JP2007080363A - Reproducing device and method for predicting service life of recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce influence by the format of a recording medium and the individual difference of a reproducing device when detecting the secular degradation of the recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A DVD drive reads information stored on a DVD disk, and a control part obtains disk degradation information from the read information. The disk degradation information is stored in a storage part together with management information for individually identifying the DVD disk, and the control part obtains an estimated service life from the management information and the disk degradation information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus for reproducing a recording medium on which information is recorded, and a method for predicting the life of a recording medium reproduced by the reproducing apparatus.

  Recently, as a device for recording and reproducing moving images and sounds, a reproducing device that handles a detachable recording medium (media) such as an optical disk represented by DVD-RAM or DVD ± RW has been developed. Furthermore, a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of simultaneously handling a removable recording medium such as an optical disk and a recording medium built in the apparatus such as a hard disk has been developed. Optical disks are detachable and are suitable for long-term storage with digital recording, and are increasingly used to store a large number of disks as a library.

  In addition to an optical disk that is recorded and reproduced by an optical method, the removable recording medium is a magnetic disk such as a hard disk that is recorded and reproduced by a magnetic method, and an EEPROM that is recorded and reproduced by an electronic method. A semiconductor memory or the like is used.

  Although such a recording medium is suitable for long-term storage of information, there is a problem that the recording medium deteriorates due to the storage environment and the like, and in the worst case, it cannot be reproduced by a reproducing apparatus, and recorded information cannot be taken out. Yes (Non-Patent Document 1).

In order to predict the deterioration of the recording medium in advance, a multimedia for detecting whether the recording medium is deteriorated over time or data quality is deteriorated due to dust or the like using the parity data recorded in the parity sector of the recording medium. A disk recorder has been developed (Patent Document 1).
"Survey Report on Optical Disc Media for Long-term Storage" Opportunity System Promotion Association, March 2004 JP-A-9-45013

  However, the deterioration of the data quality read by the multimedia disk recorder due to the aging of the recording medium, dust, and the like varies greatly depending on the reading performance of the multimedia disk recorder, that is, the individual difference in resistance to disturbance.

  Therefore, when trying to determine the aging deterioration of the recording medium using the parity data recorded in the parity sector of the recording medium, the influence due to the individual difference of the multimedia disk recorder and the influence due to the aging deterioration of the true recording medium are separated. Cannot be detected.

  Also, using the parity data recorded in the parity sector affects the format of the recording medium. Therefore, if the standardized format or the format that has become the de facto standard is not a format that can store parity data, it cannot be detected using the parity data.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a reproducing apparatus and a recording medium life prediction method that are less affected by the format of the recording medium and individual differences in the reproducing apparatus when detecting aging of the recording medium. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, a reproducing apparatus of the present invention includes a recording medium reproducing unit for reading information stored in a recording medium, and the recording medium reproducing unit for the information stored in the recording medium. A control unit for obtaining an index indicating an amount by which the read information is erroneously read; and management information for individually identifying the recording medium among the information read by the recording medium reproducing unit. A storage unit for storing the index, and the control unit obtains prediction information related to a lifetime of the recording medium individually identified by the management information using the stored index. And

  The method for predicting the life of a recording medium according to the present invention reads the information stored in the recording medium and indicates the amount by which the read information is erroneously read with respect to the information stored in the recording medium. The management information for individually identifying the recording medium among the read information and the index are stored, and the recording is individually identified by the management information using the stored index It is characterized in that prediction information relating to the life of the medium is obtained.

  When detecting aged deterioration of a recording medium, it is possible to provide a reproducing apparatus and a recording medium life prediction method that are less affected by individual differences in the recording medium format and reproducing apparatus.

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

(First embodiment of the present invention)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a playback apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, an optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus as an example of a reproducing apparatus includes a TV tuner 11, a video / audio encoding unit 12, a switching unit 13, a DVD drive 15, and a hard disk unit 17.

  The TV tuner 11 is provided to supply a video / audio signal obtained by modulating a received signal. The video / audio encoding unit 12 is provided to encode the video / audio signal supplied from the TV tuner 11. Note that an external input terminal (not shown) can be provided instead of the TV tuner 11 or together with the TV tuner 11.

  The DVD drive 15 serving as a recording medium playback unit and the hard disk unit 17 are provided for recording the video / audio signal encoded by the video / audio encoding unit 12. The switching unit 13 is provided for switching whether to record the encoded video / audio signal using either the DVD drive 15 or the hard disk unit 17 or both.

