JP2006270233A - Method for processing signal, and device for recording/reproducing signal - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a signal processing method and a signal recording/reproducing device for precisely detecting a commercial in a program and an overlapped section in the main part of the program, before and after the commercial, and for automatically removing the commercial and the overlapped section for recording or reproduction in recording and reproduction. <P>SOLUTION: The signal-recording/reproducing device records a broadcast signal 100 on a recording medium; reads the recorded broadcast signal for setting the base point of a section to be analyzed; sets the section to be analyzed, with the base point as a reference; classifies the section to be analyzed and the signal of a prescribed section continuous to the section to be analyzed into continuous frames; extracts the amount of feature in the broadcast signal for each classified frame; and determines the similarity between the frame of the section to be analyzed and that of the prescribed section continuous to the section to be analyzed, based on the amount of feature to detect the overlapped scene of the program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal processing method and a signal recording / reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to a signal processing method and a signal recording / reproducing apparatus for automatically detecting overlapping scenes before and after a commercial message added to commercial television broadcasting or the like.

  In recent years, broadcasting media has been shifting from conventional analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting. In digital broadcasting, an information compression technique represented by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) standard is used. In addition, a signal recording / reproducing apparatus such as a VTR does not receive a program as shown in FIG. 16 from a broadcast medium and records and reproduces it on a recording medium as it is. Are developed and put to practical use with the function of recording and playing back only the main part of the program. In such a signal recording / reproducing apparatus, the CM part of the received program is automatically detected, and the CM part detected at the time of recording is automatically excluded, and only the main part of the program is recorded, or the CM part detected at the time of reproduction is recorded. It has a function to skip and play only the main program. As a method for automatically detecting a CM portion, for example, there is a signal processing method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-16873.

  On the other hand, in broadcast media, a part of the main part of a program broadcast before the CM part may be duplicated for several seconds to several tens of seconds from the beginning of the main part of the program following the CM part. For such a program, for example, in the conventional signal recording / reproducing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-78528, the video signal is compared in units of frames to detect an overlapping section of the program. And a method for recording or reproducing the CM portion and any one of the preceding and subsequent overlapping sections is proposed. There are various methods for determining the similarity of program scenes by comparing video and audio in a program. For example, there is a method using a feature amount disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-285243.

JP 2002-16873 A JP 2000-78528 A

  In the conventional signal recording / reproducing apparatus as described above, an overlapping section is detected by comparing video signals in units of frames, and the CM portion is detected based on only the time interval between the two overlapping sections. When a specific scene is repeatedly played in a program, such as a goal scene in a soccer game, a part of the main part of the program is mistakenly determined as a CM part, and a part of the program is lost. There was a case. In addition, when using a set of backgrounds and the like installed in a studio such as a variety program, there are problems that the detection accuracy of overlapping sections is lowered because many scenes with high similarity appear in the program. .

  In addition, the amount of information of the video signal is enormous, and a large amount of memory and arithmetic processing capability are required for comparison and determination processing in units of frames, so that the circuit scale tends to become very large. Furthermore, since the timing at which the CM portion is inserted into the program is unknown, there is a problem that the processing must be executed at all times, which increases the power consumption of the apparatus.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and accurately detects an overlapping section of a main part of a program existing before and after the CM part together with the CM part in the program, and at the time of recording and reproduction. An object of the present invention is to provide a signal processing method and a signal recording / reproducing apparatus that can automatically record and reproduce a CM part and an overlapping section together.

The signal processing method according to the present invention includes:
A signal recording step of recording a given broadcast signal on a recording medium;
An analysis base point setting step of reading a broadcast signal recorded on the recording medium and setting a base point of a section to be analyzed of the broadcast signal;
An analysis interval setting step for setting an analysis target interval based on the base point;
A feature amount extraction step of dividing the analysis target section and a signal of a predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section into continuous frames, and extracting a feature amount of the broadcast signal for each divided frame;
A similar frame determination step of determining similarity between a frame of an analysis target section and a frame of a predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section based on the feature amount;
An overlapping section determining step of detecting an overlapping scene section of the program from the similarity determination result.

Further, the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention provides:
Signal recording means for recording the broadcast signal;
Analysis base point setting means for setting the base point of the section to be analyzed of the broadcast signal;
An analysis interval setting means for setting an analysis target interval based on the base point;
A feature amount extracting means for dividing the analysis target section and a signal of a predetermined section continuing to the analysis target section into a plurality of continuous frames, and extracting a feature amount of the broadcast signal for each of the divided frames;
Similar frame determination means for determining similarity between a frame of the analysis target section and a frame of the predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section based on the feature amount;
From the determination result of the similarity, the overlapping section determining means for detecting the section of the overlapping scene of the program,
Playback control means for specifying the playback method of the overlapping scene section;
Signal reproducing means for reproducing the signal recorded in the signal recording means in accordance with the reproducing method.

