JP2008091021A - Reproducer and reproduction method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a still image system capable of saving and managing a still image recorded to a photograph, a book, and the like easily. <P>SOLUTION: The reproducer is provided with: a storage part 5 for retrieving an image file recorded to a recording medium and reproducing image data included in the retrieved image file; a monitoring device 9 for displaying an image in accordance with the image data reproduced by the storage part 5; and a system controller 6 for retrieving a desired index file from the recording medium on the basis of management data in a management file and position data in a management information table and controlling the storage part 5 so that one display picture of the monitoring device 9 is composed by the prescribed number of low resolution image data included in the retrieved index file. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus and a reproducing method in a still image system that handles still image information formed by reading an image from, for example, a negative film or a photograph, and still image information from a camera device, a video tape recorder device, a monitor device, or the like. About.

  As a still image recording method today, a subject is imaged by a camera device using a photographic film, and a negative film formed thereby is taken to a developing laboratory for development and printing, and a still image of the subject is recorded. A method of obtaining a photograph is common.

  However, as the number of photos increases, the number of albums that store them increases, and the storage location becomes troublesome and management becomes very troublesome. For this reason, today, it is desired to develop a device that can easily store and manage still images recorded in the above-mentioned photographs and the like.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to realize a still image system that can easily store and manage still images recorded in photographs, books, and the like.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-236406 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-056378 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-506144 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 02-285879 JP-A 63-182777 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-287286 JP 05-012392 A JP 05-290548 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 04-077275

  The present invention provides an image file composed of a plurality of high-resolution image files including high-resolution data, and at least one index file including a predetermined number of low-resolution image data corresponding to the high-resolution image files, and the index A management file that includes management data for indicating the high-resolution image file corresponding to the low-resolution image data included in the file, and position data that specifies a relative recording position of the image file and the management file in recording units. A playback device for playing back image data recorded on a recording medium having a management information table, searching for an image file recorded on the recording medium, and playing back the image data contained in the searched image file Reproducing means and an image corresponding to the image data reproduced by the reproducing means are displayed. A predetermined index file is retrieved from the recording medium based on the management means of the management file and the position data of the management information table, and the predetermined number of low resolution images included in the retrieved index file And control means for controlling the reproduction means so that one display screen of the display means is constituted by data.

The present invention also includes an image file including a plurality of high-resolution image files including high-resolution data and at least one index file including a predetermined number of low-resolution image data corresponding to the high-resolution image files, Management file including management data for indicating the high-resolution image file corresponding to the low-resolution image data included in the index file, and position data designating relative recording positions of the image file and the management file in recording units A reproduction method for reproducing image data recorded on a recording medium having a management information table including: (a) based on management data of the management file and position data of the management information table; Search for the desired index file,
(B) The index file is reproduced so that one display screen of the display means is constituted by the predetermined number of low resolution image data included in the index file searched in the step (a). To do.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily store and manage still images recorded in photographs, books, and the like. Therefore, it is possible to realize a new still image system that replaces a still image system that stores a still image using a conventional photograph.

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

  The present invention is applied to, for example, a still image recording / reproducing system as shown in FIG.

1. [Configuration of still image recording / playback system]
The still image recording / reproducing system includes a scanner unit 1 that reads an image from a film, a photograph, and the like, a printer unit 2 that prints a still image according to image data captured or recorded by the still image recording / reproducing system, The image processing block 3 forms high-resolution image data for printing, intermediate-resolution image data for monitor display, and low-resolution image data for index display from image data captured by the still image recording / playback system. The image processing block 3 displays a video input unit 8 for capturing image data from other video equipment such as a video tape recorder device and a camera device, and a still image corresponding to the image data via the image processing block 3. The monitor devices 9 to be connected are respectively connected.

  The still image recording / reproducing system also includes a thinning compression / decompression block 4 that performs thinning and compression / decompression processing on image data captured in the still image recording / reproducing system, and the image data of each resolution described above. And a storage unit 5 for recording and reproducing on an optical disk (magneto-optical disk) provided as a recording medium, and a system controller 6 for controlling the entire still image recording / reproducing system. As will be described later, the system controller 6 is provided with a random access memory (RAM) 6a for temporarily storing image data read from the optical disk when the image data is rearranged in the order of reproduction and recorded on the optical disk. The system controller 6 is connected to an operation unit 10 for designating image data capture, recording, reproduction, printing, and the like.

  The still image recording / reproducing system connects the scanner unit 1, printer unit 2, image processing block 3, thinning, compression / decompression processing block 4, storage unit 5 and system controller 6 via a bus line 7, respectively. It is constituted by.

1-1 [Configuration of Scanner Unit]
As shown in FIG. 2, the scanner unit 1 includes a CCD image sensor 1a for reading a still image recorded on a negative film, a positive film, a photograph, and the like, and an image signal supplied as an analog signal from the CCD image sensor 1a. An A / D converter 1b that digitally converts to form image data, a correction unit 1c that performs correction processing such as shading correction and color masking correction on the image data from the A / D converter 1b, and the bus line 7 And an interface 1d connected to the.

1-2 [Configuration of Printer Unit]
As shown in FIG. 3, the printer unit 2 includes an interface 2a connected to the bus line 7, a data conversion circuit 2b for performing a data conversion process suitable for printing on supplied image data, and the data conversion circuit 2b. The thermal head 2c prints a still image corresponding to the image data on the printer paper 2d.

1-3 [Configuration of Image Processing Block]
As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing block 3 is captured via the main memory 11a for temporarily storing the image data captured in the still image recording / reproducing system and the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 or the like. A frame memory 11 including a video memory 11b that temporarily stores image data, and an image processing circuit 12 that performs image processing such as enlargement processing and reduction processing on the image data stored in the main memory 11a. . The memory controller 13 controls the frame memory 11, the image processing controller 14 controls image processing operations in the image processing circuit 12, and the interface 15 connected to the bus line 7.

  The frame memory 11 includes an R frame memory from which red (R) image data is read and written, a G frame memory from which green (G) image data is read and written, and a blue (B) image data from which B is read and written. It consists of a frame memory.

  Each of the color frame memories logically includes, for example, four DRAMs (Dynamic RAM) having a storage area of 1024 pixels × 1024 pixels × 4 bits in length × width × depth and a total of 4 Mbits in the depth direction. Stacked in stages, a total of 8 DRAMs are configured to have a storage area of 2048 × 2048 × 8 bits. The frame memory 11 is logically configured by stacking the frame memories for the respective colors having the storage area of 2048 × 2048 × 8 bits in the depth direction, for example, in the order of RGB. Therefore, the frame memory 11 has a storage area of 2048 × 2048 × 24 bits.