  The DVD drive 15 is provided for recording an encoded video / audio signal on the DVD disk D. The hard disk unit 17 is provided for recording an encoded video / audio signal on a magnetic disk (not shown).

  The DVD drive 15 and the hard disk unit 17 are provided for reproducing recorded encoded video / audio signals. The switching unit 13 is provided to switch whether the encoded video / audio signal is reproduced using either the DVD drive 15 or the hard disk unit 17.

  Furthermore, it has a video / audio decoding unit 14 for decoding an encoded video / audio signal reproduced by the DVD drive 15 or the hard disk unit 17. The reproduced video and reproduced audio output from the video / audio decoding unit 14 are supplied to a display, a speaker, and the like (not shown), and are reproduced as video and audio, respectively. Further, library information and a remaining amount display screen, which will be described later, are also displayed on the display as display signals.

  The TV tuner 11, the video / audio encoding unit 12, the switching unit 13, and the video / audio decoding unit 14 are connected to each other via a control bus 20. The DVD drive 15 and the hard disk unit 17 are connected to the switching unit 13. The microcomputer block 18 as a control unit is connected to the control bus 20. The microcomputer block 18 is provided to control the TV tuner 11, the video / audio encoding unit 12, the switching unit 13, the video / audio decoding unit 14, the DVD drive 15, and the hard disk unit 17.

  The user interface unit 19 is connected to the microcomputer block 18. The user interface unit 19 is provided to convert an operation from the user into a control signal.

  It should be noted that the library information and the operation information on the remaining amount display screen are also preferably displayed on a display screen (not shown) provided in the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus, and exhibit the same effects.

  In the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus having such a configuration, the video signal and the audio signal input from the TV tuner 11 or the external input terminal are subjected to MPEG-2 compression encoding in the video / audio encoding unit 12, and the audio is encoded. Is encoded by LPCM (Linear PCM), Dolby AC-3, or the like according to a preselected mode. The encoded video signal and audio signal (information) are recorded on the DVD disk D via the DVD drive 15 via the switching unit 13 or recorded on the hard disk unit 17.

  On the other hand, at the time of reproduction, reproduction data is supplied from the DVD disk D via the DVD drive 15 or from the hard disk unit 17 to the switching unit 13, and decoded by the video / audio decoding unit 14 to output a video signal and an audio signal. The user interface unit 19 is in charge of key input and screen display. The microcomputer block 18 further includes an MPU, ROM, RAM, library information management unit, disk management unit, and the like, and performs overall control via the control bus 20.

  Management information is recorded on the DVD disc D along with video / audio data. In addition to video / audio data and management information, library information and disk management information are also recorded on the hard disk unit 17.

  In the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment, two recording media, DVD disc D and magnetic disc, and switching unit 13 are mounted, so that, for example, recording is performed on one recording medium while reproduction is performed from the other recording medium. Various convenient functions can be realized such as.

  Next, prediction information related to the life of the recording medium will be described. Predictive information relating to the life of the recording medium refers to information such as an estimated life and a message to be described later, a determination result whether the estimated life is below a predetermined standard, an approximate relationship, and the like.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the hard disk unit 17 is used as a storage unit for storing disk deterioration information will be described. However, a RAM constituting the microcomputer block 18 instead of the hard disk unit 17 or a separately provided RAM (not shown). A nonvolatile memory or the like can be used. Here, the disk deterioration information is an index indicating the amount of information read out by the DVD drive 15 and the hard disk unit 17 with respect to the information stored in the recording medium.

  The library information and disk management information stored in the hard disk unit 17 will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows the contents of the library information file recorded on the hard disk unit 17. Library information is recorded in the library information file.

  Here, NL is the number of libraries (titles). Date / time of creation, recording date / time / day of the week, channel, genre, title name, image quality mode (SP, LP, manual, just), bit rate (video bit rate), sound quality (LPCM, Dolby AC-3) Etc.), a disc identification number, a display disc number, and a title identification number are recorded. These are recorded by the number of library titles NL.

  FIG. 3 shows the contents of a disk management information file stored in the hard disk unit 17. Disc management information is recorded in the disc management information file.

  Here, ND is the number of DVD disks D registered in the disk management information file. A disc identification number, a display disc number, a disc name, remaining disc information, and disc degradation information are recorded for each disc. These are recorded as many times as the number of registered DVD discs ND.

