JP2005175567A - Optical disc video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To continue photography even if a state unrecordable onto an optical disc occurs due to vibration, impact or temperature rise of a semiconductor laser in an optical disc video camera. <P>SOLUTION: The optical disc video camera for converting AV information received at a video camera section 101 into an AV stream while compressing in response to a photography instruction, storing the AV stream temporarily in a buffer memory, outputting it intermittently to an optical disc drive 100 as photography data to be recorded at a specified position of an optical disc and recording the photography data at the specified position of the optical disc comprises a nonvolatile memory 110, a means for judging whether recording of the optical disc drive is possible or not, and a record control means for stopping recording on the optical disc during a period judged that the optical disc drive is unrecordable and recording the photography data alternatively in the nonvolatile memory. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical disc / video camera integrated with an optical disc apparatus that compresses video / audio information captured by a video camera unit and records the compressed audio / video information on an optical disc.

  In recent years, development of high-density technology for phase change rewritable optical disks using blue lasers and 0.85 and high NA objective lenses has progressed, and even if the diameter is as small as 5 to 8 cm, 4 to 16 GB (maximum Large capacity optical discs are being realized with a capacity of 2 layers). When an image compression technique such as MPEG2 is used, a full-scale optical disk / video camera can be realized because an optical disk of this capacity can be photographed for the same time with the same image quality as a conventional tape. Furthermore, high-definition HD image quality recording is becoming possible due to the high transfer rate and the LSI compression of HD compression technology. When using an optical disc, the user can take advantage of random access and provide convenient and comfortable operability for users, such as no need to rewind and avoid frustration, or playback of what you want to see by selecting thumbnail images. It is expected as a next-generation video camera.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique using a buffer memory has been devised and put into practical use when used for continuous data recording such as video and audio on an optical disk device (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, since an optical disc apparatus is generally relatively weak against shock and vibration, a shock proof reproduction technique is adopted for mobile use such as portable CDs and MDs (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In addition, a technique has been used for a long time to detect off-track during recording, to stop and record data recording, and to re-record the information stored in the buffer memory (RAM) at the position where recording was stopped after tracking recovery. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3). In addition, in order to reduce the power consumption of the apparatus, an intermittent reproduction technique that intentionally provides a pause section of the optical disk apparatus has been employed (see, for example, Patent Document 4). This system has the same basic operation mechanism as shock proof reproduction, and the recording / reproduction transfer rate of the optical disk apparatus is made higher than the user transfer rate of the user apparatus (for example, video CODEC), and then the optical disk apparatus and the user apparatus. The problem is solved by providing a period during which recording / reproducing of the optical disk apparatus is stopped by using the buffer memory placed in (1). In the market, an optical disk / video camera using the above intermittent technique for recording is already produced and sold as a DVD-RAM movie having a diameter of 8 cm.
Japanese Patent No. 2707864 Japanese Patent No. 3063576 JP 2000-149268 A JP 7-161043 A

  However, when continuous data recording on the conventional optical disk device is used in a video camera, the optical disk device is unable to record if the vibration continues or the semiconductor laser exceeds the guaranteed operating temperature due to the temperature rise of the optical head unit. When recording on an optical disk continues for a long time, the buffer memory that temporarily stores the shooting data overflows, causing a problem that valuable shooting data is lost.

  In particular, the high-density recording technology using the blue laser described in the background art requires higher-precision control than before, so it is easily affected by vibration disturbances (especially focus pull-in when restarting intermittent operation, etc.) , Easy to record impossible. Furthermore, the blue semiconductor laser has a higher forward voltage in principle than the red laser and consumes more power, so even if the temperature rise is suppressed by intermittent operation, the temperature of the semiconductor laser exceeds the guaranteed operating temperature and recording is not possible. Is easy to prolong. As a solution to this, it is conceivable to increase the buffer memory. However, the DRAM normally used for the buffer memory has a problem in that it cannot be increased easily because the unit price of the capacity is high and the power consumption increases.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and the optical disc / video camera is subjected to vibrations that cannot guarantee the recording performance for a long time, or the temperature of the semiconductor laser in the optical disc / video camera temporarily increases the guaranteed operating temperature. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical disc / video camera capable of shooting with little interruption even in a relatively severe operating environment such as exceeding.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, the optical disk / video camera of the present invention receives a shooting command, compresses video / audio information input by the video camera unit, further converts it into an AV stream, and buffers the AV stream. An optical disk / video camera that temporarily stores data in a memory, intermittently outputs it to an optical disk device as shooting data to be recorded at a predetermined position of the optical disk, and records the shooting data at a predetermined position of the optical disk. And determining means for determining whether or not recording of the optical disk device is possible, and during the period in which the optical disk device is determined to be unrecordable by the determining means, recording on the optical disk should be stopped and recorded Recording control means for substituting recording of the photographic data in the nonvolatile memory.

  With this configuration, even in an environment where a non-recordable state temporarily occurs and the buffer memory overflows, shooting can be continued without losing shooting data.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, the recording control means further sets the alternative recorded image data to the original position of the optical disc when the optical disc apparatus judges that recording is possible by the judging means. It is preferable to perform photographing data restoration by recording. According to this preferred example, it is possible to restore the photographic data on the optical disk that is not recordable and missing as if there was no record.

  Further, in the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, the determination means includes means for detecting vibration applied to the optical disk device, and determines that recording is impossible when a servo control error or the like exceeds a recording guarantee range due to the vibration. It is preferable. According to this preferred example, even when recording on the optical disk cannot be guaranteed due to the occurrence of tilting of the optical disk due to the focus or tracking or the Coriolis force due to vibration or impact, it is possible to continue shooting without missing shooting data.

  Further, in the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, the determination means includes means for detecting the temperature of the semiconductor laser of the optical head unit built in the optical disk apparatus, and the temperature exceeds the guaranteed operating range of the semiconductor laser. It is preferable to determine that recording is impossible. According to this preferred example, it is possible to continue shooting without omission of shooting data even during a period in which the operation of the optical disk device is stopped and the semiconductor laser is cooled so that the semiconductor laser does not break down due to high temperature.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, the determination means includes means for detecting a remaining battery level or a voltage at which power supply to the optical disc apparatus is insufficient, and when the power supply is an insufficient value. It is preferable to determine that recording is impossible. According to this preferred example, even when the remaining battery level is such that the drive of the optical disk apparatus cannot be continued, the recording into the low-power nonvolatile memory can be continued, so that the photographing opportunity is not lost at the timing when the battery should be replaced.

  In the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, it is preferable that the determination means includes a means for determining the presence or absence of a recording area of the optical disk, and determines that recording is impossible when the recording area is exhausted. According to this preferable example, the photographing opportunity is not lost at the timing when the optical disk should be replaced.

  In the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, it is preferable that the determination unit includes a unit that detects a failure of the optical disk device, and determines that recording is impossible when the optical disk device fails. According to this preferable example, the photographing opportunity immediately after the failure of the optical disc apparatus is not lost.

  In the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, it is preferable that the optical disk / video camera further includes display means for displaying that the alternative recording is performed. According to this preferable example, it is possible to notify the user of the occurrence of alternative recording and to avoid the cause of vibration.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, the recording control means further comprises means for controlling the storage amount to increase within a range in which the buffer memory does not overflow during the alternative recording, and the optical disc apparatus records again. When it becomes possible, it is preferable to increase the amount of photographic data to be recorded on the optical disc and reduce the amount of data to be recorded on the non-volatile memory. According to this preferable example, the capacity of the nonvolatile memory used for the alternative recording can be reduced.

  In the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, it is preferable that the optical disk / video camera further includes display means for displaying that the restoration of the photographing data is incomplete during the period from the occurrence of the alternative recording to the completion of the photographing data restoration. . According to this preferable example, since it is possible to notify the user that the photographed data needs to be restored, it is possible to give a sense of security during the restoration work.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, when there is a read request for the optical disc before the photographing data restoration is completed, the optical disc / video camera further includes a reproducing unit that makes a response assuming that the photographing data restoration is completed, It is preferable. According to this preferable example, the same video as the optical disk can be reproduced can be reproduced even before the photographing data restoration is completed.

