JP2007068205A - Recording medium and method of reproducing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reproduce static image information by switching them, and to provide a reproduction technology with proper usability. <P>SOLUTION: The reproduction technology reproduces information from a recording medium. A plurality of image information, indication time information corresponding to each image information, record mark information of the image information, corresponding to the indication time information of the each image information, clip information where the relation between the indication time information of the image information and a recording position of the image information on a recording medium is recorded; and reproduction order for specifying information for specifying a reproduction order of the image information are recorded in the recording medium. When the image information is retrieved, the indication time information of the image information is obtained from the record mark information of the image information, the recording position of the image information on the recording medium is obtained from the time of indication information using the clip information, and the image information is reproduced from the recording position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for recording / reproducing image information recorded on a recording medium, and particularly to a technique for recording / reproducing still image information.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional DVD (Digital Versat) recorded with moving image information on an optical disk.
ile Disc) shows the information structure of the file.

In the information structure of the file shown in FIG. 2, a directory called DVR is created on the optical disc, and each information file is recorded in the directory.

In FIG. The dvr file 201 is a file in which information such as the number of playlists and file names in the DVR directory is written. tid
The x file 202 is a file in which information such as the size and information amount of thumbnails used in the menu is recorded. The tdat file 203 is a file in which thumbnail image information used in the menu is recorded. tidx
The file 204 is a file in which information such as the thumbnail size and information amount at the mark position is recorded. The tdat file 205 is a file in which thumbnail image information to be used at the mark position is recorded. The playlist file 206 is a file in which information such as the reproduction position and order of the image information and the mark position is recorded. A stream file is a file in which information such as a playback start point and its packet position is recorded. A stream file 208 is a file in which information packets such as image information and audio information are recorded.

  Here, the stream file 208 will be described.

Image information is compressed by the MPEG2 system, which is one of the image information compression techniques,
It is converted into a stream file format and recorded. MPEG2 can perform excellent information compression even for NTSC format image information and HD image information of high image information quality represented by high vision, and 1/10 to 1/50 of original image information. The amount of information can be compressed to the extent. For example, 6M for NTSC image information
Sufficient image information quality can be obtained with an information amount of about 20 Mbps even for HD image information of about bps. Image information compression by MPEG2 is widely used for image information storage including DVD and digital broadcasting.

  Next, the clip information file 207 will be described.

As described above, image information is recorded after image information compression in the MPEG2 format. In the MPEG2 format, information compression is performed using the correlation of continuous image information. Specifically, a process is performed in which the information of the immediately preceding image information is used as it is without retransmitting the information of a portion that does not change between consecutive image information. For this reason, the image information in which only the change is encoded has a drawback that the information of all the image information elements cannot be decoded from the information. Accordingly, the only image information that can be reproduced by fast-forwarding or skipping operation is image information obtained by encoding all image information elements.

Generally, image information compression in the MPEG2 format is often performed by combining about 15 pieces of image information. This set of image information is called GOP (Group Of P
i). If reproduction is performed from the top of this GOP, the image information can be reproduced immediately.

In the clip information file 207, the packet position at the tip of the GOP is recorded together with the encoding time of the image information (corresponding to the value of Presentation Time Stamp). Thereby, it is possible to easily search for a position where reproduction is started by searching or skipping.

The clip information file 207 has a one-to-one correspondence with the stream file. 01000. Corresponding to a stream file called m2ts, 01000. c
If a clip information file called lpi is recorded, correspondence between files can be easily identified.

  Next, the playlist file 206 will be described.

The playlist file is a file in which information defining the playback order of the stream file is recorded.

Next, a specific information structure of the playlist file is shown in FIG. In the playlist file, verion_number represents the version of the playlist. PlayLi
st_start_address indicates the recording position of the playlist information in the playlist file. PlayListMark_start_address indicates the recording position of play list mark information. MakersPrivateData_start_address indicates the recording position of the maker's private information. The playlist information includes one or more play item information indicating the playback position of the stream file.