  The display disk number is a number added automatically or by the user when the DVD disk D is initialized for display. For example, “001”, “001A”, and “001B” can be added so as to represent the disk number 001 without the surface designation, the A surface with the disk number 001, and the B surface with the disk number 001, respectively.

  The disc identification number is a number unique to each DVD disc D, that is, management information for individually identifying each DVD disc D. The disc identification number is recorded in advance on the DVD disc D or when the DVD disc D is initialized. The disc identification number is read from the DVD disc D together with the video signal and the audio signal encoded by the DVD drive 15 and is used to identify the DVD disc D without touching the eyes of the user.

  The title identification number is a number added to uniquely identify the title, and is added at the time of recording. This is also recorded for each title on the DVD disc D side. The title may be identified by omitting the title identification number and searching for other title information matches.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the disk deterioration information for each DVD disk D is stored in the disk management information file. Instead of storing the disk deterioration information for each DVD disk D as in the present embodiment, the disk deterioration information can be stored for each title.

  Information about the hard disk 17 is also registered in this library information file or disk management information file, but may be managed separately.

  Here, for convenience of explanation, the library information also refers to information related to the title (or DVD disk D) of the DVD disk D including the DVD disk D that is not currently inserted. The library information includes not only the contents recorded in the library information file but also information that can be displayed in combination with the information recorded in the disk management information file, for example, the disk name is also called library information.

  In this embodiment, library information and disk management information are recorded in different files, but they may be stored in the same file.

  Next, display of library information will be described. As described above, the library information is displayed on a display or the like.

  A library screen is activated by pressing a “library” key provided in the user interface unit 19. FIG. 4 shows an example of a library display screen. On the library display screen, the display disc number (displayed as the disc number in Fig. 4), recording date / day / day / hour, channel, genre, and title name are displayed in one line for each title. is doing. Here, they are displayed in order from the newest recording date. This is read from the library information file.

  FIG. 5 shows a quick menu during display of library information. The quick menu displays a list of operations that can be performed in the current situation when a “quick” key, which is one of the operation keys provided on the user interface unit 19, is pressed. While the library information is being displayed, “Title information” “Disc information” “Display by disc” “Display by genre” “Display by day of the week” “Library management” “Display all remaining DVDs” “All DVD degradation information” Each item “Return” is displayed. Among them, “DVD all-disc degradation information” relates to the present invention and will be described in detail below. Others can be displayed as shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-151244.

  Details of the display of the disk deterioration information will be described.

  By selecting “DVD All Disc Degradation Information” in the quick menu shown in FIG. 5, a list screen of disc degradation information related to the DVD disc D registered in the disc management information file is activated. FIG. 6 shows an example of a list screen of disk deterioration information. On the disc degradation information list screen, for each DVD disc D, a display disc number (displayed as a disc number in FIG. 6), a title name, an estimated life, and a message are displayed as necessary. These are information obtained by processing information read from the library information file and disk management information file, or information read from the library information file and disk management information file.

  When there is one title stored in the same DVD disk D, the estimated life for each display disk number is displayed. When there are a plurality of titles stored on the same DVD disk D, a representative value of the estimated life is displayed. The representative value of the estimated lifetime includes an estimated lifetime for a title having the shortest estimated lifetime among a plurality of titles stored on the same DVD disc D, or an estimated lifetime for a plurality of titles stored on the same DVD disc D. An average value can be used. In addition, it is possible to provide a setting item that allows the user to select whether to use one of the estimated lifetime representative values, or to display the representative values of both estimated lifetimes.

  For a DVD disk D whose estimated life (including a representative estimated life) is a predetermined standard, for example, one year or less, a message is displayed together with the corresponding display disk number and estimated life. As the message, for example, a message for prompting backup, a blinking display, a highlighted display such as a display with a changed color or the like can be used. If it is estimated that the DVD disk D is contaminated as a result of the estimated life calculation described later, a message prompting the cleaning of the DVD disk D or the like is displayed.

