JP2006338824A - Recording device and method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording device capable of reducing the operation noise and vibration noise generated from a driving section for recording audio information on a disk type recording medium and reducing the electric power consumption of the driving section. <P>SOLUTION: A control microcomputer 116 controls a signal/control processing circuit 124 based on level information of a noise component from an audio input processing circuit 102 and controls the rotation operation of the disk 131 and the read/write of the data on the disk 131 so as to use a first mode in which the electric power consumption is little as the noise from a disk recording and reproducing section 140 is inconspicuous when the external noise level is large to some extent and so as to use a second mode in which the electric power consumption is higher than in the first mode but the number of revolutions of the medium is low and the medium is silent in the quiet environment where the external noise level is low. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method for recording audio information input by the audio information input means on a disk-type recording medium, and a program, including audio information input means such as a microphone. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method capable of intermittently recording input audio information, and a program.

  In recent years, the capacity of disk-type recording media (disk media) has rapidly increased, and a disk-type recording apparatus that records and reproduces not only audio but also video signals for a long time has been proposed. For example, a video that employs a recording format based on a high-efficiency encoding process such as MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) and can record a moving image for several tens of minutes to one hour at a compressed data rate of about 4 Mbps to 10 Mbps. Technologies that can realize cameras are being developed at the consumer level. In video cameras using such disc media (hereinafter referred to as “disc camcorders”), the packing density of components inside the disc camcorder is increasing as the size and density of the video camera are increased.

  As described above, when the disk drive unit and the microphone are arranged close to each other in accordance with the downsizing and high density of the disk camcorder, the operation sound and vibration sound generated from the disk drive unit may be mixed as noise from the microphone and recorded. is there.

Therefore, in order to solve such a problem, when recording an image from a built-in imaging means or a sound from a microphone, a recording operation is performed with a control profile different from that for recording an image or sound data from an external device. There has been proposed a technique for controlling the recording process so that noise is not mixed in the sound from the microphone (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-143525 A

  However, in the above conventional technique, the recording operation in the shooting mode by the built-in image pickup unit or the like is controlled to be different from the recording operation of the audio data received from the external device. Is not done. Therefore, only a single recording operation is performed during the shooting mode, and no consideration is given to reducing power consumption.

  In addition, there is no response even if the operation sound or vibration sound generated from the disk drive unit is mixed as noise from the microphone during shooting, that is, while image or sound data is being recorded on the disk media. Recording may not be possible.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and reduces operating noise and vibration noise generated from a drive unit that records audio information on a disk-type recording medium, and reduces power consumption of the drive unit. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and method, and a program.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to claim 1 is characterized in that audio information input means for inputting audio information, and the input audio information is transferred to the disc type while intermittently rotating a disc-shaped recording medium. According to a recording means for recording on a recording medium and a noise level included in the input audio information, power consumption at the time of recording the audio information related to the rotation operation of the disc-shaped recording medium is different from each other. And switching means for switching between the mode and the second mode.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording method according to claim 5 includes an audio information input step of inputting audio information, and the input audio information is converted to the disc type while intermittently rotating the disc-shaped recording medium. According to a recording step of recording on a recording medium and a noise level included in the input audio information, power consumption at the time of recording the audio information related to the rotation operation of the disc-shaped recording medium is different from each other. And a switching step for switching between the mode and the second mode.

  According to the present invention, the input audio information is recorded while the disk-shaped recording medium is rotated intermittently, and related to the rotation operation of the disk-shaped recording medium according to the noise level included in the input audio information. Since the first mode and the second mode with different power consumption during recording of the audio information are switched, the operation sound and vibration sound generated from the drive unit that records the audio information on the disk type recording medium are reduced, and The power consumption of the driving unit can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the recording apparatus is a camera-integrated recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “disc camcorder”) 100 capable of recording / reproducing on / from a disk-type recording medium (disc medium).

  The disc camcorder 100 includes a digital audio / video input terminal 112 for inputting digital audio and video signals from the outside, an external power input terminal 120 for inputting power from an external power source, a battery 122 as an internal power source, and charging the battery 122. A charging circuit 121 for controlling the voltage, a power supply circuit (DC / DC converter) 123 for controlling voltage, a camera unit 137 for performing imaging, a switch circuit 136 for switching ON / OFF of power supply to each unit, and digital audio And an output unit 138 for outputting video, a control unit 139 for controlling each unit, and a disc recording / reproducing unit 140 for performing recording / reproduction on a disc medium attached to the disc camcorder 100.