In the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the analysis base point setting unit sets the analysis base point based on the broadcast signal recorded by the signal recording unit, and the analysis interval setting unit determines the analysis interval from the base point Then, the overlap determination unit performs similarity determination based on the feature amount for each frame of the analysis section and a predetermined section continuous to the analysis section, and determines and detects the overlap section.
Thus, in the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, when viewing a recorded digital broadcast program, if there are overlapping scenes before and after the CM portion included in the program, the user's Depending on preferences, for example, skip playback can be specified, the CM portion can be omitted, and either one of the overlapping scenes can be omitted, so that it can be viewed as a continuous continuous scene. Become.

  Embodiments showing a signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that although the present invention is intended for broadcast media, there is no particular restriction on the configuration of the receiving unit, and thus description thereof will be omitted.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the present embodiment includes a signal recording unit 1 that records a received digital broadcast signal 100 and a signal reproducing unit that reproduces a digital broadcast signal 100 recorded in the signal recording unit 1. 2. An analysis base point setting unit 3 for setting a base point of an analysis section for detecting an overlapping section of a program from a digital broadcast signal recorded in the signal recording unit 1. An analysis section for detecting an overlapping section of a program from a broadcast signal Are provided with an analysis section setting section 4, an overlap determination section 5 for detecting overlapping sections over the analysis sections, and a reproduction control section 6 for designating a reproduction method for the signal reproduction section 2.
The recording medium used for recording the digital broadcast signal 100 in the signal recording unit 1 includes a hard disk device, an optical disk medium, a magnetic disk medium, and the like.

  Next, the operation of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described. The signal recording unit 1 records a digital broadcast signal 100 input via a digital broadcast receiver or the like on a recording medium together with time information associated therewith. The digital broadcast signal 100 includes additional information such as video information / audio information / data information and information related to a program. The signal recording unit 1 stores various information included in the digital broadcast signal 100 for each individual information or together with a plurality of pieces of information together with the accompanying time information in the analysis base point setting unit 3 and the analysis section setting unit 4. Output. The signal recording unit 1 outputs the recorded digital broadcast signal 100 in accordance with a request from the signal reproduction unit 2.

  Based on the digital broadcast signal 100 input from the signal recording unit 1 and accompanying time information, the analysis base point setting unit 3 determines a base point of analysis using a method described below. Time information is used for this base point. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, when a broadcast program is composed of a program main part and a CM part, an automatic CM detection method disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-16873 has been proposed. The boundary from the CM part to the main part of the program is detected by means such as using information (metadata) that can be used to identify the main part of the program and the CM part directly included in the digital broadcast signal 100, and the time at that time is detected. Let it be a base point T. Here, it is conceivable that the boundary from the main part of the program to the CM part is used as a base point, but since there is no fundamental difference in the operation of each part thereafter, description thereof will be omitted. Although the time information is used as the base point, information that can be substituted for the time information, for example, address information on a recording medium managed by the signal recording unit 1 may be used. Information on the base point T is output to the analysis section setting unit 4 and the overlap determination unit 5.

  Based on the digital broadcast signal 100 input from the signal recording unit 1 and accompanying time information, the analysis section setting unit 4 sets an analysis target section using a method described below. As shown in FIG. 3, an analysis interval D is considered between the start point Ds and the end point De. Note that the length of the analysis section D is determined as follows. For example, the analysis section D is determined according to the length of the program time included in the digital broadcast signal 100. The program composition time is a broadcast time in units of programs called “1 hour program” and “2 hour program”. If the program composition time is 1 hour, it is determined to be 4 minutes, and if the program is 2 hours, it is determined to be 6 minutes. This normally uses the feature that the time of the CM part broadcasted during the main part of the program increases according to the program composition time.

  Information about the program composition time can be easily obtained from EPG (Electric Program Guide) information or the like. The analysis section D set by the analysis section setting unit 4 is set to be long in advance so as to exceed at least the time of the CM portion inserted during the main program. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the time width of the overlapping section existing before and after the CM portion is assumed, and the time width is obtained by adding the time width. This overlapping section varies depending on the production intention of the program producer, but is usually in the range of several seconds to several tens of seconds. Based on the set analysis interval D, the analysis interval setting unit 4 outputs the digital broadcast signal 100 and accompanying time information included in the interval to the duplication determination unit 5 together with the time information of the start point Ds and the end point De of the analysis interval D. To do.

  Here, an example of the relationship between the base point T set by the analysis base point setting unit 3 and the analysis section D set by the analysis section setting unit 4 is shown in FIG. In this example, the boundary from the CM portion to the program main part is set as a base point T, and the analysis section D is set so that the base point T and the end point De of the analysis section D coincide.