Next, details of playlist mark information will be described with reference to FIG. In the playlist mark information, length indicates the information length of the playlist mark information. number_of_Pla
yListMarks indicates the number of playlist marks. mark_type indicates the type of playlist mark. mark_name_length indicates the length of the name of the playlist mark. ref_to_PlayItem_id indicates the number of the play item corresponding to the playlist mark. mark_time_stamp indicates the time when the playlist mark was marked. Entry_ES_PID is the E of the play item corresponding to the playlist mark.
Indicates the packet ID of S (Elementary Stream). ref_to_thu
mbnail_index indicates the number of the thumbnail corresponding to the playlist mark. mar
k_name stores a character string representing the name of the playlist mark.

Next, a stream management structure of moving image information will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 13, the stream is composed of a plurality of titles, the title is composed of a plurality of chapters, and the chapters are composed of a plurality of scenes. Here, the scene is often moving image information from a recording start to a recording stop.

Here, the types of the above-described playlist marks will be described with reference to FIGS. Playlist marks can have several types. Specifically, a title mark indicating the head of a title, a chapter mark indicating the head of a chapter, and a skip mark indicating a skip position for each scene can be identified.

Next, the correspondence between the play list information, play item information, clip information, stream file, and play list mark information will be described with reference to FIG.

The playlist 801 includes one or a plurality of play items. Here, two play items 802 and 803 are shown. Each play item designates the position on the stream file to be reproduced by the file name of the clip information, the STC_seqence number, and the start time / end time. Specifically, an area 701 on the stream file corresponds to the play item 802.

Here, each play item may correspond to a separate stream file. Reference numerals 804 and 805 denote positions where playlist marks are recorded. The playlist mark is actually recorded in the playlist information, and is converted into a packet position on the actual stream file using the clip information. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

JP 2003-123389 A

The above prior art is based on the premise of recording / reproducing moving picture information using an MPEG stream file. However, not only moving image information but also recording / reproducing of still image information is required. When reproducing still image information, unlike the case of reproducing moving image information, there is a problem that it is desired to easily access each piece of still image information.

That is, when reproducing a plurality of still image information from a recording medium, an operation of switching to subsequent image information or returning to previous image information is required.

However, since the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus does not consider the recording / reproducing of the still image information as described above, there is a problem that the operation corresponding to the user's operation cannot be performed correctly. In addition, while displaying still image information,
Also, a method for continuously outputting audio information as Back Ground Music) has not been considered.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the conventional art. Also,
An object is to easily switch and reproduce still image information. It is another object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly reproduction technique.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a plurality of image information, display time information corresponding to the image information, record mark information of image information corresponding to the display time information of each of the image information, A recording medium on which reproduction order designation information for designating the reproduction order of the image information is recorded.

The present invention also relates to a reproduction technique for reproducing information from a recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes a plurality of pieces of image information, display time information corresponding to each piece of image information, and display of each piece of image information. Designates recording mark information of image information corresponding to time information, clip information recording a relationship between display time information of the image information and a recording position of the image information on a recording medium, and a reproduction order of the image information Reproduction order designation information is recorded, and when searching for the image information, display time information of the image information is obtained from the recording mark information of the image information, and the display information time is calculated from the display information time using the clip information. The recording position of the image information on the recording medium is obtained, and the image information is reproduced from the recording position.

As described above, in the present invention, it is possible to switch and reproduce still image information. Also, it is possible to provide an easy-to-use reproduction technique.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that the recording medium is a DVD. However, the present invention is not limited to a DVD, and for example, a CD (compact disc) or an MD (mini disc)
It can be applied to a wide variety of recording media for recording information.

In this embodiment, the MPEG2 format is taken as an example, and in-frame compressed image information (hereinafter simply referred to as a stream file)
(I picture) information is described as being recorded, but it goes without saying that the information may be encoded using other image information compression methods.

In the present embodiment, as with the image information, the amount of information is also compressed with respect to the audio information using the audio information compression technique. For audio information compression technology, MPEG1
There are various compression techniques such as AAC format used in audio and BS digital broadcasting, and any compression format may be adopted. In addition, since the audio information has a smaller amount of information than the image information, the information can be recorded in a linear PCM format without compression.

In the present embodiment, the image information and audio information encoded as described above are multiplexed as a stream file and recorded as one file so that transmission and storage are easy. Specifically, each information is converted into a 188-byte packet. At that time, each packet has a PID (packet ID) for packet identification.
Is added. By adding a single PID to a series of information, packets can be easily separated during reproduction.