  In the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, the non-volatile memory preferably includes an external memory card composed of a flash memory or the like. According to this preferred example, the addition of an inexpensive flash memory without an excessive increase in the capacity of the buffer memory can continue shooting with little loss of shooting data even in a bad environment, and the shooting reliability can be selected by selecting the capacity of the external memory card. You can freely choose the level of sex.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, the recording control means further records user data in the memory card on the optical disc at a time before photographing when the optical disc and the memory card are mounted, and thereafter The user data on the memory card is erased to prepare an area where the alternative recording can be performed immediately, and when the optical disk or the external memory card is removed, the user data is written back to the memory card to restore the user data. Preferably it comprises means. According to this preferred example, even if user data is stored in the memory card, the entire capacity of the memory card can be used for alternative recording, and the shooting reliability can be improved.

  Further, in the optical disc / video camera of the present invention, the recording control means further records user data in the memory card sequentially on the optical disc in a predetermined amount between recording of the shooting data after starting recording, and the optical disc. The area of the user data transferred to is erased, and the area where the alternative recording can be performed is immediately secured, and after the recording is finished, the user data transferred to the optical disk is written back to the memory card along with the photographing data restoration. It is preferable to provide means for restoring user data. According to this preferable example, it is possible to apparently omit the time for transferring the data of the memory card to the optical disc before photographing.

  The optical disk / video camera according to the present invention further includes a lock unit that prevents the optical disk and the memory card from being removed before the user data restoration is completed, and a unit that displays that the disk is locked. Is preferable. According to this preferred example, the user does not accidentally take out the memory card before restoring the user data.

  The optical disc / video camera of the present invention preferably further comprises display means for displaying that the user data is transferred to the optical disc and recorded. According to this preferred example, it is not mistaken for a failure that the user is locked.

  According to the optical disk / video camera of the present invention, the optical disk apparatus is temporarily stopped because the vibration that cannot guarantee the recording performance is applied to the optical disk apparatus for a long time or the temperature of the semiconductor laser in the optical disk apparatus exceeds the guaranteed operating temperature. Even if recording becomes impossible, continuous shooting can be continued.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disk / video camera according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Basic configuration>
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a video camera unit that acquires video data through a lens and an image sensor, and includes a microphone to acquire audio data. Reference numeral 102 denotes video data and audio data acquired by the video camera unit 101, such as MPEG2 format. A compression unit that generates a single AV stream after compressing data into compressed video and compressed audio, 103 an optical disc that records and stores the AV stream, and 104 decompresses each AV stream after it is decomposed into compressed video and compressed audio The decompression unit for generating the original video data and audio data, 105 is a monitor unit including a display and a speaker for confirming the video data and audio data being recorded or reproduced, and 106 is the content monitored by the monitor unit 105 It is a switch for switching.

  107 is a recording / playback control unit that performs recording / playback control of the entire optical disk / video camera, 108 is a buffer memory that includes a DRAM or the like and temporarily stores an AV stream, and 109 records the recording / playback control status of the optical disk / video camera. Serial EEPROM for the above, 110 is a kind of flash memory (flash EEPROM) of a nonvolatile memory built in an optical disk / video camera, 111 is a flash memory card having a large-capacity flash memory and a controller and removable from the optical disk / video camera, Reference numeral 112 denotes a lock mechanism (described later) that locks the flash memory card 111 so that it cannot be removed, 113 a recording enable / disable determining unit that determines whether or not the optical disc apparatus 100 can record, and 114 a power supply for supplying power to an optical disc / video camera (not shown). A voltage detector for detecting a voltage.

  An optical disc apparatus 100 includes a motor 1001 that controls the rotation of an optical disc 103, an optical head 1002 that records and reproduces information on the optical disc 103, and a temperature sensor that is attached to the optical head 1002 and measures the temperature of a semiconductor laser (not shown) built in the optical head 1002. 1003, a loading mechanism 1004 that guides a cartridge (not shown) containing the optical disk 103 and chucks the optical disk 103 with the motor 1001, a lock mechanism 1005 (to be described later) that locks the loading mechanism 1004 so that the optical disk 103 cannot be taken out, and the optical disk device 100 The chassis 1006 to which the components are attached, the acceleration sensor 1007 that is attached to the chassis 1006 and detects vibration applied to the focus direction and the tracking direction, and the optical disc control unit 1008 Et al made. Further, in order to realize continuous recording on the optical disk 103, the optical disk control unit 1008 is provided with a memory such as a DRAM called a small-capacity track buffer 1009, in addition to the buffer memory 108.

<Supplementary explanation of configuration>
Note that, as a basic condition for shooting data recording / playback, the transfer rate at the time of recording on the optical disc 103 and at the time of playback (hereinafter referred to as the disc rate) must be set faster than the transfer rate of the AV stream (hereinafter referred to as the user rate). There is. Hereinafter, a rate obtained by subtracting the user rate from the disc rate is referred to as an accumulation rate. It is also necessary to set a transfer rate for recording and reproduction to the flash memory 110 and the flash memory card 111 (referred to as a flash recording rate and a flash reproduction rate, respectively) faster than the user rate. The buffer memory 108 has a so-called ring buffer configuration for first-in first-out of the AV stream.

  Further, the recording availability determining unit 113 determines that the recording operation of the optical disc apparatus 100 is impossible in the following five categories. That is, the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 1007 due to vibration / impact is applied to the optical disc 103 when the control error by the focus servo or tracking servo exceeds the recording guarantee range, or by the Coriolis force due to the rotation of the optical disc 103 and the movement of the optical disc apparatus 100. When the tilt occurs and it is determined that the allowable tilt amount during recording is exceeded (vibration factor), the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 1003 exceeds the guaranteed operating temperature range of the semiconductor laser and becomes particularly high. In the case (temperature factor), or when the voltage detected by the voltage detector 114 during operation of the optical disc apparatus 100 drops to a value close to a value at which power supply to the optical disc apparatus 100 cannot be maintained (battery factor), the recording space of the optical disc 103 When there is no more light (capacity factor) and optical If it is detected that the disk device 100 fails in the middle of recording and reproducing controller 107 determines that not recorded (failure factor). For the capacity factor, it is determined whether or not there is a recording space including the accumulated amount accumulated in the buffer memory 108.

  Further, the flash EEPROM used for the flash memory 110 and the flash memory card 111 has a large capacity per unit area and is suitable for data recording, for example, a NAND type. The flash EEPROM has a disadvantage that it cannot be randomly accessed as compared with the DRAM constituting the buffer memory 108, but is a nonvolatile memory, and has an advantage of low power consumption and low cost. The flash memory card 111 is used for still images such as JPEG and audio recording taken by the video camera unit 101. And it is used for media interface such as removing and playing on other devices. Information is recorded as user data in a file format.

  The serial EEPROM 109 is backed up by a backup battery (not shown) and can be replaced by an SRAM or the like.

<Basic playback operation>
Regarding the optical disk / video camera configured as described above, the reproduction operation is first described in the first half, and the shooting operation is described in the second half. In the description of the reproduction operation, first, the basics of the video reproduction operation will be described, and further, a specific example of data arrangement on the optical disc and the operation timing for reproducing it will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The basic operation at the time of video playback is so-called buffer playback in which continuous playback is realized by controlling the storage amount of the buffer memory, as seen in DVD video playback, for example. Specifically, under the control of the recording / playback control unit 107, an AV stream to be reproduced from a predetermined position on the optical disk 103 is read by the optical disk device 100 and stored at the disk rate in the buffer memory 108, and at the same time, the user rate is stored in the expansion unit 104. Consumed at. At this time, the amount of accumulation gradually increases at the accumulation rate.