1-4 [Structure of decimation and compression / decompression processing block]
As shown in FIG. 5, the thinning / compression / decompression processing block 4 includes an interface 4a connected to the bus line 7, a buffer 4b for temporarily storing high-resolution image data supplied via the interface 4a, The 1/4 resolution circuit 4c that forms intermediate resolution image data by thinning the high resolution image data from the buffer 4b into 1/4, and the intermediate resolution image data from the 1/4 resolution circuit 4c are temporarily stored. And a memory 4d. The intermediate resolution image data read from the memory 4d is thinned to 1/60 to form low resolution image data. The 1/60 thinning circuit 4e forms high resolution image data from the buffer 4b. A selector 4f that selects and outputs the intermediate resolution image data from the 1/4 thinning circuit 4C and the low resolution image data from the 1/60 thinning circuit 4e. Further, each image data selected by the selector 4f is divided into blocks of predetermined pixel units suitable for compression processing, and a raster block conversion circuit 4g, and the image data blocked by the raster block conversion circuit 4g has a fixed length. It has a compression / decompression circuit 4h that performs encoding processing, a decimation in the compression / decompression processing block 4, a decimation for controlling the compression / decompression processing operation, and a compression / decompression controller 4i.

1-5 [Configuration of storage unit]
The storage unit 5 performs EFM modulation processing on the image data of each resolution from the interface 5a connected to the bus line 7 and the thinning / compression / decompression processing block 4 as shown in FIG. The circuit 5b includes a disk recording / reproducing unit 5c that records and reproduces image data from the EFM circuit 5b on the optical disc 20, and a storage unit controller 5d that controls the operation of the entire storage unit 5.

1-6 [Configuration of video input unit]
As shown in FIG. 7, the video input unit 8 includes an input terminal 8a for composite video signals, an input terminal 8b for video signals supplied in a Y (luminance) / C (chroma) separate format, and RGB Processing for converting the video signal input terminal 8c supplied in the format and the video signal of each format supplied via the input terminals 8a to 8c into an image size suitable for the still image recording / reproducing system. And an A / D converter 8e for converting each video signal supplied as an analog signal from the video processing unit 8d into digital data to form each image data.

1-7 [Configuration of operation unit]
The operation unit 10 has an appearance as shown in FIG. 8, and has a disk insertion slot 30 and a display unit 26 formed of a liquid crystal display panel on the surface panel. The operation unit 10 includes a power key 31 for turning on the main power of the storage unit 5, an eject key 32 for designating removal of the optical disc 20 inserted through the disc insertion slot 30, and And an album key 33 for selecting an album.

  The operation unit 10 includes a disc key 34 for designating display of a disc name, an album name, and the like, an image key 35 for designating display of an image name, a keyword, a recording date and time, a current date, A clock key 36 for designating the display of time and the like, and auto play for automatically reproducing the images of the designated album in the order of recording or for automatically reproducing the images of each designated album in the designated order And an auto play key 37.

  The operation unit 10 also includes a first index key 38a for designating a first index display for displaying, for example, 25 images constituting the selected album on one screen, and the first image of each album. The second index key 38b for designating the second index display for displaying only one image on one screen, and the third index display for displaying the first to several images of each album on one screen. And a fourth index key 38d for designating a fourth index display for displaying an image of each album reproduced every predetermined number on one screen.

  The section operation unit 10 displays a first album search key 56 for designating a first album search display for displaying a desired album by displaying only the first image of each album one by one, A second album search key 57 for specifying a second album search display for displaying a desired album by displaying one image at a time from the top of each album one by one, and 1 for the current image A return key 39 for designating the reproduction of the previous image, a feed key 40 for designating the reproduction of the next image after the current image, a reproduction key 41 for designating the reproduction of the image, And a stop key 42 for designating stop of recording / reproduction.

  The operation unit 10 also includes a pause key 43 for designating the pause of the auto play, a record designation key 44 for designating image recording, a REC indicator 45 that is lit during recording, and an editing mode. And an edit indicator 46 that is lit, and a move key 47 that is used to move a desired image to a desired position in the album or a desired position in another album.

  The operation unit 10 uses the erase key 48 for designating deletion of recorded images and the move key 47 to move the desired image to the album or another album. An enter key 49 used for designating an image, a numeric keypad 50 used for inputting numbers or characters, and a clear key 51 for designating deletion of numbers or characters input by the numeric keypad 50. Yes.

  Since each of the above keys 31 to 51 is frequently used, the keys 31 to 51 are all exposed in the surface panel.

  The operation unit 10 further includes a search key 52 for designating a search for a desired image, a write key 53 for designating recording of an album name, an image name, etc., and a character to be entered. An up / down / left / right key 54 and an EXEC key 55 for designating recording of a character or the like designated by the up / down / left / right key 54 are provided.

  Since these keys 52 to 55 are used for special purposes such as recording of album names and image names, they are usually hidden by the front cover, and the user opens the front cover and uses it when necessary. It has become.

2. [Overview of recording operation]
Next, the first recording operation of the still image recording / reproducing system having such a configuration will be described.

  First, when recording desired image data on the optical disk 20 of the storage unit 5, the user operates the operation unit 10 to specify the image data capture destination (scanner unit 1 or video input unit 8), and The output destination of the captured image data is set in the storage unit 5. As a result, the system controller 6 controls the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 to an operating state.

2-1 [Explanation of operation of scanner unit]
The scanner unit 1 can read images of both a reflection original and a transmission original. Specifically, the scanner unit 1 can read, for example, an E size photo, an L size photo, and an A6 size photo as the reflective original, and a 35 mm, Broni size as the transparent original. The negative film can be read. The scanner unit 1 can also read a document on which the 35 mm, Broni-size negative film is printed as it is as the reflective document.

  When the film, photograph or the like is placed on the document reading table, the scanner unit 1 scans the document by scanning the CCD line sensor 1a shown in FIG. The CCD line sensor 1a forms an image signal corresponding to the read image and supplies it to the A / D converter 1b. The A / D converter 1b digitizes the image signal supplied from the CCD line sensor 1a to form image data and supplies it to the correction system 1c. For example, when the image is read from the 35 mm film, the correction system 1c corrects the image data to image data having a size of vertical × horizontal of 1200 pixels × 1700 pixels and outputs the image data.

  The scanner unit 1 also reads 1298 pixels × 975 to 1875 pixels, 1050 × 1450 pixels, and 1120 pixels × when the original to be read is a Brownie size film, an E size photo, an L size photo, or an A6 size photo, respectively. Image data having a size of 1575 pixels, 1325 pixels × 1825 pixels is corrected and output.

2-2 [Description of operation of video input unit]
As shown in FIG. 7, the video input unit 8 is supplied with, for example, a composite video signal from a video tape recorder, a video signal supplied in a Y (luminance) / C (chroma) separate format, and an RGB format. The video signals in three formats can be input, and these video signals are supplied to the video processing system 8d via the input terminals 8a to 8c, respectively.

  The video processing system 8d sets the pixels of the video signals of the respective formats to square lattice pixels and sets the image size to 480 pixels × 640 pixels, and supplies this to the A / D converter 8e. The A / D converter 8e digitizes the video signal to form image data corresponding to the video signal of each format and outputs it through the output terminal 8f.

2-3 [Description of Operation of Image Processing Block]
The image data formed by the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 2 is, for example, high-resolution image data of 1024 pixels × 1536 pixels in length × width, and the input terminal 18 of the image processing block 3 shown in FIG. To the video memory 11b in the frame memory 3.

  When the high-resolution image data is supplied to the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 temporarily stores the video data, and writes and controls the video memory 11b so as to read out the stored high-resolution image data. Read control. The high-resolution image data is thinned out via the data line 17, the interface 15, the bus line 7 and the data line 16 in this order, transferred to the compression / decompression processing block 4, and transferred to the main memory 11a.

