JP2002262240A - Method for retrieving video recorded scene and recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten retrieval time by easily and surely retrieving a video recorded scene. SOLUTION: A section between a designated video scene and the last video scene is equally divided into n areas, and the front video scene of each of the video areas is dividedly displayed on a monitor screen. When an optional video scene is designated as a retrieval scene among dividedly displayed video scenes, a section between the designated video scene and the last video scene is further equally divided into n areas, the front video scenes are dividedly displayed among the respective n equally divided video areas on the monitor screen, and a target video scene is thereby retrieved again. When a scene with a target is clicked, similar divided display is performed by equally dividing the section between the scene and the last scene into n areas, a scene can be retrieved more finely than that of the beginning. The target scene can be narrowed down by repeating this operation a few times. Then, it is possible to greatly reduce scene retrieval time and to make scene retrieval surer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for retrieving a recorded scene and a recording / reproducing apparatus to which the retrieving method is applied. Specifically, in searching for the content of a recorded program, by repeatedly displaying on the monitor a reduced screen of the first video scene when the video scene from the specified video scene to the end is divided into n equal parts, by repeating the display. This makes it possible to easily and reliably search for a desired video scene in a short time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When searching for the contents of a previously recorded program and then shifting to an actual reproduction mode, an operation of repeating a normal fast-forward mode and a normal reproduction mode is performed. For example, when a magnetic tape or the like is used as a recording medium, when searching from the scene of program X (time point t2) as shown in FIG. 8 (for example, a tape playback start position), a scene predicted in advance in the fast forward mode is displayed on the monitor screen. While searching, or searching based on counter contents, etc.
Switching from the position (time t2) to the normal reproduction mode, the reproduction is performed.

[0003] It is possible to determine whether or not a user wants to see a scene by normal reproduction. If the reproduction scene is not a corresponding scene, the above-mentioned fast-forward mode and normal reproduction mode are repeated again as shown in FIG. Search for scenes.

When an optical disk such as a digital versatile disk (DVD) is used as a recording medium and a TV program or the like is recorded on this optical disk, each time recording is started, a chapter recorded as the recorded program information is used as a reference. To search for the desired recorded program. For example,
When it is desired to search the recorded contents of the program Y from among the recorded programs X and Y as shown in FIG. Thereafter, as in FIG. 8, the fast forward mode and the normal reproduction mode are alternately repeated to search for a target scene.

[0005]

As described above, in the prior art, the search for the target scene is basically performed while alternately repeating the fast forward and the normal reproduction. It does not take much time to search. It is a common experience that a high-speed search while looking at a monitor misses a target scene and returns to the previous state and performs a search again.

It is to be noted that the recorded program is recorded in the recording time direction in m
There is also known a method in which a scene at the head of each divided scene is divided and displayed to search for a target scene.
For example, one hour of recording is divided into nine equal parts (m = 9), and the scenes of the respective heads are simultaneously displayed on a monitor. According to this, each scene is displayed simultaneously as a still image, so that the search for the target scene is easy. However, since the number of divided display screens is small and the position of the divided screen is fixed, the target scene is fixed. Often it is not easy to search for.

Therefore, the present invention solves such a conventional problem, and divides a specified scene from a designated scene to the end of a recorded program into n equal parts, and displays each head part scene on a monitor. When split display is performed at the same time and a scene is specified from any of the split display scenes,
A scene search method which facilitates a search for a target scene by gradually narrowing a search scene area so as to further divide the designated scene to the last scene into n equal parts and perform similar divided display, The present invention proposes a recording / reproducing apparatus that uses the same.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for retrieving a video scene, comprising the steps of: When searching for video scenes, n from the specified video scene to the last video scene
The first video scene among the video areas divided into equal parts (n ≧ 4) is divided and displayed on the monitor screen at the same time, and any video scene among the divided and displayed video scenes is searched for. When the designated video scene is designated as, the video scene from the designated video scene to the last video scene is further divided into n equal parts, and the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously divided and displayed on the monitor screen. , A desired video scene is searched.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording / reproducing apparatus including a recording information signal processing unit, a recording unit, a video monitor, and a control unit therefor. An encoder and a decoder for compressing and decompressing the recording information; the control unit includes a memory unit storing a control program for generating a scene search video; and the control unit includes at least the encoder and the decoder. Is supplied, and information on the search scene specification from the outside is supplied. When the search scene specification information is obtained, the range from the specified video scene to the last video scene is divided into n equal parts. (N ≧ 4), and the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously displayed on the video monitor screen in a divided manner. When an arbitrary video scene among the divided video scenes is specified as a search scene, the range from the specified video scene to the last video scene is further divided into n equal parts, and the top of each of the n equally divided video areas is set. Are simultaneously displayed on the video monitor screen in a divided manner.

