JP2003217264A - Recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make efficient use of the storage capacity of a recording and reproducing device by automatically discriminating the degree of importance of data stored on the recording and reproducing device and by automatically erasing the data in accordance with foregoing automatic discrimination. <P>SOLUTION: The recording and reproducing device comprises: a data obtaining unit 100 for capturing data; a feature extraction means 107 for preparing key information representing the feature of the captured data; a recorder 108 for recording the captured data and the key information on the data; a reproducing means 113 for outputting the data recorded on the recorder 108; an erasing means 120 for erasing the data recorded on the recorder 108; and a means for evaluating the degree of importance 119 for judging the degree of importance of each recorded data to output the degree of importance to the erasing means 120. The erasing means 120 erases the data when the degree of importance outputted from the means 119 is equal to or lower than the previously established threshold value and allows the key information on the data to leave behind without erasure. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

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 equipped with a large-capacity recording device such as a magnetic disk device, and more particularly to a storage auxiliary device for continuously capturing image and audio information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a personal computer has a recording device for recording data such as a magnetic disk device and a reproducing device for reproducing the recorded data, which has a means for acquiring the data via an application for creating data or a network. Hold. The capacity of this recording device has become large. Along with that, the data to be handled has become a large capacity such as a moving image. Conventionally, when the free space of the recording apparatus becomes insufficient, a user-dependent method has been adopted in which the user selects and erases unnecessary data. However, if the recording device has a large capacity, the amount of data becomes so large that it becomes difficult for the user to select unnecessary files, and there are many unnecessary files that the user cannot grasp, which is inefficient. It tends to be a method of using a recording device.

In addition, for example, in a storage auxiliary device that continuously captures images and sounds, an infinite recording capacity is required because it continuously captures images and sounds. However, since the recording device is limited, a method of erasing old data is used. However, in such an erasing method, necessary data may be erased simply because the data is old, although the old data does not necessarily mean that the data is unnecessary.

On the other hand, there is also a method of automatically erasing data based on various conditions. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-232038 describes a method of automatically adding data to recorded data by adding a holding period and the number of times of reproduction to the information and erasing the data. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-224063 describes a method in which when a user records a type of data content, particularly a TV program, a data holding period is set according to the program and the data is automatically erased by this.

[0005]

The above-mentioned prior art determines the retention period in advance for the data itself and its type, and does not evaluate the usefulness of each data. Moreover, when erasing, all the data is erased. Therefore, the data cannot be recovered. Further, for example, in the storage assisting device, if the data is erased, the storage related to the data is not assisted at all.

An object of the present invention is to efficiently use a recording device having a finite storage capacity. Another object of the present invention is to enable recovery of data and minimum storage support even if data is erased.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the inventors created key information indicating at least a part of the contents of recorded data, recorded the key information together with the data, and further recorded the key information. The importance is automatically determined according to a preset rule, and when the determined importance is lower than the preset threshold value data or the free space of the recording device is equal to or less than the preset capacity, the determined importance is determined. The lowest data is deleted, and in any case, the key information corresponding to the deleted data is left as it is without being deleted.

That is, the present invention for solving the above problems is
Data acquisition means for taking in data as an electric signal or an optical signal, and feature extraction means for producing key information representing a part of the contents of the taken-in data or its characteristics,
Recording means for recording the data taken in and the key information of the data in a form that can be read out as a magnetic signal or an optical signal, and the data and key information recorded in the recording means are read out and output as an image or print. And a reproducing means, an erasing means for erasing the data recorded in the recording means, and an importance evaluation means for judging the importance of each of the recorded data and outputting the importance to the erasing means. When the importance output from the importance evaluation means is less than or equal to a preset threshold value, the erasing means forms a reproducing apparatus and erases the data recorded in the recording means, and the key of the data is recorded. It is characterized in that the information is not erased but left as it is.

By retaining the key information when erasing the data, it becomes possible to assist the storage and recover the data from the key information.

By determining the importance of each data and erasing the data of low importance, a recording device having a finite capacity can be used efficiently.