  The memory controller 13 controls the writing to the main memory 11a so as to temporarily store the high resolution image data transferred to the main memory 11a.

  Next, when the high resolution image data is stored in the main memory 11a, the image processing controller 14 converts the high resolution image data into, for example, 480 pixel × 640 pixel intermediate resolution image data for monitor display. The image processing circuit 12 and the memory controller 13 are controlled. As a result, the high resolution image data is read from the main memory 11 a by the read control of the memory controller 13 and supplied to the image processing circuit 12. Then, the high resolution image data is converted into intermediate resolution image data by the image processing circuit 12 and supplied to the video memory 11b via the data line 16, the interface 15, the bus line 7 and the data line 17 in this order. When the intermediate resolution image data is supplied to the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 controls the writing to the video memory 11b so as to temporarily store the data, and reads and controls the video memory 11b so as to read the data. . Thus, the intermediate resolution image data stored in the video memory 11b is read out and supplied to the monitor device 9 shown in FIG.

  The intermediate resolution image data supplied to the monitor device 9 is converted into an analog signal by a D / A converter and used as an image signal for monitor display at an intermediate resolution. As a result, the image captured by the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 is displayed on the monitor device 9.

  The image processing controller 14 shown in FIG. 4 designates image processing such as enlargement processing and reduction processing of an image captured by the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 when the operation unit 10 is operated. If it is, the image processing circuit 12 is controlled so that the designated image processing is performed on the image data read from the main memory 11a. The image data subjected to the specified image processing by the image processing circuit 12 is supplied to the monitor device 9. As a result, the image subjected to the designated image processing is displayed on the monitor device 9. Further, the image processing controller 14 supplies data (image processing information) indicating image processing applied to the image data to the thinning / compression / decompression processing block 4 via the interface 15 and the bus line 7.

2-4 [Description of operation of decimation and compression / decompression processing block]
Next, the user confirms whether or not the image is desired by referring to the image displayed on the monitor device 9, and if the image is desired, the operation unit shown in FIG. The recording designation key 44 is operated to designate the recording of the image displayed on the monitor device 9.

  The system controller 6 shown in FIG. 1 detects when the recording designation key 44 is turned on, and if there is data indicating that the recording designation has been made and the image processing information, this is indicated on the bus line. 7 and the interface 4a shown in FIG. 5, the thinning-out, compression / decompression processing block 4, thinning-out, and supply to the compression / decompression controller 4i.

  The thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i temporarily stores the image processing information, if any, and controls the interface 4a so as to fetch the high-resolution image data. When the high resolution image data is taken into the thinning / compression / decompression processing block via the interface 4a, it is temporarily stored in the buffer 4b. When the high resolution image data is stored in the buffer 4b, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i supplies the high resolution image data to the 1/4 thinning circuit 4c and the selector 4f for each line, for example. 4b is read and controlled.

  The ¼ decimation circuit 4c performs decimation processing such that the pixels of the high resolution image data are ¼, thereby forming 480 pixels × 640 pixels of intermediate resolution image data, which is stored in the memory 4d. Supply. When the intermediate resolution image data is supplied to the memory 4d, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i controls the memory 4d to temporarily store and read it. The intermediate resolution image data read from the memory 4d is supplied to the 1/60 decimation circuit 4e and the selector 4f.

  The 1/60 decimation circuit 4e performs a decimation process such that the pixels of the intermediate resolution image data read from the memory 4d are 1/60, thereby reducing the low resolution image data (index) of 60 pixels × 80 pixels. Image data) is formed and supplied to the selector 4f.

  The selector 4f is controlled to be switched by a thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i. That is, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i selects, for example, the image data of each resolution supplied to the selector 4f in the order of high resolution image data, intermediate resolution image data, and low resolution image data and outputs them. The selector 4f is switched and controlled. The image data of each resolution from the selector 4f is supplied to the raster block conversion circuit 4g.

  The raster block conversion circuit 4g divides each image data into processing units of compression encoding, for example, processing blocks of 8 pixels × 8 pixels, and supplies this to the compression / expansion circuit 4h.

  Here, the image data of each resolution is divided into processing blocks of 8 pixels × 8 pixels in the raster block conversion circuit 4g, but the low resolution image data has an image size of 60 pixels × 80 pixels. It is. For this reason, if this low resolution image data is divided into processing blocks of 8 pixels × 8 pixels, the pixels in the vertical direction cannot be divided by 8 pixels, so the low resolution image data is processed by 8 pixels × 8 pixels. It cannot be divided into blocks. For this reason, when the low-resolution image data is supplied, the raster block conversion circuit 4g adds dummy data of 4 pixels × 80 pixels to the upper or lower stage of the image data, whereby the 60 pixel The low resolution image data of × 80 pixels is assumed to be low resolution image data of 64 × 80 pixels. Then, since the vertical pixels are divisible by 8 pixels, the low resolution image data of 64 pixels × 80 pixels is divided into 8 processing blocks × 10 processing blocks and supplied to the compression / decompression circuit 4h. The dummy data is removed when the index is displayed, and an image related to the dummy data (for example, a black image or a white image) is not added to the index image and displayed.

  The compression / decompression circuit 4h includes a discrete cosine conversion circuit (DCT circuit), a quantization circuit, and a fixed-length encoding circuit. The image data of each resolution is first transferred to the DCT circuit. Supplied.

  The DCT circuit performs orthogonal transform processing for transforming the image data of each resolution onto the frequency axis to form DCT coefficients, and supplies the image data of each resolution subjected to the orthogonal transform processing to the quantization circuit. .

  The quantization circuit quantizes the image data of each resolution using an appropriate quantization coefficient set by the system controller 6, for example, and supplies these to the fixed-length encoding circuit.

  The fixed-length encoding circuit performs a fixed-length encoding process on the DCT coefficient of the image data of each resolution quantized with the appropriate quantization coefficient, and the result of the fixed-length encoding process is decimation and compression / decompression controller. Return to 4i. The decimation / compression / decompression controller 4i forms an optimum quantization coefficient for quantizing the image data in accordance with the result of the fixed-length encoding process, and supplies this to the quantization circuit. The quantization circuit quantizes the image data using the optimum quantization coefficient set for the second time, and supplies the quantized image data to the fixed-length encoding circuit. As a result, in the fixed-length encoding circuit, the image data of each resolution can be fixed to have a predetermined data length.

  Specifically, by such compression encoding processing, the intermediate resolution image data is fixed-length encoded to a data length of two clusters twice as large as one recording unit, which is one recording unit. The image data is fixed length encoded to a data length of 8 clusters, and the low resolution image data is fixed length encoded to a data length of 1/15 clusters. The resolution-encoded image data of each resolution is supplied to the storage unit 5 shown in FIG. 6 via the interface 4a and the bus line 7, respectively. Further, when the image processing information is added to the image data supplied as described above, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i supplies the image processing information to the storage unit 5 together with the image data of each resolution. To do.

