JP2002033982A - Image recording device, image recording method and recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To indicate the possibility of entry of recording reservation, when a viewer sets the recording reservation of program in a hard disk, by calculating the remaining capacity of the hard disk for reservation in execution of recording reservation. SOLUTION: When recording reservation is set through an operation input part 110, a system controller 80 judges a record which is automatically erased in reserved recording settings stored in a RAM 84 until the execution of the present recording reservation, and compares the remaining capacity of hard disks 61 to 63 at the time of the present recording reservation with a capacity necessary for the present reservation. When the capacity is judged to be short in size, possibility that recording by reservation cannot be made is indicated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and an image recording method, and more particularly to a recording reservation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Large-capacity and low-priced recording media such as hard disks, high-speed recording / reproducing access speeds to recording media, high-speed recording / reproducing transmission speeds, and compression of image signals and audio signals including moving images. With the progress of high-speed encoding processing, an image recording apparatus capable of compressing and recording an image signal and an audio signal of a television program and recording, decoding, and reproducing the image signal using these techniques has been developed. It is being developed.

According to such an image recording apparatus, it is possible to record image signals and audio signals of a plurality of television programs on a large-capacity recording medium represented by a hard disk. It is desirable to have a function of setting a program to be recorded and a recording control function of recording the set program on a recording medium so that recording can be performed.

[0004] For example, an image recording apparatus having a function of reserving a program for recording is provided by setting a start date and time, an end date and time, a program input path such as a channel, a recording quality, and the like of the program to be prerecorded. A list can be displayed so that the reservation setting status can be understood.

[0005]

However, in this case, as a recording reservation mode, an overwrite recording mode, which can be referred to as an update recording reservation, is considered. The used capacity of the recording medium used for recording is not necessarily the sum of the used capacity of the recording medium used for recording the program reserved for recording. Therefore, whether or not the program reserved for recording can be recorded with the remaining capacity of the recording medium cannot be determined only by looking at the recording reservation list.

Therefore, the present invention is designed to accurately display and warn the user whether or not a program reserved for recording can be recorded with the remaining capacity of the recording medium.

[0007]

An image recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an image recording means for recording an image signal; a recording start date and time and a recording end date and time of a program to be programmed for recording; Information fetching storage means for fetching and specifying information to specify and information to determine whether or not update recording is to be performed as recording reservation setting information, and recording to be used by executing reservation recording based on the recording reservation setting information Used capacity calculating means for calculating the capacity of the medium, unused capacity calculating means for calculating the unused capacity of the image recording means, used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means, and calculated by the unused capacity calculating means Comparing the unused capacity with the determined unused capacity to determine whether or not the scheduled recording program can be completely recorded; and Characterized in that it and a warning means for warning that the.

When calculating the recording medium usage capacity of a program for which update recording has been set in the recording reservation setting, the usage capacity calculation means calculates a recording medium capacity generated by erasing the program at the time of update recording, and updates the recording medium capacity. Accordingly, the difference from the newly used recording medium capacity can be used as the recording medium used capacity of the program for which the update recording is set.

According to the image recording method of the present invention, the recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of a program to be programmed for recording, information for specifying a program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying whether or not update recording is to be performed, Fetching and storing as recording reservation setting information; using the recording reservation setting information; calculating a used capacity of a recording medium to be used by executing scheduled recording; An unused capacity calculating step of calculating the capacity, and comparing the used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means with the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means, so that the recording reservation program can be recorded to the end. Determining whether or not the recording reservation program cannot be completely recorded, and alerting the user of the fact.

The calculating of the used capacity includes calculating a used capacity of the recording medium of the program for which the update recording is set in the recording reservation setting, a capacity of the recording medium caused by erasing the program at the time of the update recording, and Accordingly, the difference from the newly used recording medium capacity can be used as the recording medium used capacity of the program for which the update recording is set.