When the free space of the recording means becomes less than or equal to a preset capacity, the data of the lowest importance among the importance levels output from the importance level evaluation means is deleted from the recording means, and The key information of the data may be left as it is without being erased. Even in this case, the recording device having a finite capacity can be efficiently used, and the contents of the erased data can be inferred from the remaining key information and the data can be recovered to some extent.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) First, the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The basic structure of the embodiment will be described. The recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is, for example, a magnetic disk recording / reproducing apparatus using a magnetic disk, and includes a recording process 101, a reproducing process 102, and an erasing process 103, each of which is a recording command generated by a user or automatically. 104, playback command 10
5. Operates by the erase command 106.

The recording process 101 is a process of recording data. The recording process 101 includes a data acquisition device (hereinafter referred to as a data acquisition unit) 100 that acquires the data 109, a feature extraction unit 107 that creates key information 110 of the data 109 acquired by the data acquisition unit 100, the data 109, and A recording device 108 which is a recording means for recording the key information 110 of the data together with the data name (or the data number automatically assigned),
It is configured to include.

The reproducing process 102 is a process for reproducing the recorded data. In the reproduction process 102, a search means 111 that outputs a list hit as a search result from a data group in the recording device 108 as a search result 116 by a search command 114 that is input together with a keyword for a search after the user inputs a reproduction command. And a selection means 112 for receiving a selection command 115 generated by the user and outputting a selection result 117, and a reproduction means 113 for reproducing reproduction information 118 such as selected data and corresponding key information. ing. Here, the search means 111 is not always necessary, and the user may directly select data from the data group list in the recording device 108.

If recording is continued without erasing the data group in the recording device 108, the recording device 108 runs out of free space and recording becomes impossible. Therefore, the present embodiment has an erasing process 103 having the importance evaluation means 119.

In the erasing process 103, the data 10 in the recording device 108 is
This is a process of automatically determining the importance level of 9 and automatically deleting the data 109. The erasing process 103 is connected to the selecting means 112, stores the history of the search results 116 and the selection results 117 output from the selecting means 112, and stores the search results 116 and the selection results 117.
Each data 109 based on the playback status of data 109
Importance degree evaluation means 119 for calculating and outputting the importance degree 201, and an erasing command 122 for receiving the importance degree 201 and erasing the least important data so that the free space defined in the recording apparatus 108 is obtained. And an erasing unit 120 which outputs the data to the corresponding recording device 108 and erases the data in the corresponding recording device 108. The erasing means 120 sets a threshold value for importance and
The erasing command 122 may be output for data in which 01 is less than or equal to the threshold value. However, in any case, the corresponding key information is not deleted.

Equation 1 shows a calculation example of the importance evaluation means 119 shown in FIG. Further, FIG. 2 shows the importance level 2 according to the present embodiment.
An example of 01 changes is shown.

[0018]

[Equation 1] J: importance 201, t: time 202, t ₀ : data creation time 204, T: forgetting coefficient 210 corresponding to data creation, Ωs: search weight 207, Ns: search hit count 211, ts: final search hit time 206 , Ts: forgetting coefficient 212 corresponding to retrieval, Ωp: reproduction weight 209, Np: number of times of reproduction 213, tp: last reproduction time 208, Tp: forgetting coefficient 214 corresponding to reproduction.

The data importance 201 occurs when data is acquired.

The first term of Expression 1 is the importance regarding data acquisition, and the newly acquired data has a high importance 201. After acquiring the data at the data acquisition time t ₀ 204,
Decrease the importance with a time constant based on the forgetting factor T 210 corresponding to data creation.

The second term of the equation 1 is the importance regarding the search hit, and the data having a large number of search hits 211 and the data recently hit in the search have a higher importance. After the final search hit time 206, the importance is lowered with a time constant based on the forgetting factor 212 corresponding to the search, but if a new search is hit, the importance is increased.

The third term of Expression 1 is the importance regarding reproduction, and the data having a large number of reproduction times 213 and the recently reproduced data have a higher importance. After the final reproduction time 208, the importance is lowered by the time constant based on the forgetting factor 214 corresponding to the reproduction, but when newly reproduced, the importance is increased.