According to the present invention, the specified scene to the last scene are divided into n equal parts, and the scenes at the head of each of the n equally divided areas are simultaneously displayed on the same monitor screen separately (reduced display). . This process gives a rough indication of the position of the target scene. Next, when the user clicks on a scene with a guide, the same divided display is performed by further dividing the scene from the scene to the last scene into n equal parts. Thus, the scene can be searched more finely than at the beginning. By repeating this operation two or three times, the target scene can be narrowed down. Therefore, the scene search time can be greatly reduced, and the scene search can be more reliably performed.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a method for retrieving a recorded scene and a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiment exemplifies a recording / reproducing apparatus in which a hard disk device HDD is used as a recording medium and video and audio are recorded using a compression technique.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a main part showing an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus 10 according to the present invention, which has a recording / reproducing section 40 functioning as a signal processing section and an HDD 18 as recording / reproducing means. The recording / reproducing unit 40 converts an input video signal (including a recording signal and an audio signal) which is recording information supplied to the terminal 14 into a digital signal by an A / D converter 42, and converts the digitally converted video signal into a signal for signal compression. And the data is compressed by the encoder 44. In this embodiment, a video signal is compressed by the MPEG2 system. The compressed video signal is recorded on the HDD 18.

The video signal read from the HDD 18 is supplied to an MPEG decoder 46 to perform data decompression processing. Thereafter, the D / A converter 48 returns the signal to an original analog signal. Output. The reproduced signal is further supplied to the video monitor 20, and the reproduced image is reproduced.

In this example, a magnetic disk having a storage capacity of about 100 to 500 gigabytes (GB) can be used as the HDD 18. HDD with such storage capacity
When using 18, maximum 300 hours, maximum 100
Recording of 0 titles is possible. In this case, the recording mode is a long-time (LP) mode of about 200 hours, and about 1 hour.
Three recording modes, a standard (SP) mode of 00 hours and a high quality (HQ) mode of about 50 hours, can be adopted.

The operation mode (recording / reproduction mode, recording scene search mode described later, etc.) of the recording / reproduction device 10 is controlled by a control unit 22 using a CPU. The control unit 22 controls the operation states of the recording and reproducing unit 40 and the HDD 18 and the like. Therefore, the control unit 22 has a memory means (ROM) 24 containing a control program for executing various operation modes, and a memory means (RAM) 2 used as a working memory or the like.
6 are provided.

In the memory means 26, a divided display video scene (a reduced scene video, for example, a thumbnail image) used for a scene search is temporarily stored. This scene video is displayed on the video monitor 20 via the recording / reproducing unit 40 in a divided manner.

In order to display a specific video scene as a thumbnail in this manner, in this embodiment, after the specific video scene is decoded by the decoder 46, its decoded output PB is supplied to the control unit 22, and the decoded output image is output. After being reduced at a predetermined reduction rate, it is stored in the memory means 26 described above. Directly controls playback output from HDD 18 by control unit 2
2, a predetermined thumbnail image may be generated, and the generated thumbnail image may be decoded by the decoder 46 and stored in the memory unit 26.

Since the reproduced image data used when displaying the thumbnail image is compressed image data based on MPEG2 or the like, an I picture (intra-coded image, that is, an intra-coded image) is preferable in this case. This is because image data can be decompressed only with I pictures.

The input unit 30 connected to the control unit 22 can use a keyboard, a remote controller, an operation panel provided on the apparatus main body, or the like. The input unit 30 has operation keys (search keys) 5 for use in searching for a recorded scene, in addition to the function keys normally provided.
2 are provided. The search key 52 can also be used as another function key (not shown).