  In this way, when the estimated life is displayed side by side with the display disc number and title name, it becomes easy to display to the user which title is likely to be unreproducible.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a quick menu during display of a list screen of disc deterioration information related to the DVD disc D. In this quick menu, items “display in the order of shortest estimated life”, “display an estimated life of 1 year or less”, and “return” are displayed. By selecting each of them in the quick menu here, it is possible to switch to display about these contents. FIG. 7 shows an example of the quick menu in the case where the list screen of the disk deterioration information regarding the DVD disk D is displayed in the order of the display disk numbers. Items can be changed in the quick menu when "display in order of shortest estimated life" or "display estimated life of 1 year or less" is selected.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example in which the display is switched when “display in order of shortest estimated life” is selected in the quick menu on the list screen of the disk deterioration information related to the DVD disk D. . As shown in FIG. 8, the estimated lifespans are rearranged and displayed in descending order of representative values (estimated lifespan when there is one title stored on the same DVD disc D). Note that a display mode can be provided in which the display can be switched in the reverse order to the display of FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example in which the display is switched when “Display estimated life is 1 year or less” is selected in the quick menu while the list screen of the disk deterioration information related to the DVD disk D is displayed. . As shown in FIG. 9, only information related to the DVD disk D having a short estimated life with a typical value of the estimated life (estimated life when there is one title stored on the same DVD disk D) of one year or less is selectively used. Can be displayed. That is, by selectively displaying only the information related to the DVD disk D with a short estimated life, the user can easily grasp a title that should be backed up.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the operation for displaying the library information and the estimated life in association with each other. First, “DVD all-disc degradation information” is selected through the user interface unit 19 from the quick menu displaying the library information shown in FIG. 5 (S11).

  Next, the microcomputer block 18 has already read the library information into the RAM inside the microcomputer block 18 from the library information file and the disk management information file stored in the hard disk unit 17, and the library information is held in the RAM. It is determined whether or not (S12).

  If the microcomputer block 18 determines that the library information is not read and the library information is not held in the RAM, the microcomputer acquires the library information from the library information file and the disk management information file stored in the hard disk unit 17. The data is read into the RAM inside the block 18 (S13). If the microcomputer block 18 determines that the library information has already been read and the library information is held in the RAM, the reading operation in S13 is skipped.

  Next, the next one is searched according to the display mode of “DVD all disc degradation information” (S14). Here, the display mode is a mode in which a list screen of disk deterioration information related to the DVD disk D is displayed in the order of display disk numbers, a mode in which the estimated life is displayed in short order, and an estimated life of 1 year or less is displayed. Refers to the mode. Further, the next one indicates a display disk number or title name for which the estimated life is not yet displayed, that is to display the estimated life in a subsequent process.

  Subsequently, the disk deterioration information relating to the next searched one is searched for in the disk management information file and read into the RAM in the microcomputer block 18 (S15). Here, the search of the disk management information file can be performed based on the disk identification number. When the next one is the display disk number, the disk identification number corresponding to this display disk number can be obtained from the library information file and searched using the disk identification number as a key. If the next one is a title name, the disc identification number corresponding to this title name can be similarly obtained from the library information file and searched using the disc identification number as a key.

  Then, the estimated life is calculated from the disk deterioration information (S16). Details of the calculation of the estimated lifetime will be described later.

  The obtained estimated life is displayed in combination with the library information to be displayed on the “DVD all disc deterioration information” screen (S17). As a result of this display, the display relating to the next one is completed, and it is determined whether or not the display number of one page of the screen has been reached (S18). That is, the microcomputer block 18 determines whether all estimated lifetimes to be displayed have been displayed. If it is determined that it is not displayed, the next one is changed to one that has not been displayed, and the process returns to S14.

  If it is determined that the page is displayed, the microcomputer block 18 determines whether to display another page (S19). This determination can be made in accordance with an input from the user interface 19, for example. If it is determined to be displayed, the process returns to S14 and the same operation is repeated for the other pages.

  If it is determined not to be displayed, whether or not to end the display of “DVD all-disc degradation information”, waits for an input from the user interface 19 (S20). End the display.

  In this way, the estimated life can be displayed in association with the contents of the DVD disk D including the DVD disk D not inserted into the DVD drive 15. Further, since rearrangement and narrowing down display can be performed, there is a high risk that which DVD disk D cannot be reproduced, and a guideline for performing backup can be given. As a result, the user can easily protect his / her own disk.

  Next, a method for calculating the estimated life of the DVD disk D and disk deterioration information used for calculating the estimated life of the DVD disk D will be described.

  The disk deterioration information is set based on the number of errors obtained when the DVD disk D is reproduced by the DVD drive 15 and stored (saved) in the hard disk unit 17. Here, the number of errors is the amount of information read out by the DVD drive 15 with respect to the information stored in the DVD disk D. As the number of errors, for example, a value called PI error and PO error can be used for DVD ± R and DVD ± RW, and a value called BER can be used for DVD-RAM.