That is, in the present embodiment, the importance 201 of recent data and frequently accessed data is high. If the importance 201 of the sum of these data is less than or equal to the specified threshold value 203, the data is automatically deleted. Alternatively, the data having a low importance level 201 is deleted so that a desired free space can be obtained in the recording device 108. In general, the replayed data is more important than the data that just hit the search.
214 is a forgetting factor of 212 or more corresponding to the search, and a reproduction weight of 20
The search weight of 9 is 207 or more. Also, the key information 11
By using 0, high-speed search becomes possible. Here, the forgetting factors T, Tp, Ts and the weights Ωp, Ωs, which are parameters, may be held by an adjusting means such as customization by a user or automatic adjustment by learning. Further, in the present embodiment, the importance degree evaluation means 119 has a clock, and time t ₀ , t
You need to get s and tp. The times t ₀ , ts, tp and the numbers Ns, Np required to calculate the importance 201 need to be stored for each data, and are associated with the inside of each key information 110 and each key information 110. It is stored in the importance evaluation means 119 as importance determination data, and is recorded and updated at any time. This importance determination data is not deleted when deleting the data,
The record is updated until the corresponding key information is erased. The importance level determination data may be stored together with the key information of the recording unit 108, and the importance level evaluation unit 119 may read the data and perform the importance level calculation as necessary.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.

In the recording process 101, the procedure is started by generation of the recording command 104, and data is first acquired (procedure 301). Key information is generated from the acquired data 109 by feature extraction (procedure 302), and the data 109 and the generated key information 110 are recorded together with the data name (or automatically assigned data number, the same hereinafter) ( Step 30
3). In the case of document data, its title, a table of contents if there is a table of contents, or a part of the beginning of the document is extracted and becomes key information 110. The information of the document itself includes so-called text data as well as data such as a format and a page structure, so that the data amount is large. Therefore, the text data may be extracted and used as key information. The data name and the time when the data is stored in the recording device 108 are transferred to the importance evaluation means 119 and stored as data for importance evaluation (importance determination data).

In the reproducing process 102, the procedure is started by generation of the reproducing command 105, a search is first performed, and the search hit count 211 and the last search hit time 206 of the data hit in the search are updated (step 304), and the search result is obtained. Is displayed (step 305). When a selection is made from the data hit in the search and the selection command 115 is generated, the number of times of reproduction 213 of the data to be reproduced and the last reproduction time 208 are updated (step 30).
6) The reproduction result is displayed as an image or printed output (step 307). Then, it is judged whether or not the reproducing process can be ended (procedure 308), and when the reproducing process 102 is ended, this is the end, and when it is continued, the search or selection is repeated. The search hit data name and its search hit time in the reproduction process 102, and the reproduced data name and its reproduction time are input to the importance evaluation means 119 and stored in the importance evaluation means 119. 211, the last search hit time 206, the number of times of reproduction 213, and the last reproduction time 208 are updated.

In the erasing process 103, the procedure is started by the generation of the erasing command 106, and first the importance calculation of each data 109 is performed according to the equation 1 (procedure 309). The erasing command 106 may be generated by the user of the apparatus each time, or may be automatically generated at a preset time interval. A method of automatically generating when the free space of the recording device becomes less than or equal to a predetermined space may be used. procedure
The calculation result of 309 (importance level 201) is input to the erasing means 120, and is compared with a threshold value to determine whether the data is important (procedure 310). 122 is output and erased (step 311). However, at this time, the data itself is erased, but the key information of the data is not erased.

The erasing command 106 is automatically generated when the free space of the recording device becomes less than or equal to a predetermined capacity, and the data of the lowest importance level among the calculated importance levels is irrelevant to the threshold value. However, it may be deleted. In this case, when the free space of the recording device after the data is erased is equal to or smaller than the predetermined capacity, the above procedure is repeated until the free space becomes equal to or larger than the predetermined capacity.

According to the present embodiment, data of low importance is automatically selected and erased, so that a certain amount of free space can always be secured in the recording device, and the recording device can be used efficiently. Also, even if the data is erased, the corresponding key information remains as it is, so it is possible to confirm what the erased data was and to easily recover the data. become.