2-5 [Description of operation of storage unit]
The image data and image processing information of each resolution from the thinning and compression / decompression processing block 4 are supplied to the interface 5a shown in FIG. When the storage unit controller 5d is supplied with the image data and the image processing information of each resolution to the interface 5a, the storage unit controller 5d controls the interface 5a so as to take them into the storage unit 5, respectively. The image data and the image processing information of each resolution taken into the storage unit 5 through the interface 5a are supplied to the EFM circuit 5b. When the image data and image processing information of each resolution is supplied to the EFM circuit 5b, the storage controller 5d converts the fixed-length encoded image data and image processing information into so-called EFM processing ( The EFM circuit 5b is controlled to perform (8-14 modulation processing). The EFM-processed image data and image processing information of each resolution are supplied to the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c. When the image data and image processing information of each resolution are supplied to the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c, the storage unit controller 5d records the image data and image processing information of each resolution on the optical disc 20 respectively. The recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled. As a result, the image data of each resolution and the image processing information thereof are recorded on the optical disc 20.

  Specifically, the optical disk 20 is a magneto-optical disk having a diameter of 64 mm, for example, and 200 pieces of image data can be recorded for each resolution. The 200 pieces of image data are managed by being divided into four albums in total, with 50 pieces of image data as one album. Therefore, when recording the image data, the user uses the operation unit 10 to select an album for recording the image data. Thereby, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d so as to record the image data of each resolution in the album selected by the user in the order of capture.

  At this time, the low-resolution image data is recorded as an index file for indexing to display a plurality of images recorded in the album on one screen, and the intermediate-resolution image data is recorded in the album. Is recorded as an intermediate resolution image file for display on a monitor for displaying one desired image, and the high-resolution image data is recorded as a high-resolution image file for printing for printing the image. The

3. [Description of First Recording Operation]
The above is the outline of the recording operation. Hereinafter, the recording operation will be described in more detail by dividing it into three parts from the first recording operation to the third recording operation. First, the first recording operation is as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 9 starts when the system controller 6 shown in FIG. 1 detects designation of image data recording by the user, and proceeds to step S1.

  In step S1, the system controller 6 first controls the selector 4f to select the high-resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and then proceeds to step S2.

  In step S2, the system controller 6 sets the quantization coefficient used in the compression / expansion circuit 4h in the compression / expansion circuit 4h via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S3.

  In step S3, the system controller 6 performs the above-described fixed-length encoding process on the high-resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, thereby converting the high-resolution image data into eight clusters. Then, the compression / decompression circuit 4h is controlled so that the fixed length encoding is performed to the data length, and the process proceeds to step S4.

In step S4, the system controller 6 sets the area size of the high-resolution image data to be recorded (for a total of 8 clusters of 1024 pixels × 1536 pixels) via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and proceeds to step S5. move on.
In step S5, the system controller 6 forms search data for requesting a search for a recording area that only records the high-resolution image data for the eight clusters, and stores the search data in the storage unit controller 5d of the storage unit 5. Supply. When the search data is supplied, the storage controller 5d controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to search for free areas for the eight clusters. When there is a free area for the eight clusters, the system controller 6 thins out the data indicating the existence of the free area and supplies it to the compression / decompression controller 4i, so that there is no free area for the eight clusters. In this case, data indicating that the empty area does not exist is thinned out, supplied to the compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S6.

In step S6, the system controller 6 determines whether or not there is a free area for 8 clusters on the optical disc 20 based on the data indicating the presence or absence of a free area from the storage controller 5d. In this case, the routine shown in FIG. 9 is terminated as it is, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S7. If the free area is not detected and the routine shown in FIG. 9 is terminated as it is, the storage controller 5d supplies data indicating that there is no free area to the system controller 6, and the system controller 6 For example, the display unit 26 of the operation unit 10 is controlled so as to display a message such as “There is not enough free space to record data”. As a result, the user can take appropriate measures such as exchanging the currently mounted optical disc with a new optical disc.
In step S7, the system controller 6 supplies the high resolution image data to the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the storage unit controller 5d controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to record the high resolution image data on the optical disc 20 as a high resolution image file, and the process proceeds to step S8.

  In step S8, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all three types of image data of high resolution, intermediate resolution, and low resolution have been recorded via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i. If yes, the process ends as it is, and if no, the process proceeds to step S9.

  At this point, since only the recording of the high-resolution image data has been completed, NO is determined in step S8 and the process proceeds to step S9.

  In step S9, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f so as to select intermediate resolution image data through the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and returns to step S2.

  Thereafter, in step S2, the system controller 6 calculates quantization coefficients and the like for fixed-length encoding into two clusters via the decimation and compression / decompression controller 4i. In step S3, the calculated quantization coefficients Based on the above, fixed-length encoding processing is performed to form intermediate resolution image data having a fixed data length of two clusters. In steps S4 to S7, an empty area is detected, and the intermediate resolution image data of the two clusters is recorded in this empty area.

  At this point, the recording of the high resolution image data and the intermediate resolution image data is completed. For this reason, in the said step S8, it will determine with NO and will return to the said step S9.

  In step S9, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f so as to select the low resolution image data next through the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and returns to step S2.

  Thereafter, in the step S2, the system controller 6 calculates a quantization coefficient for fixed length coding to 1/15 cluster, and in step S3, the fixed length coding is performed based on the calculated quantization coefficient and the like. Processing is performed to form low-resolution image data having a fixed data length of 1/15 clusters. In steps S4 to S7, an empty area is detected, and the low resolution image data of the 1/15 cluster is recorded in this empty area.

  At this point, the recording of the image data of each resolution is complete. For this reason, in step S8, YES is determined and recording ends.

  In this manner, intermediate resolution image data and low resolution image data are formed based on the high resolution image data read from the frame memory 11, and the image data of the same image with different resolutions are stored in the optical disc 20 as described above. By recording the image data, it is possible to select and reproduce image data having a resolution according to the output device or application of the image data during reproduction.

  That is, if only the high-resolution image data is recorded as the image data to be recorded on the optical disc 20, when the image is displayed on the monitor device, the high-resolution image data has too many pixels, and thus appropriate thinning processing is performed. Will be supplied to the monitor device. However, by recording the above three types of image data, the intermediate resolution image data for monitoring can be directly read out, so that the time until it is displayed on the monitor device can be shortened.

  Further, since image data having a required resolution can be directly read out, it is not necessary to perform a thinning process or the like depending on the device, and the circuit for the thinning process can be omitted.

  Further, since the two types of image data are formed based on the high-resolution image data from the frame memory 11, the image data is captured more than when the three types of image data are supplied separately. In addition to shortening the time, the frame memory 11 needs to be read and controlled only once, so that the restraint time of the frame memory 11 can be shortened.

  Furthermore, since the image data of each resolution is encoded and recorded in a fixed length, the recording and reading time can be fixed, the number of recorded images can be fixed, and the data size to be handled is fixed. Therefore, the configuration of the file management system can be simplified.

  Here, when the image data of each resolution is recorded in an appropriate empty area, the image data of each resolution is mixedly recorded on the optical disc 20. The specifications of the storage unit 5 are, for example, that the minimum recording unit is 1 cluster (64 Kbytes), the data recording speed is 150 Kbytes, the recording time per cluster is 64 K / 150 K≈0.43 sec, and the maximum seek time is 0.5 sec. The maximum seek time exceeds the recording time per cluster. For this reason, when image data of each resolution is mixed and recorded on the optical disc 20, the desired image data is recorded and reproduced by performing a plurality of seeks, so that it takes time to record and reproduce.

