JP2004215207A - Digital disk image recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to give priority among a recording operation, a reproducing operation and a communication operation which are executed by a digital disk image recording apparatus, and to surely perform at least any one of the three operations. <P>SOLUTION: This apparatus is provided with a hard disk 5; a CPU 4 for controlling the recording operation for writing image data to be inputted from a camera 9 into the hard disk 5, the reproducing operation for reading the image data recorded in the hard disk 5 and outputting the read image data to a monitor 10, and the communication operation for connecting the apparatus to a network 11 to transmit information to the outside and receive information from the outside; and an input section 7 for giving priority among the recording operation, reproducing operation and communication operation. The CPU 4 stops any one or two of the recording operation, reproducing operation and communication operation as necessary on the basis of the priority, and controls the other operations. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a digital disk image recording device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A conventional digital disk image recording apparatus for recording image information and the like on a digital disk such as a hard disk (HD), a so-called digital disk recorder, has a buffer memory as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-336587. There is known a configuration in which the control of the access cycle is changed with the elapse of time and the priority is changed so that the effective use efficiency of the memory can be increased.
One of the effects obtained is that it is possible to reproduce the image / audio data recorded inside the disc while recording the current image / audio data, without interrupting the recording. The recorded image can be reproduced.
However, if the digital disk image recording device is provided with a communication function with a network (eg, telephone network, LAN, Internet, etc.), the following problems may occur.
If the three operations of image recording operation, image reproduction operation, and communication operation with the network are performed simultaneously, that is, in a time-division manner, the recording of image information on a digital disk of a digital disk image recording apparatus or the digital disk There is a case where the load on reading the image information from the memory becomes too large.
This is especially true when the communication operation includes an operation of reading image information from a digital disk or an operation of writing image information to a digital disk. In such a case, a large load is generated on the digital disk, and the recording speed, the reproduction speed, and the communication speed of the initial setting may not be maintained.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP H10-336587 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
A digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the following problems.
The user can set the priority of the three main operations performed by the digital disk image recording device, that is, the recording operation, the reproducing operation, and the communication operation, and reliably execute at least one of the three operations. The present invention provides a digital disk image recording device capable of performing the above operations.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A first invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 1, and is as follows.
A disk that is a disk-shaped recording medium for digital signals, a recording operation of writing image data input from an imaging unit to the disk, a reproduction operation of reading image data recorded on the disk and outputting the image data to a display device, A control unit that controls a communication operation for transmitting information to the outside or receiving information from the outside by connecting to a communication network, and an input unit for setting the priority of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation, Have.
The control unit may appropriately stop one or two of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation based on the priority, and control the other operations. It is a configuration characterized by the following.
[0006]
A second invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 2, which is as follows.
A disk that is a disk-shaped recording medium for digital signals, a recording operation of writing image data input from an imaging unit to the disk, a reproduction operation of reading image data recorded on the disk and outputting the image data to a display device, A control unit that controls a communication operation for transmitting information to the outside or receiving information from the outside by connecting to a communication network, and an input unit for setting the priority of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation, Have.
The control unit may be configured to execute control by appropriately reducing an execution speed of at least one or more of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation based on the priority. This is a featured configuration.
[0007]
A third invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 3, which is as follows.
3. The digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication operation is an operation of transmitting image data read from the disk to the outside, or an operation of writing image data received from the outside to the disk. The configuration includes one or both of the above.
[0008]
A fourth invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 4, which is as follows.
4. The digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data input from the imaging means and written to the disk is data compressed by image information compression means. The image data read from the disk and output to the playback device is data expanded by the image information expansion unit.
[0009]
A fifth aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 5, which is as follows.
In the digital disk image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, and 4, the disk is a hard disk.
[0010]
A sixth aspect of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is a digital disk image recording apparatus as described in claim 6, which is as follows.
In the digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4, or claim 5, the head of the disk is one head for both reading and writing. Things.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention.
The digital disk image recording apparatus 1 uses some means for outputting image information, for example, a camera 9 by wiring. A plurality of cameras 9 may be provided, and a switcher (switching device) may be provided between the camera 9 or the plurality of cameras and the digital disk image recording device 1.
