JP2004158148A - Recording device and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the ease of use in a technique for recording sound information. <P>SOLUTION: A control circuit 13 selects the recording speed of the sound information by using a recording circuit 10 according to the input of the sound information from either a microphone 4 or a sound information input terminal 5 and allows a recording circuit 10 to record the sound information on an optical disk 12 at a selected recording speed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for recording information on a recording medium. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for recording audio information on a recording medium.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for recording audio information and image information, there is a recording device such as a video camera. Since such a portable device is mainly driven by a battery, reducing power consumption is an important issue.
[0003]
Further, in the recording apparatus as described above, it is difficult to record the image information and the audio information immediately after instructing the recording on the recording medium. This is because in the case of a recording medium on a disk, a seek time or a rotation stabilization waiting time of the disk is required, and in the case of a tape-shaped recording medium, a so-called overhead time such as a rotation stabilization waiting time of a rotary head is required. This is because it takes time. To cope with this problem, immediately after recording is instructed, audio information or image information is temporarily recorded and accumulated in a buffer memory, and after the waiting time, the audio information or image information accumulated in the buffer memory is recorded on a recording medium. Thus, a technique for reducing the delay at the start of recording has been proposed. Further, intermittent recording in which information is recorded on a recording medium by repeating recording start and recording stop according to the amount of information stored in a buffer memory is disclosed (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-110917 [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described related art, no consideration has been given to noise and vibration generated when the recording speed on the recording medium is increased. That is, when recording information on a disk, it is necessary to increase the number of rotations of the disk, and when recording information on a tape, it is necessary to increase the speed of a rotary head or a tape feed motor. And vibration increase. In particular, in the case of a device such as a video camera that records sound from a microphone, there is a problem that noise or vibration of the device itself during a recording operation is transmitted to the microphone through the housing of the device. Therefore, in an actual recording device, the recording speed on the recording medium is limited to a lower speed than the maximum recording speed on the recording medium in consideration of the noise and vibration of the device itself.
[0006]
Further, in the above-described conventional technology, a recording device capable of recording audio information output from a microphone of the device itself and an audio information input terminal to which audio information is input from a microphone or the like not provided by the device is considered. I didn't.
[0007]
Further, reduction of power consumption in the case of intermittent recording has not been considered.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems. Another object of the present invention is to provide a user-friendly information recording technology in the technology for recording audio information.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above object, the present invention provides a recording technique for recording audio information on a recording medium, wherein the input audio is recorded on the recording medium as audio information and the input audio information is recorded on the recording medium. A recording technique for changing the recording speed of the audio information when recording on a medium.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present invention is not limited to a disc-shaped recording medium, and can be applied to a technology for recording information on any recording medium such as a tape-shaped recording medium and a semiconductor recording medium. In the present embodiment, the recording medium is an optical disc. The recording device will be described as a camera that records audio information and image information on an optical disc.
[0011]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a camera according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, an image of a subject is input from a CCD 1, is converted into digitized image information by a digitizing circuit 2, and is compressed by an image compression circuit 3 by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). Audio is input from the microphone 4 or audio information is input from the audio information input terminal 5. The audio information output from the microphone 4 or the audio information input terminal 5 is digitized by a digitizing circuit 6 and MPEG-compressed by an audio compression circuit 7. The compressed audio information and image information are multiplexed by the multiplexing circuit 8 and temporarily stored in the buffer memory 9. The audio / video information recorded in the buffer memory 8 is recorded on the optical disk 12 by the optical head 11 via the recording circuit 10 at a predetermined timing. It should be noted that the control circuit 13 controls the digitizing circuit 2, the digitizing circuit 6, the image compression circuit 3, the audio compression circuit 7, the multiplexing circuit 8, the buffer memory 9, or the recording circuit 10 based on the instruction from the instruction input circuit 14. Control processing.
[0012]
Here, the camera according to the present embodiment records either the audio information output from the microphone 4 or the audio information output from the audio information input terminal 5 on the optical disc 12.