  First, the PI error will be described. FIG. 11 is a diagram schematically showing the data structure of DVD ± R and DVD ± RW.

  Information is written on the medium in units of ECC blocks 101. The ECC block 101 is divided into 208 block columns. The block string is called ROW102 and is composed of two pieces of data 103 (172 bytes) and PI information 104 (10 bytes). If there is an error of 1 byte or more in the ROW 102, the ROW is added as a PI error value. Therefore, if the PI information 104 of all columns of the ECC block 101 has an error, the PI error value is 208. The PI error in the ROW 102 can be corrected using the PI information 104.

  The DVD standard stipulates that the sum of PI error values (before error correction) must not exceed 280 in eight consecutive ECC blocks at any location. Therefore, the measurement of the normal PI error uses the total value of the PI error values of the 8 ECC block 101.

  Next, the PO error will be described.

  When one ROW 102 (length 182 bytes) in one ECC block 101 contains an error of 5 bytes or more even after the error is corrected using the PI information 104, a “PI unrecoverable error” is indicated. Alternatively, it is called “PO error” or “PIF (PI Failure) error”. The PO information 105 is composed of 16 rows of ROWs 102 from the back of the ECC block 101. There is a possibility that the PIF error can be corrected using the PO information 105.

  A case where an error cannot be corrected by the PO information 105 is referred to as a “POF (PO Failure) error”. When a POF error occurs, the portion cannot be read, and a fatal error may occur when reproducing the DVD disc D.

  The DVD standard stipulates that the number of PIF errors ROW in the ECC block 101 should not exceed four. Therefore, the normal PIF error measurement uses the total value of the PIF errors of one ECC block 101. Therefore, the maximum value of the PIF error in one ECC block 101 is 208.

  Next, the BER (byte error rate) will be described.

  BER indicates the probability that a 1-byte error will occur due to a random error. Since DVD-RAM does not define a PI error, 9 × 10E-4 is used as a PI error 280 equivalent. If the BER is less than this, the error can be corrected.

  Acquisition of disk degradation information will be described. When the information recorded on the DVD disk D is reproduced, the number of errors can be acquired based on the information reproduced from the DVD drive 15. A representative value of the number of errors, such as an average value or maximum value of the number of errors obtained during the reproducing operation, or an average value of the number of errors sampled at a predetermined period, can be used as the disk deterioration information.

  The acquired disk deterioration information is stored in the hard disk unit together with at least one of the time from the start to the end of playback (playback time), the time of playback end, the playback time, and the number of playbacks as necessary. 17 disk management information files can be saved. The stored disk deterioration information is read by the microcomputer block 18 in S15 described above.

  Any of the above-mentioned PI error, PO error, and BER may be used for the disk deterioration information. Moreover, you may use not only any one but combining several.

  Since the PI error is information before error correction, there is an advantage that deterioration of the DVD disk D is easily reflected. However, since the PI error has a large amount of information, the CPU of the microcomputer block 18 requires a high processing capacity and a large capacity of the RAM.

  On the other hand, since the PO error is an uncorrectable error number after error correction, it is difficult to directly reflect the deterioration of the DVD disk D. However, since only a fatal error is counted and the amount of information is small, there is an advantage that the load on the microcomputer block 18 is small.

  Here, the relationship with the life of the DVD disk D when the representative values of the number of errors of PI error, PO error, and BER are used for the disk deterioration information will be described. As described above, when it is predicted that the number of errors becomes so large that the number of errors cannot be corrected, the DVD disk D is expected to reach the end of its life at the predicted time. That is, 280 in the case of PI error, 4 in the case of PO error, 9 × 10E-4, or BER at a time when it is expected to reach a value (hereinafter, referred to as criteria) with a margin in these values. I expect to change.

  A method for calculating the point of time when the DVD disk D reaches the end of its life, that is, an estimated life based on the stored disk deterioration information will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of calculating the elapsed time until the end of the life as the estimated life using the reproduction time. However, using the playback time instead of the playback time, calculate the remaining playback time until the point where the estimated life is reached, or count the number of times played instead of the playback time, until the point where the estimated lifetime is reached The remaining number of reproductions can be calculated.

  When the step of calculating the estimated lifetime is reached in S16, the microcomputer block 18 starts calculating the estimated lifetime (S21).