  When the accumulation amount reaches the first level, reading from the optical disc 103 is stopped. Then, the accumulation amount starts to decrease at the user rate. When the accumulation amount reaches the second level set lower than the first level, the AV stream reading / accumulation from the optical disc 103 is resumed. The AV stream is accumulated again at the accumulation rate, and the accumulation amount starts to increase. The above operation is repeated and the video continuous playback operation proceeds. In parallel with this, the video data and audio data decompressed by the decompression unit 104 are sent to the monitor unit 105 via the SW 106 and output from an output terminal (not shown) to an external television or the like.

  According to the buffer reproduction described above, since the time for stopping reading from the optical disk 103 can be set, it is usually possible to access the optical head 1002 to seek another area at that time. Furthermore, if the buffer memory capacity is increased and the storage rate is increased, the read stop time from the optical disk can be set longer, so that the optical disk apparatus is paused during read stop, and the average power consumption is lowered intermittently. Reproduction (cited in the background art) can be realized.

  Also, shock proof playback (quoted in the background art) delays the transmission of the AV stream to the decompression unit immediately after the start of storage in the buffer memory until the storage amount reaches the second level in order to prevent interruption of video playback. In this way, the accumulated amount can be kept above the second level. Even when reproduction cannot be performed due to an out-of-focus condition or the like of the optical disk device due to an unexpected impact, the reproduction data can be prevented from being interrupted by continuing to send the AV stream from the buffer memory to the decompression unit during the recovery process.

  A practical optical disk / video camera can be realized by combining the buffer reproduction, intermittent reproduction and shock proof reproduction described above. Specific control requires parameters such as the maximum recovery time of the optical disk device, the disk rate, the user rate, and the buffer memory size. Further, in order to reproduce the divided AV stream as described below, information such as the data arrangement information of the optical disc and the maximum access time of the optical disc apparatus is also required. Furthermore, it is necessary to perform dynamic and fine accumulation amount control according to the reading position on the optical disc and the operation state of the optical disc apparatus. In addition, the control algorithm becomes more complicated when it comes to general variable rate video, and at that time, an approximate and comprehensive algorithm needs to be used.

<Data arrangement on optical disk>
FIG. 2 is a data arrangement diagram schematically showing a data arrangement example of a series of AV streams to be reproduced on the optical disc 103 and management information thereof. The spiral 103A in the left figure shows that the data areas of AV stream management information MNG and AV stream pieces RS1, RS3, RS2, and RS4 constituting a series of AV streams are arranged in order from the inner periphery of the optical disc 103. Show. The AV stream piece is a data area composed of continuous recording blocks and capable of continuous recording and reproduction. It is assumed that unused recording blocks, other AV stream pieces, or data areas with different purposes are allocated between the data areas. A list of 103A optical disks is shown in 103B on the right.

  A series of AV streams to be reproduced is divided into AV stream pieces and randomly arranged as shown in 103B. The position information of each stream is recorded in the AV stream management information MNG. The AV stream is read in the order of AV stream pieces RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4 (practice arrow). To move from one stream piece to the next, the access operation by the optical disc apparatus 100 is required (dashed arrow). Usually, the access time of the optical disc apparatus is not constant and varies.

  During the access operation, the amount of storage decreases as in the case of the read operation stopped, so a buffer underrun will occur if the amount of storage exceeds the amount of data consumed during the access time before access. The data to be sent to the decompression unit 104 is lost, and the video is interrupted. The maximum amount of data consumed during the access time is obtained by multiplying the worst value of the access time by the user rate.

  In addition, the minimum value of the storable data amount is obtained by the product of the AV stream piece read time and the storage rate. The length of each AV stream piece needs to be equal to or longer than the length (referred to as a necessary continuous length) in which the aforementioned maximum consumption data amount and the minimum value of the storable data amount are equal. However, since the final AV stream piece RS4 has nothing to be reproduced next, it may be less than the necessary continuous length.

  As described above, even if a plurality of AV stream pieces are not continuous on the optical disc, the AV stream pieces are accessed in a predetermined order, and a continuous AV stream is constructed on the buffer memory to enable continuous playback. Yes. This is a function that an optical disc can realize by random access. Even if the recorded file portion or the entire file is erased by this arrangement and fragmentation occurs, it is possible to record an AV stream that can be continuously reproduced by finding and using a recording area longer than the necessary continuous length in the erased area. It becomes possible.

<Example of combined operation timing during playback>
FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing, as a specific example, how to control the storage amount of the buffer memory 108 when reproducing the AV stream having the arrangement shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the vertical axis represents the accumulation amount of the buffer memory 108. The upper and middle broken lines indicate “first level” and “second level” shown in the basic playback operation, respectively, and the lower broken line accumulates when “required continuous length” explained in the data arrangement of the optical disk is read. It is the reproduction standard capacity that can be. Here, it is assumed that the length of the AV stream piece is the same for RS1 and RS2, RS3 is large, and RS4 is small compared to the necessary continuous length. If the user rate at the time of reproduction is indicated by Vr and the disk rate at the time of reproduction is indicated by Vo, the accumulation rate is Vr-Vo.

  When receiving the playback start command (time t0), the recording / playback control unit 107 starts video playback while reading RS1. At the same time as the reproduction reference capacity is accumulated, access to the next RS2 is started (t1). If this access takes the maximum access time, the accumulation amount becomes zero. At the same time, reading of RS2 is started immediately (t2). When the accumulated amount reaches the reproduction reference capacity, access to RS3 is started next (t3). If this access can be executed in less than the maximum access time (t4), a certain amount of storage can be secured.

  Thereafter, when the reading of RS3 is further continued, the accumulation amount increases, and at the time t5 when the first level is reached, the reading is temporarily stopped and the optical disc apparatus 100 is set in a standby state. When the accumulation amount decreases to the second level (t6), the reading is resumed and the reading is continued until the first level is reached (t7). When the accumulation amount reaches the first level, the optical disc apparatus 100 is again put on standby. When the accumulated amount decreases to the second level (t8), reading is started again. Assume that at time t9, the accumulated amount has not reached the first level, but reading of RS3 is completed. As a result, RS3 is read by dividing into three.

  Next, access to RS4. Here, since the storage capacity is sufficient, access to the RS 4 is started after the optical disk device 100 is temporarily put on standby. When the access is completed, RS4 can be read (t10). If the access is started, for example, when the accumulated amount falls below the second level, the accumulated amount does not become zero even if the access time is the worst value. If reading of RS4 is completed (t11), reading of the optical disk is no longer necessary, and only video playback is continued, and video playback ends at t12.

  As described above, the value of the reproduction reference capacity is for ensuring the maximum access time. The capacity difference between the second level and the reproduction reference capacity is used for impact recovery, that is, shock proof. Specifically, the capacity difference is set to be equal to or greater than the product of the maximum impact recovery time and the user rate. Then, even if impact recovery occurs once due to an impact from the time when the storage amount exceeds the second level between times t4 and t5, the storage capacity can be maintained at the reproduction reference capacity value or more. If the reproduction of RS3 is further continued, the reproduction reference capacity stored for access can be used for shock recovery, and the recovery can be performed more than once.

  The capacity difference between the first level and the second level is used for intermittent reproduction operation. A value obtained by dividing the capacity difference by the user rate is a time during which the optical disc apparatus 100 can be waited. If this value is increased, an intermittent operation for stopping the optical disc apparatus 100 is performed. For this purpose, in order to obtain a practical level, it is necessary to set the first level (basically the same as the buffer capacity) to be large and to increase the capacity difference.