  Based on the information included in the digital broadcast signal 100, the overlap determination unit 5 determines the similarity of program scenes in units of analysis frames divided into specific time segments, and determines an overlap section in which the same program scene exists. To do. As an example, a case where overlap determination is performed based on audio information included in the digital broadcast signal 100 will be described below.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the duplication determination unit 5 of the present invention. The feature amount extraction unit 51 divides the speech information in units of analysis frames, and calculates the feature amount of the speech information in units of each analysis frame. The feature amount of audio information includes a frequency analysis result, a level, a pitch, and the like, but the applicable feature amount is not limited to these. Here, the length of the analysis frame is considered to be equal to the encoded frame of the information compression technique applied to the digital broadcast signal 100, but even if a different length desirable for calculating the feature amount of the audio information is set. good.

FIG. 7 shows that there are N analysis frames included in the analysis section D, and N feature amounts X _0,. . . , X _N-1 is obtained. The similar frame determination unit 52 collates the analysis frames included in the analysis section D with the analysis frames after the base point T. That is, two analysis frames are selected, similarity is determined using two feature amounts corresponding to the analysis frames, and it is determined whether or not they are similar. The overlapping section determination unit 53 determines a similar section in time series, that is, a section to be regarded as the same program scene, based on the similarity determination result of each analysis frame obtained by the similar frame determination section 52.

Here, the process for realizing the duplication determination unit 5 shown in FIG. 6 will be described more specifically with reference to a flowchart as shown in FIG. The variables used in FIG. 8 are i representing the index of the analysis frame FX included in the analysis section D, j representing the index of the analysis frame FY following the base point T, the number l of frames determined to be similar as a result of matching, and analysis. idx representing the index of the analysis frame FX that is determined to be similar to the frame FY _0, a lim representing the threshold for adjusting the collation range of analysis zones D.

First, in step 900, process variables are initialized. Variables j, l, and idx are set to 0, and the number N of analysis frames included in the analysis section D is substituted for lim. Next, in step 901, the feature quantities X _i of the N analysis frames FX _i (i = 0, 1,... N−1) in the analysis section D are extracted. Next, the audio information of the analysis frame FY _j is input (step 902), and the feature value Y _j in the analysis frame is extracted (step 903). In step 904, the beginning of the collation range of the analysis frame FX _i is given as i = idx + l. When step 904 is executed for the first time, i = 0. In step 905, the variable i used as a loop counter is compared with lim in order to determine the condition for ending the subsequent step 906. The process proceeds to step 906 until i reaches lim, and the process proceeds to step 950 when i reaches lim.

In step 906, which is a loop process, the analysis frame FX _i and the analysis frame FY _j are collated using a similarity determination method described later to determine the similarity between the two frames. Step 906 is repeated until an analysis frame FX _i determined to be similar to FY _j is found. When step 906 is repeatedly executed, in step 907, the loop counter i is updated one by one in order to control loop processing. If a similar analysis frame FX _i is found at step 906, the variable l is updated at step 908. In step 906, only one analysis frame FX _i is determined as a similar frame to a certain analysis frame FY _j , so that the update amount of the variable l in step 908 is 1.

In step 909, it is determined whether or not l = 1, that is, whether or not a similar frame is first found in the analysis frame FX _i included in the analysis section D. If l = 1, it is determined in step 910 that it is the similar frame. The analyzed frame FX _i is regarded as a similar frame base point that means the start point of the similar frame, and i is substituted into a variable idx indicating the base point.

When a similar frame is found, the number of matching can be reduced by adjusting the target range in the matching between the analysis frame FX _i and the analysis frame FY _i . That is, as shown in FIG. 9, since the overlapping sections are the same scene, a similar frame is continuous. In consideration of this, in step 911, idx + l + 1 is substituted for lim. That is, in step 905, by performing comparison determination using i set in step 904 and lim set in step 911, only the analysis frame following the analysis frame determined to be a similar frame in the previous verification is verified. .

If i reaches lim in step 905, the process proceeds to step 950. In step 950, the process proceeds to either step 951 or step 952 depending on the value of l. In the case of l = 0, this indicates that no similar frame has been determined in the comparison between the analysis frame FX and the analysis frame FY, and therefore it is finally determined that there is no overlapping section (step 951). If l ≠ 0, it is determined that there is an overlapping section (step 952). Duplicate sections at this time, in the analysis frame FX and _{FX idx + l-1} from the _{FX idx,} in the analysis frame FY and _FY 0 _{~FY l-1.} Here, with respect to l, which means the number of consecutive frames determined to be similar, it may be determined that there is finally an overlapping scene over a certain time, that is, when the frame counter exceeds a certain threshold. . In other words, this is for eliminating erroneous determination of overlapping sections due to the instantaneous presence of similar scenes.

