further, in a recording method according to a file system of a computer, it is necessary to read all data once in order to perform special reproduction such as cueing or skipping reproduction. Therefore, it is difficult to perform special reproduction at high speed. there were.

Further, since the MPEG stream is managed as a file using a file system similar to that of a computer, there is a problem that copying can be easily performed by copying inside the hard disk or replacing the hard disk.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is a recording / reproducing apparatus which simplifies a file system when recording a program composed of an MPEG stream on a recording medium such as a hard disk. The purpose is to get.

[0014] In addition, the recording medium such as a hard disk
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of suppressing the progress of fragmentation even when recording and reproduction of a program composed of an EG stream are repeated.

[0015] In addition, the recording medium such as a hard disk
It is an object of the present invention to obtain a recording / reproducing apparatus having a high recording efficiency with respect to a capacity when recording a program composed of an EG stream.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of easily performing special reproduction for a program composed of an MPEG stream recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk.

Further, a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of easily performing special reproduction even when a program composed of an MPEG stream recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk has a different transmission rate for each program. It is intended to be.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus which cannot easily retrieve program data from another apparatus even when a recording medium such as a hard disk is replaced.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of easily extracting program data from another apparatus even when a recording medium such as a hard disk is replaced.

Alternatively, even if a recording medium such as a hard disk is replaced, it is another object of the present invention to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus in which program data cannot be easily taken out from another apparatus and at the same time the apparatus is inexpensive.

[0021]

A recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has a recording medium, recording means for recording data on the recording medium, and reproducing means for reproducing data recorded on the recording medium, A recording / reproducing apparatus for recording program data composed of an input digital video / audio signal on the recording medium using the recording means, and reproducing the recorded program using the reproducing means, wherein the recording medium is stored in advance. It is divided into a plurality of areas, and all or part of a single program is recorded in each area of the divided storage medium.

Further, the size of one area obtained by dividing the recording medium is made larger than the maximum recording data size that the recording means can continuously record on the recording medium.

Further, the size of one area obtained by dividing the recording medium is set to an integral multiple of the maximum recording data size that the recording means can continuously record on the recording medium.

Further, the area group obtained by dividing the recording medium is further divided into fixed time units of the recorded program time, and the reproducing means starts reproduction based on the time units.

The area group obtained by dividing the recording medium is further divided into units each having a fixed amount of recorded program data, and a plurality of pieces of time information of the same program included in the unit having the constant amount of program data are used. The constant unit of the program data is converted into a unit of time, and the reproducing means starts reproduction based on the converted unit of time.

Further, information for associating the group of areas of the divided recording medium with the group of programs recorded in the area group is stored in a nonvolatile memory separate from the recording medium.

Further, information for associating the group of areas of the divided recording medium with the group of programs recorded in the group of areas is stored in the recording medium.

Further, information for associating the area group of the divided recording medium with the program group recorded in the area group is distributed and stored in a non-volatile memory separate from the recording medium and the recording medium. It is like that.

[0029]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG.
st In First Out) An input buffer device composed of a memory or the like, 3 is a recording device, 4 is a recording medium such as a hard disk, 5 is a reproducing device, 6 is an output buffer device composed of a FIFO memory or the like, and 7 is an output digital device. It is a video and audio signal.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a CPU (Central Process)
ssing Unit, central processing unit), 9 is CPU8
Is a memory device connected to the CPU bus 9, and 11 is a file system stored in the memory device 10.

Reference numeral 101 denotes a recording area (zone) obtained by dividing the recording medium 4, and reference numeral 102 denotes a first recording area recorded on the recording medium 4.
103 is a second program recorded on the recording medium 4.

Next, the operation will be described. The input digital video / audio signal 1 is, for example, a signal received from a digital satellite broadcast or the like, and transmits a program composed of video and audio signals compressed and encoded according to the MPEG2 transport stream format. In the operation at the time of recording a program, the input digital video / audio signal 1 is temporarily buffered (stored) by a certain amount by the input buffer device 2 and then recorded in a burst on the recording medium 4 by the recording device 3.

