JP2006318588A - Guidance screen processor and method of recording or reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a device with which meaning of items displayed on a guidance screen is easy to understand and operation to select items is furthermore simplified when a user operates the device. <P>SOLUTION: The guidance screen processing control section has a means to arrange a plurality of selection items only in a vertical direction of a screen to display when a menu screen is requested; a means to output data for comment display which indicates semantic contents of the selection items concerned when any one of a plurality of selection items is designated by a cursor; and a means to arrange a plurality of lower-order selection items contained in determined selection items only in a vertical direction of a screen to display when any one of a plurality of selection items is determined. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording device with a guide screen processor that improves the operability by allowing a user to operate a recording device, in which a graphic user interface (GUI) guide screen is easily understood and adapted to the operation feeling.

  In recent image recording / reproducing apparatuses, the capacity of storage media has increased, and a plurality of different types of recording media can be loaded as recording media. In addition, a plurality of different types of recording devices can be externally connected via a network.

  For this reason, the operation of the image recording / reproducing apparatus is further complicated, and it takes time to reach a desired operation item while viewing the menu screen, and the operation is troublesome. Even if the menu screen is obtained, the user may not know what the displayed item names mean, and may open and check the instruction manual. In addition, since various items on the menu screen are arranged side by side in the left and right and up and down directions, the remote control operation when moving the cursor is complicated.

There is also a technique for displaying a plurality of pages having a large number of items simultaneously and partially overlapping on a menu screen (for example, Patent Document 1). However, when selecting a desired item, it is easy to erroneously select a page different from the desired page, and a page having the desired item may be hidden, resulting in poor operability.
JP 2001-265477 A

  As described above, in the conventional GUI, there is a problem that the operation is complicated to select an item, and if the meaning of the item is not known, an instruction manual must be viewed, which is inconvenient.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to easily understand the meaning of items displayed on the guidance screen when the user operates the device, and further to simplify the operation for selecting the item and to improve the operability. It is to provide a processing apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a control unit that controls the operation of the apparatus, and a guidance screen processing control unit that selects and outputs screen data for operation guidance based on the control of the control unit. In the recording / reproducing apparatus, the guide screen processing control unit is configured to display a plurality of selection items only in the vertical direction of the screen when there is a request for a menu screen; When any one of them is designated by the cursor, a means for outputting comment display data indicating the meaning content of the selected item, and any one of the selected items is designated by the cursor and further determined. In this case, there is provided means for displaying a plurality of lower selection items included in the determined selection item only in the vertical direction of the screen.

  According to the above means, the meaning of the item appearing on the guidance screen can be easily understood by looking at the comment. In addition, by operating only the cursor key for the up / down operation, one of a plurality of selection items can be selected, and the operability is good.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the overall configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus to which the invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.

  This recording / reproducing apparatus has two types of disk drive units. The optical disc 101 is an information recording medium that can construct a video file. The disk drive unit 102 rotates and drives the optical disk 101 to read / write information. A hard disk drive (HDD) unit 104 drives the hard disk.

  The data processor unit 103 can supply recording data to the disk drive unit 102 and the hard disk drive unit 104, and can receive a reproduced signal. The disk drive unit 102 includes a rotation control system, a laser drive system, an optical system, and the like for the optical disk 101.

  The data processor unit 103 handles data in recording or reproduction units, and includes a buffer circuit, a modulation / demodulation circuit, an error correction unit, and the like.

  This recording / reproducing apparatus mainly includes an encoder unit 200 constituting the recording side, a decoder unit 300 constituting the reproducing side, and a microcomputer block 400 that controls the operation of the apparatus main body. The encoder unit 200 includes a video and audio analog-to-digital converter that digitizes an input analog video signal or analog audio signal, a video encoder, and an audio encoder. Further, it includes a sub-picture encoder that compresses subtitles of movies.