  Next, a similarity determination method based on feature amounts will be described. The feature amount is an attribute of the frame that represents the feature of the frame and supplies data for determining the similarity between different frames. The duplication determination unit 5 does not depend on the specific details of any feature quantity, but as a feature quantity that is considered to be effective for use in the duplication judgment unit 5, here, a feature quantity targeted for audio information Give an example. A necessary condition for the feature amount is that similarity can be determined. The feature quantity targeted for the audio information is a feature quantity that can represent the contents of the frame, and the overlap determination unit 5 can use the frequency analysis result, level, pitch, and the like as this feature quantity. These feature quantities are known from various documents.

  First, the feature quantity extraction unit 51 decodes an information-compressed audio stream, which is the main audio information of the digital broadcast signal 100, for each frame to restore the audio signal. The frequency information distribution in the frame can be determined by performing frequency analysis such as Fourier transform on the audio signal. For example, an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) component, a frequency histogram, a power spectrum, and other feature quantities can be used to represent the distribution of frequency information of one frame.

Next, frame similarity determination using feature amounts will be described. The similar frame determination unit 52 uses a similarity determination criterion that is a function for calculating a value for determining how similar (or dissimilar) two feature values of two frames are. Similarity determination between frames is performed. This similarity determination criterion indicates that two feature values are similar when the value is small, and indicates dissimilarity when the value is large. Here, a function for calculating the similarity between the two frames FX and FY related to the feature quantity FFT is defined as a similarity criterion d _FT (FX, FY).

Such a function satisfies the relationship given by the following equation (1).
d _FT (FX, FY) = 0 (when FX = FY)
d _FT (FX, FY) ≧ 0 (for all FX and FY)
d _FT (FX, FY) = d _FT (FY, FX) (for all FX and FY)
・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ ・ (1)

By the way, in general, many similarity determination criteria can be applied to determine similarity for a feature amount represented as a point in an n-dimensional space. Specific examples thereof include Euclidean distance, inner product, L1 distance (Hamming distance), and the like. Here, the L1 distance is introduced in the similar frame determination unit 52 because the L1 distance particularly effectively acts on various feature quantities. Here, when two n-dimensional vectors are A and B, the L1 distance d _L1 (A, B) between A and B is given by the following equation (2).

Here, k indicates the k-th element of each of the n-dimensional vectors A and B. When the distance d _L1 is smaller than the predetermined threshold DL1, it is determined that they are similar. This threshold DL1 may be set by the user or automatically set. When this threshold value DL1 is set, the difference in the calculation result due to the shift of the frame delimiter and the occurrence of calculation error are taken into consideration. Subsequently, the overlapping section determination unit 53 examines temporal continuity of frames determined to be similar based on the determination result of the similar frame determination unit 52, and finally determines the overlapping section.

  As described above, the overlap determination unit 5 uses the feature amount extracted by the feature amount extraction unit 51 to calculate the similarity determination criterion in the similar frame determination unit 52, determines the similarity between the frames, The overlapping section determination unit 53 can determine whether there is a similar frame over a plurality of frames and determine the overlapping section. The overlap determination unit 5 outputs time information of this overlap section, that is, time information of the start and end points of the two overlap sections SA and SB.

  The reproduction control unit 6 outputs control information (reproduction designation information) for designating a reproduction method to the signal reproduction unit 2 based on the time information of the overlapping section output from the duplication determination unit 5. The designation of the reproduction method is designation of a reproduction method such as normal reproduction, skip reproduction, and fast forward reproduction. At the same time, as the time information of the designated section, the start point TA is given as the start point of the overlap section SA, and the end point TB is given as the start point of the overlap section SB.

  The signal reproduction unit 2 sequentially reads out signals corresponding to predetermined time information to be reproduced from the digital broadcast signal 100 recorded in the signal recording unit 1, and if the signal is in a compressed stream format, the signal reproduction unit 2 goes through a decoding process. Then, the reproduction signal 200 is generated and output. The user can view the program by continuously generating and outputting the reproduction signal 200 based on the continuous time information.

  The signal reproduction unit 2 also obtains the time information and reproduction designation information of the overlapping section output from the reproduction control unit 6, and performs special reproduction for the overlapping section. In the above-described operation, the signal reproducing unit 2 constantly compares the time information of the digital broadcast signal 100 being reproduced with the start point TA of the designated section from the reproduction control unit 6. When the time information of the digital broadcast signal 100 being reproduced coincides with TA, the reproduction designation information is read and special reproduction based on the reproduction designation information is performed. When the reproduction designation information is normal reproduction, normal reproduction is continued until the time information coincides with the end point TB even after the time information coincides with the start point TA. When it coincides with the end point TB, the special reproduction is ended, new designation information (designated section information and reproduction designation information) is received from the reproduction control unit 6, and the digital broadcast signal 100 after the same time as the end point TB is continuously read. Perform playback.