  Further, when the image data of each resolution is recorded in a mixed manner, an empty area with a data size corresponding to each resolution is generated on the disc when image data is deleted, edited, or the like. It becomes difficult to search.

4). [Description of Second Recording Operation]
Therefore, when the image data of each resolution is recorded on the optical disc 20, the second recording operation is performed by dividing the image data of each resolution into a predetermined recording area. .

  That is, the second recording operation is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10. This flowchart starts when the system controller 6 detects designation of image data recording by the user, and step S12. Proceed to The total recording area of the optical disc 20 is, for example, 2200 clusters. For this reason, the system controller 6 reduces the recording area of the optical disk 20 by 32 clusters from the inner circumference side to the outer circumference side as shown in FIG. 11 via the storage unit controller 5d of the storage unit 5 as shown in FIG. The recording area IA of the resolution image data is divided into three so that 200 clusters are the recording area MA of the intermediate resolution image data and 1800 clusters are the recording area PA of the high resolution image data. Recognizing IA, MA, and PA, the process proceeds to step S13. Thereafter, the storage unit controller 5d controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c based on the recognized recording areas IA, MA, PA of the respective image data.

  In step S13, the system controller 6 controls the selector 4f so as to select the high-resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and proceeds to step S14.

  In step S14, the system controller 6 sets the quantization coefficient used in the compression / expansion circuit 4h in the compression / expansion circuit 4h via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S15.

  In step S15, the system controller 6 performs the above-described fixed length encoding process on the high resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, thereby converting the high resolution image data into eight clusters. The compression / decompression circuit 4h is controlled so that the fixed length encoding is performed to the data length of the minute, and the process proceeds to step S16.

In step S16, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c to set the data size for the eight clusters via the storage unit controller 5d, and proceeds to step S17.
In step S17, the system controller 6 sets the recording area PA of the high-resolution image data in the disk recording / playback unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S18.

  In step S18, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to detect an empty area of the optical disc 20 based on the set data size and recording area via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S19, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all the high-resolution image data for the eight clusters can be recorded in the empty area detected in step S18 via the storage unit controller 5d. In the case of NO, this routine is finished as it is, and in the case of YES, the routine proceeds to step S20. If the free space is not detected and the routine shown in FIG. 10 is terminated as it is, the storage controller 5d supplies data indicating that there is no free space to the system controller 6, and the system controller 6 For example, the display unit 26 of the operation unit 10 is controlled so as to display a message such as “There is not enough free space to record data”. As a result, the user can take appropriate measures such as exchanging the currently mounted optical disc with a new optical disc.

  Next, in step S20, the system controller 6 sends the high-resolution image data for the eight clusters to the free area on the optical disc 20 detected in steps S18 and S19 via the storage controller 5d. The disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled so as to perform recording, and the process proceeds to step S21.

  In step S21, the system controller 6 determines whether all three types of image data of the high resolution, intermediate resolution, and low resolution have been recorded via the storage controller 5d. If NO, the process ends as it is, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S22.

  At this point, since only the recording of the high-resolution image data has been completed, NO is determined in step S21 and the process proceeds to step S22.

  In step S22, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f to select the next intermediate resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and returns to step S14.

  Thereafter, in step S14, the system controller 6 calculates quantization coefficients and the like for fixed-length encoding into two clusters, and in step S15, based on the calculated quantization coefficients and the like, fixed-length encoding processing And intermediate resolution image data having a fixed data length of 2 clusters is formed. In step S16 to step S20, the data size and recording area MA of the intermediate resolution image data are set, the empty area is detected, and the intermediate resolution image data of the data length of the two clusters is recorded therein. The

  At this point, the recording of the high resolution image data and the intermediate resolution image data is completed. For this reason, in the said step S21, it determines with NO and will return to said step S22.

  In step S22, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i controls to switch the selector 4f so as to select the low resolution image data, and then returns to step S14.

  Thereafter, in step S14, quantization coefficients and the like for fixed-length encoding to 1/15 clusters are calculated, and in step S15, fixed-length encoding processing is performed based on the calculated quantization coefficients and the like. Thus, low resolution image data having a fixed data length of 1/15 cluster is formed. In step S16 to step S20, the data size and recording area IA of the low-resolution image data are set, this empty area is detected, and the low-resolution image data having the data length of 1/15 cluster is stored here. To be recorded.

  At this point, the recording of the image data of each resolution is complete. For this reason, in step S21, YES is determined and recording ends.

  As described above, the recording area on the optical disc 20 is divided into three according to the data amount of the image data of each resolution, and the image data of each resolution subjected to the above-described fixed length encoding is recorded in each of the recording areas IA, MA, PA. As a result, when recording / reproducing, it is only necessary to perform recording / reproducing by seeking to the recording area of the resolution, so that the recording / reproducing time can be shortened.

  Even if image data is deleted, edited, etc., and an empty area with a data size corresponding to each resolution occurs on the disc, image data with the same data size can be recorded in the empty area. Therefore, it is possible to facilitate the search for an empty area and contribute to shortening the recording time.

  Next, even if image data is recorded in such a manner that it is divided into recording areas of respective resolutions, the recorded images are continuously displayed one by one if they are not recorded in the order of reproduction within the recording area. When it is necessary to continuously read out images such as during auto play that is automatically read out or during browsing that further speeds up the auto play, it still takes time to seek.

5. [Description of Third Recording Operation]
Therefore, in the third recording operation, image data of each resolution is continuously recorded in the reproduction order in each divided recording area of the optical disc 20.

  That is, the third recording operation is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart shown in FIG. 12 starts when the storage unit controller 5d of the storage unit 5 detects the designation of image data recording by the user, and proceeds to step S32.

  In step S32, the system controller 6 records low resolution image data for 14 clusters from the inner circumference side to the outer circumference side of the recording area of the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d as shown in FIG. The area IA is divided into three so that 200 clusters for the intermediate resolution image data recording area MA and 1800 clusters for the high resolution image data recording area PA, and each of these recording areas IA, MA, PA is divided. Recognize and go to step S33.

  In step S33, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f so as to select the high-resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and proceeds to step S34.

  In step S34, the system controller 6 sets the quantization coefficient used in the compression / expansion circuit 4h via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i in the compression / expansion circuit 4h, and the process proceeds to step S35.

  In step S35, the system controller 6 performs the decimation. By applying the above-mentioned fixed length encoding process to the high resolution image data via the compression / decompression controller 4i, the high resolution image data is fixed length encoded to a data length of 8 clusters. The compression / decompression circuit 4h is controlled, and the process proceeds to step S36.

  In step S36, the system controller 6 sets the data size for the eight clusters in the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d, and proceeds to step S37.

  In step S37, the system controller 6 sets a recording area PA for high-resolution image data in the disk recording / playback unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d, and then proceeds to step S38.

  In step S38, the system controller 6 uses the storage unit controller 5d to detect a continuous free area for eight clusters on the optical disk 20 based on the set data size and recording area. The recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled to proceed to step S39.

  In step S39, when the system controller 6 records the current high-resolution image data in the empty area detected by the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d, the recorded image is recorded. It is determined whether or not data is recorded in the order of reproduction. If NO, the process proceeds to step S42, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S40.