[0013]
That is, when instructed by the instruction input circuit 14 to record the audio information output from the microphone 4, the control circuit 13 causes the digitizing circuit 6 to digitize the audio information from the microphone 4. Further, when instructed by the instruction input circuit 14 to record the audio information output from the audio information input terminal, the control circuit 13 causes the digitizing circuit 6 to digitize the audio information from the audio information input terminal 5.
[0014]
Note that the microphone 4 is a voice input unit included in the camera, whereas the voice information input terminal 5 is a terminal to which voice information output from a voice input unit such as an external microphone that the camera does not have is input.
[0015]
When receiving a recording start instruction from the instruction input circuit 14, the control circuit 13 digitizes the digitizing circuit 2, the digitizing circuit 6, the image compressing circuit 3, the audio compressing circuit 7, the multiplexing circuit 8, the buffer memory 9, and the recording circuit 10. And the like, and audio / video information is recorded on the optical disk 12 via the optical head 11. Further, the recording circuit 10 can record audio / video information on an optical disc at at least two types of recording speeds. The control circuit 13 selects a predetermined recording speed and operates the recording circuit 10.
[0016]
Here, during the recording operation on the optical disk 12, noise and vibration are generated by rotation of the optical disk 12 and the drive motor, and the noise and vibration are input as noise together with the voice input via the microphone 4, The quality of the audio information output from the microphone 4 is reduced. When the recording speed on the optical disk 12 is increased, the rotation speed of the optical disk 12 is also increased. Therefore, compared to the case where the recording speed on the optical disk 12 is low, the noise and the vibration increase, and the noise is easily recognized as noise. Therefore, the control circuit 13 determines which of the microphone 4 and the audio information input terminal 5 is to be used to record the audio information, and if the audio information output from the microphone 4 is to be recorded, the noise of the camera Then, a low recording speed at which the vibration does not affect the audio information or less is selected, and the recording circuit 10 is operated to record the audio / video information on the optical disk 12.
[0017]
On the other hand, when recording the audio information output from the audio information input terminal 5, the control circuit 13 has no effect of noise or vibration from the camera 4, and therefore has a higher recording speed (for example, (The maximum recording speed of the apparatus), the recording circuit 10 is operated, and the audio / video information is recorded on the optical disk 12.
[0018]
Note that even during the recording operation, when the instruction input circuit 14 instructs the recording of the audio information output from the microphone 4, the control circuit 13 sets the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 to a low recording speed and operates the recording circuit 10. Then, the audio / video information is recorded on the optical disc 12.
[0019]
As described above, in the first embodiment, in order to change the recording speed of the audio information on the optical disc in accordance with which of the microphone 4 and the audio information input terminal 5 the audio information is recorded, When the audio information is output from the microphone 4, noise and vibration noise caused by the increase in the recording speed can be reduced from being input to the microphone 4, and the audio information is output from the audio information input terminal 5. In this case, the recording speed can be increased irrespective of the noise or vibration noise generated by the camera, and the usability is improved.
[0020]
Next, a second embodiment will be described.
[0021]
In the second embodiment, a case where intermittent recording is performed as a recording operation will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the description will be given assuming that the recording device is a camera and the recording medium is an optical disk, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a technology for recording information on a recording medium. .
[0022]
When the recording of the audio information output from the microphone 4 is instructed, the control circuit 13 performs the operation indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 and instructs the recording of the audio information output from the audio information input terminal 5. If so, the recording circuit 10 performs the operation indicated by the broken line in FIG.
[0023]
At time T0, when the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 becomes smaller than the preset amount of information A2 due to the recording operation on the optical disk 12, the control circuit 13 stops the recording operation of the recording circuit 12 on the optical disk 12. Let it. After that, the recording operation is stopped, but the audio and video information is sequentially input to the buffer memory 12 and accumulated in the buffer memory 12. Here, the coding rate of the audio and video information output from the multiplexing circuit 8 is set to 10 Mbps. At time T1, when the amount of audiovisual information stored in the buffer memory 12 reaches the preset information amount A1, the control circuit 13 starts the recording operation of the recording circuit 10. That is, the recording circuit 10 rotates the optical disk 12, seeks the optical head 11 to the recording position, and records the audiovisual information on the optical disk 12.