The recording medium 4 is divided in advance into zones 101, which are N recording areas, and one zone (eg, zone 1) records all or a part of a single program (eg, program 1). Is configured. When a program (for example, program 2) extends for a long time, it is recorded in a plurality of zones (for example, zone 2 and zone 3), but one zone may be recorded in a plurality of different programs (for example, first program 10).
2 and the second program 103) are not included at the same time.

In the operation at the time of reproducing the program, the reproducing device 5 reads data from the head of the zone corresponding to the program to be reproduced, transmits the data to the output buffer 6 in a burst manner, and temporarily buffers it. The output buffer 6 transmits the output digital video / audio signal 7 to a subsequent decoder device (not shown) and decodes the video / audio data to obtain a reproduced video / audio. Input buffer device 2, recording device 3, reproducing device 5,
The output buffer devices 6 are connected to the CPU bus 9 and controlled by the CPU 8.

In the first embodiment, as shown in the figure, a first program 102 is stored in a first zone (zone 1 in the figure).
The second and third zones (zone 2 and zone 3 in the figure)
Is recorded, and information for associating each zone with the recorded program, that is, the file system 11
Are stored in the memory device 10. The configuration of the file system 11 can be represented by a matrix of the number of programs and the number of zones N at the maximum, and can be simplified, for example, as compared with a file system used in a computer.

By keeping the number N of zones 101 and the number of programs to be recorded constant, the same file system 11 can be used regardless of the capacity of the recording medium 4 such as a hard disk. The device can be inexpensive.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 2 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
04 is a third program divided and stored in first, third and fifth zones (zone 1, zone 3 and zone 5 in the figure), and 105 is a program which is recorded by the recording means on the recording medium continuously. DMA (Direct Memory Access), which is the maximum recording data size that can be recorded by using
The transfer unit is the same as that of the first embodiment.
When recording and erasing are repeatedly performed on the recording medium 4, one program may be divided into discontinuous zones and recorded.

In general, in the case of a computer system or the like using a hard disk as a recording medium, if a file is divided, it becomes difficult to continuously transfer data at the time of reproducing data.
The mechanical overhead such as seek time relatively increases, and the performance of data transfer decreases overall.
In order to prevent this, it is necessary to perform processing (defragmentation) such as periodically relocating the file to a continuous area of the hard disk so as to eliminate the fragmentation and simultaneously updating the file system.

In the second embodiment, the value of N is selected so that the size of the zone 101 is sufficiently larger than the maximum recording unit of data. For example, if the recording medium 4 is I
DE (Integrated Drive Select)
In the case of a hard disk of the (Ronics) system, the value of N is selected so that the zone 101 has a sufficiently large size compared to 128 kB which is the maximum value of one DMA transfer.

Therefore, even if the division of the program data has progressed to a maximum of N pieces, if the size of the zone 101 is sufficiently large, it is possible to perform the DMA transfer at the maximum size.
A mechanical overhead such as a head seek time at the time of recording or reproduction can be relatively reduced as compared with the actual data transfer time. That is, even if a certain program is divided and recorded in the non-continuous zone 101, it is possible to obtain sufficient data transfer performance at the time of reproduction. Therefore, the third program 104 is rearranged in a continuous zone. There is no necessity, and the management of the recording medium 4 and the file system can be simplified.

Embodiment 3 FIG. 3 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
06 is the first and second zones (zone 1 and zone 2 in the figure)
This is the sixth program recorded over the sixth embodiment, and the rest is the same as the second embodiment. Here, the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105 is a maximum data transfer unit that can be continuously and simultaneously recorded on the recording medium 4 by the recording device 3, and each zone 101 is an integral multiple of the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105. Thus, the value of N is selected.

For example, when the recording medium 4 is an IDE hard disk, the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105 is 1
Although it is 28 kB (512 B × 256 sectors), program data is generally much larger in size.
For example, in the case of digital satellite broadcasting or the like, the data rate is about 26 Mbps, and reaches about 2 GB in a 10-minute program. Therefore, even if buffering is sufficiently performed by the input buffer device 2, it is impossible to record all the program data on the recording medium 4 by one DMA transfer, and the DMA transfer must be repeated a plurality of times.