  The output of the encoder unit 200 is converted into a predetermined DVD (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, etc.) format by a formatter 204 including a buffer memory 203 and supplied to the data processor unit 103. The encoder unit 200 receives an external analog video signal and an external analog audio signal from the AV input unit 211, or an analog video signal and an analog audio signal from the TV tuner 212. Note that the encoder unit 200 can also directly supply the compressed digital video signal or digital audio signal to the formatter 204 when a compressed digital video signal or digital audio signal is directly input. The encoder unit 200 can also directly supply the digital video signal and the audio signal that have been subjected to analog-digital conversion to the video mixing unit 305 and the audio selector 301, respectively.

  In the video encoder included in the encoder unit 200, the digital video signal is converted into a digital video signal compressed at a variable bit rate based on the MPEG2 or MPEG1 standard. The audio signal is converted into a digital audio signal compressed at a fixed bit rate based on the MPEG or AC-3 standard, or a linear PCM digital audio signal.

  When a sub-video signal is input from the AV input unit 211 (for example, a signal from a DVD video player with an independent output terminal of the sub-video signal), or a DVD video signal having such a data structure is broadcast and is used as a TV tuner. When received at 212, the sub-video signal in the DVD video signal is encoded (run-length encoded) by the sub-video encoder to become a sub-picture bitmap.

  The encoded digital video signal, digital audio signal, and sub-picture data are packed by the formatter 204 to become a video pack, an audio pack, and a sub-picture pack, and these are assembled to form a DVD-recording standard (for example, DVD-RAM). , DVD-R, DVD-RW, etc.).

  Here, this apparatus uses the data processor unit 103 to send information (packets of video, audio, sub-picture data, etc.) formatted by the formatter 204 and the created management information to the hard disk drive unit 104 or the data disk drive unit. 102, and can be recorded on the hard disk or the optical disc 101. Further, information recorded on the hard disk or the optical disk can be recorded on the optical disk 101 or the hard disk via the data processor unit 103 and the disk drive unit 102.

  It is also possible to perform an editing process such as deleting a part of video objects of a plurality of programs recorded on the hard disk or the optical disc 101 or connecting objects of different programs. This is because editing is facilitated by defining a data unit handled by the DVD format and performing signal processing in this data unit.

  The microcomputer block 400 includes an MPU (micro processing unit) or CPU (central processing unit), a ROM in which a control program and the like are written, and a RAM for providing a work area necessary for executing the program. Yes.

  The MPU of the microcomputer block 400 executes defect location detection, unrecorded area detection, recording information recording position setting, UDF recording, AV address setting, etc. using the RAM as a work area according to the control program stored in the ROM. To do.

  The microcomputer block 400 includes an information processing unit necessary for controlling the entire system, and includes a work RAM, a directory detection unit, a VMG (total video management information) information creation unit, a copy-related information detection unit, and a copy. And a scrambling information processing unit (RDI processing unit), a packet header processing unit, a sequence header processing unit, an aspect ratio information processing unit, and the like.

  Among the execution results of the MPU, the contents to be notified to the user are displayed on the display unit 402 of the video data recording / reproducing apparatus or displayed on the monitor display as OSD (on-screen display). The microcomputer block 400 has a key input unit 401 that gives an operation signal for operating the apparatus. The timing at which the microcomputer block 400 controls the disk drive unit 102, the hard disk drive unit 104, the data processor unit 103, the encoder unit 200, and / or the decoder unit 300 is based on time data from an STC (system time clock) 403. Can be executed.

  Recording and playback operations are normally executed in synchronization with the time clock from the STC 403, but other processing may be executed at a timing independent of the STC 403.

  The decoder unit 300 separates and extracts each pack from a DVD format signal having a pack structure, a memory used when pack separation or other signal processing is performed, and main video data (video pack) separated by the separator. A V decoder that decodes the content), an SP decoder that decodes the sub-picture data separated by the separator (the contents of the sub-picture pack), and an A decoder that decodes the audio data separated by the separator (the contents of the audio pack) Have A video processor is also provided that appropriately synthesizes the decoded sub-video with the decoded main video and outputs the main video with a menu, a highlight button, subtitles, and other sub-videos.