  First, the configuration and operation of the camera unit 137 will be described.

  The camera unit 137 includes a microphone 101 for inputting audio information, an audio input processing circuit 102 connected to the microphone 101, a lens unit 105 including a plurality of lens groups, and an image input via the lens unit 105. An imaging sensor (CCD: Charge Coupled Device) 106 that receives information, a camera video signal processing circuit 107 connected to the CCD 106, and a driver 111 that drives and controls the lens unit 105 are provided. The driver 111 is configured by software, but may be configured by hardware.

  Image information is input to the CCD 106 via the lens unit 105, converted into an electrical signal by the CCD 106, and converted into a video signal by the camera video signal processing circuit 107. The converted video signal is transmitted to the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 in the output unit 138.

  The audio information is input to the audio input processing circuit 102 via the microphone 101 and converted into an audio signal. The converted audio signal is transmitted from the camera unit 137 to the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 in the output unit 138. The received audio signal is compressed by the compression / expansion processing circuit 108 and sent to the signal / control processing circuit 124 in the disk recording / reproducing unit 140.

  The audio input processing circuit 102 detects the level of the noise component in the audio signal input from the microphone 101 and outputs it to the control microcomputer 116. In the present embodiment, the control microcomputer 116 that controls the entire apparatus controls the signal / control processing circuit 124 as will be described later in accordance with the level of the noise component from the audio input processing circuit 102 to change the operation mode of the disc camcorder 100. select.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the output unit 138 will be described.

  The output unit 138 includes an audio output processing circuit 103, an audio output terminal 104, a compression / expansion processing circuit 108 that compresses or expands video and audio, a video display / output processing circuit 109, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Monitor) 110. A digital input processing circuit 113, a digital output terminal 114, and a video output terminal 135.

  The audio signal and video signal received from the camera unit 137 are converted into a digital video / audio compressed signal by the compression / decompression processing circuit 108. Examples of the compression method include an MPEG method for handling moving images and a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) method for handling still images.

  The compression / decompression processing circuit 108 can also convert a signal input from the outside via the digital audio / video input terminal 112 into a digital video / audio compressed signal. The audio signal output from the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 is output from the audio output terminal 104 via the audio output processing circuit 103. On the other hand, the video signal output from the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 is displayed on the LCD 110 via the video display / output processing circuit 109 and also output from the video output terminal 135. The video signal is output as a digital video / audio signal from the digital output terminal 114 via the digital input processing circuit 113.

  Although the flow of the input signal and the output signal input via the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 has been described, it is not always necessary to perform compression / decompression processing on the input signal for both the audio signal and the video signal. Needless to say.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the control unit 139 will be described.

  The control unit 139 includes a D-RAM 115, a control microcomputer 116 that controls the entire apparatus, a flash memory (F-RAM) 117, an operation switch (SW) 118 of the apparatus, and an interface (IF) circuit 119.

  The disc camcorder 100 operates when the user operates the operation switch 118. An output from the operation switch 118 is input to the control microcomputer 116.

  The control microcomputer 116 controls the lens unit 105 via the driver 111 to form a subject image on the CCD 106. In addition, control is performed such that a moving image or a still image is compressed into a digital signal by the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 and temporarily stored in the D-RAM 115. These moving image and still image digital signals are sent to the signal / control processing circuit 124 in the disc recording / reproducing unit 140 via the interface circuit 119. As the interface circuit 119, for example, the ATAPI standard is adopted.

  Further, the control microcomputer 116 monitors the charging circuit 121 to grasp the state of the power supply, and controls the switch circuit 136 to perform the power supply processing of the camera unit 137.

  The F-RAM 117 is a memory that stores a program or the like for operating the control microcomputer 116. The D-RAM 115 is a memory that temporarily stores processing data of the compression / decompression processing circuit 108 and processing data of the control microcomputer 116.

  Next, the configuration and operation of the disc recording / reproducing unit 140 will be described.