<Basic operation of shooting>
This is the end of the description of the reproduction operation. Next, the second half of the photographing operation will be described. First, the basic operation at the time of shooting will be described, and the details of the operation at the time of shooting according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  At the time of shooting, under the control of the recording / playback control unit 107, the video data and audio data acquired by the video camera unit 101 are converted into AV streams by the compression unit 102 and stored in the buffer memory 108 at the user rate. When the accumulation amount increases to the third level, the AV stream is sent to the optical disc apparatus 100 and recorded at a predetermined position on the optical disc 103 at a disc rate. The accumulated amount starts to decrease by recording on the optical disc 103, and the accumulated amount decreases to a fourth level smaller than the third level. Then, the supply of the AV stream to the optical disc apparatus is stopped, and the accumulation amount starts to increase again. By repeating the above operation, the photographing (also called video recording or recording) operation proceeds. During shooting, the video data and audio data of the video camera unit 101 are sent to the monitor unit 105 via the SW 106 so that the shooting content can be monitored. However, audio output from the speaker stops during shooting.

<Alternative processing flow for shooting>
What has been described above is the basic operation when the recording operation of the optical disc apparatus 100 is possible.

  In the present invention, when the optical disc apparatus 100 is determined to be unrecordable by the recordability determination unit 113, the recording / reproduction control unit 107 substitutes the data to be recorded on the optical disk in the flash memory 110 or the flash memory card 111. Features. The main control contents will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. In the description of FIGS. 4 and 5, the optical disc apparatus 100 is abbreviated as a drive. The third level described in the basic operation at the time of photographing is abbreviated as a recording reference capacity, the buffer memory 108 is abbreviated as a buffer, and the flash memory 110 or the flash memory card 111 is abbreviated as a flash.

  In FIG. 4, when a user's shooting command is received, shooting is started. Here, first, it is confirmed that a shooting completion flag for managing the shooting state is set and cleared (S100). If the shooting completion flag is cleared, shooting data restoration processing (described later) is required because the previous shooting has not been completed. Next, if the drive can be activated, the drive is activated (S101), and it is checked whether there is a photographing end command from the user (S102) and whether the accumulated amount of the buffer has reached the recording reference amount (S103). In S101, if the drive is already activated, the process proceeds to the next step. The drive start-up time is set to be faster than the time for reaching the recording reference capacity.

  When the accumulated amount of the buffer reaches the recording reference capacity, AV stream recording is performed on the drive, so that the recordability determination unit 113 checks that the drive can be recorded (S104), and the AV stream is recorded at a predetermined position on the optical disc 103. (S105), and waits until the buffer storage amount becomes 0 (S106). The 0 level of the accumulated amount corresponds to the fourth level described in the basic operation at the time of shooting. When the accumulation amount becomes 0, the process proceeds to the buffer accumulation amount check again via the drive standby state (S107) (node A).

  Two types of drive standby in S107 are prepared. Specifically, in the idling mode in which the optical disc 103 is kept in focus and tracking so that the recording operation can be shifted in a short time, the operation immediately shifts to the node A. In the sleep mode in which the drive is temporarily stopped for the intermittent recording operation to reduce the power consumption, the process proceeds to the node A after a predetermined pause time is secured. The recording reference capacity in this case needs to be set to be larger than at least the AV stream amount generated during the pause time and the restart time. Of course, the buffer capacity is larger than the recording reference capacity.

  When the photographing end instruction is received in S102, the photographing end processing (FIG. 5) is executed through the node E.

  If it is determined in S104 that the drive cannot be recorded, first, the drive operation is switched for each cause of recording failure in the drive operation control in S108, and the process proceeds to flash alternative recording starting from node D. In this case, if focus is not possible when recording is not possible, proceed to the next step in the idling mode if the focus / tracking can be maintained, but if the vibration is too large and the focus / tracking is lost and the idling mode is impossible, the mode is changed to the sleep mode. Proceed to the next step. If the cause of recording failure is a temperature factor, the process proceeds to the rest mode to cool the semiconductor laser. The above two factors can be expected to be able to be recorded again during shooting. In this case, recording on the optical disc 103 is continued. If recording is not possible due to a battery factor, capacity factor, or failure factor, the drive is stopped and the drive cannot be started.

  When entering the flash alternative recording from the node D, first, if the drive can be started, the start is started (S110), whether there is a photographing end command from the user (S111), whether the drive can be recorded (S112), and the buffer is full. It is checked whether or not (set to the fifth level) (S113). In S110, if the drive has already been activated, the process proceeds to the next step. When the buffer is full, it is checked whether the flash is not full (S114). Specifically, recording is possible if the alternative recordable space of the flash is larger than the difference amount obtained by subtracting the recording reference capacity from the fifth level. If recording is possible, the difference amount is recorded in the flash (S115), and the process returns to node D. At this time, flash replacement recording is performed, and a repair necessary flag indicating that video data needs to be repaired and replacement management information are recorded in the serial EEPROM 109 by the recording / playback control unit 107. Here, the replacement management information is information including position information to be originally recorded on the optical disc 103 (replacement source) and position information of replacement information on the flash (replacement destination).

  When the photographing end instruction is received in S111 and when the flash is full in S114, the photographing end process (FIG. 5) is executed through the node E. When the drive becomes recordable in S112, recording on the optical disc 103 is resumed through the node C. The position at which recording is resumed is the original recording position after skipping the replaced area of the optical disk 103. Recording can be resumed only when there are vibration and temperature factors. The other three factors go through the node E to the photographing end process (FIG. 5) while recording is impossible.

<End processing flow during shooting>
Subsequently, the photographing end processing flow will be described with reference to FIG. In the photographing end process, first, the video camera unit 101 and the compression unit 102 are stopped and the accumulation of the AV stream in the buffer is ended (S200). Then, through the node F, it is first determined whether or not the drive can be recorded (S201). If recording is possible, the entire AV stream is recorded on the optical disk 103 until the buffer becomes zero (S202, S203). When the buffer reaches 0, the restoration flag is checked to see if the AV stream has been replaced with the flash (S204). If shooting data restoration is necessary, the substitute data recorded in the flash is copied to the optical disk based on the substitution management information and restored. The necessary flag is cleared (S205).

  Since the recording at this time has been completed in the buffer, there is no need to control the timing taking care of buffer overflow. When the photographing data restoration is successful or when restoration is unnecessary, the AV stream recording position information and the management information related to the file system are recorded on the optical disc 103 through the node G (S206). The management information is read from the optical disc 103 in advance and is used for searching the recording area and managing the file. As the shooting progresses, the recording / playback control unit 107 further generates information related to the AV stream and related files. In the management information recording, at least the management information regarding the AV stream and file generated here is recorded on the optical disc. When the management information is recorded on the optical disc 103 without any problem, the shooting complete flag is set (S207), and the shooting is completed normally and shooting is completed (S208).

  Since the above management information basically requires random access and is important information, it is handled by an SRAM backed up by a backup battery. Since data loss due to battery exhaustion can be avoided, it is preferable to increase the efficiency by recording all at once when the optical disk 103 is taken out, without recording management information on the optical disk 103 each time shooting is completed. Further, since the shooting complete flag is cleared immediately after the start of shooting in S100, it is recorded in the serial EEPROM 109 in the same manner as the restoration required flag.

  If the drive cannot be recorded in S201, the drive starts through node H if the drive can be started first (S209), and waits for a predetermined time until the drive can be recorded again (S210, S211). If recording is possible, the process returns to the end process which has passed through the node F and has proceeded to the normal end S203. If the predetermined time has elapsed and recording is not possible, the drive is stopped (S212). Here, if the AV stream remains in the buffer and the space for alternative recording remains in the flash, the AV stream is recorded in the flash (S213). Then, the shooting completion flag remains cleared (S214), and the process ends abnormally and ends abnormally with incomplete shooting (S215).