  The output video signal of the decoder unit 300 is input to the video mixing unit 305. In the video mixing unit 305, text data is synthesized. The video mixing unit 305 is also connected to a line that directly takes in signals from the TV tuner 212 and the A / V input unit 211. A frame memory 306 used as a buffer is connected to the video mixing unit 305. When the output of the video mixing unit 305 is an analog output, it is output to the outside via an I / F (interface) 307, and when it is a digital output, it is output to the outside via a digital / analog converter 308.

  Further, the video mixing unit 305 can output an image signal for creating a guidance screen as a GUI. This image signal may be referred to as OSD (On Screen Display). This image signal is controlled by the guide screen processing control unit 40b in the microcomputer block 400. The function and operation of the guidance screen processing control unit 40b will be described in detail later.

  The output audio signal of the decoder unit 300 is analog-converted by the digital-analog converter 302 via the selector 301 and output to the outside. The selector 301 is controlled by a select signal from the microcomputer block 400. Accordingly, the selector 301 can directly select a signal that has passed through the encoder unit 200 when directly monitoring a digital signal from the TV tuner 212 or the A / V input unit 211.

  Note that the formatter of the encoder unit 200 creates segmentation information during recording and periodically sends it to the MPU of the microcomputer block 400 (information at the time of GOP head interrupt, etc.). The segmentation information includes the number of packs of VOBU (video object unit), the end address of the I picture from the beginning of the VOBU, the playback time of the VOBU, and the like.

  At the same time, information from the aspect information processing unit is sent to the MPU at the start of recording, and the MPU creates VOB stream information (STI). Here, the STI stores resolution data, aspect data, and the like, and at the time of reproduction, each decoder unit is initialized based on this information.

  In this apparatus, one video file is recorded on one disc. In order to continue playback without interruption while accessing (seeking) data, a minimum continuous information unit (size) is determined. This unit is called CDA (Contiguous Data Area). The CDA size is a multiple of an ECC (error correction code) block (16 sectors), and the file system records in this CDA unit.

  The data processor unit 103 receives data in VOBU units from the formatter of the encoder unit 200 and supplies data in CDA units to the disk drive unit 102 or the hard disk drive unit 104. Further, the MPU of the microcomputer block 400 creates management information necessary for reproducing the recorded data. When the MPU recognizes a data recording end command, the MPU sends the created management information to the data processor unit 103. Thereby, the management information is recorded on the disc. Therefore, when encoding is performed, the MPU of the microcomputer block 400 receives data unit information (eg, segmentation information) from the encoder unit 200. The MPU of the microcomputer block 400 recognizes the management information (file system) read from the optical disk and the hard disk at the start of recording, recognizes the unrecorded area of each disk, and sets the data recording area in the data processor unit 103. Is set to disk via.

  FIG. 2 shows a remote controller 11 for operating the recording / reproducing apparatus. Although the remote controller 11 is provided with various keys, only the keys related to the description of the present invention will be described. The keys arranged at the upper center are cursor keys 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d for moving the cursor left and right and up and down, and an enter key 11e is provided at the center of the cursor keys. 11f is a menu key.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the menu screen 21A that appears on the monitor 309 when the menu key 11f is operated.

  On the menu screen 21A, as items, “search from program guide”, “reserve with G code”, “list of reserved programs”, “view recorded programs”, “edit recorded programs”, “dubbing” , “Initialize DVD”, “Other settings”, and the like. This item is displayed vertically along the left side of the screen. By moving the cursor with the cursor key to select the item desired by the user and pressing the enter key, the function corresponding to the item name can be operated. Moreover, these items are arranged in the vertical direction (the vertical direction of the screen).

  However, there are cases where the specific meaning cannot be sufficiently grasped only by looking at this item name. Therefore, in this apparatus, the function obtained when the item pointed to the right side is selected with the cursor designating (pointing) the item is displayed as a comment. In other words, the following comments are displayed corresponding to each item.

“Search from the program guide”… You can search for programs and make recording reservations from the program guide.

“Reserve with G code”… You can make a reservation recording by entering the number in the TV column of a newspaper or magazine.

“Reserved program list”: You can modify the reservation from the program guide or G code, or you can directly record the time and the channel on which the program will be broadcast.