Further, in the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 according to the present invention, an interface section 32 capable of communicating with the outside is provided, and a communication cable (for example, IEEE) is connected to the external connection terminal 34.
E1394 communication cable)
Information from the outside can be taken into the control unit 22 and can be recorded on the HDD 18 in some cases. Therefore, the reverse process is also possible, and the recording target reproduced from the HDD 18 can be transmitted to an external device (recording / reproducing device, large-capacity mobile device, etc.) via the IEEE1394 communication interface unit 32.

In the present invention, when the recording signal is compressed and recorded by using a compression technique such as MPEG, the additional information simultaneously recorded on the HDD 18 is also supplied to the control unit 22. The auxiliary information is information for enabling a specific video scene to be designated during playback.
The recording address ADR and the time code TC for recording on the DD 18 are used.

The recording address ADR is managed by the control unit 22. When using the time code TC, the time code TC (hour, minute, second, frame) generated by the MPEG encoder 44 is also supplied to the control unit 22 as a recording time code TCW, and the last time of the recording information is recorded. The code TCWe is stored in the memory means 26 in association with the recording information. This last time code T
CWe is used when thumbnail images of search video scenes are displayed as described later. Then, the time code TCR reproduced from the HDD 18 is also supplied to the control unit 22.

Next, a method for retrieving a video scene according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows a program X recorded in advance. According to the present invention, in searching for a target video scene, first, the specified video scene (scene A) to the last video scene (scene E) are equally divided into n (n is an integer), and each of the n equally divided image areas Of the video scenes are simultaneously displayed on the monitor screen separately. The number of divisions n can take any value, but n ≧ 4 is preferable from the viewpoint of monitor display and the like. When the head scenes are divided into n equal parts, the reading of each head scene refers to the recording address ADR of the HDD 18 or uses the recorded time code TCR as described above. Recording address AD
Next, an example of a divided display based on R will be described.

To exemplify the case where n = 4, in this case, the address information ADRa of the video scene A and the address information ADRe of the last video scene E are referred to, and the interval (video recording time) is determined. Divide into four equal parts. Referring to the address information ADRb, ADRc, and ADRe divided into four equal parts, each head scene B of the video scene divided into four parts,
C and D are displayed as thumbnails (FIG. 2B). FIG. 3 shows a display example at that time.

The user searches for a target video scene by referring to the thumbnail images displayed as thumbnails.
When the target video scene is not found in the thumbnail display, the cursor K is moved to the thumbnail display image area to be searched again as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. In this state, the search key 54 is pressed or a mouse (not shown) is clicked.

Then, the mode is again changed to the search mode based on the thumbnail display. When the thumbnail-displayed video scene C is designated as the search scene, four more scenes from the specified video scene C to the last video scene E are added.
The first video scene of each video area, which is equally divided and divided into four, is simultaneously displayed on the monitor screen separately.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, the area from the address information ADRc to the last address information ADRe is divided into four equal parts. The four pieces of address information ADRc1, ADRc2, ADRc3 and ADR
Referring to c4, the first scenes C1, C2, D1, and D2 of the video scene divided into four are displayed as thumbnails (FIG. 2).
C). FIG. 4 shows a display example at that time.

In the case of FIG. 3, the image of the first scene is divided into four parts from the address ADRa and the thumbnail image is displayed. In the case of FIG. 4, the thumbnail is divided into four parts from the address ADRc. In FIG. 4, the video scene is displayed with finer divisions than in FIG. As a result, the search for the target video scene is easier in the case of FIG. 4 than in the case of FIG. 3, and the probability of hitting is higher.

In the example of FIG. 4, it is assumed that the video scene D2 is the target video scene, and the mode shifts to the normal reproduction mode. This allows the user to enjoy the program from the target video scene.

FIG. 2 shows a search example in which a scene search is performed from the middle of the program X. However, a scene search can be performed from the beginning of the program X. In this case, from the address ADRo to the last address ADRe is 4
They are equally divided and displayed as thumbnails. Since the scene search can be performed until the target video scene is searched, the search process of FIG. 2 can be repeated several times, and the search range is reduced each time, so that the probability of hitting the target video scene is obtained. Increase sequentially.

The number n of scenes to be divided and displayed on the video monitor 20 is, as described above, n.gtoreq.
Four or more are preferred. Among them, 6 ≦ n ≧ 12 is practical. FIG. 5 illustrates n = 9 as the most popular thumbnail display example.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a scene search process for realizing the thumbnail image display process described above. First, it is checked whether playback processing is performed from a playback designated position (recording address indicating the current position of a scene) designated by a mouse or the like, or processing for scene search (thumbnail image display processing) (step 61). When the reproduction process is started from, the recording address C of the current position which is the designated position is set to the thumbnail display position (recording address for thumbnail display) S (step 6).
2), transition to normal reproduction processing (step 63).