In the present embodiment, the degree of importance is evaluated by the equation 1, but the degree of importance may be evaluated by other criteria. For example, use a function that includes one or more of the elapsed time since recording data, the number of data search hits, the time elapsed since the last search hit, the number of times data was played, and the time elapsed since the last playback. You may make it determine an importance degree. (Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, which is a memory auxiliary device for constantly taking in images and sounds. The basic structure is the same as that of the recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1, and includes a recording process 101, a reproducing process 102, and an erasing process 103.

In the recording process 101, an image / sound data acquisition device 401 that takes in image / sound data (image data and sound data) 402, a feature extraction unit 107 including an image recognition unit 403 and a sound recognition unit 404, and a time 407 are output. Clock 405
And a sensor 406 such as a touch panel, a thermometer, and GPS, and a recording device 108. The recording device 108 is the same as the recording device 108 in the first embodiment.

The image / sound data 402 captured by the image / sound data acquisition device 401, which is a data acquisition unit, enters the feature extraction unit 107. The feature extraction means 107 is text information in the image obtained by recognizing the image data of the image voice data 402, text information of a characteristic color or shape, and textified voice information obtained by recognizing the voice data. The characteristic information in the image / sound data 402 is extracted as text data and is generated as the key information 110.

Specifically, the voice recognizing means 404 takes in voice data, recognizes a conversation of a person as voice and converts it into text data, and also converts various sounds, music, etc. into text data, and converts these text information. Is the key information.
In the case of voice information that is continuously captured, key information is generated for each certain time frame. The image recognition means 403 takes in the image data, recognizes the text contained in the image,
Converts text information captured as an image into text data. Further, with respect to the shape information and color information captured as an image, a characteristic shape, color, face, etc. are recognized, the name thereof is made into text data, and these text information is made into key information. For example, in the case of image data in which a certain place is continuously imaged, key information is generated for each image frame. When the shooting place, time, shooting situation, etc. are superimposed on the screen by characters, those characters are extracted and recorded as key information.

In addition to the key information, the time 407 by the clock 405 is also included.
Sensor information such as touch panel, thermometer, sensor 406 such as GPS, user input information, temperature, position information, etc.
8 is also included. Since the key information 110 is text data, the capacity thereof is smaller than that of the image / audio data 402, but since it is obtained by the feature extraction means 107, the feature of the image / audio data 402 is captured, and only the key information 110 is supplementally stored as a storage assist. It can be performed. The image / sound data 402 and the key information 110 are recorded in the recording device 108.

The key information may be created for each image frame, but the sampling time interval may be determined in advance and the key information may be created for the image extracted at each sampling time interval. In this case, the key information of the audio data may be the audio data between the previously extracted image frame and the currently extracted image frame, which is converted to text.

Since the reproducing process 102 has the same structure as that of the first embodiment, the description of the structure is omitted. Regeneration process 10
2, the playback command 1 is the same as in the first embodiment.
Receiving 02, the recorded information is reproduced to assist the user in remembering the memory. If the audio / video data 402 itself has been erased and there is a reproduction request for data having only the key information 110, only the key information 110 is reproduced as the reproduction information 118, and auxiliary storage is assisted. .

This memory assisting device always uses the image / sound data 40
Because 2 is taken in, if the data is not erased, there will be no free space in the storage device and data cannot be recorded. Further, since there is a lot of unnecessary data because it is always taken in, in order for the user to judge this, it is necessary to reproduce it once and browse it, which is inefficient. Therefore,
In this embodiment, an erasing process 103 is provided to automatically determine the importance of data and erase the data.

The erasing process 103 comprises an importance evaluation means 119, an erasing means 120 and a clock 405, stores the importance judgment data related to the data as in the case of the first embodiment, and stores each data. Is calculated, and data whose importance is lower than a preset threshold value is erased so that a specified free space can be obtained in the recording device. At this time, the data is erased, but the key information is not erased, and the key information is selectively erased from the erased data. The importance evaluation means 119 is composed of a data importance evaluation means 410 and a key information importance evaluation means 409, and the erasing means 120 is composed of a data erasing means 414 and a key information erasing means 413.