  The disk recording / reproducing unit 140 includes a disk media signal / control processing circuit 124, a D-RAM 125, an S-RAM 126, a flash memory (F-RAM) 127, a control microcomputer 128 of the disk recording / reproducing unit 140, and a recording. A reproduction circuit 129, a pickup (OPU) 130 that performs recording and reproduction with a laser emitted from a laser oscillator (not shown), a disk medium 131, a spindle motor 132, and a feed for moving the pickup 130 onto the disk medium. A motor 133, a spindle motor 132, a feed motor 133, and an actuator driver 134 for driving actuators (not shown) in the focus direction and tracking direction in the pickup 130 are provided.

  The disc recording / reproducing unit 140 converts the moving image or still image information input from the interface circuit 119 into a recording format corresponding to the disc medium by the signal / control processing circuit 124 and the D-RAM 125, and the recording / reproducing circuit 129 and the pickup 130 are connected. To the disc medium 131 with a laser.

  The relative positions of the disk media 131 and the OPU 130 are reproduced by time-sharing the OPU 130, position information written in advance from the disk media 131 is detected via the recording / reproducing circuit 129, and the signal / control processing circuit 124 and It is processed by the control microcomputer 128 and is controlled by driving an actuator for controlling focus and tracking in the OPU 130 (not shown) through the spindle motor 132, the feed motor 133, and the actuator driver 134.

  An S-RAM (Static Random Access Memory) 126 and an F-RAM 127 store temporary storage of arithmetic data of the control microcomputer 128, a program, and the like.

  Necessary power is supplied to each unit via a power supply circuit (DC / DC converter) 123 from a power supply supplied from the external power supply input terminal 120 or a battery 122 charged by the charging circuit 121 from this power supply.

  In the disc camcorder 100, the recording operation is performed as described above. However, the reproducing operation at the time of reproduction is substantially opposite.

  That is, information on the disk medium 131 is detected via the OPU 130 and the recording / reproducing circuit 129, the recording format corresponding to the disk medium 131 is demodulated by the signal / control processing circuit 124 and the control microcomputer 128, and the information is recorded via the interface circuit 119. Return to the compression / decompression processing circuit 108. Here, the compressed video signal and audio signal are decompressed and output to the LCD 110, audio output terminal 104, and video output terminal 135 via the video display / output processing circuit 109 and audio output processing circuit 103. Further, the information before decompression is output to the digital output terminal 114 via the digital input processing circuit 113.

  The disc camcorder 100 has an external power input terminal 120 and can supply power from a power source connected to the external power input terminal 120. The battery 122 is charged via the charging circuit 121 by the power supplied via the external power input terminal 120. When an external power supply is connected to the external power input terminal 120, power from the external power supply is supplied to each block via the DC / DC converter 123. On the other hand, when an external power source is not connected, power from the battery 122 is supplied to each block via the DC / DC converter 123.

  Examples of the disk medium 131 include a DVD-ROM for reproduction only, a DVD ± R as a write-once medium, a DVD ± RW as a rewritable disk, and a DVD-RAM. As recording formats for these disc media, for example, a video format (DVD Video format) and a video recording format (Video recording format) have been proposed.

  The video format can be used to implement unique functions such as multi-angle, parental playback, and random / shuffle playback, and special features such as fast-forward and rewind. Have powerful information data to support playback.

  On the other hand, the video recording format considers an application in which a video signal is recorded in real time without going through an editing process on the premise of a rewritable disc, and the editing process can be easily performed after the recording. However, there is a problem that many signals recorded in the video recording format cannot be reproduced by many DVD players capable of reproducing a reproduction-only disc recorded in the video format. This problem can be solved in DVD ± RW and DVD-RAM, which are rewritable discs, by first editing after recording in the video recording format, converting to the video format again, and re-recording. In the case of a DVD ± R disc, which is the only write-once disc, once it is recorded in the video recording format, it cannot be rewritten again, and the disc cannot be reproduced by the DVD player.

  Therefore, in the DVD ± R disc, a method is adopted in which information is once recorded in real time in a simple format, and finally recording management data compliant with the standard video format is re-recorded by performing finalization processing. .

  Next, the concept of the operation mode in the disc camcorder 100 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram of operation modes in the disc camcorder 100 of FIG.

