JP2005348378A - Digital signal recording reproducing apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable recording of changing point information to identify changing points between necessary and unnecessary recorded contents without users' particular operations. <P>SOLUTION: A digital signal recording reproducing apparatus which records and reproduces digital signals in recording media is provided with; at least two reproducing modes of normal reproducing and special reproducing; an operation panel 11 which switches the normal reproducing and the special reproducing; and a changing point information recording means which records the changing point information which indicates the changing points between the normal reproducing and the special reproducing in optical disk 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing a television broadcast program or the like.

  In recent years, disk recorders that record MPEG-encoded digital AV signals on disk media such as DVDs and HDDs are becoming widespread in video recorders that record and reproduce television broadcast programs and the like. The disc recorder has a feature that editing such as scene cut and rearrangement is easy by utilizing the random accessibility of the disc. As a function using this feature, a function of recording a marker signal for identifying an unnecessary part such as a CM and deleting the unnecessary part or skipping at the time of reproduction has been put into practical use.

  In order to record a marker signal in an unnecessary part such as a CM, it is necessary for the user to find an unnecessary part while confirming the reproduced image and to consciously record the marker signal there. For example, a DVD video recorder that is currently in practical use has a dedicated button for recording a marker on the remote control, and the user presses the marker button on the remote control at a position where the marker is to be recorded while checking the playback video. The intentional work of the user is essential. The marker signal is information indicating a specific position of the recorded signal, and a section delimited by the marker is called a chapter. This is shown in FIG. Marker 61 is recorded at time t61 from the beginning of the recorded content, similarly marker 62 is recorded at t62, marker 63 is recorded at t63, marker 64 is recorded at t64, and the recorded content is chapter 61, chapter 62, chapter 63, The chapter 64 and chapter 65 are divided into five chapters. The user needs to select an unnecessary one from these five chapters.

Also, if the unnecessary part is only a CM or a specific scene, the marker signal is automatically recorded at the change point of the audio attribute information (stereo / dual mono etc.) of the TV broadcast and the change point of the scene at the time of recording. A method of identifying CM parts and scene changes has also been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, with this method, it is not possible to automatically record an unnecessary part in the main part of the program other than the CM or a marker signal in the middle of the scene. In this method, for example, when the CM part cannot be identified in the broadcast signal to be recorded, for example, the audio attribute information does not change between the program main part and the CM part, the marker signal cannot be recorded.
JP 2000-354225 A

  The problem to be solved is that in order to record a marker signal for identifying an unnecessary part such as a CM, the user must consciously record the marker signal while confirming the reproduced image. It is. In addition, a marker signal cannot be automatically recorded when an unnecessary part in a main program other than CM, an unnecessary part in the middle of a scene, or a CM part cannot be identified in a broadcast signal to be recorded.

  Therefore, in consideration of the above-described problems, the present invention provides a change point between a necessary portion and an unnecessary portion of a recorded signal even if the user does not intentionally record a marker signal in the unnecessary portion of the recorded signal. The purpose is to record change point information to be identified on a recording medium.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with a user interface for switching between normal playback and special playback in order to identify an unnecessary part such as a CM. The main feature is to record change point information for normal reproduction and special reproduction for identification on a recording medium.

  The digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus and digital signal recording / reproducing method of the present invention record change point information between normal reproduction and special reproduction for identifying a section viewed by a user in special reproduction on a recording medium, and based on the information. Since the specially reproduced portion is determined as an unnecessary portion, there is an advantage that the user does not need to consciously record a marker signal in an unnecessary portion such as a CM. Also, even when the CM part cannot be identified in the broadcast signal to be recorded or when it is desired to identify the unnecessary part in the main part of the program, change point information indicating the change point between the necessary part and the unnecessary part can be automatically recorded on the recording medium. There is an advantage that you can.