The data importance evaluation means 410 has the same function as the importance evaluation means 119 shown in FIG. 1, and calculates the data importance 412 by performing the operation shown in the above mathematical expression 1. The key information importance level evaluation means 409 stores the importance level determination data relating to the key information and calculates the key information importance level J _K 411 by performing the operation shown in Equation 2. The importance determination data relating to the key information includes the data erasing time 417, the number of key information search hits,
Elapsed time since last search hit, number of times key information was played,
Contains the time elapsed since the last play. Data importance
412 is output to the data erasing means 414, and the key information importance level 4
11 is output to the key information erasing means 413.

[0040]

[Equation 2] However, J _K : key information importance 411, t: time 202 t _0K : data deletion time 417, T _K : forgetting factor 418 corresponding to data deletion, Ωs _K : search weight 419, Ts _K : forgetting corresponding to search Coefficient 420, Ωp _K : reproduction weight 421, Tp _K : forgetting coefficient 422 corresponding to reproduction. Ns _K : Number of search hits, ts _K : Last search hit time, Np _K : Number of replays, tp _K : Last replay time, Formula 2 has the same structure as Formula 1, but the first term of Formula 2 relates to data erasure It is the importance, and the key information importance is 1 or more until the data is erased. In the present embodiment, the key information importance 411 of the key information that has not been erased or has just been erased and the key information that is frequently accessed becomes high.
The key information importance 411 is input to the key information erasing means 413,
The key information erasing means 413 compares the inputted key information importance level 411 with a preset threshold value. When the input key information importance level 411 is less than or equal to the specified threshold value, the key information erasing means 413 outputs a key information erasing command 415 to the recording device 108, and the key information is erased. However, this threshold is 1
The key information whose data has not been deleted is not deleted.

In general, since the reproduced data is more important than the data that has only been hit in the search, the forgetting coefficient 422 corresponding to the reproduction is set to the forgetting coefficient 420 corresponding to the search or more, and the reproduction weight 421 is the search weight. The weight should be 419 or more. further,
Since the key information 110 has a smaller capacity than the image / audio data 402 and can be used as a supplementary memory aid, the key information importance level 41
Forgetting factor 41 corresponding to data erasing, which is the number 2 that calculates 1
8, a forgetting coefficient 420 corresponding to the search, a forgetting coefficient 422 corresponding to the reproduction correspond to a forgetting coefficient 210 corresponding to the data creation, a forgetting coefficient 212 corresponding to the search, and a reproduction corresponding to the number 1 for calculating the data importance. The value is larger than the forgetting factor 214.

The key information 110 is used for the search. Here, forgetting factor T _K is a parameter, Tp _K, Ts _K, and the weight .omega.p _K, .omega.S _K, the threshold, and customization by the user may hold the adjusting means for performing an automatic adjustment by learning. Further, the times t _0K , ts _K , tp _K and the numbers of times Ns _K , Np _K necessary for calculating the key information importance level 411 need to be stored for each data, and are stored in each key information 110 or each It is stored in the key information importance evaluation means 409 as importance determination data associated with the key information 110, and is recorded and updated at any time. This importance determination data is not erased at the time of erasing the data, but is erased together with the corresponding key information.

The deletion command is generated by the user, automatically generated by checking the free space 108 of the recording device and detecting that it is less than a specified value, or for a mobile device for charging. It is desirable to combine one or more of them, such as automatic generation by sensing when not in use such as when placed in the dock.

FIG. 5 shows a concrete configuration example of the present embodiment. The storage auxiliary device shown in the figure is a camera 601 with a microphone that receives data from the outside, and an MPEG encoder that is connected to the camera 601 with a microphone and that compresses the data of the captured image.
602, an MPU (main processing unit) 603 connected to the MPEG encoder 602, and a recording device connected to the MPU 603
606 and an MPEG decoder 604 connected to the MPU 603
A display and a speaker 605 connected to the MPEG decoder 604, and a battery 607 for supplying electric power to each of the above devices.