[0011] The program recorded on the recording medium of the present invention includes a recording start date and time and a recording end date and time of a program to be programmed for recording, information for specifying a program input path and recording image quality, and specifying whether or not update recording is to be performed. Fetching and storing the information to be recorded as recording reservation setting information, a use capacity calculating step of calculating a capacity of a recording medium used by executing the reservation recording based on the recording reservation setting information, An unused capacity calculating step of calculating an unused capacity of the recording means, and comparing the used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means with the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means, to record a recording reservation program Determining whether recording can be completed to the end; and, when the recording reservation program cannot be recorded to the end, warning the fact. And wherein the Mukoto.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [System Configuration of Recording / Reproducing Apparatus]
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, in which a video signal and an audio signal are converted to an MPEG (Movin) signal.
g Compression-encode and multiplex according to the Picture Experts Group (GP) method, and transport stream (TS: Transpo) of the MPEG system.
In this case, the data is recorded on a hard disk in a hard disk drive (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) as an rt stream, and reproduced from the hard disk.

Hereinafter, the analog video signal and the analog audio signal are referred to as a video signal and an audio signal, respectively.
The digital video signal and digital audio signal are referred to as digital video data and digital audio data, or simply video data and audio data.

In this example, the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 is connected to the antenna 1 for receiving an analog television broadcast,
Analog input terminals 11V, 11A, 11S, analog output terminals 12V, 12A, 12S, digital input / output terminal 1
5, digital interface 17, input processing unit 20, output processing unit 30, multiplexer / demultiplexer 4
0, buffer controller 50, hard disk drive 60, synchronization control circuit 70, system controller 8
0, an input / output interface 90, an operation input unit 110, and a driver 120.

In this example, the hard disk drive 60 includes three hard disks 61, 62, and 63, in which a transport stream is recorded on one of them and a transport stream is reproduced from one of them. .

The system controller 80 has a CPU (C
central processing Unit) 81
The host bus 82 has a ROM (Read On)
lyMemory) 83 and RAM (Random)
Access Memory) 84 and the like.

A program to be executed by the CPU 81 is stored in the ROM 83 in advance. The CPU 81 reads out the program and controls each unit of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10. In the RAM 84, other programs and data necessary for the CPU 81 to control each unit of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 are appropriately written.

The operation input unit 110 includes a keyboard, a mouse, buttons, switches, a remote commander, and the like, and is connected to the host bus 82 via an input / output interface 90.

The driver 120 is also connected to the host bus 82 via the input / output interface 90. Driver 1
Reference numeral 20 denotes a configuration in which a magnetic disk 131, an optical disk 132, a magneto-optical disk 133, a semiconductor memory 134, and the like are mounted, and a program recorded in these is installed in the RAM 84 as described later.

(Analog Input Processing and Recording) A signal of an analog television broadcast received by the antenna 1 is selected by the tuner 21 in accordance with an instruction of the system controller 80 based on an operation on the operation input unit 110, and the tuner 21 is selected. , A composite video signal and an audio signal of the selected channel are obtained, and the composite video signal and the audio signal are supplied to one input terminal of the input switching circuit 22.

The input terminal 11V is supplied with a composite video signal from an external device, the input terminal 11A is supplied with an audio signal from the external device, and the input terminal 11S is supplied with a separate video signal from the external device.

The composite video signal from the input terminal 11V and the audio signal from the input terminal 11A are supplied to the other input terminal of the input switching circuit 22.
Is switched by the system controller 80,
From the input switching circuit 22, one of the composite video signals and audio signals is selected and taken out.

The composite video signal from the input switching circuit 22 is separated into a luminance signal and a color difference signal by a YC separation circuit 23 and supplied to one input terminal of another input switching circuit 24. Further, a separate video signal (luminance signal and color difference signal) from the input terminal 11S is supplied to the other input terminal of the input switching circuit 24, and the input switching circuit 24 is switched by the system controller 80. , One of the luminance signal and the color difference signal is selected and taken out.

The luminance signal and the chrominance signal from the input switching circuit 24 are supplied to an NTSC (National Televi).
The A / D (Analog to Di) is provided by a section system committee (decoder) 25.
digital), and further subjected to chroma encoding processing to obtain component video data from the NTSC decoder 25.

In the NTSC decoder 25, a vertical synchronizing signal and a horizontal synchronizing signal are separated from the luminance signal from the input switching circuit 24, and a clock and a field discrimination signal are generated based on the separated synchronizing signal. The synchronization signal, the clock, and the field determination signal are supplied to the synchronization control circuit 70. In the synchronization control circuit 70, the recording / reproducing device 10
A clock and a timing signal required for each section are generated and supplied to each section of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10.