In this embodiment, in addition to image information / audio information, various information packets such as caption information, graphic information, and control commands can be multiplexed in the stream file. Furthermore, PMT (program Ma) representing the relationship of each PID
p Table) and PAT (Program Allocation Table)
e), PCR (Program Clock Reference) representing time information
Packets such as e) are also multiplexed. The stream file on which information is multiplexed in this manner is recorded on the optical disc as a stream file.

  Hereinafter, the reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, information is recorded on an optical disk 101, and an optical pickup 102 reads information from the optical disk 101 using laser light, and reproduces a signal processing circuit 10.
3 performs a predetermined decoding process on the signal read from the optical pickup and converts it into a digital signal. An output control circuit 104 converts the digital signal demodulated by the reproduction signal processing circuit into a predetermined packet format and performs an output process. The servo circuit 105 controls the rotation speed of the optical disk and the position of the optical pickup, and the drive control circuit 10
6 controls the servo circuit and the signal processing circuit, the audio information decoder 107 decodes the audio information signal from the audio information packet input from the output control circuit, and the audio information output terminal 108 outputs the audio information decoded by the audio information decoder. The information signal is output, the image information decoder 109 decodes the image information signal from the image information packet input from the output control circuit, and the image information output terminal 110 outputs the image information signal decoded by the image information decoder. .

The optical disc 101 is a stream file in which signal packets of image information and audio information are multiplexed, playlist information indicating the reproduction order of each stream, clip information in which information on feature points on each stream is recorded, skip position Various information such as mark position information indicating the start position of a chapter or menu information used for selecting a playlist is recorded as a file in a predetermined format.

The playlist information includes one or a plurality of play item information indicating the playback position of the stream file.

Next, the specific structure of the play item information of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
In the play item information, length indicates the length of the play item information. type_
of_presentation indicates the display method of the play item. number_of_PlayItems
Indicates the number of play items in the play item information. number_of_SubPlayIte
ms indicates the number of sub play items. (For sub-play items, the third
The embodiment will be described. )
Here, type_of_presentation indicates the display method of the play item, and takes a value as shown in FIG. Specifically, when type_of_presentation is 0, it indicates that playback is performed as normal moving image information or still image information. type_of_presen
When tation is 1, it indicates that playback is performed as still image information playback with BGM. The still image information with BGM will be described in detail in the third embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a specific information structure of the play item. Where length is
Indicates the information length of the play item. Still_flag is a flag indicating whether to stop the display after playing the play item. Still_duration is a display stop time when still_flag is set and the display is stopped after the play item is played back, and the unit is seconds. Still_duration = 0 represents an infinite stop time. Clip_Information_file_name represents the file identifier of the clip information file and the stream file. ref_to_STC_id indicates the STC_sequence number in the stream file. IN_time represents the reproduction start time of the image information in the stream file by the PTS of the image information. OUT_time represents the reproduction end time of the image information in the stream file by the PTS of the image information.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, a play item is associated with each piece of still image information.

As described in the prior art, in the case of moving image information, all I-PICTURER
If the play item is made to correspond to the file, the capacity of the playlist file becomes enormous, which is not realistic. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the beginning position of the chapter is recorded as playlist mark information. By using this, functions such as starting playback from the next chapter or playing back to the beginning of the chapter are realized.

However, in the case of still image information, if a play item is associated with each still image information, the recording position of the still image information can be easily detected when switching to the previous and next still image information.

As described above, in the first embodiment, even when a plurality of pieces of still image information are recorded, an operation of switching to the next image information or returning to the previous image information can be easily performed.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the premise is first.
Since this is the same as the embodiment, the description is omitted.

The present embodiment is characterized in that a mark is associated with each piece of still image information.

That is, in the present embodiment, a still picture mark indicating the head of still image information is added to the type of playlist mark shown in FIG.

Therefore, the playlist mark is, for example, a chapter mark indicating the beginning of a chapter,
The still picture information can be identified as a still picture mark indicating the head of still image information, or a skip mark indicating a skip position for each scene.

If a predetermined number is assigned to each of them, the meaning of each mark can be identified, whereby a plurality of marks can be used properly. Of course, the meaning of the mark is arbitrary, and only a single mark may be used.