  Abnormal termination occurs when vibration factors and temperature factors are severe. The vibration factor can be reduced to a recordable state by handling the user with care, but in the case of a temperature factor, it takes a relatively long time to cool down, so the unrecordable time continues and it tends to end abnormally. . In addition, when the battery factor, the capacity factor, or the failure factor, the abnormal termination is always performed. In this case, a separate flag or the like is prepared and the drive is stopped and terminated abnormally in a state where it cannot be started. If recording becomes impossible at S205 or S206, the optical disc apparatus 100 attempts to recover recording through the H node. If recording is not possible within a predetermined time, abnormal termination processing is performed. Illustration of this flow is omitted. The photographing data restoration process when the process ends abnormally will be described later.

  If abnormal termination occurs during shooting, the optical disk 103 and the flash memory card 111 are not in a proper normal state, and the optical disk lock must be performed so that both media cannot be ejected until the shooting data restoration process is completed. Locking is performed by the mechanism 1005 and the lock mechanism 112 of the flash memory card. Both media are locked even in a user data write-back state of a flash memory card to be described later. This is to prevent the user from accidentally taking out the media.

<Effect of alternative processing>
The main operations of the flash alternative recording process at the time of shooting and the shooting data restoration process at the end of shooting have been described above. If these processes according to the present invention are applied to an optical disc / video camera, recording is temporarily impossible during shooting, which continues for a predetermined time, and usually the buffer overflows and the video is interrupted. Even in such a situation, continuous shooting without interruption of video becomes possible by the flash alternative recording. In addition, when it is possible to record again, the subsequent video can be recorded on the optical disc, and the alternative AV stream is recorded at the position where the optical disc should be recorded, so that the recording can be performed as if no recording has occurred. Can be completed.

  For example, this may occur for a long time under shooting in the athletic meet, such as when shooting while chasing a child, causing vibrations that cannot be recorded to an optical disc / video camera to disappear and after shooting, This is when the temperature of the semiconductor laser inside the optical disc / video camera continues to temporarily exceed the guaranteed operating temperature and the semiconductor laser is cooled down by stopping the drive.

<Data recovery processing>
Next, recovery processing after abnormal termination will be described. As described above, there are five causes of abnormal termination, namely, vibration factor, temperature factor, battery factor, capacity factor, and failure factor. Recovery processing differs depending on the cause of abnormal termination.

  For the vibration factor and the temperature factor, the recovery process is performed when the non-recordable factor is removed after the photographing is completed. The user is informed that the shooting has ended abnormally. Furthermore, it checks whether the optical disk device can record, informs the user, and captures the shooting data restoration process for copying the information of the flash substitute recording to the original recording position of the optical disk and the management information recording on the optical disk. Do. In particular, when recording is impossible due to temperature factors, it is confirmed that the temperature has fallen to a level that can secure the subsequent recording time, and notification of recording is made.

  In the case of a battery factor, the same recovery process as the vibration factor or temperature factor is performed after battery replacement. The purpose of the alternative recording of the battery factor is that even if the remaining battery level is impossible to record to the optical disc, recording to the flash, which consumes much less power than the optical disc device, can be continued. Is to prevent losing. In this case, due to the difference in power consumption and battery performance, if the operation is changed to the flash alternative recording, the remaining battery capacity does not disappear immediately. The end of shooting is aborted as an abnormal end when the flash is full, a shooting end command is issued before that, or the remaining battery level is exhausted. The recovery process is performed as follows. That is, at least after the shooting is completed, the user is informed that the battery has ended abnormally due to a shortage of remaining battery power, prompts the user to replace the battery, and after the battery replacement, the user's command or automatic shooting data repair processing and management information recording to the optical disc are performed.

  The alternative record of capacity factor has a different purpose from the previous three. In other words, when there is no more recording space on the optical disc, it is possible to continue recording in the flash. In other words, the substantial recording capacity can be added to the flash capacity, and the shooting can be continued with the flash alternative recording without exchanging the optical disk at the best shooting opportunity. After the end of shooting, basically three kinds of recovery processing can be performed. One is a method of erasing an unnecessary part in a recorded video, creating a free space on a full optical disk, and recording flash replacement information there. The second is a method of recording a video flash substitute recording by exchanging it with a new optical disc, and the third is a method of providing an interface capable of handling the optical disc and the flash as one medium and copying to another large-capacity medium.

  Substitute recording due to failure causes the optical disc / video camera itself to be faulty, so repaired by the manufacturer, using a normal optical disc device or optical disc / video camera, the recorded content on the remaining optical disc, flash substitution Based on the recorded contents and the backed up SRAM information, the video information is restored. The basic flow of the recovery process is equivalent to the battery factor process.

  Since the above data recovery process uses a non-volatile flash, it can be realized even after the optical disk / video camera has been turned off (including unexpectedly off). I can say that.

<Operation timing example during shooting>
FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing an example of the storage amount and recording control in the buffer memory 108 at the time of photographing (or recording) described above. In the description of FIG. 6 as well, the optical disk device 100 is abbreviated as a drive, the third level is a recording reference capacity, the buffer memory 108 is a buffer, and the flash memory 110 or the flash memory card 111 is abbreviated.

  In FIG. 6, the vertical axis represents the accumulated amount of the buffer. The upper broken line is the total capacity of the buffer. The lower broken line is the recording reference capacity. The fourth level described in the basic operation of photographing is 0 here. Here, the user rate at the time of recording is Vw, and the disk rate is Vo. Therefore, during recording, the accumulation amount decreases with a slope of Vi-Vw (negative). Further, the recording rate to the flash and the playback rate are indicated by Vwf and Vrf, respectively. This value is assumed to be larger than Vw. Note that the disc rate and user rate here are different from those shown in FIG.

  In shooting, an area to be recorded on the optical disc 103 is determined in advance based on information of a file system (described later) and management information. Specifically, all the recordable areas on the optical disc that are longer than the necessary continuous length are allocated in order so that the access is minimized, except for the management information recording area. Except for exceptions such as the last part of the AV stream, it is not recorded in the recordable area less than the necessary continuous length.

  As soon as the user presses the shooting button and issues a shooting start command to the recording / playback control unit 107, the video camera unit 101 inputs video and the compression unit 102 generates an AV stream (t0). The AV stream starts to be stored in the buffer memory 108 at the user rate Vi, and the storage amount starts to increase. The drive is started before the shooting command, or is started after the shooting start command in order to reduce power consumption, and preparations are made so that the AV stream can be recorded in the area to be recorded. When the accumulated amount reaches the recording reference capacity, recording on the optical disk 103 is started (t1). As described above, the accumulation amount decreases with Vi−Vw, and when the buffer becomes 0, the recording is interrupted (t2). Next, since the time until the storage amount reaches the recording reference capacity can be predicted, for example, intermittent control can be realized by executing drive control in the order of pause, restart, and access.

  Recording is resumed at t3, but access is required when the recording area needs to be changed during recording (t4). Recording to the next recording area starts at t5. Thereafter, when the recording possibility determination unit 113 detects that recording is impossible at time t6 during recording, the drive is first stopped. If the unrecordable state continues, the accumulation amount increases with the slope Vi, but nothing is done yet even if the value reaches the recording reference capacity. Then, just before the accumulated amount reaches the full capacity and overflows, replacement recording is first performed in the flash (t7). Since the flash has a short access time compared to the drive, recording can be started immediately. When alternative recording is started in the flash, the accumulated amount decreases (slope: Vi−Vwf). When the accumulated amount decreases to the recording reference capacity at time t8, the alternative recording to the flash is temporarily stopped. When the accumulated amount reaches the full capacity again, alternative recording to the flash is started again (t9), and the accumulated amount is reduced to the recording reference capacity (t10). The accumulation amount starts to increase again. Here, it is assumed that a photographing end command is issued at time t11. Then, there is no increase / decrease in the accumulated amount. Here, the reason why recording in the flash is stopped at the recording reference capacity is that it is desired to reduce the capacity of the flash used for the alternative recording as much as possible.

