JP2005354148A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording and reproducing apparatus having a program reservation function utilizing an electronic program guide, capable of obtaining qualitative recording conditions between a main program and a CM or the like, that are different from the main program with respect to programs to which recording reservation is applied. <P>SOLUTION: A main program/CM discriminating section identifies the main program from the CM, on the basis of a difference of sound outputs between a stereophonic sound and a double sound, and decreases a recorded bit rate and changes encode conditions, in a way of decreasing the storage capacity when the CM is recorded. The recording and reproducing apparatus automatically detects the main program and the CM parts inserted in the main program, on the basis of information related to sounds in the program, and provides an MPEG resolution change flag 71, on the basis of a result of the detection to automatically change the resolution of the program. For example, a regular resolution of 720×480 is adopted for the resolution of the main program and a resolution of 352×240 is adopted for the CM parts, and the resolution is restored to the high resolution of 720×480 by a second resolution change flag. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for detecting a specific program such as a CM in a program recording apparatus with a reservation function.

There are recording / reproducing apparatuses that can record and reproduce broadcast programs and have various functions. In such a recording / reproducing apparatus, it is important how to record a broadcast program on a recording unit such as an HDD or a recording medium such as a DVD disk.
For example, in an image recording device, the recording time and recording capacity recorded on a recording medium are measured, the transfer rate is extracted from the received data, the program genre is extracted, the statistics are taken, and the genre is stored in the memory. A technique for predicting a remaining amount that can be recorded on a recording medium from statistical data on a memory based on a genre or the like is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2000-251406 A

  Recently, a recording apparatus with a program reservation function using an electronic program guide (EPG) has become common, and a user can easily make a reservation for recording a program based on the electronic program guide. It has become. At this time, it is convenient to be able to know a broadcast time zone of a CM or the like inserted in the program and different from the main part of the program.

  The present invention provides a technique for obtaining a qualitative recording condition between a main program and a CM different from the main program for a program for which recording is reserved in a recording / reproducing apparatus with a program reservation function using an electronic program guide. Objective.

  In the present invention, when the recording device records a specific program such as a CM inserted in the main part and a main part with respect to a program reserved for program recording by EPG or the like, the difference between the main part and the specific program differs. Automatically detect based on. Based on this detection result, qualitative recording conditions such as image quality and sound quality when recording are determined.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically set qualitative recording conditions for a main program and an accompanying program inserted into the main program within a limited capacity range in the recording apparatus. Therefore, there is an advantage that the limited capacity in the recording apparatus can be effectively used.

  In this specification, qualitative recording conditions refer to recording conditions such as encoding type and bit rate setting, for example.

  In the following, the most general recording / reproducing apparatus will be described as an example of the recording apparatus. First, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, the system from the broadcast program receiving system to the broadcast program output system is shown as one system, but in reality, the system is separated for each of a plurality of devices (such as a television receiver and a recording / reproducing device). Generally, it is connected by wire or wireless. As shown in FIG. 1, the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an antenna 1 for receiving a broadcast program, a tuner 2 for selecting a program desired by a user from digital broadcasts received by the antenna 1, and a tuner 2 The control unit 3 that controls the reading of the program content selected by the recording medium 4 from the recording medium 4 and the writing to the recording medium 4, the recording medium 4 that records the program content, and the program content information are separated into video information and audio information. A demultiplexer (DEMUX) 5, a video decoding unit 6 that decodes a video signal supplied from the demultiplexer 5, an audio decoding unit 7 that decodes audio information, and a display 8 and a speaker 9 that output each of them. doing. The control unit 3 reproduces or records the program selected by the user based on the acquired EPG information 11.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a recording / reproducing apparatus included in the recording / reproducing system shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a channel selection unit 43, a main part / CM determination unit (a stereo / duplex sound determination unit shown in FIG. 2 as a specific example), and The control unit 41 including the recording resolution / rate change unit 47, the EPG program information acquisition unit 51, the user setting unit 53, and the recording resolution / rate change based on any information of the EPG program information and the user setting. An automatic switching permission unit 55 that performs permission to automatically switch whether or not to perform the switching. As shown in FIG. 2, the channel selection unit 43 selects a program and the main part / CM determination unit 45 selects different categories of programs, for example, a main part and a main part program or a main part program (hereinafter referred to as a main part program). ) Are respectively identified.