Camera 601 with microphone and MPEG encoder 6
02 forms the image / audio data acquisition device 401 in FIG. 4, and the recording device 606 forms the recording device 108 in FIG. 4. The MPU 603 also serves as the feature extracting means 107, the searching means 111, the selecting means 112, the importance evaluating means 119 and the erasing means 120 in FIG. The timepiece 405 and the sensor 406 in FIG. 4 are not shown in FIG.

The memory auxiliary device shown in FIG. 5 is a portable device which uses a battery 607 as a power source and takes in information via the camera 601 with a microphone, but is connected to another network 608 having a large capacity server. Then, the data taken during the day is 1
At the end of the day, a configuration may be added in which the storage capacity is transferred back to the large capacity server of the network 608 to restore its own storage capacity. By doing so, it is possible to assist the recovery of the memory by downloading the data from the server of the other network 608.

FIG. 6 shows a screen display example of the display of the storage assist device shown in FIG. In the illustrated display example, data information 701, which is a plurality of images (image frames), and key information 702 added to each image are displayed. The part without the image indicates that the image has already been deleted, but the key information added to the deleted image is displayed without being deleted. Erasing an image with a large amount of data increases the usable storage capacity, and by retaining key information with a small amount of data, it becomes possible to recall what the erased image was. It is shown that it has become.

The type of data taken in, for example,
A database in which the threshold value is set to a different value according to the type such as a meeting record, an experiment record, or a TV program is provided, and the importance calculated by the above equation 1 is stored in this database. The necessity of erasing may be determined by illuminating.

According to the present embodiment, even in the case of data in which images and sounds are recorded for a long time, the usable storage capacity is increased by erasing an image having a large amount of data,
By leaving the key information having a small amount of data, it becomes possible to remember what the erased image was. (Third Embodiment) FIG. 7 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The basic configuration is similar to that of the second embodiment shown in FIG. The present embodiment is different from the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4 in that instead of the image / sound data acquisition device 401 in the second embodiment, a network 501 is used constantly or sporadically (sometimes). The point is that the connected data acquisition device 100 is provided. That is,
The data 109 recorded in the recording device is obtained by acquiring the data 109 from the network 501 or by recording the acquired data 109 also in the recording device on the network 501.
The same data as is recorded on the network 501. However, the key information 110 describes the recording location 502 of the data on the network 501, and when the user deletes the data 109 and requests access to the remaining information of the key information 110, the key information 110 on the network 501 is recorded. Recover the data by reacquiring the corresponding data.

Further, the data 10 acquired by the recording / reproducing apparatus is
When 9 is recorded in a mass storage device such as a server on the network 501, the server itself can be treated as the recording / reproducing device of the present invention, and by uploading not only the data 109 but also the importance determination data, Can be used to perform automatic erasure. At this time, the server has a larger forgetting factor and stores the data longer.

Although each of the above embodiments is a recording / reproducing apparatus using a magnetic disk, the present invention is not limited to a magnetic disk, but an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk or the like may be used as long as it can be repeatedly written. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a recording / reproducing device.

The erasing of data in each of the above embodiments may be executed when the recording / reproducing operation is not performed.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, when the reproducing means has access to the key information of the erased data and there is a reproduction request for the erased data, the reproducing means reproduces only the key information. Is configured. The reproducing means is also configured to display that the data is erased when the data is erased and the data having only the corresponding key information hits the search.

[0054]