  The disc camcorder 100 has a plurality of operation modes in the shooting mode, and in this embodiment, the first operation mode (hereinafter referred to as “first mode”) and the second operation mode (hereinafter referred to as “second mode”). Mode "). In any operation mode, the disk medium is read and written at a common cycle t1. Further, the amount of information read and written within the period t1 is also constant. For this reason, the time taken to finish writing the same amount of information is constant in any operation mode.

  In the present embodiment, in the first mode, data reading / writing is performed while rotating the disk in 0.15 t1 time within the period t1, and rotation of the disk medium is stopped for 0.85 t1 time to stop data reading / writing. . In this first mode, the disk medium is rotated at a rotation speed of N rpm.

  In the second mode, data reading / writing is performed while rotating the disk medium within a period t1 for 0.3t1 hours, and rotation of the disk medium is stopped for 0.7t1 hours to stop data reading / writing. In this second mode, the disk is rotated at a rotational speed of 0.5 Nrpm. In this embodiment, the rotation speed ratio of the disc media in the first mode and the second mode is 2: 1, but the present invention is not limited to this.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the first mode and the second mode are selectively used according to the magnitude of external noise that changes every moment. The noise includes noise such as operation sound and vibration sound generated from the disk recording / reproducing unit 14 as a driving unit, which is input from the microphone 101.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing power consumption consumed in each operation mode of FIG. 2, in which (a) shows the first mode, and (b) shows the second mode. In the figure, the vertical axis represents the power consumption per unit time of the disk recording / reproducing unit 140, and the horizontal axis represents the time (period t1) required for reading from and writing to the disk medium. For power consumption, the total power consumption per unit time in the first mode is displayed as 10 for relative comparison, and the power consumption ratio is a representative value obtained experimentally.

  In FIG. 3A, the power consumption in the first mode is 8.3 for the laser oscillator of the pickup 130, 0.3 for the spindle motor 132, and 1.4 for signal processing with respect to the total 10. .

  On the other hand, the power consumption in the second mode is 6.4 for the laser oscillator of the pickup 130 as shown in FIG. Thus, it can be seen that when the rotational speed of the disk medium is halved, the power consumption of the laser oscillator of the pickup 130 is reduced by about 20%.

  The power consumption of the spindle motor 132 in the second mode is reduced to 0.08, which is about a quarter, because the rotational speed of the disk medium is half. The power consumption consumed for signal processing is almost unaffected by the rotational speed of the disk medium, and is 1.4 in the first mode and the second mode.

  Thus, the total power consumption per unit time in the second mode is 7.88 as shown in FIG. Since the power consumption 10 per unit time is consumed in a time of 0.15 t1 in the first mode, 1.5 t1 is the power consumed in the period t1.

  On the other hand, in the second mode, the total power consumption of 8.88 per unit time is consumed in a time of 0.3t1, and 2.36t1 is the power consumed in the period t1. Comparing the first mode and the second mode, the first mode consumes about 60% of the power consumption of the second mode.

  Thus, in the first mode, the pause time during intermittent recording becomes longer due to the high rotation speed of the disk medium, and the power consumption can be suppressed. However, since the rotational speed is high, there is a demerit that noise generated from the disk recording / reproducing unit 140 becomes large. On the other hand, although the second mode consumes more power than the first mode, there is an advantage that the noise from the disc recording / reproducing unit 140 is low because the rotational speed of the disc medium is low.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control microcomputer 116 controls the signal / control processing circuit 124 based on the level information of the noise component from the audio input processing circuit 102. When the external noise level is somewhat high, the disc recording / playback unit Because the noise from 140 is inconspicuous, use the first mode with low power consumption, and in a quiet environment with low external noise level, the power consumption is larger than the first mode, but the rotation speed of the disk media is low and quiet. The rotation operation of the disk 131 and the reading / writing of data with respect to the disk 131 are controlled so as to use the second mode. By controlling in this way, noise generated from the disk recording / reproducing unit 140 can be minimized while suppressing power consumption.

  Next, operation mode selection control processing of the disc recording / reproducing unit 140 for noise input from the microphone 101 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation mode selection control process executed by the control microcomputer 116.