The digital disk image recording apparatus 1 is configured to always record image data, and its control unit is programmed to perform such control. Further, the digital disk image recording device 1 may record data other than images, typically, audio data. When reproducing the recorded image data (image information) and audio data, for example, the monitor 10 (for example, a television device) is used. The digital disk image recording device 1 is connected to a network 11 and can exchange information with a communication partner. The network 11 may be wired or wireless, or a mixture thereof. Typical examples of the network 11 include a telephone network, a LAN, and the Internet.
The digital disk image recording device 1 includes a CPU 4 as a central element of a control unit, and a hard disk 5 as a recording medium, for example. As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the compression / expansion chip 2 should be provided in consideration of the data amount of the image information to be recorded. The compression / decompression chip 2 uses, for example, that of the Jpeg standard. Of course, an embodiment that does not use the compression / expansion chip 2 is also possible. The compression / expansion chip 2 may be provided with a compression chip for data recording and an expansion chip for data reproduction separately.
Image data output by the camera 9 is compressed by the compression / decompression chip 2, taken into the CPU 4, and recorded on the hard disk 5. It is convenient to provide the recording buffer memory 3 at an appropriate place between the camera 9 and the hard disk 5, for example, at a stage before or after the CPU 4. When the recording buffer memory 3 is provided, the CPU 4 can perform other operations until immediately before image data can be received from the recording buffer memory 3. That is, the CPU 4 does not need to wait for the accumulation of the image data without doing anything, so that the CPU 4 can be used efficiently.
Similarly, if the reproduction buffer memory 6 is provided at an appropriate position between the hard disk 5 and the monitor 10, the load on the CPU 4 is reduced, which is convenient. The digital disk used in the present invention may be any disk-shaped recording medium, for example, an optical disk. Of course, a hard disk may be used as shown. The hard disk may be of a so-called high-end type having a reproducing head and a recording bed separately, or may be an inexpensive type having one reproducing / recording head (not shown). Good. In the present invention, as will be described later, priority is given to the execution operation of the CPU 4, so that the present invention can be implemented even with an inexpensive hard disk having one head for both reproduction and recording.
Elements such as a ROM, a RAM, and an I / O are arranged around the CPU 4, but are not shown.
The input unit 7 is a switch or a button for setting the priority, and outputs information on the priority input by the user to the CPU 4. The display unit 8 is not indispensable, but is conveniently provided for displaying information on the priority.
In the control operation, the CPU 4 determines the priority in the following three operations.
A recording operation for writing image data to the hard disk 5, a reproducing operation for reading image data recorded on the hard disk 5 and outputting it to the monitor 10, and a communication operation for transmitting information to the outside or receiving information from the outside by connecting to the network 11. ,.
The reproduction destination of the image data stored in the hard disk 5 may be the display unit 8 provided in the digital disk image recording / reproducing apparatus 1.
The user or the trader of the digital disk image recording / reproducing apparatus 1 can set the priority execution order of these three operations by using the input unit 7. If the user does not set a priority, a predetermined priority is automatically selected.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, several buttons indicating the order of priorities are provided, and when the second “record → communication → replay” button is pressed from the left toward the page, the CPU 4 stores the priorities. At the same time, the respective parts of the digital disk image recording device 1 are controlled according to the set priority.
The set priority, “recording → communication → reproduction” may or may not be displayed on the display unit 8 in this case.
As described above, if the priority of “record → communication → reproduce” is set by the user through the input unit 7, the CPU 4 performs only the operation of recording the image information on the hard disk 5 at the initial execution speed. And always execute without interruption. If the recording operation is likely to be interrupted or the execution speed will be reduced, the reproduction operation is stopped. Still, if the recording operation is likely to be interrupted, the communication operation is also stopped.
If the highest-priority operation can be executed at the initially set execution speed, a control method of the CPU 4 that lowers the execution speed instead of completely stopping the low-priority operation may be used.
If the priority “record → communication → reproduce” is set by the user through the input unit 7, the CPU 4 suspends only the operation of recording the image information on the hard disk 5 while keeping the execution speed of the initial setting. Without fail. If the recording operation is interrupted or the execution speed is likely to be reduced, the execution speed of the reproduction operation is reduced. If the recording operation is still likely to be interrupted, the execution speed of the communication operation is reduced.