According to the present invention, a recording device having a finite storage capacity can be efficiently used, and key information is saved even when data is erased, so that data recovery is possible. And the minimum memory support becomes possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a time history variation of data importance in the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a storage auxiliary device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of an actual device configuration of a storage auxiliary device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of screen display according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 data acquisition device 101 Recording process 102 Playback process 103 erasing process 104 recording command 105 Play command 106 Erase command 107 feature extraction means 108 recording device 109 data 110 key information 111 Search means 112 selection means 113 Playback means 114 Search command 115 Selection command 116 search results 117 Selection result 118 Playback information 119 Importance evaluation means 120 erasing means 122 Erase command 201 Importance 202 time 203 threshold 204 Data acquisition time 205 Data acquisition weight 206 Last search hit time 207 Search hit weight 208 Last play time 209 playback weight 301 Data acquisition 302 Key information generation 303 Information record 304 Search hit count Last search time update 305 Search result display 306 Play count Update last play time 307 Playback result display 308 Playback finished 309 Importance calculation 310 Important? 311 Data deletion 401 image and sound data acquisition device 402 image and sound data 403 Image recognition means 404 voice recognition means 405 clock 406 sensor 407 time 408 sensor information 409 Key information importance evaluation means 410 Data importance evaluation means 411 Key information importance 412 Data importance 413 key information erasing means 414 data erasing means 415 Key information deletion command 416 Data deletion command 701 data information 702 key information

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takashi Yamaguchi             502 Kintatemachi, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Japan             Tate Seisakusho Mechanical Research Center F-term (reference) 5D044 AB05 AB07 BC01 CC05 DE29                       DE49 DE54 EF05 GK12                 5D110 AA13 AA27 AA29 BB01 DA04                       DA12 DB03 DC05 DC16 DE08                       EA07 EB08

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A data acquisition unit that takes in data as an electric signal or an optical signal, a feature extraction unit that creates key information representing a part of the contents of the taken-in data or its characteristics, the taken-in data and the data. Recording means for recording the key information of the above in a form that can be read out as a magnetic signal or an optical signal, a reproducing means for reading out the data and the key information recorded in this recording means and outputting them as an image or a print, Erasing means for erasing the data recorded in the erasing means, and importance evaluation means for judging the importance of each of the recorded data and outputting to the erasing means, the erasing means comprising: When the importance output from the importance evaluation means is less than or equal to a preset threshold value, the data recorded in the recording means is erased and The recording / reproducing apparatus is characterized in that the key information of the data is not erased but left as it is. 2. A data acquisition means for taking in data as an electric signal or an optical signal, a feature extracting means for producing a key information representing a part of the contents of the taken-in data or a characteristic thereof, the taken-in data and the data. Recording means for recording the key information of the above in a form that can be read out as a magnetic signal or an optical signal, a reproducing means for reading out the data and the key information recorded in this recording means and outputting them as an image or a print, Erasing means for erasing the data recorded in the erasing means, and importance evaluation means for judging the importance of each of the recorded data and outputting to the erasing means, the erasing means comprising: When the free space of the recording means is less than or equal to a preset value, the data with the lowest importance output from the importance evaluation means is deleted from the recording means. A recording / reproducing apparatus, characterized in that the key information of the data is not erased but left as it is. 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the importance evaluation means records the time elapsed after recording the data, the number of data search hits, and the time elapsed since the last search hit. A recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by being configured to judge importance by using a function including one or more of the number of times data is reproduced and the time elapsed since the last reproduction. 4. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a key information importance evaluation means for performing importance determination on each of the key information and outputting the determined key information importance. , Key information erasing means for erasing the key information by inputting the key information importance, the key information erasing means, in the key information corresponding to the erased data, the importance is below a preset threshold value. A recording / reproducing apparatus characterized in that if there is, the key information is automatically erased. 5. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising transfer means for transferring the data stored in the recording means to another recording apparatus via a communication line, and the erasing operation. The recording / reproducing apparatus is characterized in that the means is configured to transfer the data to be erased to the other recording apparatus via the transfer means. 6. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the erasing means is configured to perform a data erasing operation by a user's command generation. Recording / playback device. 7. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the erasing unit is configured to perform the operation of erasing the data when the recording / reproducing operation is stopped. A recording / reproducing device characterized in that 8. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 5,
The reproducing means is configured to obtain the corresponding data from the other recording device when there is access to the key information of the erased data and there is an access request for the erased data. Characteristic recording / playback device. 9. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the data is erased and there is a reproduction request for the data having only the corresponding key information,
The recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the reproducing means reproduces only the key information. 10. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reproducing unit erases the data, and when the data having only the corresponding key information hits the search, A recording / reproducing apparatus characterized by being configured to display that data has been erased.