  As shown below, the change point information that identifies the change point between the required part of the recorded signal and the unnecessary part is recorded without the user intentionally recording the marker signal in the unnecessary part of the recorded signal. Realized recording on media.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a tuner that receives and selects a television broadcast. Reference numeral 5 denotes a disk drive for recording and reproducing digital signals. The disk drive 5 contains an optical disk 12 as a recording medium. An MPEG encoder 2 digitizes the analog video / audio signal output from the tuner 1 and compresses it by the MPEG method to create an MPEG format digital signal. Reference numeral 3 denotes a recording control unit. The recording control unit 3 creates management information necessary for recording and reproduction, adds the management information to the MPEG signal from the MPEG encoder 2, converts it into a recording format for the optical disc 12, and a CPU 10 described later. Also has a function of controlling the start / stop of signal recording to the disk drive 5 in accordance with a command from. The content of the management information created by the recording control unit 3 includes information indicating the content of the recorded content such as a recorded program name and recording date, a content ID for identifying a plurality of recorded content, and a specific position of the recorded content. Search information indicating the correspondence between the time code for searching (time from the beginning of the content) and the address on the disc, and the address at which the minimum playback signal (for example, MPEG I and P pictures) is recorded during special playback Special reproduction information indicating The digital signal output from the recording control unit 3 is sent to the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4 and recorded on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5. These recording control unit 3, buffer memory 4, disk drive 5, CPU 10 and memory 13 (to be described later) constitute change point information recording means.

  The reproduction control unit 6 controls the position and speed at which a signal is read from the disk drive 5 in accordance with a command from the CPU 10 described later. The reproduction control unit 6 reads the management information from the disk drive 5 and designates the address on the disk associated with the desired time code of the desired content ID, thereby reproducing the data from the desired position. Data reproduced from the disk drive 5 is input to the reproduction control unit 6 via the buffer memory 4, and the reproduction control unit 6 deletes the management information added by the recording control unit 3 from the reproduction data and converts it into the MPEG format. The converted data is output to 7 MPEG decoder. The MPEG decoder 7 MPEG-decodes the MPEG signal from the reproduction control unit 6 and sends it to the AV decoder 8. The AV decoder 8 converts the digital signal from the MPEG decoder 7 into an analog video / audio signal and outputs it from the AV output terminal 9.

  A CPU 10 controls the system of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus. The memory 13 connected to the CPU 10 includes a ROM storing a program to be executed by the CPU 10 and a RAM necessary for executing the program. The CPU 10 and the recording control unit 3 are connected by a data address bus, and the CPU 10 sends control information to the control register of the recording control unit 3 so that recording such as recording start / stop and recording of management information to the recording control unit 3 is performed. In addition to general control, the recording control unit 3 reads a register storing recording information such as a time code of a signal recorded on the optical disc 12 and an address on the disc and monitors the signal recorded by the recording control unit 3. Do. The CPU 10 and the reproduction control unit 6 are connected by a data address bus, and the CPU 10 controls the reproduction control unit 6 by sending control information to the control register of the reproduction control unit 6, and the reproduction control unit 6 is connected to the disk drive 5. The reproduction control unit 6 also monitors the signal reproduced by reading out a register for storing reproduction information such as the time code of the signal being reproduced and the address on the disk. A drive control CPU (not shown) built in the buffer memory 4 and the disk drive 5 is also connected to the recording control unit 3, the reproduction control unit 6 and the CPU 10 via the data address bus. The disk drive 5 can be controlled from the recording control unit 3, the reproduction control unit 6, and the CPU 10. Further, the CPU 10 can also read management information recorded on the optical disk 12 from the disk drive 5.

  An operation panel 11 is a user interface for operating the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus. The operation panel 11 includes buttons for recording, forward / reverse playback, stop, fast forward playback, fast reverse playback, and the like. Information on pressing each button is sent to the CPU 10, and the type of button pressed by the CPU 10 is displayed. Recognize and act accordingly. Specifically, a different voltage value is output for each pressed button from the operation panel 11 to a signal line connected to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 determines the type of the pressed button from the difference in the voltage value. The user operates the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus by pressing these buttons.