In this case, if the size of each zone 101 is set to an integral multiple of the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105, the maximum DMA transfer can be repeated at all times, and program data can be recorded in the zone 101 without excess or shortage. The recording efficiency of the recording medium 4 can be improved.

Also, when the CPU 8 controls the input buffer device 2 and the recording device 3, the recording can be performed without changing the size of one data transfer.
The control procedure can be simplified.

Also, instead of DMA transfer to the recording medium 4, for example, PIO (Programmable In)
The same effect can be obtained even when recording is performed using (put / output) transfer.

Embodiment 4 FIG. FIG. 4 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.
07 is the sixth program 10 recorded in each zone 101
6 is a recording time unit. In general, in broadcast applications, a program stream often adopts a fixed data rate, and when recorded in a fixed-size zone 101, the program time automatically recorded in each zone 101 is constant. In the present embodiment, one zone 101 is defined as M
Divided into time units 107, and 10
7 further comprises an integer number of maximum DMA data transfer units 105.

For example, when the sixth program 106 is reproduced from a position where a certain time has elapsed from the beginning, the elapsed time is searched based on the time unit 107. For example, by performing reproduction from the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105 corresponding to the head of the second time unit (T2 in the figure), reproduction from a position after a time unit (T1 in the figure) from the beginning of the program is enabled. .

Also, when a program is reproduced from a position before or after a certain time from the current reproduction position during reproduction of the program, the reproduction start position can be shifted with reference to the time unit 107 in the same manner as described above. is there.

The divided time unit 107 corresponds to the zone 10
As the value is smaller than 1, the temporal resolution at the time of trick play is improved. However, when it is smaller than the maximum DMA data transfer unit 105, the data transfer size needs to be changed, which impairs the overall data transfer performance. . Conversely, by making the time unit 107 sufficiently large, the control can be simplified, but the temporal resolution at the time of special reproduction is reduced.

Embodiment 5 FIG. 5 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.
08 is a PCR (Program Clock Referrer) included in the data of the sixth program 106 recorded.
ence, time information), and the others are the same as in the fourth embodiment. M specified in ISO / IEC13818-1
For PEG2 transport stream, PCR10
8 is transmitted 10 times or more per second. Therefore, when recording a program of 1/10 second or more in the time unit 107, at least one PCR
108 will be included.

For example, HDTV (High Diffin)
ition Television) broadcasting and SDTV
(Standard Definition Telephone
(Vision) When the data rate differs depending on the program, for example, when the broadcast is mixed, special reproduction is performed simply by associating the recorded data amount with the program time as described in the fourth embodiment. It becomes difficult.

In such a case, for example, the P included in the time unit (T1 in the figure) of the first zone (zone 1 in the figure) is used.
By comparing the value of the CR 108 with the value of the PCR 108 included in the time unit of the second zone (zone 2 in the figure), it is possible to calculate the relationship between the amount of recorded data and the recording time. If the relationship between the data size and the recording time becomes clear, special reproduction can be performed using the same method as in the fourth embodiment.

In the present embodiment, when calculating the relationship between the amount of recorded data and the recording time, the values of the PCRs 108 included in the adjacent zones 101 where the same program is recorded are compared. The value of the PCR 108 included in the time unit 107 included in the zone 101 may be compared.

Embodiment 6 FIG. FIG. 6 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.
2 is a non-volatile memory arranged on the CPU bus 9, 13
Is a file system stored in the nonvolatile memory 12. 109 is the seventh program, 110 is the eighth program, 1
11 is a ninth program.

In the present embodiment, the seventh program 10
9 corresponds to the first and second zones (zones 1 and 2 in the figure),
Program 110 is recorded in the third and fourth zones (zones 3 and 4 in the figure), and the ninth program 111 is recorded in the fifth zone (zone 5 in the figure). The file system 13 is information for associating each zone with each recorded program, is updated by the CPU 8 when each program is recorded on the recording medium 4, and is reproduced according to the file system 13 during reproduction. . Since the file system 12 is information used at the time of reproduction as described above, it is necessary to retain the contents even when the power of the device itself is turned off, for example. By storing the content in the nonvolatile memory 12 configured, the content can be held.