In this embodiment, if the recording position of each still image information is recorded as a playlist mark, the recording position of the still image information can be easily detected when switching to the preceding and following still image information. For reference, a conceptual diagram of a playlist management structure in the present embodiment is shown in FIG.

Next, correspondence of each information when still image information is recorded will be described with reference to FIG.

When recording still image information, still image information is recorded as image information instead of moving image information. For still image information, the image information is not recorded continuously,
Image information is recorded only in a portion where still image information is displayed. On the other hand, information such as audio information and subtitle information is continuously recorded on the stream in the same manner for both still image information and moving image information.

Here, the still image information to be recorded is image information compressed by the MPEG2 system as with the moving image information, and is recorded as a file in the form of an MPEG transport packet. At this time, unlike the moving image information, the intra-frame compressed image information (I
Only one picture is recorded as still image information. Since the information ends only with the image information, if a sequence end code indicating the end of the image information is added after the image information, one image information is displayed by the decoder, and the image information is displayed. Is retained.

FIG. 11 shows an image diagram of an MPEG transport packet. Where M
The PEG transport packet is a stream format output from the output control circuit 104 in FIG.
In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1101 denotes a packet header, and 1102 denotes an MPEG transport packet.
The MPEG transport packet is 188 bytes long. 4
A byte packet header is added, and multiple consecutive packets are recorded as a stream file. Here, 30 bits of the packet header are used as a time stamp, and the remaining 2 bits are used as a recording area for additional information. The time stamp is for controlling the output timing of the packet.
The counted value is used with respect to the clock of Hz.

FIG. 12 is a specific configuration example of a portion that performs packet output timing control in the output control circuit.
In FIG. 12, 1201 is an input terminal, 1202 is a buffer, 1203 is a time stamp extraction circuit, 1204 is an oscillator, 1205 is a counter, 1206 is a coincidence detection circuit, and 1207 is an output terminal.

A signal reproduced from the optical disc is input to the input terminal 1201 of the output timing control circuit as an MPEG transport packet. MP input here
The EG transport packet is the one shown in FIG.
A byte packet header is added. Time stamp extraction circuit 1203
Extracts a 30-bit time stamp in the packet header from the MPEG transport packet and inputs it to the coincidence detection circuit. At the same time, the input packet is input to the buffer.

On the other hand, the oscillator generates a clock at a frequency of 27 MHz, and this clock is input to the counter. The counter has the same 30-bit length as the time stamp and counts a 27 MHz clock. The value counted by the counter is input to the coincidence detection circuit.

  Next, a playback procedure using the playback apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described.

On the optical disc 101, an image information stream, playlist information, clip information, and the like are recorded in the format described above.

First, the user sets the optical disc 101 in the playback device. When the optical disk is inserted, the drive control circuit 106 detects the insertion of the disk and transmits a signal indicating that the disk has been inserted to the system control circuit 111. System control circuit 1
11 receives the disc insertion signal and reads the file management information on the optical disc 101. Specifically, the system control circuit 111 instructs the drive control circuit 106 to read information on a predetermined sector of the optical disc 101.
The drive control circuit 106 receives an instruction from the system control circuit 111 and controls the servo circuit 105 to control the rotational speed and phase of the optical disk, the position of the optical pickup, and the like. As a result, the optical pickup is sought to the designated sector indicated, and information is read out by the laser beam. The laser beam received by the optical pickup 102 is converted into an electric signal by the light receiving circuit and sent to the reproduction signal processing circuit 103. The reproduction signal processing circuit 103 performs processing such as demodulation and error correction on the electric signal and converts it into digital information. Information on the predetermined sector read as described above is returned from the drive control circuit 106 to the system control circuit 111. The system control circuit 111 analyzes file management information and file contents based on the information received from the drive control circuit 106. In the file management information, information such as directory information and file identifiers of files recorded on the optical disc 101, and the size and recording position of each file are recorded. The system control circuit
Using these file management information, necessary files are read out.