  In the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the present embodiment, the data transfer rate between the buffer memory 4 and the disk drive 5 is higher than the data transfer rate between the recording control unit 3 and the reproduction control unit 6 and the buffer memory 4. Is faster. Assuming a DVD-RAM drive as the disk drive 5 and a DVD-RAM disk as the optical disk 12, the data rate of the MPEG signal recorded on the DVD-RAM is about 10 Mbps at the maximum according to the standard. The data transfer rate between the unit 6 and the buffer memory 4 is also about 10 Mbps. On the other hand, since the transfer rate of the DVD-RAM drive corresponding to DVD-RAM version 2 is about 22 Mbps, the data transfer rate between the buffer memory 4 and the disk drive 5 is a data transfer rate of 22 Mbps or more. Therefore, even if the signal is intermittently read from the disk drive 5 to the buffer memory 4, the signal is continuously transmitted from the buffer memory 4 to the reproduction control unit 6, so that the temporal continuity of the reproduction signal is ensured. I can do it. It is also possible to record signals on the optical disk 12 using intermittent reading gaps while intermittently reading signals from the disk drive 5 and continuing reproduction.

  The operation of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. At the time of recording, the user presses the recording button on the operation panel 11. When the recording button on the operation panel 11 is pressed, information about the pressing of the recording button is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes it sends a recording start command to the recording control unit 3. Upon receiving the recording start command, the recording control unit 3 stores management information such as search information indicating the correspondence between the recording start time, the content ID, the time code at the start of recording, and the recording address on the optical disc 12 in the MPEG signal from the MPEG encoder 2. In addition, the disk drive 5 is sent to the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4, and the disk drive 5 is controlled to record the signal at the designated address on the optical disk 12. When recording is stopped, the user presses the stop button on the operation panel 11. When the stop button on the operation panel 11 is pressed, information indicating that the stop button has been pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes the information sends a recording stop command to the recording control unit 3. Upon receiving the recording stop command, the recording control unit 3 stops the MPEG signal recording to the disk drive 5, and at the same time, creates management information such as a recording stop time and records the management information on the optical disk 12. To control.

  Next, the operation in the case of reproducing the content recorded as described above will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the reproduction operation step. First, the user presses the forward reproduction button on the operation panel 11. When the forward playback button on the operation panel 11 is pressed, information on the pressing of the forward playback button is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes it sends a normal playback start command to the playback controller 6. The normal playback here refers to a playback state that the user is normally viewing. It is common for users to watch at 1x speed playback in the normal direction, but 1.2x fast-playing and 0.8x slow-playing have been put into practical use, with slightly different speeds than 1x. When the user normally watches at a speed other than the 1 × speed, the normal playback is also called at a speed other than the 1 × speed. Receiving the normal reproduction start command, the reproduction control unit 6 controls the disk drive 5 and the buffer memory 4 so as to read signals from the optical disk 12 at the normal reproduction speed. The reproduced signal is converted into the MPEG format by the reproduction control unit 6 as described above, MPEG decoded by the MPEG decoder 7, converted to an analog video / audio signal by the AV decoder 8, and output from the AV output terminal 9. The user can view the output analog video / audio signal on a monitor screen (not shown) or the like. The above is the reproduction start operation corresponding to step ST21 in FIG.

