JP2003092720A - Dvd video device and generating device for menu screen data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a DVD video device capable of generating data of a menu screen at a low cost in compliance with a unified format. SOLUTION: This invention provides the DVD video device that creates display data for a menu screen on the background image of which optional characters indicative of menu items and highlight indication denoting which of the menu items is selected are displayed in a format to which main image data for image display, sub picture data for character display and highlight information for highlight indication, and is provided with an image data generating means for generating optional character data indicative of the menu items as main image data, and the DVD video device creates the image data of the menu screen from the image data including the background image and the image of the optional character image indicative of the menu items, fixed sub picture data not including the optional characters, and optional highlight information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a menu screen data generation device mounted on, for example, a DVD video recorder or a hard disk video recorder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, video devices for recording video and audio on a storage medium having a large storage capacity and capable of random access, such as a DVD video recorder and a hard disk video recorder, have been developed.

In such a video apparatus, for example, a navigation function is generally provided so that a desired program can be easily selected from a plurality of recorded programs and reproduction can be started. In the navigation function, for example, some menu items showing the date and time of the recorded program, the program name, etc. are displayed on the screen, and any menu item is selected by the remote control operation to reproduce the desired program. Also, when selecting a menu item, the selected menu item is highlighted or the frame display is colored, etc.
The user can recognize the selected content by adding the additional display.

Further, the recorded data is recorded on a DVD-RAM, a DV.
In the case of the type of storing in a portable storage medium such as a D-R or a DVD-RW, the data of the menu screen for navigation is also portable so that the storage medium can be transferred to another reproducing device and reproduced in the same manner. It is stored in the storage medium of No. 3 and is configured so that the navigation function can be similarly used in another reproducing apparatus. Therefore, the data format of the menu screen of such a device is generated in a format conforming to a unified standard such as the DVD video standard so that the navigation function can be used in other reproducing devices as well.

According to the standard of the menu screen which is widely used at present, as shown in FIG. 4, main image data representing a background image of the menu screen in a data format for an image, characters of menu items, etc. Is composed of sub-picture data represented by sub-picture font data in the run length code format, and highlight information representing an additional display indicating a selected state or a non-selected state, and is obtained from data of these different formats. One menu screen is displayed by superimposing and displaying different types of images (background, sub-picture (character), additional display such as highlight).

A conventional technique for generating such menu screen data is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-1329.
There are techniques disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 53 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-225298.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the character indicating the menu item is generated by the sub-picture data when the data of the menu screen is generated by the video recorder. Only for generation, font data for sub-picture and dedicated encoder and software for data conversion to sub-picture format were required.

Therefore, there is a problem in that the cost of the apparatus increases when the menu screen generation function is added.

An object of the present invention is to provide a menu screen data generating apparatus capable of inexpensively generating menu screen data while conforming to a unified format, and a DVD video apparatus equipped with such a generating apparatus. To do.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a menu in which an arbitrary character display representing a menu item and an additional display representing which menu item is selected are displayed on a background image. Of the menu screen data for generating the display data of the screen in a format including image data for image display, sub-picture data for character display whose data format is different from the image data, and additional display data for the additional display. The generation device is provided with image data creating means for creating data of arbitrary characters representing the menu items as the image data, and displays the menu screen display data as a background image (including a plain background image) and a menu image. Image data that includes an image of any character that represents an item, and sub-picture data that does not include data of any character that represents a menu item Never a fixed character may be included), and configured so as to generate from the said additional display data.

According to such means, an image of an arbitrary character representing a menu item is not created as sub-picture data but as image data, so that sub-picture font data or sub-picture data is created. It is possible to reduce the cost by eliminating the need for a dedicated encoder and so on.

Desirably, a font output means (for example, OSD (On Screen Displa) which can display the font on the display image by superimposing the font data on the image data and outputting it.
y) functional circuit), and the image data creating means may be configured to create image data in which arbitrary characters are superimposed on the background image by the font output means.