[0024]
Incidentally, the actual recording operation requires a seek time and a stabilization time until the rotation of the disk is stabilized.Since these times are shorter than the recording stop time in the intermittent recording, for convenience of explanation, The description proceeds assuming that no seek time or stabilization time is required.
[0025]
Also in the case of the intermittent recording operation, as in the case of the first embodiment, the control circuit 13 sets the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 according to which of the microphone 4 and the audio information input terminal 5 the audio information is recorded. Control to change.
[0026]
When the control circuit 13 is instructed to record the audio information output from the microphone 4, the control circuit 13 selects a low recording speed at which the noise and vibration of the camera do not affect the audio information and is lower than an allowable level. The audio and video information is recorded on the optical disk 12 by operating. Here, the low-speed recording speed is set to 20 Mbps. At time T2, when the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 becomes smaller than the preset amount of information A2, the control circuit 13 stops the recording operation of the recording circuit 10.
[0027]
In this case, during the period from T0 to T1, the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 increases at a rate of 10 Mbps, and during the period from T1 to T2, the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 decreases at a rate of 10 Mbps. Therefore, the ratio between the stop time and the recording time is about 1: 1, and the writing operation and the disk rotation are not performed for about 50% of the intermittent recording cycle, so that the power consumption of the camera and the reduction of heat generation can be reduced. Can be planned.
[0028]
On the other hand, when the control circuit 13 is instructed to record the audio information output from the audio information input terminal 5, the noise and vibration of the camera do not affect the audio information. Is selected, the recording circuit 10 is operated, and audio information is recorded on the optical disk 12. Here, the high-speed recording speed is set to 30 Mbps, which is the maximum recording speed of this apparatus. At time T2 ', when the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 becomes smaller than A2, which is a preset information amount, the control circuit 13 stops the recording operation of the recording circuit 10.
[0029]
In this case, during the period from T0 to T1, the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 increases at a speed of 10 Mbps, and during the period from T1 to T2 ′, the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 decreases at a speed of 20 Mbps. The ratio of the time to the recording time is about 2: 1. About 66.7% of the intermittent recording period does not perform the writing operation or the disk rotation, and the recording speed to the optical disk 12 is 20 Mbps. Further, power saving and heat generation of the camera can be further reduced.
[0030]
As described above, in the second embodiment, even when performing intermittent recording, the usability of the recording apparatus is improved as in the first embodiment. Furthermore, by performing intermittent recording, it is possible to save power and reduce heat generation of the recording apparatus.
[0031]
Next, a third embodiment will be described.
[0032]
In the third embodiment, the speeding up of the recording end process will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the recording operation is described as performing intermittent recording, but the present invention can be applied to a recording operation that is not intermittent recording. Further, in the present embodiment, the description will be given assuming that the recording device is a camera and the recording medium is an optical disk. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to a technology for recording information on a recording medium. Can be.
[0033]
In FIG. 3, before time T4, audio / video information including audio information output from the microphone 4 is recorded on the optical disk 12 by the above-described intermittent recording operation.
At this time, since the sound is input from the microphone 4, the control circuit 13 selects a low recording speed at which the noise and vibration of the camera does not affect the sound and does not affect the sound, and operates the recording circuit 10. Then, the audio / video information is recorded on the optical disk 12. Here, the low-speed recording speed is set to 20 Mbps.