  As a program in the main part inserted in the main part, temporary news and the like are targeted in addition to the CM. When adjusting the recording resolution and recording rate for the main part and the CM, various information about the CM is necessary. However, the program information acquired by the EPG program information acquisition unit 45 is generally as described later. Information related to the main part, which includes time information such as start time and end time, and content related information such as program contents and performers, but does not include time information and content information related to CMs and the like.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of general program guide information included in the EPG. As shown in FIG. 3, the start time and end time of a program (main part), attribute information such as a program category (drama, animation), an identification ID (management information) for each program, and a program name (title) The program information such as the outline of the program, performers, and keywords is included, but the CM information inserted therein is not included as described above. Therefore, the main part / CM judging unit (stereo / duplex sound judging unit) 45 shown in FIG. 2 detects the CM in the main part, and the recording resolution / rate changing unit 47 changes the qualitative recording condition between the main part and the CM. To do.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a change in resolution over time when a movie title program is recorded by the recording / playback system according to the present embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the data structure 61 of the movie title includes a first main part 63 using dual audio as audio information, a CM 65 using stereo audio, and a second main part 67 of dual audio. The description will be given with a simplified example. The main part / CM determination unit (stereo / dual sound determination unit) 45 outputs the program of the first main part 63 using dual sound and the CM broadcast 65 using stereo, and outputs the sound of double sound and stereo sound. Can be identified based on differences. Based on this identification result, when recording a CM broadcast, it is possible to lower the qualitative recording condition, for example, the bit tray to be recorded, or to change the encoding condition in the direction of decreasing the storage capacity.

  In the example shown in FIG. 4, the main part and the CM inserted in the main part are automatically detected based on the information related to the sound in the program, and the first main part 63 and the CM 65 are detected based on the detection result. For example, MPEG resolution change flags 71 and 73 are provided by chapter marks, and the resolution of the program is automatically changed using this as a mark. With the first resolution change flag 71 (the left flag in FIG. 4) as a boundary, the first main part 63 has a high resolution of, for example, 720 × 480, and the CM portion 65 is lower than the first main part 63 of, for example, 352 × 240. With the second resolution change flag 73 (the flag on the right side in FIG. 4) as the boundary, the second main part 67 returns the resolution to the same high resolution of 720 × 480 as the first main part 63, for example. As a result, it is possible to perform recording with different resolutions (and therefore different image quality and accompanying occupied capacity) based on the resolution change flag at the boundary between the main part and the CM identified based on the audio information. By adjusting the qualitative recording conditions for CM so as to be different from the qualitative recording conditions for the main part, for example, the qualitative recording conditions for the main part can be improved without increasing the recording capacity.

  It should be noted that the recording quality condition can be changed independently for the image and the sound in accordance with the main information. Further, as an example of the difference in audio information, an example in which CM is detected based on the difference in audio information of a program at the time of program broadcasting has been shown. The CM time zone can also be detected based on the above.

  Next, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment uses video information instead of audio information as a feature for the main part / CM determination unit 45 shown in FIG. 2 to identify the main part and the CM as the CM inserted in the main part. It is characterized by that. For example, the main part / CM determination unit 45 detects a large change (such as a momentary change in luminance) such as brightness or darkness of the video. Note that in addition to the change in the characteristics regarding the video, the change in the audio is also taken into consideration, and when both changes are detected, the determination process can be performed so that the change point between the main part and the CM is taken. When the change is detected, the mark as described above is attached to the detection time point, so that the qualitative recording condition in the CM time zone can be adjusted as in the first embodiment. As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is possible to estimate the time zone of the CM inserted in the main part by detecting a change in video.

  Next, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in the process for determining the qualitative recording condition change timing when the CM period is detected in the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first or second embodiment. That is, in the operation of actually recording a program after performing a recording start operation or a recording reservation operation, it is difficult to place the chapter mark as described above at an accurate position. Therefore, the qualitative recording condition is changed so as to enter only the time on the CM time zone side with respect to the start point and end point of the actually detected CM time zone (shown by broken lines in FIG. 4). As a result, it is possible to reduce the storage capacity of most of the CM portion while ensuring the qualitative recording conditions of the main story that are important for the user.

  Next, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to a modification of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. In addition to a recording unit for recording a program, a buffer memory is provided. The buffer memory records the CM time zone program near the chapter mark in high quality in synchronization with the recording unit, and stores the program identification number in association with the information recorded in the buffer memory. . When a recorded program is played back, the portion stored in the buffer memory with high quality can be played back preferentially and connected to the information recorded in the subsequent recording unit. Alternatively, when recording on a recording medium such as a DVD, the occupied capacity of the recording unit can be reduced by applying the above technique.