"Watch recorded program" ... Displays a list of the contents recorded on the internal HDD or DVD disc in a sub-screen.

“Editing a recorded program”… You can divide the channel of the recorded program on the built-in HDD or DVD disc (VR mode) or create a playlist.

“Dubbing”… You can copy or move the recorded program.

“Initialize DVD”: DVD-RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-RW can be initialized.

“Other settings”: Settings can be changed.

  In order to assist the user's sense of operation, a cursor key mark 21A-1 is displayed for operating the remote controller 11 to move the cursor up or down, and a decision key mark 21A for making a decision. -2 is displayed.

  FIG. 4 shows a screen 21B when the item “Initialize DVD” is pointed out from the menu screen 21A, and the next screen 21C when the enter key is pressed from this screen 21B. It shows a state. On the screen 21B, for example, the color of the pointed item changes. The screen 21C is for inputting disc information. After the disc information is input, initialization is started by selecting the “start” button on the screen 21C and pressing the enter key.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the screen 21E when the item “Reserve with G code” is pointed from the menu screen 21B and the enter key is pressed next.

  FIG. 6 shows a screen 21F that appears after the item “Edit Recorded Program” has been selected and determined from the menu screen 21A. This screen 21F includes items such as “create chapter”, “create playlist”, “join title”, “dubb”, “DVD finalize / release”, “delete recorded program”, and the like. appear. Here, if the item “dubbing” is pointed and the enter key is pressed, the screen 21G appears. As a dubbing form, there are HDD → DVD, DVD → HDD, HDD → HDD, and one of them can be selected. Also in this case, items indicating the dubbing direction are arranged in the vertical direction. When a desired item is pointed by the cursor, a comment may appear on the right side. In the case of editing, the selection items are arranged in the vertical direction from the menu screen to the screens 21A, 21F, and 21G at the first, second, and third stages. The screen 21H is a screen for selecting a title to be dubbed after, for example, HDD → DVD is selected as the dubbing direction.

  As described above, in the apparatus of the present invention, when a desired operation is performed from the menu screen, a plurality of selected items are arranged in the vertical direction (vertical direction) on one screen, and the item is pointed On the right side, the meaning of the item appears as a comment. As a result, the user can reach the desired setting screen by operating the cursor keys 11c, 11d and the determination key 11e in the vertical direction of the cursor keys. Therefore, the user is easy to operate, and a comment appears on the item specified by the cursor, so it is possible to easily confirm whether the user intends to do it finally and the operation matches. is there.

  FIG. 7 shows various functional blocks included in the guidance screen processing control unit 40b. The operation information of the remote controller 11 is determined by the operation input determination unit 40a and logically determined by the operation input logic determination unit 40b1 of the guidance screen processing control unit 40b. If the menu key is operated by the remote controller 11, the menu screen data output unit 40b2 is instructed to output the menu screen data. The menu screen data output unit 40b2 reads the image data from the image data memory 40b5, and outputs this as on-screen data to the V mixing unit 305. The operation input logic determination unit 40b1 also gives a command to the cursor movement control unit 40b3. Initially it commands the default position of the cursor. The cursor movement control unit 40b3 receives the cursor movement control signal, controls the cursor data output unit 40b4, and controls the output timing of the cursor data. When the cursor is moved by operating the cursor key, comment data corresponding to the cursor position is output from the comment data output unit 40b6. Thereby, the user can understand the meaning content of the item to which the cursor is pointing on the screen.

  When a desired item is selected and determined from the menu screen, the operation input logic determination unit 40b1 logically determines the operation input and controls the next screen data selection unit 40b7. The next screen data selection unit 40b7 reads the screen data corresponding to the operation content from the image data memory 40b5 and supplies it to the selection screen data output unit 40b8. Therefore, the selection screen data output unit 40b8 outputs the next screen. This screen is, for example, a screen displayed next to the menu screen as described above, and a screen displayed next.