  When the drive becomes recordable for a while after this time t11, the drive is started and the AV stream remaining in the buffer is recorded on the optical disc 103 (from t12 to t13). Next, the AV stream recorded by flash substitution is copied to the optical disc 103 and repaired. Therefore, an area to be originally recorded is accessed (from t13 to t14). When the access is completed (t14), information is written to the optical disc 103 while accumulating the information recorded in the buffer from the flash (inclination: Vrf−Vw). When all the alternative recording information is read (t15), all the information remaining in the buffer is written on the optical disc 103 to complete the recording. Note that when the flash alternative recording amount is large, buffer management is performed so that the buffer does not overflow. Thereafter, if the management information is recorded on the optical disc 103, the photographing is completed (the timing is not shown).

  The control of the storage amount during normal recording and drive abnormality has been described above, but the difference between the total capacity and the recording reference capacity during normal recording is basically used for recovery when an impact occurs, and the shock proof during recording is used. Realize.

  Although qualitative description has been given above, specific examples of values used in an actual optical disc / video camera are shown. First, the capacity of the optical disk 103 is 8 GB. If the user rate is 24 Mbps that satisfies the HD image quality, the recording time is about 44 minutes. If the disk rate is 48 Mbps, which is twice the user rate, and the buffer memory capacity is slightly increased, and the startup time of the optical disk device is increased, the operation can be approached to about 50% intermittent operation. The track buffer 1009 is 16 Mbit. For intermittent recording / reproducing operation and shock proof, the buffer memory 108 is assumed to be as large as 1 Gbit (corresponding to a user rate of about 42 seconds) with four 256 Mbit DRAMs. Since the built-in flash memory 110 is cheaper than a DRAM, two 1 Gbit products (corresponding to about 84 seconds) are mounted. If the external flash memory card 111 is 1 Gbyte (corresponding to approximately 340 seconds: equivalent to 1/8 of the optical disk capacity), a highly reliable optical disk / video camera can be realized.

<Memory management contents>
Here, the contents of memory management centered on the recording / playback control unit 107 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining memory control centered on the recording / playback control unit 107 of the optical disk / video camera. The recording / playback control unit 107 is connected to the compression unit 102, the buffer memory 108, and the decompression unit 104. The buffer memory 108 is handled as a random access memory.

  The recording control unit 107 includes an application layer software 107A for controlling the recording / playback of the AV stream of the optical disc / video camera, an optical disc file system (software) 107B, a flash memory file system 107C, and a replacement process (software). 107D and ECC (hardware) 107E are incorporated.

  For the recording / reproduction of the physical layer of the optical disc 103, the alternation processing 1008A, ECC 1008B, and track buffer 1009 built in the optical disc apparatus 100 are used. In order to secure a continuous recording area for recording an AV stream, the application layer software 107A, the optical disk file system 107B, and the replacement process 1008A are linked.

  The flash EEPROM constituting the flash memory 110 and the flash memory card 111 generally does not have a random access function, and, like the optical disk 103, it is necessary to accept a defect and use it on the premise of ECC and replacement processing. In order to use 110, an ECC 107E, a replacement process 107D, and a flash file system 107C are required. However, the defect rate is much lower than that of an optical disc at the level of one or less in 1 KB. The flash memory card 111 has a built-in controller, which performs ECC processing.

  A flash EEPROM is basically a memory that cannot be overwritten. Data recording uses a method in which a block composed of a plurality of sectors is erased and information is recorded in units of sectors. Erasing is performed in units of blocks, which are called erase blocks. The size of the erase block is as large as 16 Kbytes, for example, but one sector is as small as 512 bytes.

  In order to rewrite one sector in one block in which all sectors have already been written as normal data rewriting, the following processing procedure is required. That is, one block is read, the target sector in one block is rewritten (modified), one block is erased, one modified block is written, and the last written one block is verified. A total of 5 steps are required. This recording is called read-modify-write. In this case, the recording time is considerably long, and it is not suitable for flash substitute recording that requires high-speed recording.

  In order to perform high-speed recording by flash alternative recording, it is desired to record only in the erased sector so that at least rewriting is not accompanied. For this reason, first, the flash memory 110 incorporates a function for changing the recording unit into an erase block unit in the flash file system 107C except for the file management area. For example, 1 sector = 1 block. By doing this, the first step of read / modify / write can be omitted, and the process of three steps of 1-block erase, 1-block write, and 1-block verify can be performed at high speed. Further, if erasing is performed in advance, two steps of one block write and one block verify can be performed. In addition, taking into account the fact that the defect rate is very low, recording of AV streams other than management information can be carried out with one step of one block write by omitting verification by preparing for some data loss. is there.

  The flash memory card 111 cannot have 1 sector = 1 block to ensure compatibility with a personal computer. Therefore, the file in the flash memory card 111 used in the personal computer is not in a block unit and is usually in a fragmentation state. The presence or absence of fragmentation can be checked by the flash file system 107C and the replacement process 107D. However, if there is fragmentation, a defragmentation process is performed to eliminate fragmentation, and in order to continuously secure erased sectors, The recording / playback control unit 107 performs the following control.

  That is, first, all user data (user file) in the flash memory card 111 is once recorded on the optical disk 103. Next, the entire user data area of the flash memory card 111 is erased. Finally, the user files on the optical disk 103 are written back to the flash memory card 111 in order. At this time, the user file is continuously recorded in ascending order of sector addresses in the flash memory file system 107C. As a result, the area from the next block to the last block of the last recorded block of the user file can be secured as an erased area as a flash replacement recording area. In addition, since user files can be organized by defragmentation, another advantage is that they can be used at high speed the next time they are used on a personal computer or the like. However, there is a drawback that it takes time to write and write back the user file to the optical disc as described above, and there is a risk that the user file cannot be written back when a failure of the optical disc apparatus occurs.

  The above operations are performed before the start of shooting or recording. However, if it takes a long time, the user data of the flash memory card 111 is sequentially stored on the optical disc 103 by a predetermined amount between the shooting data recording after the time recording starts. In addition to recording, the user data area transferred to the optical disk 103 is erased, and an area that can be immediately flash-replaced and recorded is sequentially secured. User data may be restored by writing back to the card 111.

  In addition, the user file recorded on the optical disk from the flash memory card 111 and recorded in the dispersed recording area where the AV stream cannot be recorded in the recording area of the optical disk 103 is immediately written on the flash memory card 111 before the start of photographing. Instead of returning, a free area may be secured and used for flash alternative recording.

  Alternatively, all user files may be recorded on the optical disk 103, and the entire capacity of the flash memory card 111 may be used for flash alternative recording. In this case, since the user file is recorded in an area on the optical disc 103 where the AV stream should be recorded, the recording capacity of the optical disc 103 is reduced. However, since the recording can be performed on the flash memory card 111 due to the incapability of recording due to the capacity factor, the substantial photographing capacity is not reduced. However, it is necessary to replace and record the user file on the optical disc 103 and the video information recorded in the flash substitute on the flash memory card 111 in the recovery process after the photographing is completed. The replacement recording is a complicated process, but can basically be realized by using the buffer memory 108 as a work memory. In order to avoid the risk of data loss in the buffer memory 108, it is preferable to use an SRAM backed up by the flash memory 110 or a backup battery. However, since the flash memory 110 has many processing procedures for erasing, verifying, etc., it is predicted that the processing time will be long. In addition, since SRAM cannot be installed with a capacity as large as DRAM, the processing is subdivided, so that the processing time is expected to be longer due to overhead.

  The application layer software 107A of the recording / playback control unit 107 is provided with another important function. This is a function for outputting data in the same manner as when the photographing data restoration processing of the optical disc 103 is completed when there is a video reproduction command or the like even when photographing is abnormally terminated. Specifically, when there is an access to the unrepaired optical disk 103, data is read from the information recorded by flash substitution. This is realized by adding file management software above the optical disk file system 107B and the flash file system 107C. Furthermore, when a user file originally on the flash memory card 111 is placed on the optical disk 103, a function of reading from the optical disk 103 when the user file is accessed is added.