When the playback designation information is skip playback, the signal playback unit 2 newly reads the digital broadcast signal 100 whose time information matches the end point TB from the signal recording unit 1, and generates and outputs the playback signal 200. In other words, the digital broadcast signal 100 up to the end point TB is skipped and reproduced, and the special reproduction is terminated at this point, and thereafter, the digital broadcast signal 100 after the time coincident with the end point TB is continuously read and reproduced.
When the reproduction designation information is fast-forward reproduction, the digital broadcast signal 100 read from the signal recording unit 1 is decoded and reproduced from the start point TA to the end point TB, and output while thinning out every frame. These special reproductions can suppress an increase in circuit scale by sharing a reproduction circuit that is appropriately performed according to the user's preference when a user views a program. Note that the signal reproduction unit 2 described above may output the digital broadcast signal 100 in the compressed stream format.

  Thus, in the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the signal recording unit 1 continuously records the digital broadcast signal 100, and the analysis base point setting unit 3 sets the program main part based on the recorded signal. And the CM boundary point are set as the analysis base point, and the analysis section setting unit 4 determines the analysis section from the base point. Further, the overlap determination unit 5 performs similarity determination based on the feature amount for each frame, and determines overlap sections before and after the CM portion. Based on the result, the playback control unit 6 specifies the playback method of the digital broadcast signal 100 for the overlap section and the CM portion to the signal playback unit 2, and the signal playback unit 2 performs the digital broadcast by the playback method according to the specification. The signal 100 is reproduced. Thus, in the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, when viewing a recorded digital broadcast program, if there are overlapping scenes before and after the CM portion included in the program, the user's Depending on the preference, for example, when skip playback is designated, the CM portion can be omitted and either one of the overlapping scenes can be omitted, so that it can be viewed as a continuous continuous scene. it can.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The signal recording / playback apparatus according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the user (broadcast program viewer) applies the processing of the overlapping scene based on his / her judgment, and only when the user's predetermined operation is involved. The scene playback method was controlled. Since the configuration other than this point is the same as that of the first embodiment, a redundant description is omitted below.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an operation input unit 11 for a user to perform a predetermined operation, an operation display unit for displaying an operation situation according to the user's operation and a method for reproducing an overlapping scene. 12. An operation control unit 13 that permits the reproduction control unit 6 to specify reproduction of an overlapping scene only when the user performs a predetermined operation.

  Next, the operation of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described. The user performs a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 11 only when the signal recording / playback apparatus of the present invention is to apply the processing for the overlap scene such as skip playback and fast forward playback shown in the first embodiment. By a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 11, the operation control unit 13 gives a control signal for permitting selection of the reproduction designation information to the reproduction control unit 6. In this case, the reproduction control unit 6 outputs output information for designating a reproduction method such as normal reproduction, skip reproduction, and fast-forward reproduction to the signal reproduction unit 2. The signal reproduction unit 2 reproduces the digital broadcast signal 100 by a reproduction method according to the designated reproduction method. The operation display unit 12 displays the user's operation status input via the operation input unit 11 and also displays the overlapping scene reproduction method determined by the reproduction control unit 6.

  When the user does not perform a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 11, the operation control unit 13 gives the reproduction control unit 6 a control signal that does not permit selection of reproduction designation information. In this case, the reproduction control unit 6 outputs only output information designating normal reproduction to the signal reproduction unit 2. The signal reproduction unit 2 performs only the normal reproduction operation, and reproduces the digital broadcast signal 100 in the state of the broadcast program even when there are overlapping scenes.

  Thereby, in the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of this embodiment, when viewing a recorded digital broadcast program, duplication existing before and after the CM portion included in the program is performed only when the user performs a predetermined operation. A scene playback method can be designated for viewing.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to detect an overlapping section from a recorded digital broadcast signal and to record by removing any one of the overlapping sections and the CM portion from the recording medium. Since the configuration other than this point is the same as that of the first embodiment, redundant description will be omitted below.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the present embodiment reproduces the received digital broadcast signal 100, the signal recording unit 10 that records the received digital broadcast signal 100, and generates the reproduced signal 200. A signal reproduction unit 20 to output, an analysis base point setting unit 3 for setting a base point of analysis for detecting an overlapping section of a program from the recorded digital broadcast signal 100, an analysis interval setting unit 4 for setting a section for performing the analysis, A duplication determination unit 5 for detecting an duplication section over the analysis section, and a recording control unit 7 for controlling the signal recording unit 10 to record without any one of the duplication section and the CM portion are provided. .