Many general video devices have an OSD function for displaying an arbitrary font on a display image. Therefore, like the above-described means, by using the font output means to create the image data including the characters representing the menu items, it is possible to create the data of the menu screen without increasing the cost.

More preferably, in the above-mentioned menu screen data generation device, the decoder includes a decoder for decoding image data encoded for video reproduction, and an encoder for encoding image signals for video recording. The output of the above-mentioned encoder can be switched to the input side of the encoder, and the above-mentioned image data creating means decodes the encoded background image with the above-mentioned decoder, and at the same time outputs the font data by the above-mentioned font output means. After stacking,
The first switch means may be switched to input to the encoder, and the encoder may encode the image data to create image data including the background image and characters representing menu items.

DVD video recorders and digital video recorders are provided with an encoder for converting recorded data into, for example, MPEG format, and a decoder for decoding image data in MPEG format during reproduction. Therefore, according to the above means, it is possible to efficiently create image data including the background image and the characters of the menu item by using such an encoder or decoder. Also, when the background image is stored in advance, the data capacity can be reduced.

It is also desirable that the image data generating means includes a second switch means capable of disconnecting a signal path between the reproduction signal output node for outputting a reproduction signal based on the output of the decoder and the decoder. The signal path may be disconnected by the second switch means while the image signal for the menu screen is being output from the decoder.

When the decoder is used to generate the menu screen, the video signal is output as it is,
The output can be avoided by the second switch means. Specifically, the format of the display data of the menu screen is in accordance with the DVD video standard.

Further, the DVD video device according to the present invention is
The audio / video data stored in the format of the DVD video standard is decoded to output the audio signal and the video signal, and the video signal and the audio signal are DV.
A DVD video device capable of recording in a format of the D video standard, which is configured to include the above-mentioned menu screen data generation device.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a D according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of a VD video recorder. The DVD video recorder of this embodiment is a DVD
The device is capable of reproducing and recording video and audio, reproducing and outputting a menu screen and controlling its operation, and generating and recording menu screen data in accordance with the video standard. Further, this DVD video recorder also has an OSD function for displaying a chapter number of an output video and a list indicating the audio type on the image in a superimposed manner. Of the above functions, playback, recording, playback output of menu screen and operation control, and
The OSD processing is the same as that provided in the conventional DVD video recorder.

As shown in FIG. 1, the DVD video recorder of this embodiment has a tuner 10 for selecting a signal from an antenna and a selector for selecting either an audio / video input signal or a signal from the tuner 10. 11, an AD converter 12 for converting an audio signal into a digital signal, a Y / C separation & AD converter 13 for separating a video signal into a luminance signal and a color signal and digitizing it, and converting an RGB video signal into a luminance signal and a color signal in a predetermined format. Video converter 14, DA converter 15 for converting digital audio signals to analog, MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) for digital audio and video signals
AV encoder 16 for compressing the data format such as the above and converting to the format of the DVD video standard, and SDRAM (Synchr) used as working memories for audio signal encoding and video signal encoding, respectively.
onous Dynamic Random Access Memory) 17, 18, D
An AV decoder 19 that decodes video / audio data and menu screen data of the VD video standard, an SDRAM 20 that is a working memory for these decoding processes, a disk motor 23a that rotates the video disk D1, and a head unit 23b that reads and writes data. The disk drive 23 that it has, and the drive interface 2 that outputs commands to the disk drive 23 and exchanges data.
1. The SDRAM 22 used as a buffer for write data and read data is provided.