Next, the user instructs the playback apparatus to start playback in order to start playback of the optical disc 101. Specifically, a playback start button on a remote controller (not shown) is pressed. A signal transmitted from the remote control is received by the remote control receiving circuit 112 and input to the system control circuit 111. The system control circuit 111 recognizes that this is a playback instruction from the user, and starts a playback processing sequence. Specifically, first, the system control circuit 111 sets the info. The dvr 201 file is read, and the number of playlist files recorded on the disc, the file name of the playlist, and the like are acquired. The system control circuit 111 displays the acquired playlist information on the image information surface and prompts the user to select a playlist. If necessary, information on the menu image information surface, thumbnails, and the like may be displayed.

The user selects a desired playlist from the playlist displayed on the TV image information surface. Also at this time, selection is performed using the up / down / left / right buttons of the remote controller, and information on the pressed button is input to the system control circuit via the remote control reception circuit. Of course, playlist selection is not essential, and playback may be controlled in order from the first playlist.

When a playlist is selected, the system control circuit 111 reads the selected playlist information from the optical disc. Each playlist has a type_of_presen
Contains information about the playback method indicated by tation. In addition, as play item information, a file name, a reproduction start time, a reproduction end time, and the like of a stream file to be reproduced are written. Furthermore, playlist mark information is written. The play list mark information includes a play item number corresponding to the marked time, a corresponding thumbnail number, and the like.

First, the operation of the playback apparatus will be described with reference to an example in which type_of_pserentation is 0, that is, normal playback is performed.
When type_of_presentation is 0, files designated as play items are sequentially played back. Specifically, the system control circuit 111 reads the information of the first play item, and reads the clip information file 207 corresponding to Clip_information_file written therein. Next, IN_ written on the play item
The time of time and OUT_time are converted into the start number and end number of the packet using clip information. Subsequently, the stream file corresponding to Clip_information_file is read, and reproduction is started from the packet corresponding to the packet start number. The replayed stream packet follows the time stamp written on the packet,
It is output from the output control circuit 104 to the audio information decoder 107 and the image information decoder 109 at a predetermined timing. The audio information decoder 107 decodes the audio information and outputs it to the audio information output terminal 108. Similarly, the image information decoder 109 decodes the image information and outputs it to the image information output terminal 110. Also, caption information, graphic information, and the like are decoded by a predetermined decoder (not shown), and are superimposed on the image information signal and output. Multiplexed control commands in the stream are input from the output control circuit 104 to the system control circuit 111, and command interpretation is performed.

The reproduction of the stream file is performed up to a packet having an end packet number corresponding to OUT_time on the play item 902. When the reproduction of the still image information 904 corresponding to the play item 902 is completed, the next play item 903 is reproduced in the same manner. When the reproduction of a series of play items described in the playlist 901 is completed, the process returns to the selection of the playlist. Of course, the control may be performed so that the next playlist is continuously reproduced.

Next, a skip operation process when reproducing image information will be described.
As described above, playlist mark information is recorded in the playlist 901. In the playlist mark information, the time at which the mark was recorded is written corresponding to the play item. When the user presses the next chapter button on the remote control during playback of the play item 901 and starts playback from the next chapter, the playlist mark information corresponding to the play item being played back is read out, The chapter mark 910 after the reproduction time is searched as a skip mark.

In the present embodiment, each play item corresponds to each chapter (chapter), and it is assumed that the still picture information and the chapter mark of the still image information at the beginning of the chapter are used in common. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an arbitrary image group may be associated with the play item. Also, the chapter mark and the still picture mark may be separated.

Further, when there is no next skip mark in the playlist mark information corresponding to the play item being reproduced, the search may be performed from the playlist mark information corresponding to the next play item.

The chapter mark time is acquired from the chapter mark 910 searched in this way by mark_time_stamp, the playback start packet number is obtained from the clip information, and playback of the still image information 905 is started from that packet. As a result, playback from the next chapter can be performed in correspondence with the next chapter button.

Similarly, when the previous chapter button is pressed and playback is performed from the immediately preceding chapter, the playlist mark information being played back is read, and the skip mark of the chapter before the current playback time is searched. If there is no skip mark of the previous chapter in the play list mark information corresponding to the play item being played back, the play list mark information corresponding to the previous play item may be searched. From the skip mark searched in this way, get the time of the skip mark with mark_time_stamp,
After obtaining the reproduction start packet number from the clip information, the reproduction of the stream file is started from the packet. Thus, playback from the immediately preceding chapter can be performed in correspondence with the previous chapter button.