On the other hand, the search key 52 of the input unit 30
Is operated, the thumbnail image display processing (thumbnail continuation) is determined in step 61, and also in this case, the recording address C of the current position is set to the thumbnail display position S, and then the process proceeds to the thumbnail display processing (step 70). ).

FIG. 7 shows an example of the thumbnail display processing.
As a premise of the thumbnail display processing, the address relation is determined as follows. R: distance from the current position to the file end position of the data recording file E: file end address B: distance between thumbnails X: counter When the thumbnail display process starts, the file end address E and current position address C are used. The distance R from the current position to the file end position is calculated (step 71). In FIG. 2A, the distance R from the address ADRa (= C) to ADRe (= E) is calculated.

Next, a thumbnail display interval (distance) B is calculated from the number n of divided displays and the distance R (step 72). Thus, the reproduced images are displayed as thumbnails at intervals B.
Thereafter, the counter X is reset (= 0), and the thumbnail display position is set to the current position address C (step 73). In the case of FIG. 2, the address ADRa (= C) is set as the first thumbnail display position.

Subsequently, the flow proceeds to step 74, where the current value of the counter X and the number of divisions n are compared. If the value of the counter X is smaller than the number of divisions n, the thumbnail display position S is changed to the position shown in step 75. set. That is, the thumbnail display position S, the thumbnail display interval B, and the counter X
, An address S to be displayed is set. After setting the address S, the counter X is incremented by "1" (step 7).
6).

Thereafter, display of the thumbnail image at the address S is executed (step 77). Since the value of the counter X is initially zero, in the case of FIG.
Since it is DRa, the scene (head scene) A at this address ADRa is displayed as a thumbnail image.
When n = 4, scene A is displayed on the upper left side of monitor 20 (see FIG. 3).

When the thumbnail display at the address S is completed, the flow returns to step 74, and the same processing is executed. At this time, the counter X is incremented, and X = 1
In step 75, S = S + (B × 1). Therefore, the top scene B of the address S (= ADRb) at a position separated by the thumbnail display interval B is set as a thumbnail image in the upper right of the monitor 20. (Steps 7, 77). Then, the counter X is incremented again so that X = 2 (step 76).

By the thumbnail display processing and the counter X increment processing, the address ADR
The first scenes C and D in c and ADRd are displayed on the monitor 20.

When all the thumbnail images are displayed on the monitor 20, the processing steps for displaying the thumbnails end, and the process returns to the initial state of FIG. Therefore, when the target scene is not displayed, the cursor K is again moved to the thumbnail display image area to be searched as shown in FIG.
Is started. However, the current position address C in this case is ADRc (= ADRc1), and the distance R from the current position to the file end position is R = ADRe-ADRc. Accordingly, the thumbnail display interval B also becomes: B = R / (n + 1) = (ADRe-ADRc) / (n +
1) becomes smaller in this example by half than in the first thumbnail display (see FIG. 2A). As a result of the narrower thumbnail display interval, it becomes easier to search for the target scene. When the target scene is searched, the reproduction key is operated to transit to the normal reproduction processing mode of FIG. 6 (step 63).

In the above-described embodiment, thumbnails are displayed by dividing the designated video scene to the last video scene into n equal parts. However, an area (recording position) of a video scene to be displayed as a thumbnail can be designated. If, for example, it is possible to specify that a search should be made between 10 minutes and 40 minutes after the start of recording, a more detailed scene search becomes possible.

[0042]

As described above, according to the method for searching for a recorded scene according to the present invention, when a target video scene is searched from recorded information in which auxiliary information is recorded so that a video scene can be searched, a specified video scene is searched. To the last video scene are divided into n equal parts (n ≧ 4), and the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously divided and displayed on the monitor screen. When an arbitrary video scene is specified as a search scene, the range from the specified video scene to the last video scene is further divided into n equal parts, and the first video scene of each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously displayed on the monitor screen. The target video scene is searched for by dividing and displaying.