  On the screen, a cursor key mark 21A-1 for operating the remote controller 11 to move the cursor upward or downward, and a determination key mark 21A-2 for making a determination are displayed. The mark data is also output from, for example, the cursor data output unit 40b4.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the above functional blocks. When the menu key 11f is operated, menu screen data is output (steps SA1 and SA2). Next, the cursor is controlled to move up and down, and when one item is selected and specified, a comment corresponding to the item at the cursor movement position is displayed (steps SA3 and SA4). Next, when the enter key is pressed, a lower screen for the menu screen is displayed. If there are a plurality of selection items on this lower screen, the same processing as in steps A3 and A4 is executed. When the data input or selection process is completed on the final lower screen, the end button is selected and the enter key is pressed (steps SA5 and SA6). Thereby, the set function is executed (step SA7).

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the recording / reproducing apparatus concerning this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the external appearance of the remote controller which operates the apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the menu screen which concerns on this invention. In the apparatus which concerns on this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the screen which changes according to operation from a menu screen. In the apparatus which concerns on this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows the other example of the screen which changes according to operation from a menu screen. In the apparatus which concerns on this invention, it is explanatory drawing which shows the further another example of the screen which changes according to operation from a menu screen. It is a figure which shows the example of the block structure of the principal part in the apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the block structure part of FIG. 7 in the apparatus based on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Optical disk, 102 ... Disk drive part, 103 ... Data processor part, 104 ... Hard disk drive part, 200 ... Encoder part, 203 ... Buffer memory, 204 ... Formatter, 300 ... Decoder part, 400 ... Microcomputer block, 40a ... Operation Input determination unit, 40b ... Guide screen processing control unit, 40b1 ... Operation input logic determination unit, 40b2 ... Menu screen data output unit, 40b3 ... Cursor movement control unit, 40b4 ... Cursor data output unit, 40b5 ... Image data memory, 40b6 ... Comment data output section corresponding to the cursor position, 40b7... Next screen data selection section, 40b8... Selection screen data output section.

Claims (7)

In a recording / reproducing apparatus having a control unit that controls the operation of the apparatus, and a guide screen processing control unit that selects and outputs screen data for operation guidance based on the control of the control unit,
The guidance screen processing control unit
When there is a request for a menu screen, a means for displaying a plurality of selection items only in the vertical direction of the screen,
Means for outputting comment display data indicating the meaning of the selected item when any one of the plurality of selected items is designated by a cursor;
When any one of the selection items is designated by a cursor and is further determined, a plurality of lower selection items included in the determined selection item are displayed only in the vertical direction of the screen. Means,
A guide screen processing device for a recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising:   In the case where the plurality of selection items and the plurality of lower selection items are displayed only in the vertical direction of the screen, the items are arranged in the left region of the screen, and the comment indicating the semantic content is displayed on the right side of the screen. 2. A guide screen processing apparatus for a recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for arranging in the area.   On the screen, a cursor key mark is displayed for operating the remote controller to move the cursor upward or downward, and a determination key mark for determining is displayed. The guide screen processing apparatus of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1.   The mark is displayed in a lower area of the screen, and the plurality of selection items and a plurality of lower selection items are arranged vertically on the left side of the screen, and the comments are displayed on the right side of the screen. The guide screen processing apparatus for a recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2. In a guidance screen processing method for a recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: a control unit that controls the operation of the apparatus; and a guidance screen processing control unit that selects and outputs screen data for operation guidance based on the control of the control unit.
When there is a request for a menu screen, multiple selection items are displayed only in the vertical direction of the screen,
When any one of the plurality of selection items is designated by a cursor, data for comment display indicating the meaning content of the selection item is output,
When any one of the selection items is designated by a cursor and is further determined, a plurality of lower selection items included in the determined selection item are displayed only in the vertical direction of the screen. ,
A guide screen processing method for a recording / reproducing apparatus.   6. The screen includes a cursor key mark for operating the remote controller to move the cursor upward or downward, and a determination key mark for making a determination. A guide screen processing method of the recording / reproducing apparatus described.   The mark is displayed in a lower area of the screen, the plurality of selection items and a plurality of lower selection items are arranged vertically on the left side of the screen, and the comment is displayed on the right side of the screen. The guide screen processing method for a recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 6.

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