  In step S42, the system controller 6 once controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to read out the image data in the recording area PA of the image data via the storage unit controller 5d. To the RAM 6a in the system controller 6 shown in FIG. Then, the system controller 6 rearranges the image data transferred to the RAM 6a so as to be in the reproduction order, transfers it again to the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c, and proceeds to step S40.

  In step S40, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c to record the image data on the optical disc 20 in the order of reproduction via the storage unit controller 5d, and proceeds to step S41.

  In step S41, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all three types of image data of the high resolution, intermediate resolution and low resolution have been recorded via the storage controller 5d. If NO, the process ends as it is, and if NO, the process proceeds to step S43.

  At this point, since only the recording of the high-resolution image data has been completed, NO is determined in step S41, and the process proceeds to step S43.

  In step S43, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f to select the next intermediate resolution image data via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and returns to step S34.

  Thereafter, in step S34, the system controller 6 calculates quantization coefficients and the like for fixed-length encoding the intermediate resolution image data into two clusters, and in step S35, based on the calculated quantization coefficients and the like. Then, fixed-length encoding processing is performed, and intermediate resolution image data having a fixed data length of 2 clusters is formed. In steps S36 to S40, the data size of the intermediate resolution image data and the recording area MA are set, and the intermediate resolution image data having the data length of the two clusters is stored in the empty area of the recording area MA in the order of reproduction. Recorded continuously.

  At this point, the recording of the high resolution image data and the intermediate resolution image data is completed. For this reason, in the said step S41, it will determine with NO and will return to the said step S43.

  In step S43, the system controller 6 switches and controls the selector 4f so as to select the low resolution image data next through the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and returns to step S34.

  Thereafter, in step S34, a quantization coefficient or the like for encoding the low-resolution image data into a fixed length of 1/15 cluster is calculated. In step S35, the fixed length is calculated based on the calculated quantization coefficient and the like. Encoding processing is performed to form low resolution image data with a fixed data length of 1/15 clusters. In step S36 to step S40, the data size of the low resolution image data and the recording area IA are set, and the low resolution image data having the data length of 1/15 cluster is stored in the empty area of the recording area IA. It is recorded continuously in the order of playback.

  At this point, the recording of the image data of each resolution is complete. For this reason, it is determined YES in step S41, and the third recording operation is ended.

  As described above, the image data of each resolution having a fixed data length is recorded in the divided recording areas in the order of reproduction, so that the image data is continuously read without seeking at the time of the auto play or browsing. Therefore, the auto play and browsing can be facilitated and the speed can be further increased.

  In step S39, if recording cannot be continuously performed in the order of reproduction, the process proceeds to step S42, and data is rearranged and recorded. However, this cannot be continuously recorded in the order of reproduction. In that case, the spot may be recorded in an empty area, and rearrangement may be performed inside when the recording is completed. In this case, the recording time viewed from the user side can be shortened compared to performing recording by rearranging.

Here, a new image recording optical disc structure for recording and reproducing low-resolution image data, intermediate-resolution image data, and high-resolution image data at a higher speed than the above-described recording / reproducing apparatus is developed. A recording method and a reproducing method for recording and reproducing at a higher speed using the structure of an optical disk for image recording have been developed, and will be described as follows.
6). "Description of optical disc format"
Here, a newly developed format for image recording will be described.
7). "Description of files and file hierarchy"
Here, the hierarchical structure of a file for recording / reproducing image data using the optical disk format described in item 6 will be described.
8). "File Configuration"
Here, a specific configuration of the management file and the image file described in item 6 and item 7 will be described.
9. "Recording operation"
Here, the recording operation when recording image data on the optical disc described in item 6 will be described with reference to items 7 and 8.
10. "Other recording operations"
Here, another recording operation when recording image data on the optical disc described in item 6 will be described with reference to items 7 and 8.
11. "Recording album names"
Here, a case where an album name or the like is recorded on the optical disc will be described.
12 "Description of playback operation"
Here, the operation of reproducing the index image data and displaying it on the monitor device will be described.
13. "Reproduction and display of index images"
Here, the reproduction operation described in item 12 will be described in more detail with reference to the optical disk structure and file hierarchical structure described in items 6, 7, and 8.
14 “Searching Files and Image Directories”
Here, the operation of searching for an image file recorded on the optical disc described in item 6 will be described with reference to items 7 and 8.
15. "Edit image"
Here, the editing operation for editing the image data included in the image file recorded on the optical disc described in item 6 will be described with reference to items 7 and 8.
16. "Comprehensive index file formation operation"
Here, the operation of forming and recording a comprehensive index file on the optical disc described in item 6 will be described with reference to items 7 and 8.

6). [Description of optical disc format]
First, in describing the format of the optical disc 20, units related to the format will be described below.
[cluster]
Recording / playback unit of a disc. One cluster includes a 32-sector main data area and a 4-sector sub-data area.
[Logical block]
An area where data is actually recorded in one sector. Indicated by 2048 bytes. 32 sectors are represented by 32 blocks.
[Logical cluster]
In the class, the unit actually used as the data recording area (the same area as the main data area). Therefore, the logical class size is 32 sectors.
[Allocation block]
It represents the same data unit as the logical cluster, and expresses one logical class size as one allocation block. Therefore, the number of clusters and the number of allocation blocks on the disk match. All the file positions on the disk are designated by this allocation block number.
[parts]
A track part that is physically continuous on the disc and has a series of recorded data.
[volume]
A unit that includes all the parts where general data including image data is recorded.

6-1 [Cluster structure]
Recording (and reproduction) is performed on the optical disc 20 with "cluster" as one unit. One cluster corresponds to two to three rounds of tracks. This cluster is continuous in time to form one track, ie a data track.

  The one cluster is composed of a sub-data area of 4 sectors and a main data area of 32 sectors. One sector is 2352 bytes. The address is recorded for each sector.

  Note that data is actually recorded in each sector in a 2048-byte area, and other bytes are used for a header and an error correction code by a synchronization pattern, an address, and the like.

  The 4-sector sub-data area is used for sub-data, linking area, etc., and recording of TOC data, audio data, image data, etc. is performed in the 32-sector main data area.

6-2 [Track structure]
Next, the area of the optical disk 20 is roughly divided into a pit area where data is recorded by embossed pits and an MO area where a groove is provided as a magneto-optical area as shown in FIG. Divided. The pit area is a reproduction-only management area in which P-TOC (pre-mastered table of contents), which is management information recorded on the optical disc 20, is recorded, and a P-TOC sector described later is repeated. It is recorded.

  The pit area on the innermost circumference side and the lead-out area on the outermost circumference of the disc are set as the MO area, and the recordable area from the position following the bit area to immediately before the lead-out area is set as the recordable area.

  Further, the head area of this recordable area is a recording / reproduction management area, and calibration for recording the U-TOC, which is a TOC for recording / reproduction management of audio data, and the laser power of the optical pickup. Used as an area.

  The U-TOC is recorded continuously at a predetermined position in the recording / playback management area at three clusters, and the cluster address in the recording / playback management area is recorded by the P-TOC. As shown.