The video data from the NTSC decoder 25 is subjected to processing such as pre-filtering by a pre-video processing circuit 26 and then to an MPEG video encoder 27.
The output is supplied to the post video processing circuit 32 of the output processing unit 30.

In the MPEG video encoder 27, the video data from the pre-video processing circuit 26
T (Discrete Cosine Transfo
rm) or the like, and is subjected to a video elementary stream (ES: Elementary Stream).
m) is generated, and the video elementary stream is supplied to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40.

On the other hand, the audio signal from the input switching circuit 22 is converted into digital audio data by the A / D converter 28, and then supplied to the MPEG audio encoder 29 and the output switching circuit 35 of the output processing unit 30.

In the MPEG audio encoder 29, A / D
The audio data from the converter 28 is compression-encoded by the MPEG method to generate an audio elementary stream, and the audio elementary stream is supplied to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40.

In the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, in the multiplexer, the video elementary stream from the MPEG video encoder 27 and the MP
The audio elementary stream from the EG audio encoder 29 and various control signals are multiplexed to generate an MPEG system transport stream, and the transport stream is sent to the buffer controller 50.

The buffer controller 50 converts the transport stream continuously input from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 into a hard disk drive 6
Transmitted intermittently to zero. That is, since writing cannot be performed when the hard disk drive 60 is performing a seek operation, the input transport stream is temporarily stored in a buffer, and when the hard disk drive 60 is writable, the transport stream is higher than the input rate. The data is read from the buffer at a rate and sent to the hard disk drive 60. Thereby, the transport stream continuously input to the buffer controller 50 is recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63 without interruption.

The hard disk drive 60 is controlled by the system controller 80 to write a transport stream to the hard disks 61 to 63. Buffer controller 50 and hard disk drive 60
The protocol (interface) between the
E (Integrated Drive Electr)
onics) is used.

(Reproduction and Analog Output Processing) During reproduction, the hard disk drive 60 is controlled by the
3 to read the transport stream and send it to the buffer controller 50. Buffer controller 5
In the case of 0, the transport stream intermittently input from the hard disk drive 60 is converted into a continuous transport stream and supplied to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, contrary to the recording.

The multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 analyzes the header of the continuous transport stream in the demultiplexer, thereby converting the transport stream into a PES (Pac).
Ketized Elementary Stream
m) is separated and supplied to the MPEG video / audio decoder 31.

In the MPEG video / audio decoder 31, the PES from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 is separated into a video elementary stream and an audio elementary stream, and the video elementary stream is decoded by the MPEG video decoder and converted to a baseband signal. Is converted to video data and the audio elementary stream is M
It is decoded by a PEG audio decoder and converted into baseband audio data. The converted video data is supplied to a post video processing circuit 32, and the audio data is output to an output switching circuit 35.
Supplied to

In the post video processing circuit 32, the video data from the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 and the pre video processing circuit 26
Are switched or combined, and post-filtering processing and the like are performed on the video data.

In the post video processing circuit 32, the GU
I (Graphical UserInterfac)
e), a process of generating a representative screen, reducing a plurality of representative screens, and pasting the representative screen to a window is performed, and the processed video data is displayed on an OSD (OnScreen Display).
y) It is supplied to the processing circuit 33.

The OSD processing circuit 33 generates image data corresponding to text information and the like in accordance with an instruction from the system controller 80, and superimposes the image data from the post image processing circuit 32 on the above-described window portion video data. Processing is performed, and the processed video data is
It is supplied to the C encoder 34.

The NTSC encoder 34 converts video data (component video data) from the OSD processing circuit 33 into luminance data and color difference data,
Or D / A without conversion
(Digital to Analog)
A separate video signal and a composite video signal of an analog signal are generated respectively. The separate video signal is led to the output terminal 12S, and the composite video signal is led to the output terminal 12V.

On the other hand, in the output switching circuit 35, the MPEG video / audio decoder 3 is controlled by the system controller 80.
1 and the audio data from the A / D converter 28 are selected and taken out. The selected audio data is converted into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 36, and is output to the output terminal 12A.

The separate video signal derived from the output terminal 12S, the composite video signal derived from the output terminal 12V, and the audio signal derived from the output terminal 12A are:
By being output to the monitor device 2 such as an external television receiver, the monitor device 2 displays an image and outputs sound.