<Ring buffer control>
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of how to use the buffer memory 108. As described above, the buffer memory is used as a first-in first-out ring buffer.

  In FIG. 8, the buffer memory 108 assumes that memory addresses are arranged in a linear and ascending order in the direction of the arrow shown in the buffer usage direction, and handles data in units of blocks to be recorded on the optical disk 103. 108A is an empty area starting from the recording completion position, 108B is maintenance data starting from the transfer completion position, 108C is a block currently being transferred to the optical disc apparatus 100, and 108D is still sent to the optical disc apparatus 100 starting from the accumulation completion position. Not stored data, 108E is a block currently stored, and 108F is a free area. As shown in the figure, the buffer usage amount is an area excluding an empty area.

  At the start of shooting, AV streams are accumulated in units of blocks to be recorded / reproduced on the optical disc 103 in order from the top of FIG. 8. When the accumulated amount reaches the recording reference capacity, the AV stream information accumulated in advance (from top to bottom). (In order) are sent to the optical disc apparatus 100 in units of blocks. The optical disc apparatus 100 temporarily stores the received AV stream in the track buffer 1009 and records it on the optical disc 103 at the disc rate by the optical disc control unit 1008.

  Since it is a ring buffer, when the accumulation completion position, transfer completion position, and recording completion position reach the final address, they return to the top address. The buffer control is performed so that the recording completion position does not overtake the transfer completion position, the transfer completion position does not overtake the accumulation completion position, and the storage completion position does not overtake the recording completion position.

  A feature of the present invention resides in the maintenance data 108B. Assume that the recording possibility determination unit 113 determines that recording is not possible during shooting. At this time, it is normal that data of blocks that have not been recorded on the optical disk 103 remain in the track buffer 1009. Simply, it is conceivable that the remaining block data is read back from the optical disc apparatus 100 and flash substitute recording is performed. However, it takes time to read back and the processing procedure becomes complicated. Therefore, here, the AV stream for the maximum track buffer is left in the buffer memory 108 as the maintenance data 108B, and is used for flash alternative recording. Therefore, there is no need to read back from the track buffer 1009. However, the recording / playback control unit 107 receives the address information of the blocks that have been recorded on the optical disk 103 from the optical disk apparatus 100, and performs flash replacement recording only on unrecorded blocks.

  During normal buffer control, recording completion address information is similarly obtained from the optical disc apparatus 100, and control is performed so that the size of the maintenance data 108B is reduced.

<Display during alternate recording>
FIG. 9 is a display example for displaying the recording state at the time of shooting on the monitor unit 105 to notify the user. This display alerts the user to suppress vibrations, indicates that the flash replacement recording has occurred and the photographing data restoration process is necessary, the optical disk 103 or the flash memory card 111 is locked, etc. Notice. As a result, even if the optical disc / video camera is executing an operation different from the user instruction, the user can be convinced and a sense of security can be given.

  In FIG. 9, (a) shows a mark to be displayed, the mark 105A is the optical disk 103, 105B is the flash memory card 111, 105C is the AV stream flow, and 105D and 105E are the optical disk lock mechanism 1005 and the flash memory, respectively. The state of the card locking mechanism 112 is visualized. The frame of each mark is displayed so that it can be normally recognized, and the operation of the mark can be displayed on the monitor 105 by overlay or alpha blending, for example, by shining the segment of each mark. The numbers of the display marks (b) to (d) are the same. Moreover, the segment to make it shine was painted black.

  (B) is a display state during normal photographing. The blacked portion 105A indicates the capacity occupied by the AV stream on the optical disc 103, and here indicates that about 3/8 of the capacity is recorded. In order to indicate that the optical disk is operating, the black mark is rotated in the direction of the arrow. At this time, the lock mechanism 1005 of the optical disk is locked by 105D black painting. In 105C, the flow of the AV stream is shown to flow from the compression unit 102 or the video camera unit 101 (not shown). 105B and 105E do not change anything.

  (C) is a display example at the time of flash alternative recording. 105A indicates that the capacity is 5/8, the rotation is stopped, and the recording on the optical disc 103 is stopped. On the other hand, 105B informs by flashing that the capacity of the blacked portion 2/8 is recorded by flash substitution and that the capacity portion of 3/8 is being recorded (hatched portion). At this time, 105C indicates that the AV stream flows to the flash memory card 111 side. Both media are locked, as shown by black in 105D and 105E.

  (D) is a display example during photographing data restoration processing of flash alternative recording. 105A indicates that the optical disk is operating. 2B of the flash memory card blinks at 105B, indicating that an AV stream is flowing from the flash memory card 111 toward the optical disk 103 as indicated by 105C. When the photographing data restoration processing is completed, 105B is no longer blacked and blinked, and 105D and 105E indicate that the locks of both media are released. By stopping the rotation of the mark 105A indicating the optical disk, the user is informed that the photographing data restoration has been completed.

  Although the flash memory 110 is not particularly displayed, it can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. Further, the display location is not limited to the monitor unit 105 and may be any location that can be recognized by the user.

<Lock mechanism for both media>
FIGS. 10A and 10B are configuration diagrams showing main parts of an optical disk locking mechanism 1005 and a flash memory card locking mechanism 112, respectively. This lock mechanism realizes the above-described lock and eject.

  In FIG. 10A, reference numeral 1000A denotes a cartridge holder for storing the cartridge of the optical disc 103, and is urged in the direction of arrow C at the loading position. 1000B is a lock pin attached to the cartridge holder 1000A, 1000C is a lock lever, 1000D is a rotation shaft of the lock lever 1000C, 1000E is a spring that pulls the lock lever 1000C in the lock direction indicated by the arrow A, and 1000F is an eject request of the optical disk 103 An accepting switch 1000G is a solenoid that accepts an eject request and pulls the lock lever 1000C in the direction B of the broken line arrow when the recording / playback control unit 107 determines that ejection is possible. When the solenoid 1000G is turned on, the cartridge holder 1000A that has been locked by the lock lever 1000C is removed, and the cartridge is released to the eject position. The loading is locked by pushing the cartridge holder 1000A to the loading position by the user's hand, and the loading is detected by a detection switch (not shown).

  In FIG. 10B, 112A is a lock lever that directly locks the flash memory card 111, 112B is a rotating shaft of the lock lever 112A, 112C is a spring that urges the lock lever 112A to the arrow A, and 112D is in the direction of the arrow C. A switch 112E detects that the activated flash memory card 111 has been pushed in the direction of the broken line arrow D by the user's hand, and 112E receives the ejection request and when the recording / playback control unit 107 determines that ejection is possible This is a solenoid that pulls the lock lever 112A in the direction B of the broken line arrow. When the solenoid 112E is turned on, the flash memory card 111 is unlocked by the lock lever 112A and can be taken out. During loading, loading is detected by detecting insertion of the flash memory card 111 into a connector (not shown).

  The flash memory card may be accommodated in the cartridge holder, or the lock lever may also be used to share both media locks, thereby suppressing an increase in device cost.

<Effects of the invention and notes>
As described above, according to the present invention, the non-volatile memory, the determination unit for determining whether or not recording of the optical disk device is possible, and the period during which the optical disk device is determined to be unrecordable by the determination unit are According to an optical disc video camera using (flash) alternative recording to a non-volatile memory using recording control means for stopping recording to the optical disc and substituting recording of the photographic data to be recorded in the non-volatile memory For example, even if recording on the optical disc becomes temporarily impossible, the information to be recorded on the nonvolatile memory can be recorded as a substitute, so that recording temporarily becomes impossible during shooting and this continues for a predetermined time. Even in a situation where the buffer overflows and the video is interrupted normally, continuous shooting without video interruption becomes possible. In addition, when recording is possible again, the subsequent video can be recorded on the optical disc, and a recording data restoration process for recording the alternative AV stream at the position where it should be recorded on the optical disc may result in inability to record. Shooting can be completed as if not.