The operation of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the present embodiment will be described. In the following description, operations different from those in the first embodiment will be mainly described.
First, the signal recording unit 10 records a digital broadcast signal 100 input via a digital broadcast receiver or the like on a recording medium together with time information associated therewith. The analysis base point setting unit 3 determines a time as a base point of analysis based on the digital broadcast signal 100 input from the signal recording unit 10 and accompanying time information. The analysis base point setting unit 3 mainly sets the boundary between the CM part included in the program and the main program as a base point. The analysis section setting unit 4 sets a section for analyzing the digital broadcast signal 100 for detecting an overlapping section. The overlap determination unit 5 determines similarity in frame units, determines an overlap section, and outputs time information of the overlap section to the recording control unit 7. These operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The recording control unit 7 outputs control information (deletion designation information) for designating a method for deleting the recorded digital broadcast signal to the signal recording unit 10 based on the time information output from the duplication determination unit 5. . At the same time, as the time information of the designated section, the start point TA is given as the start point of the overlap section SA, and the end point TB is given as the start point of the overlap section SB.

  For the digital broadcast signal 100 recorded on the recording medium, the signal recording unit 10 deletes the digital broadcast signal 100 corresponding to the time from the recording medium based on the time information of the designated section given from the recording control unit 7. Since the digital broadcast signal 100 on the recording medium is directly deleted in this way, when the digital broadcast signal 100 is reproduced, the user can always watch the program without requiring any operation and omitting the overlapping section and the CM portion. . In addition, since unnecessary data can be deleted to reduce the amount of recording medium used, the signal recording unit 10 can perform recording for a longer time.

  The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has a configuration in which the signal recording unit 10 has a data buffer 8 for analysis different from the recording medium for recording and holding the digital broadcast signal 100 as shown in FIG. May be. The analysis buffer 8 has a storage memory having a capacity capable of storing the digital broadcast signal 100 corresponding to a time sufficient for analysis. The signal recording unit 10 outputs the digital broadcast signal 100 once stored in the analysis buffer 8 to the analysis base point setting unit 3 and the analysis section setting unit 4 and based on time information given from the recording control unit 7. The digital broadcast signal 100 corresponding to the time is excluded and recorded on the recording medium. With such a configuration, when the recording medium of the signal recording unit 10 is a medium that can be recorded only once, such as a CD-R, recording is performed by excluding unnecessary data in advance. And can be recorded for a long time.

  Thus, in the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the signal recording unit 10 continuously records the digital broadcast signal 100, and the analysis base point setting unit 3 sets the program main part based on the recorded signal. And the CM boundary point are set as the analysis base point, and the analysis section setting unit 4 determines the analysis section from the base point. Further, the overlap determination unit 5 performs similarity determination based on the feature amount for each frame, and determines overlap sections before and after the CM portion. Based on the result, the recording control unit 7 designates the signal recording unit 10 with a method for deleting the digital broadcast signal 100 corresponding to one of the overlapping sections and the CM portion, and the signal recording unit 10 responds to the designation. The overlapping section and the CM portion of the digital broadcast signal 100 are deleted by the deletion method. The signal reproduction unit 20 reproduces the digital broadcast signal 100 recorded by the signal recording unit 10, generates a reproduction signal 200, and outputs it. Thus, in the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, when a received digital broadcast program is recorded, if there are overlapping scenes before and after the CM portion included in the program, the program portion Can be recorded, and recording time can be reduced by reducing the amount of recording medium used, and when viewing a recorded program, one of the overlapping scenes and the CM portion is omitted. It can be viewed as a continuous scene without any.

Embodiment 4 FIG.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The signal recording / playback apparatus according to the present embodiment determines whether or not the user (broadcast program viewer) applies the processing of the overlapping scene based on his / her judgment, and only when the user's predetermined operation is involved. The scene recording method was controlled. Since the configuration other than this point is the same as that of the third embodiment, a redundant description is omitted below.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an operation input unit 16 for performing a predetermined operation by a user, an operation display unit for displaying an operation situation according to the user's operation and a method for recording overlapping scenes. 17. An operation control unit 18 that permits recording designation of overlapping scenes in the recording control unit 7 only when the user performs a characteristic operation.

  Next, the operation of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment will be described. The user performs a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 16 only when it is desired to apply the processing for the overlapping scene shown in the third embodiment to the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention. By a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 16, the operation control unit 13 gives the recording control unit 7 a control signal that permits selection of the deletion designation information. In this case, the recording control unit 7 outputs output information specifying a method for deleting the recorded signal to the signal recording unit 10. The signal recording unit 10 records the digital broadcast signal 100 by a designated deletion method. The operation display unit 17 displays the operation status of the user input via the operation input unit 11 and also displays the overlapping scene recording method determined by the recording control unit 7.

  When the user does not perform a predetermined operation on the operation input unit 16, the operation control unit 18 gives a control signal not permitting selection of the deletion designation information to the recording control unit 7. In this case, the recording control unit 7 outputs only output information that does not delete the digital broadcast signal to the signal recording unit 10. The signal recording unit 10 records the digital broadcast signal 100 in the broadcast program state without deleting the corresponding digital broadcast signal even if there is an overlapping scene.