(Recording / reproducing of video / audio data from external device) In this example, the recording / reproducing device 10 has a digital interface 17 connected between the digital input / output terminal 15 and the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, and By connecting the external device 5 to the output terminal 15, the transport stream input from the external device 5 is recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63, and the transport stream reproduced from the hard disks 61 to 63 is output to the external device 5. It is configured to be able to.

As the external device 5, an IRD (Integ
A device such as a rated receiver decoder or a personal computer can be connected. The digital interface 17 is IEEE
(Institute of Electrical a
nd Electronics Engineers)
An IEEE 1394 serial bus is used as the serial bus 6 that connects the external device 5 and the digital input / output terminal 15 using a 1394 digital interface.

The transport stream input from the external device 5 to the digital input / output terminal 15 via the serial bus 6 is interface-processed by the digital interface 17 and sent to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40. The data is sent to the buffer controller 50 and recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63 by the hard disk drive 60.

At the same time, the demultiplexer of the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 separates the PES from the transport stream to be recorded,
By being supplied to the video / audio decoder 31, analog video signals and analog audio signals can be obtained at the output terminals 12V, 12S and 12A.

At the time of reproduction, the hard disk drive 60
Transport streams are read from the hard disks 61 to 63, and the reproduced transport streams are sent to the buffer controller 50, sent from the buffer controller 50 to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, and It is processed and output to the digital input / output terminal 15, sent from the digital input / output terminal 15 to the external device 5 via the serial bus 6, and
The image is displayed on the monitor device 7 connected to
Sound is output.

At the same time, the demultiplexer of the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 separates the PES from the reproduced transport stream,
By being supplied to the video / audio decoder 31, a reproduced analog video signal and a reproduced analog audio signal can be obtained at the output terminals 12V, 12S and 12A.

[Embodiment of Recording Reservation Setting Processing] In the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 as described above, an example of a recording reservation setting processing method in the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 when a user makes a recording reservation will be described below.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a recording reservation setting processing routine performed by the system controller 80 in this case.

In this recording reservation setting processing routine, the recording reservation setting processing is started by the user performing the recording reservation operation with the operation input unit 110. First, in step S1, the system controller 80 sets the operation input unit 11
From 0, the channel of the program to be reserved for recording, the start date and time,
The end date and time and the recording quality are set as R
Import to AM84.

Next, in step S2, the system controller 80 calculates a storage capacity necessary for recording the reserved program to the end from the recording reservation setting information taken in step S1.

Next, in step S3, the system controller 80 calculates the free space of the recording medium. At this time, if there is already a recording reservation earlier than the recording reservation date and time, the system controller 80 determines the capacity consumed by the recording reservation date and time from the current free space of the recording medium. The result of the subtraction is calculated as the free space of the recording medium. Note that when a recording reservation is set as an update recording reservation and overwrites a program recording area that has already been recorded, a new area is not consumed even if the recording reservation is set. It is not included in the capacity consumed up to the date and time.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a recording reservation mode in each case.

Next, in step S4, the system controller 80 determines the recording capacity required for recording the reserved program calculated in step S2 and the hard disk 61
It is determined whether or not the reserved program can be recorded to the end by comparing with the free space of Nos. To 63. If the reserved program cannot be recorded to the end, the process proceeds from step S4 to step S5.

In step S5, the system controller 80 issues a warning indicating that the reserved program cannot be recorded to the end at the present time with the free space of the hard disks 61 to 63 and the reserved program setting condition, and then proceeds to step S6.

If it is determined in step S4 that the reserved program can be recorded to the end, the system controller 80 proceeds from step S4 directly to step S6.

At step S6, it is displayed whether or not to end the scheduled recording setting. At step S7, it is determined whether or not to end the scheduled recording setting based on the data obtained from the operation input unit 110. If it is determined that the recording should be ended, the timer recording setting ends.

If it is determined in step S7 that the reservation setting is not to be ended, the system controller 80 returns to step S1 to repeat the reservation recording setting.

The above-described example is a case where the reservation setting process is realized by software. When the reservation setting process is realized by software as described above, the program constituting the software is provided by the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 using a dedicated hardware. When configuring hardware, a system controller 80 which is a computer incorporated therein is used.
The recording / reproducing device 10 installed from the recording medium
Is configured as a general-purpose personal computer capable of executing various functions by installing various programs, the personal computer is installed from a recording medium.