  At this time, the user usually watches the part that he / she wants to watch, such as the main part of the program, while watching the part which he / she does not want to see, such as the part other than the main part such as a commercial. Watch with special playback. This is an operation corresponding to step ST22 of FIG. Special playback here is a general term for playback states other than the normal playback described above, and is not necessarily a state in which the user can view the playback video and audio. That is, an operation of skipping the signal reproduction position for a predetermined time (for example, 30 seconds) is also included. A specific operation will be described. First, the user presses the fast forward playback button on the operation panel 11. Then, the information that the fast-forward playback button is pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes the information sends a fast-forward playback start command to the playback control unit 6. Upon receiving the fast-forward playback start command, the playback control unit 6 reads the special playback information (eg, the address of MPEG I and P pictures) from the disk drive 5 and sends a special playback signal to the disk drive based on that information. Read from 5. At this time, the CPU 10 obtains from the playback control unit 6 the time code of the playback signal and the address information on the optical disk 12 when the special playback is started. Then, the CPU 10 sends the three pieces of information including the time code of the special reproduction start point, the address information on the optical disc 12 and the flag indicating the special reproduction start to the recording control unit 3 as the first change point information A indicating the special reproduction start point. The recording control unit 3 is controlled so as to record the management information on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5. In accordance with control from the CPU 10, the recording control unit 3 records the first change point information A as part of the management information on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4. That is, the recording control unit 3, the buffer memory 4, the disk drive 5, and the CPU 10 constitute change point information recording means. This is the operation corresponding to step ST23 in FIG. The reproduction control unit 6 that has received the reproduction signal from the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4 outputs the data obtained by deleting the management information from the reproduction signal and converting it into the MPEG format to the MPEG decoder 7. The MPEG decoder 7 MPEG-decodes the MPEG signal from the reproduction control unit 6 and sends it to the AV decoder 8. The AV decoder 8 converts the digital signal from the MPEG decoder 7 into an analog video / audio signal and outputs it from the AV output terminal 9.

  Next, when the part that the user wants to watch is reached, such as when the main part of the program starts again after the commercial ends, the user ends the special playback and returns to normal playback to continue watching. A specific operation will be described. First, the user presses the forward reproduction button on the operation panel 11. This is an operation corresponding to step ST24 in FIG. Then, the information that the forward reproduction button is pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes the information sends a normal reproduction start command to the reproduction control unit 6. Receiving the normal reproduction start command, the reproduction control unit 6 controls the disk drive 5 and the buffer memory 4 so as to read signals from the disk drive 5 at the normal reproduction speed. At this time, the CPU 10 obtains from the playback control unit 6 the time code of the playback signal and the address information on the optical disk 12 when normal playback is started. Then, the CPU 10 sends the three information of the time code of the normal playback start point, the address information on the optical disc 12 and the flag indicating the normal playback start to the recording control unit 3 as the second change point information B indicating the normal playback start point. The recording control unit 3 is controlled so as to record the management information on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5. In accordance with control from the CPU 10, the recording control unit 3 records the second change point information B as part of the management information on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4. This is the operation corresponding to step ST25 in FIG. The reproduction control unit 6 that has received the reproduction signal from the disk drive 5 via the buffer memory 4 outputs the data obtained by deleting the management information from the reproduction signal and converting it into the MPEG format to the MPEG decoder 7. The MPEG decoder 7 MPEG-decodes the MPEG signal from the reproduction control unit 6 and sends it to the AV decoder 8. The AV decoder 8 converts the digital signal from the MPEG decoder 7 into an analog video / audio signal and outputs it from the AV output terminal 9.

  The above operation is repeated until playback stops. (Step ST26 in FIG. 2) By the above operation, the user can watch the portion he / she wants to see in the normal playback, and skip the unnecessary portion such as the CM in the special playback. Will automatically record the change point information indicating the change points of the necessary part and the unnecessary part. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the state of the recorded content when the above operation is performed. In FIG. 3, when the user views the recorded content while changing the playback mode from normal playback → special playback → normal playback → special playback → normal playback, the user does not consciously record the marker signal. Nevertheless, four pieces of change point information of change point information A1, change point information B1, change point information A2 and change point information B2 are recorded, and the recorded content is recorded in accordance with these change point information. It can be divided into five chapters: chapter 33, chapter 34, and chapter 35. Of these five chapters, it is also possible to recognize that chapters 32 and 34, which are sections in which special reproduction has been performed, are unnecessary portions.