  As a result, in the signal recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, when recording a digital broadcast program, the duplicate scenes existing before and after the CM portion included in the program are deleted only when the user performs a predetermined operation. When the user does not perform a predetermined operation, the digital broadcast signal 100 can be recorded in the state of the broadcast program without deleting the duplicate scene.

Embodiment 5 FIG.
In the signal processing method and the signal recording / reproducing apparatus described above, the overlap determining unit 5 that detects the overlapping section decodes the digital broadcast signal in the compressed stream format, analyzes the obtained reproduced signal, and based on the feature amount. In the present embodiment, similarity determination is performed between frames and an overlapping section is determined. In this embodiment, a digital broadcast signal in a compressed stream format is not decoded, and similarity determination is performed directly from parameter information constituting the compressed stream. Made it possible. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the duplication determination unit 50 of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The overlap determination unit 50 corresponds to the overlap determination unit 5 in the first embodiment and the third embodiment, and the configuration other than the overlap determination unit 50 is the same as the configuration in the first embodiment and the third embodiment. Therefore, description is omitted below.

  Here, as an example of an audio encoding method applied to a digital broadcast signal that is a compressed stream format, the MPEG-2 AAC method adopted as an audio encoding method in digital broadcasting in Japan is taken as an example. However, the speech encoding method applicable to the present invention is not limited to this. In the MPEG-2 AAC system, a compressed stream of one encoded frame is mainly configured by parameter information as shown in FIG. The header portion includes the type of compression method and information of the audio signal before compression (sampling frequency, number of channels, etc.). The section data portion is Huffman codebook information used for encoding spectral data. The scale factor portion is information on a scaling coefficient when spectral data is quantized. The scaling coefficient exists for each band section divided into m bands (m is a natural number) on the frequency axis, and represents the relative relationship of the amplitude of the spectrum data included in the band section. . This can be handled in the same manner as the frequency analysis result given as an example of the feature amount of the voice information described in the first embodiment. The spectrum data portion is information related to spectrum data encoded using a Huffman code.

  The stream analysis unit 54 extracts the scale factor information by only separating the parameter information based on the grammar of the stream for each encoded frame for the audio information in the compressed stream format. The similar frame determination unit 52 treats the scaling coefficient in the m band sections obtained from the stream analysis unit 54 as an m-dimensional vector, and performs similarity determination between frames based on the similarity determination criterion. The method described in Embodiment 1 is applied as the determination method. Subsequently, the overlapping section determination unit 53 examines temporal continuity of frames determined to be similar based on the determination result of the similar frame determination unit 52, and finally determines the overlapping section.

  As described above, the overlap determination unit 50 calculates the similarity determination criterion in the similar frame determination unit 52 using the scaling coefficient extracted in the stream analysis unit 54, determines the similarity between the frames, and determines the overlap. The section determination unit 53 can determine whether or not there are similar frames over a plurality of frames, and determine an overlapping section. The overlap determination unit 50 outputs the time information of the overlap section, that is, the time information of the start and end points of the two overlap sections SA and SB.

  In such a configuration having the overlap determination unit 50, it is possible to determine the overlap interval by determining the similarity between frames without completely decoding the compressed stream, so that the amount of calculation is small in the signal processing method. In addition, in the signal recording / reproducing apparatus, the apparatus scale can be reduced. Even if the operation of the stream analysis unit 54 is configured as a part of the decoding process performed by the signal reproduction unit 20, similar functions and effects can be obtained.

  The signal recording / reproducing process of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first to third embodiments can be any computer program. Therefore, the signal recording / reproducing method of the present invention can be performed on a computer-executable recording medium. Can also be provided. The recording medium here refers to a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a magneto-optical disk, a removable hard disk, and the like.

  In the description of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the first to third embodiments described above, the method for determining the overlapping section based on the audio information has been described. However, the video information may be used, or these may be combined. It goes without saying that the method can be applied to the overlapping section determination method of the invention.

  The present invention is a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) player / recorder, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) player, VTR (Video Tape Recorder) or TR (Tape Tape) that records and reproduces a commercial broadcast of television or radio including a commercial message in the middle of a broadcast program. Recorder) etc.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the analysis base point set by the analysis base point setting part. It is explanatory drawing of the analysis object area setting set in an analysis area setting part. It is explanatory drawing of the analysis area which considered the overlap area set in an analysis area setting part. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the base point set in the analysis base point setting part, and the analysis area set in the analysis area setting part. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a duplication determination unit according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship of the feature-value of an analysis area, an analysis frame, and an analysis frame. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of a process of a duplication determination part. It is explanatory drawing of the continuous similar frame of the duplication area by the same scene. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 3 of this invention. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing another configuration example of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in the third embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the signal recording / reproducing apparatus in Embodiment 4 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the duplication determination part in the signal recording / reproducing apparatus which is Embodiment 5 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the audio | voice compression stream structure by an MPEG-2 AAC system. It is explanatory drawing of the broadcast program comprised by the program main part and CM part.