  The recordable user area where audio data and image data are actually recorded is an area following the recording / playback management area. In this recordable user area, for example, audio data tracks having audio data are recorded as indicated by M1, M2, and M3, and data files having image data are recorded as indicated by FL1, FL2, and FL3. .

  Data U-TOC for data file management is recorded in the innermost part of the data file part. In this example, data U-TOC is recorded at a position immediately before the data file FL1.

  In the recordable user area, a portion where no image data or audio data is recorded is a free area. That is, this is an unrecorded area and will be managed as an area where image data and audio data can be recorded in the future.

  Specifically, for example, the U-TOC manages the disc recorded as shown in FIG. 13A as shown in FIG. In other words, the start address and end address of the audio data tracks that are M1, M2, and M3 are managed. The free area is also managed in the same way.

  However, the data files FL1, FL2, FL3 having image data and the part where the data U-TOC is recorded are collectively managed as one data track by the U-TOC. Note that EB indicates an area where a data file is not actually recorded in a data track managed by the U-TOC.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 13B and 13C, the data U-TOC is arranged at the head of an area managed as a data track in the U-TOC. The data U-TOC manages the recording positions of the data files FL1, FL2, FL3 and unrecorded blocks EB in the data track in units of clusters.

  Therefore, the recording medium used in the image recording / reproducing system manages the position of the recordable area on the disc by the P-TOC, and the U-TOC manages the position of the data track area in the recordable area. The data U-TOC recorded at the head of the data track manages the positions of the data files FL1, FL2, FL3 having image data recorded in the data track in cluster units. .

  In the above description of the track structure, the case where the audio tracks M1, M2, and M3 are recorded on the disc has been described. However, in the image recording / reproducing system, it is not necessary to record the audio data. The entire area is used as a data track.

6-3 [Data track]
In the U-TOC, only parts as data tracks are managed, and management of individual data files in the data track is performed by the data U-TOC.

  FIG. 14 shows an example of the structure of the data track. As shown in FIG. 14A, data U-TOC is recorded at the physical head position in the data track. That is, the data U-TOC is recorded at a position closest to the inner circumference side of the disk in the data track. When the data track is divided into a plurality of parts, the data U-TOC is provided at the head of the part located on the innermost side of the disc.

  As shown in FIG. 14B, the data U-TOC is composed of a 1-cluster boot area and a 16-cluster volume management area. An area following the data U-TOC is a file extents area. In this file extents area, data files FL1 to FL3 including image data are recorded as shown in FIG. Further, a data file can be further recorded in the unrecorded block EB.

  The volume management area is composed of a total of 512 management blocks from 0 to 511 as shown in FIG. The data area in one management block is 2048 bytes. The data in the management block becomes management information for recording / reproducing the actual data file.

  Each management block is assigned a block number from 0 to 511. The management block with the block number 0 is used as a volume descriptor VD. The management block of block number 1 is used as a volume space bitmap VSB, and the management blocks of block number 2 and block number 3 are used as a management table MT.

  The usage form of the management blocks having the block numbers 0 to 3 is defined as described above. Management blocks after the block number 4 are used as a directory record block DRB and an extent record block ERB according to the usage form of the file extents area.

  Each management block in this management area has a size of one logical block (one sector). When data is recorded / reproduced in this management area, this logical block (management block) is a minimum unit for recording / reproduction and a management unit in the management area.

  On the other hand, when image data is recorded in the file extent area, an allocation block consisting of one logical cluster (32 sectors) is set as a minimum unit for recording and reproduction, and a management unit in the file extent area. It is said that.

6-4 [Volume Descriptor]
The first management block in the volume management area is used as a volume descriptor VD. The volume descriptor VD performs basic management of data tracks (volumes) on the disk.

  FIG. 15 shows the sector structure of the volume descriptor VD. In this sector, various management information is recorded in 2048 bytes serving as a data area following the header in which the synchronization pattern and address are written.

  First, in the second to sixth bytes of the data area, a code “PICMD” is recorded as an ID indicating the sector of the volume descriptor, for example, by an ASCII code, and subsequently, the version ID of this system is recorded. To be recorded.

  Next, the logical block size, logical cluster size, and allocation block size are recorded. The logical block corresponds to an actual data area in the sector in the data track, and the sector in the data track sets 2048 bytes out of 2352 bytes as the data area. Accordingly, “2048” which is a byte length is recorded as the logical block size.

  This logical block is a minimum recording unit for recording / reproduction in the management area.

  The logical cluster size indicates the number of logical blocks in the logical cluster. A logical cluster is a cluster in which management information and data are actually recorded. One cluster is 36 sectors, and 32 sectors (32 logical blocks) are used for data recording, so “32” is indicated as the logical cluster size.

  The number of logical blocks in the allocation block is indicated as the allocation block size. An allocation block indicates the same data unit as the logical cluster, and is a part where management information and a data file are actually recorded in the data track.

  For example, an area of 32 sectors as a logical cluster in the volume management area and file extents area shown in FIG. 14B is regarded as one allocation block. This allocation block is the minimum unit for recording and reproduction in the file extents area.

  Subsequently, the total number of allocation blocks is recorded. This is the total number of allocation blocks in the volume. In the case of a hybrid disc with mixed audio and image data, the number of allocation blocks in the pit area is also included. Further, the number of allocation blocks in the recordable area is recorded as the total number of recordable allocation blocks. For pre-mastered disks, this is zero.

  Further, the number of allocation blocks that are not yet recorded among the recordable allocation blocks in the volume is recorded as the number of unrecorded allocation blocks. Further, as the number of recorded allocation blocks, the number of allocation blocks that have already been recorded among the recordable allocation blocks in the volume is recorded. Further, the number of allocation blocks having defects such as scratches is recorded as the number of defect allocation blocks. Next, the number of directories in the volume and the number of data files in the volume are recorded.

  Next, the maximum ID value is recorded. For directories or data files, ID numbers are assigned in the order in which they are generated, or this is the maximum value. Subsequently, the volume attribute is recorded.

  Here, whether the volume management area is recorded in the mirror mode, whether it is an invisible file, whether it is write-protected, whether backup is necessary, etc. is recorded.

  Next, the byte length is recorded as the length of the volume management area. Also, the first allocation block number of the volume management area is recorded as the position of the volume management area on the disk. Subsequently, similarly to this volume descriptor, other management blocks formed by using the management block in the volume management area, that is, the volume space bitmap VSB, the management table MT, the extent record block ERB, and the directory record block DRB. The position of the first allocation block and the number of allocation blocks are recorded. That is, the position of the first directory can be searched by the allocation block number recorded as the first directory record block DRB.

  Subsequently, the byte length of the directory and the number of subdirectories in the directory are recorded. Further, although various IDs are shown in FIG. 15, various IDs and character set codes are recorded in the data area.

  That is, a boot system ID, a volume ID and its character set code, a publisher ID and its character set code, a data prepare ID and its character set code, an application ID and its character set code are recorded. In addition, the volume formation date, volume update date, expiration date, and valid date are recorded. Then, 1024 to 2047 bytes in the data area are set as a system extension area.

  Following the data area, a 4-byte EDC area and a 276-byte ECC area are provided. In the ECC area, 172 bytes of P parity and 104 bytes of Q parity are recorded.