[0034]
In the present embodiment, at time T4, when the control circuit 13 receives a recording end instruction from the instruction input circuit 14, the control circuit 13 digitizes the digitizing circuit 6, the digitizing circuit 2, the image compressing circuit 3, the audio compressing circuit 7, and the multiplexing. The circuit 8 is stopped. When receiving the recording end instruction, the control circuit 13 causes the recording circuit 10 to store the audio and video information stored in the buffer memory 9 before the recording end instruction at the recording speed higher than the low recording speed. To record. Here, the high-speed recording speed is set to 30 Mbps, which is the maximum recording speed of this apparatus. Thus, for example, assuming that the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 at time T4 is 60 Mbits, the time at which all information is recorded on the optical disk 12 is time T5 ', and is about 2 seconds from T3 to T5'. . (See the broken line in FIG. 3)
If the control circuit 13 records the audio and video information stored in the buffer memory 9 before the recording end instruction on the optical disc 12 at a low recording speed as the recording end process, the amount of information stored in the buffer memory 9 at time T4 is reduced. In the case of 60 Mbit, the time when all information is recorded on the optical disc 12 is time T5, and it takes about 3 seconds from T4 to T5. During this time, the next operation such as turning off the power cannot be performed. (See the solid line in FIG. 3)
Therefore, in the present embodiment, compared to the case where the recording speed is not switched, the recording termination processing time is completed in a shorter time (in the example of FIG. 3, the recording termination processing time is reduced by one second), and the usability of the user is improved.
[0035]
In the third embodiment, the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 is switched by receiving a recording end instruction from the user. However, the control circuit 13 detects the audio input state and the input of the audio information is stopped. In this case, the same effect can be obtained even if the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 is switched.
[0036]
Next, a fourth embodiment will be described.
[0037]
In the present embodiment, an operation when the control circuit 13 is instructed to record the audio information output from the microphone 4 by the instruction input circuit 14 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, the description will be given assuming that the recording device is a camera and the recording medium is an optical disk, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a technology for recording information on a recording medium. .
[0038]
In FIG. 1, a volume detection circuit 15 detects the volume of audio information output from the microphone 4. The control circuit 13 has a table indicating the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 corresponding to the volume detected by the volume detection circuit 15. The control circuit 13 selects the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 based on the table according to the detected volume, and controls the recording circuit 10 to record the audio information on the optical disc 12.
[0039]
Next, a table of the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 with respect to the volume detected by the volume detection circuit 15 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a table of the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 with respect to the volume detected by the volume detection circuit 15. X0 to Xn indicate the threshold value of the volume detected by the volume detection circuit 15, and the threshold value of the volume increases from X0 to Xn. Y0 to Yn indicate the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 corresponding to the volume of X0 to Xn, respectively.
[0040]
The control circuit 13 sets the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 to Y0 when the volume detected by the volume detection circuit 15 is equal to or lower than the volume threshold value X0. When the detected volume exceeds X0 and is equal to or lower than X1, the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 is set to Y1. That is, as described above, the control circuit 13 selects the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 based on the table according to the detected volume, and controls the recording circuit 10 to record the audio information on the optical disc 12. I do.
[0041]
The volume of the audio information output from the microphone 4 has a wide range from high volume audio information to low volume audio information. For example, when photographing in an amusement park or the like, the volume of the sound input to the microphone 4 increases, but in photographing where there is no loud sound source, the volume of the sound input from the microphone 4 decreases. In this case, the volume of noise or the like by the camera during the recording operation is relatively small noise as compared with the loud sound, but relatively large as compared with the small sound. It becomes noise.
[0042]
In other words, the higher the volume of the sound input from the microphone 4, the lower the volume of the noise from the camera and the like, and the noise is less noticeable. On the other hand, as the volume of the sound input from the microphone 4 is lower, the volume of the noise from the camera or the like is relatively higher, and the noise is more noticeable.
