JP2007073129A - Material management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store an AV material in a portable storage medium even if the AV material of any format is received for a cart apparatus, in a material management system. <P>SOLUTION: The cart apparatus 1 houses a plurality of portable storage medium storing the material, when the material is recorded in the portable storage medium, a cart control apparatus 2 identifies the format of the material, controls the cart apparatus 1, and stores the material of the same format in one portable storage medium. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a material management system, and more particularly to a material management system that manages video or audio material.

  A broadcasting station that handles a large amount of AV (Audio Visual) material needs to manage a large amount of material stored for use in program production. Therefore, data for managing materials by using a cart device having a recording / reproducing device for recording / reproducing material files to / from the storage, a shelf for storing the storage, and a transporter for conveying the storage from the shelf to the recording / reproducing device. A management system is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, in recent years, AV materials have become MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), and compression coding by MPEG2 is used for digital broadcasting, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) -Video, etc. It has been used. Furthermore, in recent years, MXF (Material eXchange Format) has been adopted as a format for exchanging files between broadcasting devices of different models and manufacturers on a TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) network. Standardized by Motion Picture & Television Engineers).

MXF is a format in which data in MPEG format and DV (Digital Video) format, as well as metadata (compression encoding method, video content, shooting location, etc.) can be integrated and sent and received with a streaming function. Is also supported. By using MXF, for example, using a LAN (Local Area Network) in a broadcasting station, a simple operation on a screen such as drag and drop in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment can be performed between devices on the LAN. Transfer, playback, and recording of material files are becoming possible. The file transfer on the network is controlled by a protocol that is normally used for asynchronous transfer, such as CIFS (Common Internet File System) or FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Japanese Patent No. 2952908

  However, the cart device in the conventional data management system, when the format of the received AV material and the format of the AV material stored in the portable storage medium on which the received AV material is to be recorded do not match, There is a problem that the AV material received by the cart device cannot be recorded.

  The present invention has been made in view of these points, and provides a material management system capable of storing AV material in any format to a cart device and storing it in a portable storage medium. With the goal.

  In the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, in a material management system for managing video or audio material, a storage shelf for storing a plurality of portable storage media for storing the material, and recording the material on the portable storage medium When recording the material on the portable storage medium and the cart device having a recording device, the format of the material is identified, and the cart device is controlled to be the same as one portable storage medium. And a cart control device for storing the material of the format.

  According to such a material management system, the cart device stores a plurality of portable storage media for storing the material, and the cart control device identifies the format of the material when recording the material on the portable storage medium. Then, the cart apparatus is controlled to store the same format material in one portable storage medium.

  According to the material management system of the present invention, when the cart control device records the material on the portable storage medium, the cart control device identifies the format of the material and controls the cart device so that it is identical to one portable storage medium. Therefore, a plurality of format materials can be automatically and appropriately stored in a portable storage medium.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a material management system according to the present embodiment.
The material management system of the present embodiment is a system that is applied, for example, at a broadcast station program production site, and includes a cart device 1, a cart control device 2, an AV server 3, and a control computer 4.

  The cart device 1 includes a storage shelf 1a for storing a plurality of portable storage media, and a plurality of recording / reproducing devices 1b. Further, a transporter (not shown) is provided which takes out the portable storage medium from the storage shelf 1a and transports it to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1b.

  The cart control device 2 controls the operation of the cart device 1. In addition, when there is a material write request to the portable storage medium stored in the cart device 1, information such as the material format is identified, and a control signal is sent to the cart device 1 based on the information. The portable storage medium corresponding to the format of the material is set in the recording / reproducing apparatus 1b. Further, when the material is stored, an index indicating which format of the material is stored in which portable storage medium and whether there is a portable storage medium that stores nothing is generated and stored.

  The AV server 3 functions as a file server and stores, for example, a material for producing a broadcast program. The control computer 4 is a computer that controls transfer of materials and the like, and in response to an instruction from a user, searches for a desired material and requests reproduction or recording of the material. The LAN 5 connects the cart device 1, the cart control device 2, the AV server 3, and the control computer 4, and transmits materials, control signals, and the like.

  There are various formats for the material. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1b includes MPEG IMX (50/40/30 Mbps) (MPEG IMX is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation) and DVCAM (DVCAM is a trademark of Sony Corporation) among various formats. It is assumed that each format is supported.

  The MPEG IMX format is a quantized 8-bit digital component recording, adopting a sampling rate of 4: 2: 2, and an intra frame method compliant with MPEG-2 4: 2: 2 @ ML as a compression method.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example when the material received by the cart apparatus is recorded.
An optical disk 6 which is a portable storage medium is stored in the storage shelf 1a of the cart apparatus 1. The optical disc 6 is a blank disc 7 that has not yet been stored, an optical disc 8 that stores 50 Mbps material in MPEG IMX format, an optical disc 9 that stores 40 Mbps material in MPEG IMX format, and 30 Mbps in MPEG IMX format. Are classified into the optical disc 10 storing the material and the optical disc 11 storing the DVCAM format material.

  For example, when all of the optical disks 6 stored in the storage rack 1 a are blank disks 7, when a 50 Mbps material in MPEG IMX format is transmitted from the AV server 3, the material is recorded on the blank disk 7. In addition, when there is an optical disc 8 that already stores a 50 Mbps material in the MPEG IMX format, the material is recorded on the optical disc 8.

The reproduction data when the material stored on the optical disc 6 is reproduced in this way is shown in FIGS.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of reproduction data when a plurality of format materials are continuously reproduced.