The DVD video recorder mainly stores a main control unit 24 for controlling a data processing system block of video and audio, compressed data of a background image of a menu screen, OSD font data used for an OSD function, and the like. Flash memory 25, EEPRO for saving various setting data
M (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) 2
6, a sub-control unit 27 for selecting the tuner 10, controlling the timer and controlling the input and output of the operation panel, various operation keys 28 provided on the operation panel for receiving user operations, a light receiving unit 29 for receiving remote control signals, and an operation panel. The display unit 30 provided to display the operation contents to the user and the video input terminal of the AV encoder 16 are connected to the Y / C separation & AD converter 1
The third switch and the first switch SW1 for switching between the output side of the AV decoder 19 and the second and the second which can disconnect the output of the AV decoder 19 from the external output side of the video / audio signal and connect the input video / audio signal to the external output side. Three switches SW2 and SW3 are provided.

In the above configuration, the main control section 24, the AV decoder 19, and the flash memory 25 constitute a font display means to realize the OSD function. Also,
Main controller 24, AV decoder 19, first switch S
W1, AV encoder 16, and flash memory 25
And an image data creating means for creating main image data in cooperation with the drive interface 21 and the like, and
A menu screen data generation unit (generation device) that generates menu screen data is configured.

The AV decoder 19 decodes the video / audio data of the DVD video standard to obtain the video signal and the PCM.
(Pulse Code Modulation) format audio signal is generated, and compressed main image data and highlight information in the DVD video standard menu screen data are expanded, and characters are displayed when displaying translated characters. Sub-picture data represented by a run length code is decoded. Further, under the control of the main controller 24, OSD processing is performed in which the OSD font data stored in the flash memory 25 is superimposed on the image data decoded by the AV decoder 19.

According to the DVD video recorder having the above-described structure, when the command signal is output from the sub control unit 27 to the main control unit 24 based on the reproducing operation by the user, the main control unit 24 is driven by the main control unit 24 based on the command signal. 21 is controlled to read a predetermined data file from the video disc D1. And this data file is A
By being transferred to the V decoder 19 and decoded, the video and audio are reproduced and the menu screen is displayed. And
The user can switch the chapter to be played back by operating the numeric keypad, etc. during video playback, and the cursor menu or enter key can be moved / set to determine the menu screen when the menu screen is played back. The video corresponding to the selected selection menu is played back. In addition, for example, when the playback video is switched or the audio is switched, the main control unit 24 reads the chapter number of the flash memory 25 and the OSD font data for displaying a list indicating the audio type. By superimposing on the video data, the list of chapter numbers and audio types is displayed by OSD.

In addition, the sub-control unit 2 is operated by the user when recording is performed.
When a command signal is output from 7 to the main control unit 24, the main control unit 24 activates the AV encoder 16 based on the command signal, and the encoding process of the input audiovisual signal is started. At the same time, the main control unit 24 controls the drive interface 21 so that the AV encoder 16
The encoded data output from the disk drive 2
3 and is written in the video disc D1.

At the end of the recording process, the main controller 24 automatically executes the menu screen data generation process in accordance with the control program stored in the flash memory 25. When the generation process of the menu screen data is started, first, the main control unit 24 outputs a control signal to set the first switch SW1 to the contact b side and the second and third switches SW1.
2, SW3 is switched to contact c and contact e side. further,
The main control unit 24 outputs a transmission command of time data of recording start and recording end and channel data to the sub control unit 27, and receives these data. Further, the time data and channel data of the recording start and recording end of the program recorded in the past on the video disc D1 and the file name of the corresponding recording file are read from the video disc D1. Then, based on these data, menu screen data for displaying a list of indexes of recorded programs is generated as follows.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the data structure of the menu screen generated in the DVD video recorder of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the data generation process of the main image data. Menu screen data is DVD
It is composed of main image data, sub-picture data, and highlight information as additional information according to the video standard.

The main image data is data in a format in which image data is compressed. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a background image and a character (channel number or channel number) which is an index of a recorded program which is a menu item. In FIG. 2, "1 A to G", "2 H to N", "3" such as recording start and end time.
Image (denoted as “OPQ”). Further, thumbnail images SN1 to SN3 showing one scene of the program may be inserted beside the menu item.