Next, an effective use method of the change point information recorded by the above operation will be described below.
First, the first use method of the change point information is to delete an unnecessary portion of the signal from the optical disc 12. Thereby, the recording capacity of the finite optical disk 12 can be used more effectively. Specifically, first, the CPU 10 controls the disk drive 5 to read the management information recorded on the optical disk 12. Next, the CPU 10 searches for the change point information A and the change point information B with the closest time code later in time from the read management information, and the time code and change point information of the change point information A are retrieved. An erasure command is sent to the recording control unit 3 so as to erase the signal in the interval between the B time codes. Receiving the erase command, the recording control unit 3 controls the disk drive 5 so as to erase the signal in the designated time code section. Note that the timing for executing the process of deleting this unnecessary portion is when the user stops reproduction or when a dedicated user interface is operated (for example, when the delete button on the operation panel 11 is pressed). Various cases are conceivable.

  Next, a second method of using the change point information is to reproduce only a necessary part when the reproduction is performed again next time. A specific method is as follows. First, the user presses the forward direction reproduction button on the operation panel 11 to start normal reproduction. At this time, the CPU 10 controls the disk drive 5 to read the management information recorded on the optical disk 12. Since the operation until actual playback is performed is as described above, the description thereof is omitted. While normal reproduction is being performed, the CPU 10 continues to monitor the time code of the reproduction signal. Then, when playback is performed up to the time code of the change point information A, playback is performed from the time code of the change point information B of the time code that is closest in time from the time code of the change point information A. A command is sent to the reproduction control unit 6. The reproduction control unit 6 controls the disk drive 5 to reproduce from the instructed time code.

  When the user operates from normal playback to special playback, or when operating from normal playback to special playback, the operation is not necessarily completed with a single operation. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation when the user operates from special playback for fast-forward playback to normal playback. First, the user views the CM part with fast-forward playback A which is special playback. The user recognizes that the CM has ended at the point of time t41 and the main program has started, and performs an operation of changing the playback mode from fast-forward playback A to normal playback B. At this time, since it is not possible to switch from fast forward playback to normal playback at time t41 accurately due to a user operation time lag or the like, the time for actually starting viewing in normal playback is t42. Since the user originally wanted to view the main program from time t41, the user performs an operation to change the reproduction mode from normal reproduction B to backward reproduction C in order to view the program from time t41. This time is t43. At time t41 when the main program starts, the user again performs an operation of changing the playback mode from reverse playback C to normal playback D, and normal playback D is started. When such an operation is performed, the change point between normal reproduction and special reproduction includes the time t42 of the change point from fast-forward reproduction A to normal reproduction B and the change point from normal reproduction B to reverse reproduction C. There are three change points, time t43 and time t41 of the change point from reverse reproduction C to normal reproduction D. However, the only useful change point for the user is t41, which is the change point between the CM that is an unnecessary part and the main part of the program that is a necessary part, and t42 and t43 are unnecessary change points. In such a case, the time during which the normal reproduction B is performed (t43-t42) is a very short time. If it is a general user, it is considered that the playback mode is changed from normal playback B to reverse playback C within a few seconds. Therefore, when the normal playback time is measured and the normal playback time is less than a certain threshold, the change point information of the start and end of the normal playback is not recorded on the recording medium. By performing the above, it is possible to record only t41, which is a useful change point for the user, on the recording medium.

  A specific method will be described below. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of recording only the change points useful for the user on the recording medium. First, the fast-forward playback A state in FIG. 4 corresponds to step ST51 in FIG. In order to change the playback mode from fast-forward playback A to normal playback B in FIG. 4, the user presses the forward playback button on the operation panel 11. This is an operation corresponding to step ST52 of FIG. Then, the information that the forward reproduction button is pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes the information sends a normal reproduction start command to the reproduction control unit 6. Receiving the normal reproduction start command, the reproduction control unit 6 controls the disk drive 5 and the buffer memory 4 so as to read signals from the disk drive 5 at the normal reproduction speed. At this time, the CPU 10 obtains from the playback control unit 6 the time code of the playback signal and the address information on the optical disk 12 when normal playback is started. Then, the CPU 10 stores the three information of the time code of the normal playback start point, the address information on the optical disc 12 and the flag indicating the normal playback start in the memory 13 connected to the CPU 10 as the change point information C indicating the normal playback start point. At the same time, the counter in the CPU 10 at that time is set to count up from zero. This is the operation corresponding to step ST53 in FIG. This counter is a general-purpose internal counter possessed by the CPU 10, and its count cycle N is assumed to be known in advance. Then, while the normal reproduction is continued, the counter value Tc is read periodically (for example, every 1 second), and the time during which the normal reproduction is continued is equal to the preset normal reproduction duration time. It is monitored whether a threshold value Ts (for example, Ts = 5 seconds) has been exceeded. That is, it is periodically monitored whether Tc × N> Ts. This is the operation corresponding to step ST54 in FIG.