By storing the file system 13 separately from the recording medium 4 as described above, when the recording medium 4 such as a hard disk is removed and replaced with another equivalent receiver, the recorded program is stored. Since there is no file system 13 for recognizing the file, it becomes impossible to reproduce the program, and it is possible to prevent illegal copying or illegal viewing. This is most effective when a pay broadcast is recorded on the recording medium 4, for example.

In the present embodiment, the file system 13 is stored in the non-volatile memory 12, but is stored in the memory device 10 during normal operation.
Evacuate in the non-volatile memory 12 before the power of the device is turned off,
Conversely, when the power is turned on, the memory device 1
The same effect can be obtained even if the operation is performed such that the data is expanded within zero.

Embodiment 7 FIG. FIG. 7 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention.
Reference numeral 12 denotes a file system stored in the recording medium 4. Others are the same as the sixth embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the seventh program 10
9 corresponds to the first and second zones (zones 1 and 2 in the figure),
Program 110 is recorded in the third and fourth zones (zones 3 and 4 in the figure), and the ninth program 111 is recorded in the fifth zone (zone 5 in the figure). The file system 112 is information for associating each zone 101 with each recorded program. The file system 112 is updated by the CPU 8 when each program is recorded on the recording medium 4, and is reproduced according to the file system 112 at the time of reproduction. Will be Since the file system 112 is information used at the time of reproduction as described above, it is necessary to retain the contents even when the power of the apparatus itself is turned off, for example. , It is possible to hold the contents.

By storing the file system 112 in the recording medium 4 as described above, even when the recording medium 4 such as a hard disk is moved to another receiver, the file system 112 is moved at the same time. Therefore, reproduction becomes possible. Therefore, portability can be provided, for example, when only a free broadcast program having no copyright problem is recorded. In particular, this is most effective when a removable medium such as a removable hard disk is used as the recording medium 4.

In the present embodiment, the file system 112 is stored in the recording medium 4. However, during normal operation, the file system 112 is stored in the memory device 10 and the recording is performed before the power of the device is turned off. The same effect can be obtained even if the operation is performed such that the recording medium 4 is evacuated to the storage medium 4 and the storage medium 4 is expanded into the memory device 10 when the power is turned on.

Embodiment 8 FIG. FIG. 8 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a first file system stored in the nonvolatile memory 12, and reference numeral 113 denotes a second file system stored in the recording medium 4. Others are the same as the sixth embodiment or the seventh embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the seventh program 10
9 corresponds to the first and second zones (zones 1 and 2 in the figure),
Program 110 is recorded in the third and fourth zones (zones 3 and 4 in the figure), and the ninth program 111 is recorded in the fifth zone (zone 5 in the figure). The first file system 14 and the second file system 113
Such information associating each zone 101 with each recorded program, is updated by the CPU 8 when each program is recorded on the recording medium 4, and is reproduced by the first file system 14 and the second file System 113
The reproduction is performed according to.

Since the first file system 14 and the second file system 113 are information used at the time of reproduction, it is necessary to retain the contents even when the power of the apparatus itself is turned off, for example. By storing the contents in the nonvolatile memory 12 and the recording medium 4 as shown in the present embodiment, the contents can be retained.

In the present embodiment, information for associating each zone 101 with each recorded program is deliberately stored in the non-volatile memory 12 and the recording medium 4 in a distributed manner. File system 1 of 2
It is configured such that the reproduction can be performed only when 13 are provided. Thereby, for example, the recording medium 4 such as a hard disk
Is moved to another receiver, the program cannot be reproduced because the first file system 13 does not exist. Further, compared to the sixth embodiment in which the first file system 14 and the second file system 113 are all stored in the nonvolatile memory 12, the capacity of the nonvolatile memory 12 can be reduced. In general, the smaller the capacity of the nonvolatile memory 12 is, the cheaper it is. As a result, an inexpensive recording / reproducing apparatus can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, the first file system 14 and the second file system 113 are stored in the nonvolatile memory 12 and the recording medium 4, respectively. The same effect can be obtained by storing data in the device 10 and saving the data in the nonvolatile memory 12 and the recording medium 4 before the power of the device is turned off, and developing the data in the memory device 10 when the power is turned on. To play.