In the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention,
A signal processing unit for recording information, a recording unit, a video monitor,
The signal processing unit has an encoder and a decoder for compressing and decompressing recording information, and the control unit has a memory unit in which a control program for generating a scene search video is stored. , The control unit is supplied with at least the additional information that can be searched for the video scene and the external search scene specification information obtained from the encoder and the decoder. When the search scene specification information is obtained, the specified video The scene from the scene to the last video scene is divided into n equal parts (n ≧ 4), and the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously divided and displayed on the video monitor screen, and the divided and displayed video is displayed. When an arbitrary video scene among the scenes is specified as a search scene, the process from the specified video scene to the last video scene is further performed. Aliquoted, is obtained by n the beginning of the video scene of the video area obtained by equally dividing to each divided display on the video monitor screen at the same time.

According to this, the reduced screen of the first video scene when the video scene from the designated video scene to the end is divided into n equal parts is repeatedly displayed on the monitor at the same time, so that the display is gradually divided and displayed. Since the interval between the video scenes becomes narrower, a target scene search can be performed at a finer video display interval. By repeating this operation two or three times, the target scene can be narrowed down. Therefore, scene search time can be significantly reduced,
The feature is that the search of the scene is more certain.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a file address and a scene showing an example of a scene search process.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of divided display of thumbnail images (part 1).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of divided display of thumbnail images (part 2).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of divided display of thumbnail images (part 3).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a recording scene search process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of thumbnail image display processing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional scene search (part 1).

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional scene search (part 2).

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Recording / reproducing apparatus 40 ... Recording / reproducing part 44 ... MPEG encoder 46 ... MPEG decoder 18 ... Recording / reproducing means (HDD) 20 ... Monitor 22 ... Control part 24 , 26 ... memory means 32 ... communication interface unit 30 ... input unit 52 ... search key

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 5/78 510 H04N 5/93 Z 5/765 5/781 510D 5/781 5/92 H 5/92 (72) Inventor Tomohiko Yoshida 1-2-1-11 Ikenohata, Taito-ku, Tokyo F-term in Aiwa Corporation (reference) 5C025 AA30 CA06 CB10 DA10 5C052 AA01 AB03 AC08 CC06 CC11 DD04 5C053 FA06 FA23 GA11 GB06 GB09 GB38 HA29 JA24 KA05 KA24 LA06 5D044 AB07 BC04 CC06 DE28 DE49 DE91 EF05 FG18 GK04 GK12 5D077 AA30 BA09 CA02 CB14 DC03 EA08 HB01 HC02 HC11

Claims (6)

[Claims] When searching for a target video scene from recorded information in which additional information is recorded so that a video scene can be searched, the specified video scene to the last video scene are divided into n equal parts (n ≧ 4). , And n are simultaneously displayed on the monitor screen at the same time as the first video scene respectively, and when an arbitrary video scene among the divided and displayed video scenes is specified as a search scene, The target video scene is searched for by dividing the video scene from the last video scene to the last video scene into n equal parts, and simultaneously displaying the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas on the monitor screen separately. A recorded scene search method characterized by the above. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording information is digital video information, and the accompanying information is address information recorded together with the digital video information.
The recorded scene search method described. 3. The scene video that is divided and displayed is a reduced thumbnail display.
The recorded scene search method described. 4. A recording information signal processing unit, recording means,
The signal processing unit includes an encoder and a decoder that compress and decompress the recording information, and the control unit stores a control program for generating a scene search video. The control unit is provided with at least auxiliary information obtained from the encoder and the decoder, which can search for a video scene, and externally specified search scene specification information. When it is obtained, the specified video scene to the last video scene are equally divided into n (n ≧
4) Then, the first video scene among the video areas divided into n equal parts is simultaneously displayed on the video monitor screen at the same time, and any video scene among the divided and displayed video scenes is designated as a search scene. In some cases, the specified video scene to the last video scene are further divided into n equal parts, and the first video scene in each of the n equally divided video areas is simultaneously divided and displayed on the video monitor screen. Recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 5. The video recording information according to claim 4, wherein the recording information is digital video information, and the accompanying information is address information recorded together with the digital video information.
The recording / reproducing apparatus as described in the above. 6. The image display device according to claim 4, wherein the divided and displayed scene video is a reduced thumbnail display.
The recording / reproducing apparatus as described in the above.