  Assume that the user presses the backward reproduction button on the operation panel 11 in order to switch from normal reproduction B to backward reproduction C before Tc × N> Ts. This is an operation corresponding to step ST55 in FIG. Then, the information indicating that the backward reproduction button has been pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that has recognized the information sends a backward reproduction start command to the reproduction control unit 6. Upon receiving the reverse playback start command, the playback control unit 6 reads the special playback information (eg, the address of MPEG I and P pictures) from the disc drive 5 and generates a reverse playback signal based on the information. The disk drive 5 and the buffer memory 4 are controlled to read from the disk drive 5. At this point, the change point information is not recorded on the optical disc 12 despite the change from the normal reproduction to the reverse reproduction which is the special reproduction. Further, the change point information C stored in the memory 13 in the process of step ST53 is erased from the memory 13 without being recorded on the optical disk 12. This is because Tc × N ≦ Ts at this point in time, and the time during which the normal reproduction has continued is very short, so that it is not necessary for the user to record a marker signal for identifying this normally reproduced section. This is because it was determined that there was. This is the operation corresponding to step ST56 in FIG.

  Next, in order to switch from backward reproduction C to normal reproduction D, the user presses the forward reproduction button on the operation panel 11. This is an operation corresponding to step ST52 in FIG. Then, the information that the forward reproduction button is pressed is transmitted to the CPU 10, and the CPU 10 that recognizes the information sends a normal reproduction start command to the reproduction control unit 6. Receiving the normal reproduction start command, the reproduction control unit 6 controls the disk drive 5 and the buffer memory 4 so as to read signals from the disk drive 5 at the normal reproduction speed. At this time, the CPU 10 obtains from the playback control unit 6 the time code of the playback signal and the address information on the optical disk 12 when normal playback is started. Then, the CPU 10 stores the three information of the time code of the normal playback start point, the address information on the optical disc 12 and the flag indicating the normal playback start in the memory 13 connected to the CPU 10 as the change point information D indicating the normal playback start point. At the same time, the counter in the CPU 10 at that time is set to count up from zero. This is the operation corresponding to step ST53 in FIG. Then, similarly to the case of switching from the fast-forward playback A to the normal playback B described above, the Tc of this counter value is periodically read while the normal playback continues, and whether or not Tc × N> Ts is satisfied. To monitor. This is the operation corresponding to step ST54 in FIG. Then, when Tc × N> Ts is satisfied, the normally reproduced section is determined to be a necessary part for the user, and the CPU 10 stores the change point information D stored in the memory 13 in the recording control unit 3. The recording control unit 3 is controlled so as to record it as management information on the optical disk 12 in the disk drive 5. This is the operation corresponding to step ST57 in FIG. After the change point information D is recorded on the optical disc 12, the change point information D stored in the memory 13 is deleted. Thereafter, when the user again changes the playback mode from normal playback to special playback, the change point information is recorded on the optical disc 12. This is the operation corresponding to steps ST58 and ST59 in FIG.

  In the case where the normal reproduction is changed to the special reproduction before Tc × N> Ts, the change point information D is stored in the optical disc 12 as in the case of the change from the normal reproduction B to the special reproduction C described above. Erasing from the memory 13 without recording.