Explanation of symbols

  1, 10; signal recording unit, 2, 20; signal reproduction unit, 3; analysis base point setting unit, 4; analysis section setting unit, 5, 50; duplication determination unit, 6; reproduction control unit, 7; 8; analysis buffer, 11, 16; operation input unit, 12, 17; operation display unit, 13, 18; operation control unit, 51; feature amount extraction unit, 52; similar frame determination unit, 53; 54; stream analysis unit, 100; digital broadcast signal, 200; reproduction signal.

Claims (12)

A method of detecting a duplicate scene of a broadcast program by analyzing a given broadcast signal,
A signal recording step of recording the broadcast signal on a recording medium;
An analysis base point setting step of reading a broadcast signal recorded on the recording medium and setting a base point of a section to be analyzed of the broadcast signal;
An analysis interval setting step for setting an analysis target interval based on the base point;
A feature amount extraction step of dividing the analysis target section and a signal of a predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section into continuous frames, and extracting a feature amount of the broadcast signal for each divided frame;
A similar frame determination step of determining similarity between a frame of an analysis target section and a frame of a predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section based on the feature amount;
A signal processing method comprising: an overlapping section determination step of detecting an overlapping scene section of a program from the similarity determination result. A reproduction control step of designating a reproduction method of the overlapping scene section detected in the overlapping section determination step;
2. The signal processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a signal reproduction step of reproducing the signal recorded in the recording means according to the reproduction method. A recording control step of designating a recording method of the overlapping scene section detected in the overlapping section determination step;
2. The signal processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a signal re-recording step of re-recording the overlapping scene section of the recording medium according to the recording method of the recording control step. A signal recording / reproducing apparatus that analyzes a given broadcast signal and controls reproduction of a duplicate scene of a broadcast program,
Signal recording means for recording the broadcast signal;
Analysis base point setting means for setting the base point of the section to be analyzed of the broadcast signal;
An analysis interval setting means for setting an analysis target interval based on the base point;
A feature amount extracting means for dividing the analysis target section and a signal of a predetermined section continuing to the analysis target section into a plurality of continuous frames, and extracting a feature amount of the broadcast signal for each of the divided frames;
Similar frame determination means for determining similarity between a frame of the analysis target section and a frame of the predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section based on the feature amount;
From the determination result of the similarity, the overlapping section determining means for detecting the section of the overlapping scene of the program,
Playback control means for specifying the playback method of the overlapping scene section;
A signal recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: signal reproducing means for reproducing the signal recorded in the signal recording means in accordance with the reproducing method.   5. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the reproduction control means is configured to designate a reproduction method of the overlapping scene section only when a user performs a predetermined operation. A signal recording / reproducing apparatus that analyzes a given broadcast signal and controls recording of a duplicate scene of a broadcast program,
Signal recording means for recording the broadcast signal;
Analysis base point setting means for setting the base point of the section to be analyzed of the broadcast signal;
An analysis interval setting means for setting an analysis target interval based on the base point;
A feature amount extracting means for dividing the analysis target section and a signal of a predetermined section continuing to the analysis target section into a plurality of continuous frames, and extracting a feature amount of the broadcast signal for each of the divided frames;
Similar frame determination means for determining similarity between a frame of the analysis target section and a frame of the predetermined section continuous to the analysis target section based on the feature amount;
From the determination result of the similarity, the overlapping section determining means for detecting the section of the overlapping scene of the program,
Recording control means for controlling the recording method of the overlapping scene section;
Signal reproducing means for reproducing the recorded broadcast signal,
The signal recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the signal recording means re-records the overlap scene section according to the recording method of the recording control means.   7. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the recording control means controls the recording method of the overlapping scene section only when the user performs a predetermined operation.   8. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the analysis base point setting means is configured to determine a base point of the analysis target section by detecting a commercial part.   9. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the analysis section setting means is configured to determine an analysis target section based on program composition time information.   10. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the feature amount extraction unit is configured to extract and use information constituting a compressed stream as a feature amount. 5. The configuration according to claim 4, wherein the similar frame determination means is configured to reset the analysis target section when frames determined to be similar continue for a certain length or longer based on a determination result of similarity between frames. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus in any one of thru | or 10.   12. The signal recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the broadcast signal is a broadcast acoustic signal, and the feature quantity extracted by the feature quantity extraction unit is a feature quantity of the acoustic signal. .

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