[0067]

As described above, according to the present invention, a recording medium such as a hard disk is divided into a plurality of areas (zones) of a fixed size, and all or part of the same program is recorded in each of the divided areas. With such a configuration, the file system can be simplified.

Further, by making the size of the area to be divided sufficiently large with respect to the maximum data transfer size, the division of the recording data does not proceed to a certain extent or more, and the program is recorded over a plurality of zones. Even in this case, there is no need to perform program rearrangement.

By setting the size of the divided area to be an integral multiple of the maximum data transfer size, the efficiency of recording program data on a recording medium can be improved.

Also, by reproducing a program composed of an MPEG stream of a constant rate recorded in units of areas divided into a certain size, special reproduction such as cue reproduction and jump reproduction can be easily performed. .

Also, since two or more pieces of time information included in the area divided into a certain size are compared to calculate the relationship between the amount of recorded data and the program time,
Special reproduction such as cue reproduction and jump reproduction can be easily performed based on the information.

Since the recording information for associating the recorded program with the recorded area is recorded on a medium different from the recording medium, it is possible to prevent unauthorized copying such as removing the recording medium and diverting it to another medium. be able to.

Further, the recording information relating the recorded program and the recorded area is recorded on the recording medium itself, so that the portability of the recording medium can be improved.

Further, by dispersing and recording information relating the recorded program and the recorded area in the nonvolatile memory and the recording medium, it is possible to prevent unauthorized copying such as removal of the recording medium. Further, the cost of the recording / reproducing apparatus can be reduced by keeping the capacity of the nonvolatile memory small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 8 of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a conventional recording / reproducing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 input digital video / audio signal, 2 input buffer device, 3 recording device, 4 recording medium, 5 playback device, 6 output buffer device, 7 output digital video / audio signal, 8 CP
U, 9 CPU bus, 10 memory device, 11 file system,
12 non-volatile memory, 13 file system, 14 first file system, 101 zone, 102 first program, 103
2nd program, 104 3rd program, 10
5 Maximum DMA data transfer unit, 106 sixth program,
107 Recording time unit, 108 PCR
(Time information), 109 seventh program, 110 eighth program, 111 ninth program, 112
File system 113 Second file system.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/91 (72) Inventor Koichi Takeuchi 2-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Mitsubishi Electric Corporation F term (reference) 5C052 AA03 AB02 AB09 CC01 DD01 DD04 5C053 FA23 FA27 GB11 GB21 JA01 KA01 LA06 5D044 AB07 BC01 CC04 DE02 DE03 DE12 DE37 DE48 DE52 EF05 FG19 GK08 GK12

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium comprising: a recording medium; recording means for recording data on the recording medium; and reproducing means for reproducing data recorded on the recording medium. What is claimed is: 1. A recording / reproducing apparatus which records on a recording medium using a recording means and reproduces a recorded program using the reproducing means, wherein the recording medium is divided into a plurality of areas in advance, and the divided storage medium is Recording / reproducing apparatus for recording all or a part of a single program in each area. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the size of one area obtained by dividing the recording medium is larger than the maximum recording data size that the recording means can continuously record on the recording medium. Item 2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to Item 1. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the size of one area obtained by dividing the recording medium is an integral multiple of the maximum recording data size that can be continuously recorded on the recording medium by the recording means. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the area group obtained by dividing the recording medium is further divided into fixed time units of recorded program time, and the reproducing means starts reproduction based on the time unit. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. An area group obtained by dividing a recording medium is further divided into units each having a fixed amount of recorded program data, and a plurality of pieces of time information of the same program included in the unit having a constant amount of program data are used. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a unit of constant program data amount is converted into a unit of time, and the reproducing means starts reproduction based on the converted unit of time. Recording and playback device. 6. A non-volatile memory separate from the recording medium, storing information for associating an area group of the divided recording medium with a program group recorded in the area group. The recording / reproducing device according to claim 1. 7. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein information relating the divided groups of the recording medium to the programs recorded in the divided areas is stored in the recording medium.
The recording / reproducing device according to claim 5. 8. A method of storing information relating a region group of a divided recording medium and a program group recorded in the region group in a non-volatile memory separate from the recording medium and in the recording medium. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the recording / reproducing apparatus is configured as described above.