  First, stored disk deterioration information and reproduction time necessary for calculating the estimated life are read from the disk management information file into the RAM of the microcomputer block 18 (S22). If the disk deterioration information read in S15 remains in the RAM of the microcomputer block 18, reading of the disk deterioration information is not necessary.

  Next, the current time (including date) is read into the RAM of the microcomputer block 18 from a built-in clock (not shown) provided inside the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus (S23).

  Here, FIG. 13 shows the relationship between the read disk deterioration information and the elapsed time from the first recording time obtained from the reproduction time. The microcomputer block 18 approximates the relationship between the disk deterioration information and the elapsed time to a function. From the approximate relationship between the disc degradation information obtained by approximation and the elapsed time, the playback time (predicted) when the representative value of the number of errors reaches the criteria is calculated (S24). This is obtained from the elapsed time at the intersection of the line indicating the approximate relationship shown in FIG. 13 and the line indicating the criterion. For the approximation, for example, an approximate expression of a function such as a linear function, a quadratic function, or an exponential function can be used.

  The estimated life is calculated from the difference between the reproduction time (expected) reaching the calculated criterion (limit) and the current time (S25). It is determined whether the estimated life is within a predetermined warning time (S26). If it is not within the warning time, the calculation of the estimated life is finished as it is. On the other hand, if it is within the warning time, it is determined whether there is a possibility of abnormality due to disturbance (S27).

  Specifically, from the stored disk deterioration information, the difference between the representative value of the number of errors stored last time and the representative value of the number of errors measured this time is larger than a predetermined set value, Further, if the representative value of the number of errors measured this time is a value when there are many errors than the representative value of the number of errors stored last time, it is determined that there is a possibility of abnormality due to disturbance. Examples of the disturbance include dirt on the DVD disk D and vibration of the DVD drive 15. The predetermined setting can be set to 100 when a representative value of PI error is used, for example.

  If the microcomputer block 18 does not determine that there is a possibility of abnormality due to disturbance, the calculated estimated life is determined to be appropriate, and a message such as prompting backup is displayed (S28).

  On the other hand, if the microcomputer block 18 determines that there is a possibility of an abnormality due to a disturbance, the information indicating that there is a possibility of an abnormality due to the disturbance (abnormal information) is obtained. A message about the possibility of abnormality due to disturbance such as the above is displayed (S29).

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a case where disc degradation information and the number of reproductions are used when calculating the estimated life. When using the disk deterioration information and the number of reproductions, for example, the number of reproductions can be stored in a disk management information file. Further, as described above, the reproduction time can be stored in the disc management information file, the number of times the reproduction time is stored can be counted, and the counted value can be used as the number of reproductions.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a case in which the disk deterioration information and the reproduction time are used when calculating the estimated life. When using the disk deterioration information and the reproduction time, for example, the reproduction time can be stored in the disk management information file. Further, the reproduction start time and the reproduction end time can be stored in the disc management information file, and the reproduction time can be calculated from the reproduction start time and the reproduction end time.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an abnormality due to a disturbance occurs when the disk deterioration information and the reproduction time are used when calculating the estimated life. As described above, when the representative value of the number of errors suddenly changes to a value with many errors, a message about the possibility of abnormality due to disturbance is displayed as described above.

  As described above, the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus and life prediction method according to the first embodiment of the present invention accumulates disc degradation information for each disc identification number in the disc management information file, and disc degradation information and elapsed time and reproduction. Since the estimated lifetime is calculated by approximating the relationship between the number of times and the playback time to a function, the influence of individual differences in the optical disk playback device is small. That is, even if there is an individual difference in the tolerance to disturbance of the optical disc playback apparatus, the estimated life in the optical disc playback apparatus can be calculated with high accuracy.

  Further, since the disk deterioration information is obtained based on the information obtained when the DVD disk D is reproduced by the DVD drive 15, no additional parity sector is required. Accordingly, the estimated life can be calculated regardless of the format method of the DVD disk D.

  Further, it is possible to check the estimated lifetime of each of the plurality of DVD disks D without inserting the DVD disk D. In particular, by displaying a plurality of estimated lifetimes for the registered DVD disc D, the user can accurately grasp the deterioration state of the possessed DVD disc D.

(Second embodiment of the present invention)
FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing additional functions of the playback apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment of the present invention, when a user uses another playback device instead of one playback device, the disk deterioration information stored in one playback device is transferred to the other playback device. A movable optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus will be described.