  Next, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that recording processing is performed in consideration of program information such as EPG and the CM detection processing. As described above, the electronic program guide information includes the CM time zone and the main part in consideration of the feature points of the program (main part) such as the program category (drama, animation) and type (new program, special program, rebroadcast). The process of determining the qualitative recording condition of the recording is performed. For example, when the main part is an animation and a reservation is made every week, the occupied capacity can be reduced by recording at a low bit rate, for example. In such a case, since the main part is also recorded at a low bit rate, it is possible to select not to perform the process of detecting the CM broadcast band. On the other hand, when recording an animation as a preservation version, it is necessary to record at a high bit rate. In this case, the CM broadcast band detection process may be performed to reduce the occupied capacity as much as possible. Is possible.

  Next, a recording / reproducing apparatus according to a modification of the present embodiment will be described. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that a user sets qualitative recording conditions for a CM broadcast band. That is, in the user setting unit 53 shown in FIG. 2, for example, qualitative recording conditions are set with the intention of reducing the occupied capacity in a recording unit such as an HDD. For example, when the CM time zone detection process is performed as described in each of the above embodiments by setting in advance a predetermined value regarding the recording bit rate of the main part and the recording bit rate in the CM broadcast band. In addition, the detected CM time zone and the main part can be recorded at an appropriate recording bit rate based on the setting process.

  In the CM time zone detection process, CM time zones detected in the past by broadcasting with the same type or program name are stored in association with the program, and the current recording target program having the same type or program name is stored. It is also possible to improve the CM time zone detection accuracy for the current storage target program based on the actual scene change occurrence time and the CM broadcast time zone for the same program in the past.

  As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus according to each embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to accurately detect the timing of the change between the main part and the CM inserted into the main part. Based on this timing, by setting different values as qualitative recording conditions for the main part and CM, etc., and performing the recording process, a recording apparatus with limited storage capacity can be used effectively.

  The present invention is applicable to a DVD recorder, a personal computer (PC) with a TV function and a program recording function, a digital video camera with a communication function, a mobile phone with a TV function and a program recording function, and the like.

It is a figure which shows the example of 1 structure of the recording / reproducing system containing the recording / reproducing apparatus by one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of 1 structure of the recording / reproducing apparatus contained in the recording / reproducing system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows one structural example of the general program schedule information contained in EPG. It is a figure which shows the example of a change by the time of the resolution at the time of the recording of the movie title program by the recording / reproducing system by this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Antenna, 2 ... Tuner, 3 ... Control part, 4 ... Recording medium, 5 ... DEMUX, 6 ... Video decoding part, 7 ... Audio decoding part, 8 ... Display, 9 ... Speaker, 10 ... Input part, 11 ... EPG 43 ... Channel selection unit, 45 ... Stereo / duplex sound discrimination unit, 47 ... Recording resolution / rate change unit, 51 ... EPG program information acquisition unit, 53 ... User setting unit.

Claims (10)

A recording unit for recording a program;
A detection unit for detecting a switching timing between a main part and an accompanying program inserted in the main part in a program for which recording reservation is performed;
A recording apparatus comprising: a qualitative recording condition setting unit configured to set a qualitative recording condition relating to recording for each of the main part and the accompanying program based on the switching timing. Furthermore, it has a program guide information acquisition unit for acquiring program guide information,
Based on the program guide information acquired from the program guide information acquisition unit, a detection unit for detecting a change between a main part and an accompanying program inserted in the main part in a program reserved for recording;
A recording apparatus comprising: a qualitative recording condition setting unit configured to set a qualitative recording condition relating to recording of the main part and the accompanying program based on the switching timing detected by the detecting unit.   The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the accompanying program is a program that includes CM or special news, and the program guide information does not include time information or content information.   4. The qualitative recording condition includes at least one of resolution of a program to be recorded, recording bit rate related to program recording, and encoding information. The recording apparatus according to claim 1.   5. The detection unit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a switching timing between the main part and the accompanying program based on a difference in audio information between the main part and the accompanying program. 6. The recording device described.   5. The detection unit according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a switching timing between the main program and the accompanying program based on a difference in video information between the main program and the accompanying program. 6. The recording device described.   7. The qualitative recording condition according to claim 1, wherein the qualitative recording condition is changed at a timing of entering the side of the auxiliary program for a certain time from a switching timing between the main part and the accompanying program detected by the detection unit. The recording apparatus according to item 1.   The said detection part detects the switching timing of the said main part and the said accompanying program in consideration of the feature point of the program obtained from the said electronic program guide information, The any one of Claim 1-7 characterized by the above-mentioned. The recording device described in 1.   The storage unit for storing the detection history of the switching timing between the accompanying information and the main part, and the accompanying information related to the current storage target program based on the actual scene change occurrence time and the detection history for the current recording target program The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is estimated.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a setting operation unit configured to perform an operation for setting a qualitative recording condition relating to the accompanying broadcast.

Images