  Further, when Tc × N = Ts, the change point information C is not recorded on the optical disc 12 in this embodiment, but when the change point information C is recorded on the optical disc 12, that is, the change point information is changed. Even if the determination condition in step ST54 for determining whether to record on the optical disk 12 is Tc × N ≧ Ts, the same effect can be obtained if the value of Ts is appropriately selected.

  In the present embodiment, a flag indicating the start of special playback is included in the change point information A indicating the special playback start point. The flag indicating the normal reproduction start is also included in the change point information B indicating the normal reproduction start point. However, these pieces of flag information are not always necessary. Even if the start of special playback and the start of normal playback cannot be distinguished, a user interface that presents the user with a list of chapters separated by the time code of the change point between special playback and normal playback is prepared. It is possible to use it by letting the user select the necessary and unnecessary parts.

  In this embodiment, the disk drive 5 can be recorded and reproduced simultaneously. However, the disk drive 5 may not be recorded and reproduced simultaneously. In that case, the change point information A and the change point information B created during the reproduction are stored in the memory 13 connected to the CPU 10, and the change point information A stored in the memory 13 after the reproduction is finished. The change point information B may be recorded on the optical disc 12.

  The digital signal recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention provides change point information for identifying a change point between a necessary part and an unnecessary part of a recorded content only by a user performing a playback mode switching operation between normal playback and special playback during playback. It can be recorded, and can be applied to applications where it is desired to identify an unnecessary portion of the recorded content with an easy operation.

The block diagram which showed the structure of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus in embodiment of this invention The flowchart which showed the operation | movement of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus in embodiment of this invention Schematic diagram showing recorded content by operation of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment of the present invention Timing diagram showing user operations from special playback to normal playback The flowchart which showed the operation | movement of the digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus in embodiment of this invention Schematic diagram showing recorded content by operation of a conventional digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tuner 2 MPEG encoder 3 Recording control part 4 Buffer memory 5 Disk drive 6 Playback control part 7 MPEG decoder 8 AV decoder 9 AV output terminal 10 CPU
11 Operation panel 12 Optical disc 13 Memory

Claims (4)

  In a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing a digital signal on a recording medium, at least two reproduction modes of normal reproduction and special reproduction, a user interface for switching between the normal reproduction and the special reproduction, the normal reproduction and the special reproduction And a change point information recording means for recording change point information indicating a change point on the recording medium.   In a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing a digital signal on a recording medium, at least two reproduction modes of normal reproduction and special reproduction, a user interface for switching between normal reproduction and special reproduction, and normal reproduction to special reproduction Change point information recording means for recording, on the recording medium, first change point information indicating a change point to a second change point information indicating a change point from the special reproduction to the normal reproduction. A digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus. A method of controlling a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces a digital signal on a recording medium and has at least two reproduction modes of normal reproduction and special reproduction, wherein a user uses the user interface to perform the special reproduction from the normal reproduction. A step (A) of switching to the recording medium, a step (B) of recording first change point information for identifying a change point from the normal reproduction to the special reproduction on the recording medium, and a user using the user interface A step (C) of switching from special reproduction to the normal reproduction, a step (D) of recording second change point information for identifying a change point from the special reproduction to the normal reproduction on the recording medium,
A method for controlling a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus including: A method of controlling a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces a digital signal on a recording medium and has at least two reproduction modes of normal reproduction and special reproduction, wherein a user uses the user interface to perform the special reproduction from the normal reproduction. Step (A) for switching to the normal playback from the special playback to the normal playback using the user interface, and determining whether or not the threshold has been exceeded by measuring the duration of the normal playback. Step (C), first change point information for identifying a change point from the normal playback to the special playback when the duration of the normal playback exceeds the threshold in Step (C), Step (D) of recording, on the recording medium, second change point information for identifying a change point from special reproduction to the normal reproduction. ,
A method for controlling a digital signal recording / reproducing apparatus including:

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