As described above, it is possible to reproduce a stream from the positions of previous and subsequent playlist marks.

Next, an image information switching operation (skip etc.) will be described.
In the information shown in FIG. 9, 90 as play items in the playlist 901.
Two play items 2 and 903 are included. When the play list 901 is reproduced, first, additional information 907 such as still image information 904 included in the play item 902 and corresponding sound information is reproduced. Here, the still image information 904 is displayed immediately after stream reproduction. On the other hand, the additional information 907 is a stream having a predetermined length and is reproduced over a predetermined time (for example, 5 seconds). This reproduction time is determined when information is created. Play item 902
After the reproduction, the play item 903 is reproduced. The play item 903 includes two pieces of still image information 905 and 906. Additional information such as audio information corresponding to the still image information is 908. As soon as the play item 903 is reproduced, still image information 905 is displayed, and after a predetermined time has elapsed, still image information 906 is displayed. During this time, additional information 908 is output. When the playback time of the additional information 908 ends, the playback of the play item 903 ends.

Here, when the next picture button is pressed during playback of the still image information 905 and an instruction is given to display the next still image information, the system control circuit reads the next still picture mark from the playlist mark. 911 is searched, and the stream is reproduced from that position. That is, the still image information 906 is reproduced.
Here, additional information 908 such as audio information is multiplexed with a stream of still image information, and when the display of the still image information changes, the reproduction position of the additional information also changes.
Therefore, the additional information 908 is played back from the position corresponding to the still image information 906, that is, the still picture mark 911, and the second half of the additional information 908 is played back.

Similarly, when the previous picture button is pressed during playback of the still image information 905 and an instruction is given to display the previous still image information, the system control circuit
The previous still picture mark 909 is searched from the playlist mark, and the stream is reproduced from that position. That is, still image information 904 and additional information 907 are reproduced.
As described above, the user can easily switch the image information to be displayed.

By the way, still_flag and still_duration can be set in the play item. This is used to stop the display of image information for a predetermined time after the play item is reproduced. For example, after playing the play item 902, 1
If you want to stop the image information for 0 seconds, set still_flag and still_d
Set 10 as the uration. The system control circuit is a play item 9
After reproducing 02, it is recognized that still_flag is set in the play item 902, and the display operation is stopped. Specifically, the output of audio information is stopped, and the display image information is frozen and displayed as the last image information. Next, the system control circuit counts for 10 seconds, and then controls to move to reproduction of the next play item. Thereby, after play item reproduction | regeneration, a display can be stopped only for arbitrary time. When the next picture button is pressed by the user while the display is stopped, reproduction may be started from the next still picture flag position. Also,
When still_duration is set to 0, the display is controlled to stop until an operation from the user is performed. By combining this processing and command processing, it can be applied to menu selection by the user.

As shown in FIG. 6, the information structure of the playlist information according to the present embodiment has Still_flag for each piece of play item information, so that it is possible to stop image information after playing the play item. Only the last image information included in the play item. Therefore, when stopping the image information after playing the play item, it is necessary to divide it into separate play items. In order to avoid this, a method of recording still_flag and still_duration information in the play item information is also conceivable.

Note that the stream corresponding to the playlist 912 includes only still image information, and does not include additional information such as audio information. Also in this case, similarly to the play list 901, the reproduction process and the skip operation can be performed.

Similarly to the case of still image information, by associating marks with all I pictures of moving image information, switching of I pictures is facilitated when moving image information is displayed as still image information.

As described above, in the second embodiment, even when a plurality of pieces of still image information are recorded, an operation of switching to the next image information or returning to the previous image information can be easily performed. Also, when moving image information is displayed as still image information, operations such as switching to the next image information or returning to the previous image information can be easily performed.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the skip operation as described so far, when the display of the still image information is switched, the audio information reproduced at the same time is also switched. However, in the case of menu selection or when still image information is displayed like a photo album, it is more convenient to output audio information continuously without interruption. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, it is also possible to record BGM audio information as a sub play item separately from a normal play item. FIG. 10 shows the correspondence of information when reproducing still image information with BGM.