If the user does not want to interrupt the communication operation or the reproduction operation while maintaining the priority of the recording operation, the initial setting execution speed of the recording operation may be reduced. When the execution speed automatic adjustment button 7a is pressed as shown in FIG. 2, the CPU 4 may automatically adjust the initial execution speed of the highest priority operation.
[0012]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention.
The communication operation performed by the CPU 4 of the digital disk image recording apparatus 1 is an information transmission / reception operation performed by being called from a communication partner (not shown) via the network 11 or the CPU 4 is connected to the network 11 and communicates with the communication partner. To transmit or transmit / receive information. Information communicated by the digital disk image recording device 1 via the network 11 may or may not include image information. Of course, the communication operation is an operation of transmitting image information stored in the hard disk 5 to the communication partner via the network 11 or receiving image information transmitted by the communication partner via the network 11 and storing the image information in the hard disk 5. May be included.
The input unit 7 may be provided with an automatic execution speed adjustment button 7a.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of automatic execution speed adjustment.
It is assumed that the initial setting of the priority set by the input unit 7 is the order of recording, reproduction, and communication as shown in the display unit 8 of FIG. 2 and FIG. And Then, it is assumed that the automatic execution speed adjustment button 7a is pressed. Then, the CPU 4 tries to keep the default execution speed of the recording operation of 60 frames / sec while executing the reproducing operation and the communication operation. If the CPU 4 determines that it is necessary to keep the initial execution speed of the recording operation of 60 frames / sec, the CPU 4 may reduce the execution speed of the reproduction operation to half of the initial setting value or reduce the execution speed of the communication speed, for example. Set it to 1/4 of the initial setting.
In this way, the CPU 4 reduces the execution speed of other low-priority operations while maintaining the default execution speed of high-priority operations.
Note that the CPU 4 may be configured to execute such control as long as the CPU 4 can keep the initially set execution speed of the recording operation and the reproduction operation only by lowering the execution speed of the communication operation with the lowest priority.
[0013]
【The invention's effect】
Since the digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention has the configuration described above, it has the following effects.
The configuration is such that the user or the trader can set the priority of the three main operations performed by the digital disk image recording apparatus, that is, the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation at the input unit. Then, by appropriately stopping one or two of the three operations that are not the highest priority, or appropriately reducing the execution speed, the system proposes an excessive load on the digital disk, and It is possible to provide a digital disk image recording device capable of reliably performing the operation with the highest value.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the digital disk image recording apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of automatic execution speed adjustment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital disk image recording device 2 Compression / expansion chip 3 Recording buffer memory 4 CPU
5 Hard disk 6 Reproduction buffer memory 7 Input unit 7a Automatic execution speed adjustment button 8 Display unit 9 Camera 10 Monitor 11 Network

Claims (6)

A disk which is a disk-shaped recording medium for digital signals,
A recording operation of writing image data input from an imaging unit to the disk, a reproduction operation of reading image data recorded on the disk and outputting the image data to a display device, and transmitting or transmitting information to the outside by connecting to a communication network. A control unit for controlling a communication operation for receiving information from outside,
An input unit for setting the priority of the recording operation, the reproduction operation and the communication operation,
The control unit may be configured to appropriately stop one or two of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation based on the priority and execute control of another operation. A digital disk image recording device. A disk which is a disk-shaped recording medium for digital signals,
A recording operation of writing image data input from an imaging unit to the disk, a reproduction operation of reading image data recorded on the disk and outputting the image data to a display device, and transmitting or transmitting information to the outside by connecting to a communication network. A control unit for controlling a communication operation for receiving information from outside,
An input unit for setting the priority of the recording operation, the reproduction operation and the communication operation,
The control unit is configured to perform control by appropriately reducing the execution speed of at least one of the recording operation, the reproduction operation, and the communication operation based on the priority. Digital disk image recording device. 3. The communication operation includes one or both of an operation of transmitting image data read from the disk to the outside and an operation of writing image data received from the outside to the disk. The digital disk image recording device according to the above. The image data input from the imaging unit and written to the disk is data compressed by the image information compression unit, and the image data read from the disk and output to the playback device is output by the image information decompression unit. 4. The digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the digital disk image data is expanded data. 5. The digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said disk is a hard disk. 6. The digital disk image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a head included in said disk is one head for both reading and writing.

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