[0043]
Therefore, in the present embodiment, by changing the recording speed of the recording circuit 10 according to the volume of the audio information, it is possible to adjust the recording speed so that noise unpleasant for the user is not recorded on the optical disc. The usability of the camera is improved.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention can provide an easy-to-use recording technique for recording audio information.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of an intermittent recording operation. FIG. Timing chart [FIG. 4] Diagram showing relationship between sound information volume and recording speed [Description of reference numerals]
4 microphone, 5 audio information input terminal, 10 recording circuit, 12 optical disk, 13 control circuit

Claims (16)

In a recording device that records audio information on a recording medium,
Voice input means for outputting the input voice as voice information;
An audio information input terminal to which audio information is input from outside;
Recording means for recording the audio information output from the audio input means or the audio information input terminal on the recording medium,
Control means for controlling the recording means so as to change the recording speed of the audio information in accordance with which of the audio input means and the audio information input terminal the audio information output from is recorded. apparatus. The recording device according to claim 1,
A recording device that intermittently records the audio information on the recording medium. The recording device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:
The control means may be configured such that the recording speed when recording the audio information output from the audio input means is lower than the recording speed when recording the audio information output from the audio information input terminal. A recording device that controls the means. In a recording device that records audio information on a recording medium,
Voice input means for outputting the input voice as voice information;
Storage means for storing voice information output from the voice input means,
Recording means for recording the audio information stored in the storage means on the recording medium,
Control for controlling the recording means so as to change the recording speed of the audio information stored in the storage means on the recording medium depending on whether or not the audio information is output from the audio input means. Recording device having means. The recording device according to claim 4, wherein
The control unit is configured to set a recording speed of the recording unit when audio information is output from the audio input unit to be lower than a recording speed of the recording unit when audio information is not output from the audio input unit. A recording device for controlling the recording means; In a recording device that records audio information on a recording medium,
Voice input means for outputting the input voice as voice information;
Storage means for storing voice information output from the voice input means,
Recording means for recording the audio information stored in the storage means on the recording medium; and when instructed to end recording of the audio, storing the audio information in the storage means at a higher speed than the recording speed before the recording end instruction. And a control means for controlling the recording means so that the recorded audio information is recorded on the recording medium. In a recording device that records audio information on a recording medium,
Voice input means for outputting the input voice as voice information;
Volume detection means for detecting the volume of the audio information output by the audio input means,
Recording means for recording the audio information on the recording medium,
A recording device comprising: a control unit that controls the recording unit so as to change a recording speed of the audio information on the recording medium according to a volume detected by the volume detection unit. The recording device according to claim 7,
The control unit has a table indicating the recording speed of the recording unit corresponding to the volume of the audio information, and based on the table, the recording speed of the recording unit according to the volume detected by the volume detection unit. Recording device that controls In a recording method for recording audio information on a recording medium,
Audio is input or audio information is input from outside,
A recording method that changes a recording speed of the audio information between a case where the input audio is recorded as the audio information on the recording medium and a case where the input audio information is recorded on the recording medium. The recording method according to claim 9, wherein
A recording method for intermittently recording the audio information on the recording medium. The recording method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein
A recording method wherein a recording speed when recording the input audio information as audio information on the recording medium is lower than a recording speed when recording the input audio information on the recording medium. In a recording method for recording audio information on a recording medium,
The voice is input,
The input voice is stored as voice information,
A recording method for recording the stored audio information on the recording medium by changing a recording speed between a case where the audio information is stored and a case where the audio information is not stored. The recording method according to claim 12, wherein
A recording method, wherein a recording speed of the audio information on the recording medium when the audio information is stored is lower than a recording speed of the audio information on the recording medium when the audio information is not stored. In a recording method for recording audio information on a recording medium,
The voice is input,
The input voice is stored as voice information,
Recording the stored audio information on the recording medium,
A recording method for recording the stored audio information on the recording medium at a higher speed than a recording speed before the recording end instruction when an instruction to end the recording of the audio is issued. In a recording method for recording audio information on a recording medium,
The voice is input,
Detecting the volume of the input voice,
A recording method in which a recording speed is changed according to the detected volume to record the input audio as audio information on the recording medium. The recording method according to claim 15, wherein
Based on a table indicating the recording speed of the audio information corresponding to the volume of the audio, the recording speed is changed according to the detected volume, and the input audio is recorded as audio information on the recording medium. How to record.

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