  The representative value of the number of errors shows different values depending on the DVD drive 15 when the same DVD disk D is reproduced due to individual differences of the DVD drives 15. Therefore, a method for reducing the influence of individual differences when moving the disk deterioration information stored in one optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus to another optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus will be described.

  First, a method for moving disc degradation information stored in one optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus to another optical disc recording / reproducing device will be described.

  The disc management information file including disc deterioration information and the library information file stored in one optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus are copied to the DVD disc D. Thereafter, the disk management information file and the library information file are copied from the DVD disk D to the hard disk unit 17 using the DVD drive 15 of another optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus. In this way, the disk deterioration information stored in one optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus can be moved to another optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus.

  Next, a method for calculating the estimated lifetime in another optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus will be described. FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of calculating the estimated life using the moved disk deterioration information.

  Calculation of the estimated life is started in another optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus (S31). The estimated lifetime is calculated when, for example, “DVD all disc deterioration information” is selected through the user interface unit 19 from the quick menu in the display of the library information described in the first embodiment of the present invention. Can do. The target for which the estimated life is calculated at this time is the DVD disk D inserted in the DVD drive 15.

  When the calculation of the estimated life is started, the microcomputer block 18 determines whether or not the DVD disk D inserted in the DVD drive 15 is reproduced for the first time by another optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus (S32). That is, when the estimated life of a title recorded on the DVD disc D has been calculated by another optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus, the calculation of the estimated life shown in FIG. The estimated lifetime is calculated by the estimated lifetime calculation method described in the first embodiment. On the other hand, for the title recorded on the DVD disc D, if the estimated lifetime has not been calculated by another optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus, the estimated lifetime is calculated by the following method.

  When the DVD disk D inserted in the DVD drive 15 is played back for the first time by another optical disk recording / playback apparatus, that is, the title recorded on the DVD disk D has an estimated lifetime in the other optical disk recording / playback apparatus. If it has not been calculated, the microcomputer block 18 acquires the disk deterioration information corresponding to the DVD disk D inserted in the DVD drive 15 from the moved disk management information file (S33).

  From the disk degradation information acquired from the moved disk management information file (hereinafter referred to as past disk degradation information), a representative value of the number of errors estimated at the current time (or reproduction time, number of reproductions) is obtained ( S34).

  The current time can be obtained from the current time (including date) from a built-in clock (not shown) provided inside the optical disc recording / reproducing apparatus. Further, as shown in FIG. 18, the representative value of the estimated number of errors is approximated to a function with respect to past disk deterioration information as in the first embodiment of the present invention. It can be obtained from an approximate relationship with time (or playback time, playback count). Specifically, for example, a value obtained by substituting the current time into the relational expression obtained by this approximation can be used as a representative value of the estimated number of errors.

  The microcomputer block 18 obtains a representative value of the number of errors in the other optical disk reproduction apparatus for the DVD disk D inserted in the DVD drive 15 based on the information reproduced from the DVD drive 15 (S35). .

  Based on a representative value of the estimated number of errors and a typical value of the number of errors in another optical disk playback device, the past disk deterioration information is approximated to a function, and the obtained disk deterioration information and elapsed time (or playback time, playback time) The approximation relation with the number of times is corrected (S36). For example, the correction is performed by taking a difference between a representative value of the estimated number of errors and a representative value of the number of errors in another optical disc reproducing apparatus, and adding (or subtracting) the difference to the past disc degradation information to obtain a new disc. This can be realized by updating the disk deterioration information as the deterioration information.

  Using the corrected disk deterioration information, an estimated life is calculated by the same method as in the first embodiment of the present invention (S37).

  As described above, the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus and life prediction method according to the second embodiment of the present invention accumulates the disk deterioration information in the disk management information file for each disk identification number, so that the disk deterioration information and the elapsed time and reproduction are stored. Since the estimated lifetime is calculated by approximating the relationship between the number of times and the playback time, the influence of individual differences in the optical disk playback device is small. That is, even if there is an individual difference in the tolerance to disturbance of the optical disc playback apparatus, the estimated life in the optical disc playback apparatus can be calculated with high accuracy.

  Further, since the disk deterioration information is obtained based on the information obtained when the DVD disk D is reproduced by the DVD drive 15, no additional parity sector is required. Accordingly, the estimated life can be calculated regardless of the format method of the DVD disk D.