As shown in FIG. 9, when still image information is multiplexed and recorded with audio information or the like, when image information is switched by user's selection, additional information such as audio information is also switched along with switching of image information. . This is inconvenient when the menu image information surface is realized using still image information. Therefore, even when the image information is switched, it is possible to cope with a reproduction method in which audio information is not interrupted and is reproduced continuously.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 10, in the play list, a plurality of still image information is designated as a normal play item, and audio information is designated as a sub play item. Accordingly, the audio information is reproduced as a sub play item independently of the still image information, and the audio information can be continuously reproduced even when the still image information is switched.

As the information structure, by specifying 1 for type_of_presentation in the PlayList information, it can be shown that this play item is still image information with BGM.

  Next, a reproduction procedure of information having the BGM audio information shown in FIG. 10 is shown.

In the case of reproducing still image information with BGM, 1 is set as type_of_presentation.

The play list 1001 includes a sub play item 1010 together with two play items 1002 and 1003. Specifically, the stream 1011 is designated as SubPlayItem () in the information structure of FIG. Here, the stream corresponding to the play item includes caption information, graphic information, a control command, and the like in addition to image information, but does not include audio information. On the other hand, the sub play item stream 1011 includes only audio information.

When the play list 1001 is reproduced, information on the play items (1002 and 1003) and the sub play item 1010 is acquired from the play list (FIG. 4).

Next, a clip information file is read out from the play item (FIG. 6) according to Clip_information_file_name. Using this clip information file,
The stream start packet number corresponding to the time of IN_time is obtained. Further, a stream file corresponding to the clip information file is read out, output is started from the reproduction start packet number, and image information is decoded. here,
Streams 1004, 1005, and 1006 reproduced as play items do not include audio information such as image information and caption information as described above. Or
Even if audio information is included, control is performed so that the audio information is discarded without being output. Through these processes, play items in the play list 1001 can be reproduced.

On the other hand, a sub play item 1010 is specified in the playlist 1001. If 1 is designated as type_of_presentation in the playlist information, the system control circuit in the playback device determines that this playlist is for playing back still image information with BGM. At this time, the sub play item is B
Processing is performed as GM audio information. Specifically, the sub play item 1010
The stream 1011 corresponding to is read, and control is performed so that this is repeatedly reproduced. Of course, the sub play item stream may be reproduced only once, or information specifying the number of times of reproduction may be recorded in the play item.
Here, it is necessary to reproduce the play item and the sub play item in parallel. At this time, if the control is performed so that both stream files are read out by the time division processing, the streams can be reproduced and output at the same time. Of course, control may be performed so that a large-capacity buffer memory is prepared, and all the sub play items are read out and then output.

Next, the switching operation of still image information by the user in the case of the information structure shown in FIG. 10 will be described.

As described above, when the playlist 1001 is reproduced, the play item 1002 is reproduced.
And 1003 are sequentially reproduced, and still image information is displayed. At this time, the sub play item 1010 is also reproduced in parallel, and the audio information in the stream 1011 is output.

For example, when the next picture button is pressed during playback of the stream 1005 and the display of the next still image information is instructed by the user, the system control circuit searches for the next still picture mark 1009 from the play item mark. , Start playback from that position. Accordingly, the reproduced still image information is 1006.
And still image information included therein is displayed.

On the other hand, since the sub play item 1010 continues to be reproduced independently of the switching operation of the still image information by the user, the audio information is not interrupted even when the image information to be reproduced is switched by the instruction from the user. Stream 1011
Can be played continuously.

Even in the case of the information structure shown in FIG. 10, still_picture_flag and still_du
By using ration, the display can be stopped at an arbitrary time after the reproduction of each image information. Also in this case, if the sub play item 1010 which is BGM audio information is controlled to be output continuously, the audio information will not be interrupted.

As described above, in the third embodiment, the sub play item is BGM.
By using it as audio information, it is possible to output audio information continuously even when the image information is switched by the user.

In the above specific example, two types of playlist marks, a chapter mark and a still picture mark, have been used as examples. However, these are not limited, and the same playlist mark is used. Also good. in this case,
Processing may be performed by determining whether normal moving image information is being reproduced or still image information is being reproduced.
As described above, in the third embodiment, even when a plurality of pieces of still image information are recorded, an operation of switching to the next image information or returning to the previous image information can be easily performed. Also, it is possible to continuously output audio information as BGM while displaying still image information.