As shown in FIG. 2, this recording medium is provided separately from the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 (computer) and distributed to provide the user with the program. Trademark) 131, and an optical disc (CD-ROM (Co
mpact Disk-Read Only Memo
ry), DVD (Digital Versatile)
Disk) 132, magneto-optical disk (MD
(Including a Mini Disk) 133 or a package medium including a semiconductor memory 134 and the like.
The hard disk 61 to 61 included in the hard disk drive 60 or the ROM 83 storing the program, which is provided to the user in a state incorporated in the (computer).
63 and the like.

The steps described in the program recorded on the recording medium include processes executed in chronological order in the order described in the claims. , And processing executed in parallel or individually.

The reservation setting process can be realized not by software but by hardware.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described embodiment, the video data and the audio data are compressed by the MPEG system. However, they may be compressed by another compression system, or the digital data may be simply compressed without compression. , Or may remain as digital data.

In the above embodiment, a hard disk is used as a recording medium of the recording / reproducing apparatus. However, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like may be used.

[0065]

As described above, according to the present invention, a recording reservation method for setting a recording reservation for each program broadcast and a program to be broadcasted a plurality of times are performed by one recording reservation setting, When recording reservations are made in a mixture of the recording reservation method of erasing the recordings from the recording medium and recording the latest broadcast episode on the recording medium, it is determined whether the program reserved for recording can be recorded to the end. This can be determined and displayed at the time of reservation setting.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of an example of a recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of an example of the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a recording reservation setting processing routine performed by a system controller.

FIG. 4 is a diagram provided for explanation of overlapping recording reservation.

[Explanation of symbols]

Since the main parts are all described in the figure, they are omitted here.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (Reference) H04N 5/91 H04N 5/91 Z (72) Inventor Shigeki Yamamoto 6-7-35 Kita Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony (72) Inventor Honda form 6-7-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Yukinori Kita 6-35, Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Corporation (72) Inventor Masami Miura 6-35, Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo F-term within Sony Corporation (reference) 5C025 AA23 BA27 CB07 CB08 5C052 AA01 AA02 AA17 DD10 GA03 GC00 GE06 5C053 FA23 FA30 FA20 GA20 GB37 JA22 KA22 KA24 KA30 5D077 AA22 HC50

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image recording means for recording an image signal, a recording start date and time and a recording end date and time of a program to be reserved for recording, information for specifying a program input path and recording image quality,
An information fetching storage unit for fetching and storing information specifying whether or not there is an updated recording as recording reservation setting information, and calculating a capacity of a recording medium used by executing the reservation recording based on the recording reservation setting information. Used capacity calculating means, unused capacity calculating means for calculating unused capacity of the image recording means, used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means, and unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means. And determining means for determining whether or not the scheduled recording program can be recorded to the end, and warning means for warning when the scheduled recording program cannot be completely recorded, and Image recording device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the used capacity calculating means calculates a used capacity of the recording medium of the program for which the update recording is set by the recording reservation setting; 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a difference between the recording medium capacity newly used by the update recording and the recording medium used for the program for which the update recording is set is set. 3. The recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of a program to be scheduled-recorded, information for specifying a program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying whether or not updated recording is to be performed are taken as recording reservation setting information. And a used capacity calculating step of calculating the capacity of a recording medium used by executing the scheduled recording based on the scheduled recording setting information; and an unused capacity of calculating the unused capacity of the image recording unit. A capacity calculating step; comparing the used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means with the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means to determine whether or not the recording reservation program can be completely recorded. An image recording method, comprising: a step of, when a scheduled recording program cannot be completely recorded, a step of alerting the user. 4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: calculating a recording medium use capacity of a program for which update recording has been set in the recording reservation setting; 4. The image recording method according to claim 3, wherein a difference from a recording medium capacity newly used by the update recording is set as a recording medium usage capacity of the program for which the update recording is set. 5. The recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of a program to be scheduled-recorded, information for specifying a program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying the presence or absence of updated recording are taken as recording reservation setting information. And a used capacity calculating step of calculating the capacity of a recording medium used by executing the scheduled recording based on the scheduled recording setting information; and an unused capacity of calculating the unused capacity of the image recording unit. A capacity calculating step; comparing the used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculating means with the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means to determine whether or not the recording reservation program can be completely recorded. And a step of alerting when the scheduled recording program cannot be completely recorded. Recording medium on which such program is recorded.