  In FIG. 4, first, when the power is turned on (step S401), it is determined whether or not the level of the noise component is larger than a threshold value (step S402). This threshold value is a value set in advance according to the performance of the disc recording / reproducing unit 140 and the positional relationship between the microphone 101 in the disc camcorder 100 and the disc recording / reproducing unit 140.

  As a result of the determination in step S402, when the external noise is larger than the threshold value, recording / reproduction is performed in the first mode (step S403). On the other hand, when the external noise is equal to or smaller than the threshold value in step S402, recording / reproduction is performed in the second mode (step S404).

  In step 405, it is determined whether or not the power is turned off. If not turned off, the process returns to step S402. If the power is turned off, the process is terminated.

  According to the above embodiment, the external noise from the microphone 101 is always monitored while the power of the disc camcorder 100 is ON, and when the external noise is somewhat large, the first mode with low power consumption is used. On the other hand, since the second mode is used in a quiet environment with little external noise, the operation sound and vibration sound generated from the drive unit for recording audio information on the disk type recording medium are reduced and the consumption of the drive unit is also reduced. Electric power can be reduced.

  The disk media corresponding to the recordable DVD have been described in the above embodiment, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a hard disk, a Blu-ray disk, an HD-DVD, and the like.

  In this embodiment, the disk camcorder 100 is used for explanation. However, electronic devices to which the present invention can be applied are not limited to this. That is, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a recorder or a portable information terminal including a voice information input unit and a recording unit for recording on a disc type recording medium.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus as a storage medium. This can also be achieved by reading and executing the stored program code.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, a DVD ± R, and a DVD. -RAM, DVD ± RW, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, etc. can be used. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. A case where part or all of the actual processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included.

  Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. This includes the case where the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a conceptual diagram of the operation mode in the disc camcorder 100 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing power consumption consumed in the operation mode of FIG. 2, where (a) shows a first mode and (b) shows a second mode. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation mode selection control process executed by a control microcomputer 116.

Explanation of symbols

101 Microphone 106 CCD
108 compression / expansion processing circuit 109 video display / output processing circuit 116, 128 control microcomputer 121 charging circuit 122 battery 123 power supply circuit 124 signal control processing circuit 131 disk media 137 camera unit 139 control unit 140 recording / reproducing unit

Claims (9)

Voice information input means for inputting voice information;
Recording means for recording the input audio information on the disk-type recording medium while intermittently rotating the disk-shaped recording medium;
Switching for switching between the first mode and the second mode in which the power consumption during recording of the audio information related to the rotation operation of the disc-shaped recording medium is different according to the noise level included in the input audio information A recording apparatus.   2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first mode and the second mode are different from each other in a rotation pause period of the disk-shaped recording medium and a rotation speed of the disk-shaped recording medium.   In the first mode, the number of rotations of the disk-type recording medium at the time of recording the audio information is set higher than that in the second mode, and the rotation pause period is set longer than that in the second mode. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein power consumption is lower.   The switching unit includes a determining unit that determines whether or not a noise level included in the input voice information is greater than a predetermined threshold, and when the noise level is greater than a predetermined threshold 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is switched to the second mode when the mode is smaller than the predetermined threshold while the mode is switched to the first mode. 5. A voice information input process for inputting voice information;
A recording step of recording the input audio information on the disk-type recording medium while intermittently rotating the disk-shaped recording medium;
Switching for switching between the first mode and the second mode in which the power consumption during recording of the audio information related to the rotation operation of the disc-shaped recording medium is different according to the noise level included in the input audio information A recording method comprising the steps of:   6. The recording method according to claim 5, wherein the first mode and the second mode are different from each other in a rotation pause period of the disk-shaped recording medium and a rotation speed of the disk-shaped recording medium.   In the first mode, the number of rotations of the disk-type recording medium at the time of recording the audio information is set higher than that in the second mode, and the rotation pause period is set longer than that in the second mode. The recording method according to claim 6, wherein power consumption is lower.   The switching step includes a determination step of determining whether or not a noise level included in the input voice information is greater than a predetermined threshold, and when the noise level is greater than a predetermined threshold 8. The recording method according to claim 5, wherein the recording mode is switched to the second mode when the mode is smaller than the predetermined threshold while the mode is switched to the first mode.   A computer-readable program for causing a computer to execute the recording method according to claim 5.

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