  Further, it is possible to check the estimated lifetime of each of the plurality of DVD disks D without inserting the DVD disk D. In particular, by displaying a plurality of estimated lifetimes for the registered DVD disc D, the user can accurately grasp the deterioration state of the possessed DVD disc D.

  Further, when the disk deterioration information stored in one optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus is moved to another optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus, the influence on the life prediction due to the individual difference can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the display of the estimated life is displayed in combination with the display disk number and the title name. However, it is still useful even if the title name is not displayed. Items to be displayed can be added or replaced as appropriate.

  In the present embodiment, both the DVD drive 15 and the hard disk unit 17 are provided. However, a nonvolatile memory unit is provided in place of the hard disk unit 17 or together with the hard disk unit 17 to provide a library information file and disk management information. You may store the file.

  Further, the recording medium is not limited to the DVD disk 15, and for example, a memory card or a hard disk with a built-in flash memory can be used. That is, the target for calculating the estimated lifetime can be a memory card or a hard disk.

  In this embodiment, three types of errors, PI error, PO error, and BER, have been described. However, values representing other error amounts may be used. For example, in an HD DVD that is currently being standardized, SbER (Simulated Bit Error Rate) or PRSNR (Partial Response Signal to Noise Ratio) can be used as the number of errors used to calculate the estimated lifetime.

  In addition, it is possible to provide a function of automatically backing up the DVD disk D and title whose deterioration has progressed and the estimated life has been shortened to another storage medium. By providing a backup function, it is possible to prevent data loss due to a user forgetting to take a backup.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a playback device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows the content of the library information file which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the content of the disk management information file which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the display screen of the library which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the quick menu during the display of the library information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the list screen of the disk degradation information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the quick menu in the list screen display of the disc degradation information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the list screen of the disk degradation information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the example of the list screen of the disk degradation information which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart explaining the operation | movement which links | relates and displays the library information and estimated lifetime which concern on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which represented typically the data structure of DVD ± R or DVD ± RW which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the example which calculates the estimated lifetime which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the relationship between the disc degradation information based on the 1st Embodiment of this invention, and the elapsed time from the first recording time. The figure which shows the relationship between the disc degradation information and the frequency | count of reproduction | regeneration concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the relationship between the disc degradation information and playback time concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the relationship between the disc degradation information and playback time concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows the additional function of the reproducing | regenerating apparatus based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure explaining the additional function of the reproducing | regenerating apparatus based on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

11 TV tuner 12 video / audio encoding unit 13 switching unit 14 video / audio decoding unit 15 DVD drive 17 hard disk unit 18 microcomputer block 19 user interface unit 20 control bus 101 ECC block 102 ROW
103 Data 104 PI information 105 PO information

Claims (8)

A recording medium playback unit for reading information stored in the recording medium;
A control unit for obtaining an index indicating an amount by which the information read by the recording medium reproducing unit is erroneously read with respect to the information stored in the recording medium;
Management information for individually identifying the recording medium among the information read out by the recording medium playback unit, and a storage unit for storing the index are provided,
The reproduction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit obtains prediction information related to a lifetime of the recording medium individually identified by the management information using the stored index. The storage unit is further provided for storing the number of times the recording medium identified by the management information is reproduced,
The playback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further obtains the prediction information using the number of times. The storage unit is further provided for storing time information related to a time when the recording medium identified by the management information is reproduced,
The playback apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit further obtains the prediction information using the time information.   The control unit corrects the prediction information based on a difference between the prediction information and prediction information in another playback device obtained using an index stored in the other playback device. The reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Read the information stored in the recording medium,
Obtaining an index indicating the amount of the information read out with respect to the information stored in the recording medium,
Storing management information for individually identifying the recording medium among the read information and the index;
A method for predicting a life of a recording medium, wherein prediction information relating to the life of the recording medium individually identified by the management information is obtained using the stored index. Furthermore, the number of times the recording medium identified by the management information is reproduced is stored,
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the prediction information is further determined using the number of times. Furthermore, storing time information relating to the time when the recording medium individually identified by the management information is reproduced,
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the prediction information is further obtained using the time information.   When the relationship between the index and the previously stored index is a relationship in which the amount read in error is larger than a predetermined relationship, abnormality information regarding abnormality due to disturbance is obtained. The method for predicting the life of a recording medium according to claim 5.

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