  In the present embodiment, the non-volatile memory for alternative recording has been described using the flash memory. However, any non-volatile memory that is less expensive than the buffer memory, has a large capacity, and has an appropriate recording / reproducing transfer rate may be used. . Ferroelectric memories, phase change memories, MRAMs, and the like that have been developed in recent years are candidates for the future. A small removable HDD drive may be used instead of the flash memory card. If a removable flash memory card is used, the risk of shooting failure can be reduced if the capacity of the flash card is increased depending on the usage status of the optical disc / video camera. In addition, even if optical disks and video cameras are expensive and large-capacity built-in flash memory cannot be mounted, the advancement of semiconductor technology will make it possible to obtain inexpensive large-capacity flash memory cards after sales.・ The operational reliability of the video camera can be improved. Since the flash memory card can be shared for other purposes, it is unlikely to be an economic burden on the user.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the flash alternative recording is performed in an unrecordable state after the recording on the optical disk starts, but if it is already determined that the optical disk cannot be recorded at the start of shooting, You may perform flash alternative recording from the beginning. Extremely harsh environment with a flash memory card of the same capacity or larger than that of the optical disc, recording to the flash without recording to the optical disc during shooting, and recording to the optical disc after shooting You may set up a mode that can be used for both.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the image data restoration is performed after the end of recording, but may be performed during recording. That is, the state returns to the recordable state after the flash substitute recording, the drive pause time is secured by intermittent recording, and the AV stream substituted from the flash to the optical disk device is repaired and recorded at that time. When the photographing data restoration is completed, the restoration necessary flag is cleared and the flash is erased. As a result, if the capacity for the next flash alternative recording is ensured, more reliable shooting can be performed with the same capacity flash, or the capacity of the flash can be saved. Further, there is an advantage that the photographing data restoration process can be shortened.

  In addition, if the flash alternative recording is used, even if an unexpected situation that cannot be detected in advance occurs due to the complexity of the buffer storage control algorithm, the buffer memory overflow is detected separately from the control algorithm. Therefore, it can be expected that the interruption of shooting can be prevented.

  Further, disturbance may be detected in the focus error signal or tracking king error signal as a vibration factor when it is determined that recording is impossible. If there is no vibration and the focus error signal or tracking king error signal is disturbed, there may be a cause such as a defect on the optical disc. The recording position may be changed within the range of the data arrangement rule of the AV stream. In this case, it may be necessary to change the recording position of the AV stream already recorded on the optical disc.

  Further, when it is determined that recording is impossible and the battery factor is used, it is possible to provide a means for measuring the remaining amount of the battery from the charge / discharge progress or the like to determine whether the remaining amount of the battery is insufficient.

  Further, in this embodiment, when a flash alternative recording occurs, a place on the optical disk to be originally recorded is made empty and the AV stream is recorded after the recovery. If the data arrangement rule of the AV stream can be observed, the recording position may be changed.

  The alternative recording in the optical disc / video camera according to the present invention is useful as an optical disc / video camera used in a harsh environment. It can also be applied to continuous data recording with portable devices such as an optical disk / audio recorder and a PDA equipped with an optical disk device.

1 is a block diagram of an optical disk / video camera according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Data arrangement diagram of AV stream on optical disc Timing chart explaining control of buffer memory storage amount during playback Control flow chart of recording / playback control unit (1/2) Control flow chart of recording / playback control unit (2/2) Timing chart explaining the control of buffer memory storage during shooting Block diagram to explain memory control Explanatory drawing explaining how to use buffer memory Explanatory drawing explaining the display example on the monitor Configuration diagram of lock mechanism

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Optical disk apparatus 101 Video camera part 102 Compression part 103 Optical disk 104 Expansion part 105 Monitor part 106 Switch 107 Recording / playback control part (Recording control means)
108 Buffer memory 109 Serial EEPROM
110 Flash memory (nonvolatile memory)
111 Flash memory card (nonvolatile memory)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 112 Flash memory card lock mechanism 113 Recordability determination part 114 Battery voltage detector 1001 Motor 1002 Optical head 1003 Semiconductor laser temperature sensor 1004 Loading mechanism 1005 Optical disk cartridge lock mechanism 1006 Chassis 1007 Acceleration sensor 1008 Optical disk control unit 1009 Track Buffer 107A Recording layer control unit application software 107B Optical disk file system 107C Flash memory file system 107D Replacement processing 107E ECC
1008A Replacement processing 1008B ECC
MNG AV stream management information RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4 AV stream fragment

Claims (16)

In response to a shooting command, the video / audio information input by the video camera unit is compressed and further converted into an AV stream, the AV stream is temporarily stored in a buffer memory, and is recorded as shooting data to be recorded at a predetermined position on the optical disk. Is an optical disc video camera that intermittently outputs and records the shooting data at a predetermined position of the optical disc, the optical disc video camera comprising:
Non-volatile memory;
A determination means for determining whether or not recording of the optical disc device is possible;
A recording control unit that stops recording on the optical disc and records the photographic data to be recorded in the nonvolatile memory during a period in which the optical disc apparatus is determined to be unrecordable by the determination unit;
Optical disc video camera equipped with The recording control means further performs photographic data restoration by recording the substitute recorded photographic data at an original position of the optical disk when the optical disk device is determined to be recordable by the determining means.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The determination means includes means for detecting vibration applied to the optical disc apparatus, and determines that recording is impossible when a servo control error or the like exceeds a recording guarantee range due to the vibration.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The determination means includes means for detecting the temperature of the semiconductor laser of the optical head unit built in the optical disc apparatus, and determines that recording is impossible when the temperature exceeds the guaranteed operating range of the semiconductor laser.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The determination means includes means for detecting a remaining battery level or voltage at which power supply to the optical disc apparatus is insufficient, and determines that recording is impossible when the power supply is an insufficient value.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The determination means includes means for determining the presence or absence of a recording area of the optical disc, and determines that recording is impossible when the recording area runs out;
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The determination means includes means for detecting a failure of the optical disk device, and determines that recording is impossible when the optical disk device is in failure;
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The alternative recording period further includes display means for displaying that the alternative recording is performed.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The recording control means further comprises means for controlling the storage amount to increase within a range in which the buffer memory does not overflow during the alternative recording, and when the optical disc apparatus becomes recordable again, the recording is recorded on the optical disc. Increase the amount of shooting data and reduce the amount of data to be recorded in the non-volatile memory.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The period from the occurrence of the alternative recording to the completion of the photographing data restoration further includes display means for displaying that the photographing data restoration is incomplete.
The optical disc / video camera according to claim 2. When there is a read request for the optical disc before the photographing data restoration is completed, the reproduction device further includes a reproducing unit that makes a response assuming that the photographing data restoration is completed.
The optical disc / video camera according to claim 2. Non-volatile memory includes an external memory card composed of flash memory, etc.
The optical disk / video camera according to claim 1. The recording control means further records the user data in the memory card on the optical disc at a time before shooting when the optical disc and the memory card are mounted, and then erases the user data on the memory card. And a means for restoring the user data by writing the user data back to the memory card when the optical disc or the external memory card is removed.
The optical disk video camera according to claim 12. The recording control means further records the user data in the memory card in sequence on the optical disc in a predetermined amount between the shooting data recording after starting the recording, and erases the user data area transferred to the optical disc. , In addition to sequentially securing the area where the alternative recording can be performed, and comprising means for restoring the user data by rewriting the user data transferred to the optical disk along with the photographing data restoration after the recording is completed,
The optical disk video camera according to claim 12. A lock means for preventing the optical disk and the memory card from being removed before the user data restoration is completed, and a means for indicating that the optical disk and the memory card are locked.
The optical disk video camera according to claim 13 or 14. Further comprising display means for displaying that the user data is transferred to the optical disc and recorded.
The optical disk video camera according to claim 13 or 14.

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