The main image data is created as follows. That is, first, the flash memory 25
The background image data stored in the compressed format is transferred to the AV decoder 19 and expanded. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, OSD font data read from the flash memory 25 is overlaid on the developed background image data, and a character image serving as an index of the recorded program is inserted. Then, this image signal is output from the AV decoder 19 and input to the AV encoder 16 by the connection by the first switch SW1. Then, the AV encoder 16 performs compression processing to create main image data.

Then, the main image data is transferred to the SDRAM 22 of the drive interface 21,
The main control unit 24 adds information as the main image data of the menu screen and then sends it to the disc drive 23 to be written on the video disc D1.

The sub-picture data of the menu screen is data for representing a character, but in this embodiment, the character representing the menu item is included in the main image data by the OSD function, so that the sub-picture data is displayed in the menu picture. Characters that represent items are not included. Therefore, in this embodiment, new sub-picture data is not created. However, since some kind of sub-picture data is required to perform highlight display, fixed sub-picture data in which no characters are displayed is prepared in the flash memory 25 in advance, and this is written to the video disc D1. Note that the sub-picture data cannot include characters that change each time, but for example, "Title M" in FIG.
Fixed characters such as "enu" may be included.

The highlight information indicates the selection / non-selection state of the menu screen. In this embodiment, the menu screen format is fixed such that the menu items are displayed one line at a time in a predetermined line. Therefore, the position of the highlight display showing the selected / non-selected state is also fixed to each line in which the menu item is displayed. Therefore, the main control unit 24 can easily generate highlight information, and writes this highlight information to the video disc D1.

The above-mentioned processing is performed to complete the generation of the menu screen and the writing processing to the video disc D1. At the time of reproducing the menu screen, the three types of data shown in FIG. 2 are individually decoded by the AV decoder and are superimposed on one another to be output as a menu screen. In addition, the data format of the menu screen generated in this way is a format in which three types of data conforming to the general DVD video standard are combined, so that it can be reproduced by another general DVD reproducing apparatus. Similarly, a menu screen is displayed, and menu items can be selected in the same manner.

As described above, according to the DVD video recorder of this embodiment, when the menu screen data is generated,
The image of arbitrary characters that represent the menu items is generated as the main image data, not as the sub-picture data, so that a font data for the sub-picture or a dedicated encoder for generating the sub-picture data is not required. Therefore, the cost can be reduced.

That is, when the characters of the menu item are generated as sub-picture data as in the prior art, for example, font data for sub-picture is stored in the flash memory 25 separately from the OSD font, and A
It is necessary to provide a sub-picture encoder around the V encoder or the drive interface 21, or to perform sub-picture encoding processing by software processing of the main control unit 41, but these are not necessary in the present embodiment. Become.

Further, since the character image data is inserted into the menu screen data by using the OSD function necessary for other processing such as chapter display, the menu screen data can be generated at low cost.

The main image data of the menu screen is set to O
Since SD characters are inserted and created using an AV decoder for playback and an AV encoder for recording,
Background image data that needs to be stored in advance can be compressed, and characters can be efficiently inserted to create main image data.

Also, while the main image data is being created, the AV
The image data is output from the decoder 19, but the second
Since the third switches SW2 and SW3 disconnect the output terminal of the AV decoder 19 from the external output side, it is possible to prevent the signal of the image being created from being output to the outside.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, although the menu screen for selecting a recorded program to be played back is shown as an example of the contents of the menu screen, the contents of the menu are not particularly limited, such as the menu screen for selecting the power off or the disc eject / playback method. Not something.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
There is an effect that menu screen data in a format including sub-picture data can be efficiently generated with a low cost configuration in a video recorder or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a DVD video recorder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a menu screen generated in the DVD video recorder according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data generation process of the main image data of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a conventional menu screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

12 AD converter 13 Y / C separation & AD converter 14 Video Converter 15 DA converter 16 AV encoder 19 AV decoder 21 Drive Interface 23 disk drive 24 Main control unit 25 flash memory D1 video disc SW1 first switch SW2 Second switch SW3 3rd switch

Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5B069 CA02 CA18 HA01                 5C052 AA02 AB03 AB04 AC08 DD04                       DD08 EE03                 5C053 FA23 FA24 GB11 GB12 JA16                       LA04 LA06                 5D044 AB05 AB07 BC03 CC04 DE17                       DE49 FG18 HL04

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An audio / video data stored in a DVD video standard format, comprising a decoder for decoding image data encoded for video reproduction, and an encoder for encoding image signal for video recording. A DVD video device capable of decoding and outputting an audio signal and a video signal as well as recording the video signal and the audio signal in a format of the DVD video standard. The font output means that can display the font on the background image, and the display data of the menu screen for displaying arbitrary characters that represent menu items on the background image and additional display that indicates which menu item is selected image data,
A menu screen generating means for generating in a format conforming to the DVD video standard, which includes sub-picture data for character display having a data format different from that of the image data, and additional display data for the additional display. The generating means includes a first switch means capable of switching the output of the decoder to the input side of the encoder, and a signal path between the decoder and a reproduction signal output node that outputs a reproduction signal based on the output of the decoder. The disconnectable second switch means and the encoded background image are decoded by the decoder, and the font output means overlays the font data to overlay an arbitrary character on the background image, and then the first switch means. Is input to the encoder, and the background image and the characters representing the menu items are encoded by the encoder. And an image data creating unit configured to disconnect the signal path by the second switch unit while the menu screen image signal is being output from the decoder. The display data of the menu screen includes image data including a background image generated by the image data creating means and an image of arbitrary characters representing menu items, and data of arbitrary characters representing menu items. A DVD video device, characterized in that it is generated from non-subpicture data and the additional display data. 2. Display data of a menu screen on which an arbitrary character display indicating a menu item and an additional display indicating which menu item is selected are displayed on the background image as image data for image display and the image data. Data is a menu screen data generation device that generates in a format that includes sub-picture data for character display, which has a different data format, and additional display data for the additional display, and is a device for generating arbitrary characters that represent the menu items. Image data creating means for creating data as the image data, wherein the display data of the menu screen includes image data of the background image created by the image data creating means and an image of arbitrary characters representing a menu item. And the sub-picture data that does not include the data of arbitrary characters that represent the menu items, and the additional display data described above. Apparatus for generating menu screen data, wherein. 3. A font output means capable of displaying a font on a display image by superimposing font data on the image data and outputting the font data, wherein the image data creating means uses the font output means to display an arbitrary character on a background image. The menu screen data generating device according to claim 2, wherein the menu screen data generating device is configured to generate superimposed image data. 4. The menu screen data generation device according to claim 3, further comprising a decoder for decoding the encoded image data for video reproduction, and an encoder for encoding the image signal for video recording. It has a first switch means capable of switching the output of the decoder to the input side of the encoder, the image data creating means decodes the encoded background image by the decoder, and the font data by the font output means. Image data on which the font data is superimposed is input to the encoder by switching the first switch means, encoded by the encoder, and image data including the background image and the characters representing the menu item is included. An apparatus for generating menu screen data, characterized in that it is configured to create. 5. A second switch means capable of disconnecting a signal path between a reproduction signal output node that outputs a reproduction signal based on the output of the decoder and the decoder, and an image signal for a menu screen from the decoder. 5. The menu screen data generating device according to claim 4, wherein the signal path is disconnected by the second switch means while the is output. 6. The menu screen data generating device according to claim 2, wherein the format of the display data of the menu screen is a format conforming to the DVD video standard. 7. A DVD video device capable of decoding audio / video data stored in a DVD video standard format to output an audio signal and a video signal, and recording the video signal and the audio signal in the DVD video standard format. A DVD video device comprising the menu screen data generation device according to any one of claims 2 to 6.