  In the reproduction data 20, material data 21 of 50 Mbps in MPEG IMX format, material data 22 in DVCAM format, and material data 23 of 30 Mbps in MPEG IMX format are arranged in order of reproduction from left to right.

  First, the material data 21 is reproduced. Then, when the reproduction of the material data 21 is finished, the reproduction of the material data 22 starts. When the material data 22 is reproduced, it is necessary to reset the decoder of the reproducing apparatus. That is, when data of different formats are continuously reproduced, the data amount may vary greatly between data of different formats, and various processes such as resetting of the decoder are required. Then, the playback device cannot absorb the lag, and the video may be disturbed or stopped.

On the other hand, FIG. 4 shows reproduction data when a single format material is continuously reproduced.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of reproduction data when a single format material is continuously reproduced.

  In the reproduction data 30, 50 Mbps material data 31, 32, and 33 in the MPEG IMX format are arranged in order of reproduction from left to right. First, the material data 31 is reproduced. When the reproduction of the material data 31 is finished, the reproduction of the material data 32 starts. When the material data 32 is reproduced, unlike when the reproduction data 20 is reproduced, it is not necessary to reset the decoder of the reproducing device. In addition, since the amount of data does not change greatly between data in the same format, it is possible to smoothly reproduce the video without being disturbed.

  For the reasons described above, when a material is stored on the optical disk 6, it is necessary to use one material format for one optical disk 6. However, on the other hand, it is convenient for the user to be able to store data in various types of formats in the cart apparatus 1 and actually handle data in various types of formats.

  Thus, the material transmitted to the cart device 1 is received by the cart control device 2, and the format of the material is identified in advance so that a plurality of formats of material are not stored in one optical disc 6.

Next, processing for storing the transmitted material will be described.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing for recording a material on an optical disc in the material management system of the present embodiment.

Hereinafter, the process illustrated in FIG. 5 will be described in order of step number.
[Step S11] Upon receiving the material, the cart control device 2 identifies the format of the received material. Further, with reference to the index stored in the cart control device 2, it is determined whether or not a material having the same format as the received material has already been stored. If already stored, the process proceeds to step S12, and if not yet stored, the process proceeds to step S13.

  [Step S12] The cart control device 2 transmits a storage request including the identified format to the cart device. When the cart apparatus 1 receives the storage request, the cart apparatus 1 loads the optical disk 6 in which the material format is stored into the recording / reproducing apparatus 1b by using a transporter of the optical disk 6 (not shown). Then, when the preparation for writing the material is completed, the cart apparatus 1 notifies the cart control apparatus 2 that the preparation for writing has been completed. Upon receiving the notification, the cart control device 2 transmits the material to the cart device 1. The cart apparatus 1 writes the received material on the optical disc 6.

  For example, when the format of the material received by the cart control device 2 is 50 Mbps in the MPEG IMX format, the cart device 1 loads the optical disk 8 into the recording / reproducing apparatus 1b using the transporter, and loads the material into the optical disk 8. Write.

  [Step S13] The cart control device 2 refers to the index to determine whether or not there is a blank disk 7 in the storage shelf 1a of the cart device 1. If there is a blank disk 7, the process proceeds to step S14. If there is no blank disk 7, the process ends.

  [Step S14] The cart apparatus 1 loads the blank disk 7 into the recording / reproducing apparatus 1b by using the transporter. Then, when the preparation for writing the material is completed, the cart apparatus 1 notifies the cart control apparatus 2 that the preparation for writing has been completed.

[Step S15] Upon receiving the notification, the cart control device 2 transmits the material to the cart device 1. The cart apparatus 1 writes the received material on the blank disc 7.

By using the material management system as described above, when the material is stored in the cart device 1, the cart control device 2 identifies the format of the material and controls the cart device 1 so that the same optical disk 6 can be used. Since format materials are stored, a plurality of format materials can be automatically and appropriately stored in a portable storage medium. Therefore, the user can store the material in the cart apparatus 1 without worrying about the format of the material, and the material format stored in the optical disc 6 is unified.

  In the description of step S12 in FIG. 5 described above, it has been described that the material is stored in the optical disc 8. However, if the remaining capacity of the optical disc 8 is small with respect to the material, a part is written on the optical disc 8 and the remaining May be written on the blank disk 7. If it is determined that the remaining capacity is small, all of the received material may be written on the blank disc 7.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the raw material management system of this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example when recording the raw material which cart apparatus received. It is a figure which shows an example of the reproduction | regeneration data in the case of reproducing | regenerating the raw material of a some format continuously. It is a figure which shows an example of the reproduction | regeneration data in the case of reproducing | regenerating the raw material of a single format continuously. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of processing for recording a material on an optical disc in the material management system of the present embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cart apparatus, 1a ... Storage shelf, 1b ... Recording / reproducing apparatus, 2 ... Cart control apparatus, 3 ... AV server, 4 ... Control computer, 5 ... LAN

Claims (3)

In a material management system that manages video or audio material,
A cart device comprising: a storage shelf for storing a plurality of portable storage media for storing materials; and a recording device for recording the materials on the portable storage media;
When recording the material on the portable storage medium, the cart identifies the format of the material and controls the cart device to store the material in the same format on one portable storage medium. A control device;
A material management system characterized by comprising:   The material management system according to claim 1, wherein the portable storage medium is an optical disk. In the material management method for managing video or audio material,
When recording a material on a portable storage medium, the format of the material is identified, and a cart device is controlled to store the material in the same format on one portable storage medium. Material management method to do.

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