Block diagram of playback device File structure of recording medium Playlist file structure Playlist information structure Illustration of type_of_presentation Structure of play item information Playlist mark information structure Diagram of information when recording video information Diagram of information when recording still image information Relationship diagram of information when recording still image information with BGM MPEG-TS recording format Block diagram of output timing control method Conceptual diagram of stream management structure Diagram of information when recording still image information Conceptual diagram of playlist file

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Optical disk, 102 ... Optical pick-up, 103 ... Reproduction signal processing circuit, 1
04 ... output control circuit, 105 ... servo circuit, 106 ... drive control circuit, 107
... Audio information decoder, 108 ... Audio information output terminal, 109 ... Image information decoder, 110 ... Image information output terminal, 801 ... Play list of moving image information, 802 ...
Play item of moving image information, 803... Play item of moving image information, 804.
Stream of moving image information, 805 ... Stream of moving image information, 806 ... Playlist mark, 807 ... Playlist mark, 901 ... Playlist of still image information, 902 ... Play item of still image information, 903 ... Still image information Play item 904 ... Still image information, 905 ... Still image information, 906 ... Still image information, 907 ... Additional information, 908 ... Additional information, 909 ... Play list mark, 910
... playlist mark, 911 ... playlist mark, 1001 ... playlist of still image information with BGM, 1002 ... playitem of still image information, 100
3 ... Play item of still image information, 1004 ... Still image information stream, 10
05 ... Still image information stream, 1006 ... Still image information stream, 1007
... playlist mark, 1008 ... playlist mark, 1009 ... playlist mark, 1010 ... sub-playitem, 1011 ... audio information stream, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Packet header 1102 ... MPEG-TS packet, 1201 ... Input terminal, 1202 ... Buffer, 1203 ... Time stamp extraction circuit, 1204 ...
Oscillator, 1205 ... counter, 1206 ... time stamp match detection circuit, 12
07 output terminal

Claims (10)

Multiple image information,
Display time information corresponding to the image information;
Recording mark information of image information corresponding to display time information of each of the image information,
Clip information that records the relationship between the display time information of the image information and the recording position of the image information on the recording medium;
Recording medium on which reproduction order designation information for designating the reproduction order of the image information is recorded. The recording medium according to claim 1,
The image information is MPEG compressed information,
A recording medium on which recording mark information of image information is recorded corresponding to display time information of an I picture in the MPEG compressed image information. The recording medium according to claim 1 or 2,
A recording medium in which audio information is recorded as a separate file from the image information. The recording medium according to claim 3,
The recording medium in which the reproduction order designation information includes reproduction mode flag information indicating whether or not the audio information is output when the image information is output. The image information is still image information,
2. The still image information is MPEG compressed information.
5. The recording medium according to any one of items 1 to 4. A reproduction method for reproducing information from a recording medium,
The recording medium includes a plurality of image information, display time information corresponding to each image information, recording mark information of image information corresponding to display time information of each image information, and display time of the image information. Clip information that records the relationship between the information and the recording position of the image information on the recording medium, and reproduction order designation information that designates the reproduction order of the image information,
When searching for the image information, the display time information of the image information is detected from the recording mark information of the image information,
Detecting the recording position of the image information on the recording medium from the display information time using the clip information,
A reproduction method for reproducing image information from the recording position. The reproduction method according to claim 6, wherein
The image information is MPEG compressed information,
In the recording medium, recording mark information of image information is recorded corresponding to the display time information of the I picture of the MPEG compressed image information,
A reproduction method for detecting display time information of image information from recording mark information of image information of the I picture when searching for the image information. The playback method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein
On the recording medium, audio information is recorded as a separate file from the image information,
According to the reproduction order information recorded on the recording medium, the audio information is output when reproducing the image information. The reproduction method according to claim 8, wherein
In the recording medium, the reproduction order designation information includes reproduction mode flag information indicating whether to output the audio information when outputting the image information,
When the reproduction mode flag information is valid, based on the reproduction order information, when reproducing the image information, the audio information is output,
A reproduction method for reproducing the image information based on the reproduction order information when the reproduction mode flag information is invalid. The image information is still image information,
The still image information is recorded on the recording medium as MPEG compressed information,
The reproduction method according to claim 6, wherein the MPEG-compressed still image information is expanded.

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