6-5 [Volume Space Bitmap]
The management block of block number 1 in the volume management area is used as a volume space bitmap VSB. This volume space bitmap VSB shows the recording status of the file extent area in units of all allocation blocks of the data track.

  FIG. 16 shows the sector structure of the volume space bitmap VSB. In this sector, 2 bits are assigned to each allocation block in 2048 bytes serving as a data area following the header in which the synchronization pattern and address are written, and the type is indicated. Note that the sector of the volume space bitmap VSB is also provided with an EDC area and an ECC area following the data area.

  FIG. 17A shows the contents of the data area. Allocation blocks in the data track are assigned allocation block numbers in ascending order from number 0. Bits 7 and 6 in the first byte of the data area of the volume space bitmap VSB are assigned to allocation block AL0 of number 0. After that, allocation blocks AL1, AL2,. Therefore, information from allocation blocks AL0 to AL8191 can be written in the data area of the volume space bitmap VSB. A disk used in the image recording / reproducing system has 2200 clusters, and information is actually recorded in allocation blocks AL0 to AL2199.

  As shown in FIG. 17B, the 2-bit information is “00” for an unrecorded allocation block, “01” for a recorded allocation block, “10” for a defect allocation block, and undefined. The allocation block of “11” is “11”. The remaining portion in the data area, that is, the bit for which there is no corresponding allocation block is set to “11”.

6-6 [Management Table]
Management blocks of block number 2 and block number 3 in the volume management area are used as a management table MT.

  This management table MT shows the usage form of each management block in the volume management area. FIG. 18 shows the sector structure of the management table MT. In this sector, each management block is managed by allocating 4 bytes per management block in 2048 bytes as a data area following the header in which the synchronization pattern and address are written.

  That is, the management block 0 entry to management block 511 entry indicate the usage contents of 512 management blocks in the volume management area. An EDC area and an ECC area are provided following the data area.

  FIG. 19 shows the data contents of 4 bytes in each of the management block 0 entry to the management block 511 entry. The first management block (management block 0) is used for the volume descriptor as described above. In this case, in the management block 0 entry, “80h” is written as the entry type in the fourth byte as shown in FIG. 19A to indicate that the management block 0 is a volume descriptor.

  The second management block (management block 1) is used for the volume space bitmap as described above. In this case, in the management block 1 entry, to indicate that the management block 1 is a volume descriptor, “90h” is entered as the entry type in the fourth byte as shown in FIG. 19B. In the first and second bytes, the number of unrecorded allocation blocks is recorded.

  In the entry corresponding to the management block used as the management table, as shown in FIG. 19C, the position of the next management table is recorded in the first and second bytes, and the unused management block is recorded in the third byte. The number is recorded. In order to indicate that the management block is a management table, “A0h” is recorded as the entry type in the fourth byte.

  In the entry corresponding to the management block to be the extent record block, the position of the next extent record block is recorded in the first and second bytes as shown in FIG. 19 (d), and unused in the third byte. The number of extent record blocks is recorded. In order to indicate that the management block is an extent record block, “B0h” is recorded as the entry type in the fourth byte.

  A directory record block is a directory record unit described using one management block, and the directory is completed. When the directory record block is used alone, a directory record unit included in one directory has a plurality of management blocks, that is, a plurality of directories. It may be recorded separately in record blocks.

  When a certain management block is a single directory record block, in an entry corresponding to the management block, a directory ID is recorded from 0 to 29 bits as shown in FIG. 19E, and the last two bits are the entry type. As “00h”.

  If a certain management block is the first directory record block of a plurality of directory record blocks, the entry corresponding to the management block has the next byte in the first and second bytes as shown in FIG. The position of the directory record block is recorded, and the upper byte of the directory ID is recorded in the third byte. Then, “D0h” is recorded as the entry type in the fourth byte to indicate that the management block is the first directory record block.

  When a certain management block is an intermediate (that is, not the first or the last) directory record block among a plurality of directory record blocks, the entry corresponding to the management block includes the first and the first as shown in FIG. The position of the next directory record block is recorded in the second byte. In order to indicate that the management block is an intermediate directory record block, “E0h” is recorded as the entry type in the fourth byte.

  When a certain management block is the last directory record block of a plurality of directory record blocks, the entry corresponding to the management block contains the directory ID in the first, second, and third bytes as shown in FIG. The lower byte is recorded. Then, to indicate that the management block is the last directory record block, “F0h” is recorded as the entry type in the fourth byte.

6-7 [Directory record block]
Management blocks after block number 3 in the volume management area are used as directory record blocks DRB. In this directory record block DRB, one or a plurality of directory record units are recorded. As the directory record unit, there are a directory record unit for a directory for configuring a directory and a directory record unit for a file for designating a position etc. corresponding to a certain data file, and in this directory record block The file directory record unit and the directory directory record unit are recorded together depending on the files and subdirectories formed in the directory.

  FIG. 20 shows the sector structure of a directory record block DRB in which directory directory record units for constituting a directory are recorded. In this sector, one or a plurality of directory record units can be recorded in 2048 bytes serving as a data area following the header in which the synchronization pattern and address are recorded.

  As one unit of the directory record unit, first, the directory record length is indicated. Since the length of one directory record unit is variable, the directory record length indicates the byte length of the directory record unit. Next, directory attributes are recorded. As a result, various attributes such as whether the directory record unit is a directory record unit for the directory and whether the directory including the directory record unit is an invisible directory or a system directory are indicated. That is, it indicates whether or not the position of the data file is indicated using an extent record block to be described later.

  Subsequently, a character set code and a short name ID are recorded. The character set code indicates the character type of the short name ID. The short name ID is an ID recorded in 11 bytes. In this 11-byte short name ID, a directory name is recorded with an ASCII code of 11 characters or less.

  Subsequently, the directory formation date and time and the directory update date and time are recorded, and the update date and time of this directory record unit is recorded as the status update date and time. Further, a directory ID number and a directory length are shown.

  Subsequently, “index to DRB” and “number of DRB” are recorded.

  The index to DRB represents the position in the volume management area of the first directory record block DRB in which the contents of the designated subdirectory are described by one of the management numbers 0 to 511. The number of DRB represents the number of directory record blocks for representing the designated directory as the number of management blocks.

  Subsequently, the length of the long name ID is recorded, and the long name ID according to the length is recorded. That is, the long name ID has a variable length. In some cases, the long name ID is not recorded. In this case, the length of the long name ID is “00h”. Also, only when the length of the long name ID is an even number of bytes, “00h” is recorded as padding to fill the remaining bytes. The byte following the long name ID is used as a system extension area.

  One unit of the directory record unit corresponding to the directory is configured in this way, and a plurality of such directory record units can be provided in a 2048-byte data area.

  An EDC area and an ECC area are provided following the data area.

  Next, FIG. 21 shows a sector structure of a directory record block DRB in which a file directory record unit corresponding to a certain data file is recorded.

  In this sector, one or a plurality of directory record units each corresponding to a data file can be recorded in 2048 bytes serving as a data area following a header in which a synchronization pattern and an address are written.

  As one unit of the directory record unit, similarly to the directory record unit in FIG. 20, the directory record length is first shown, and then the attribute is recorded. This attribute indicates that this directory record unit does not correspond to a directory, the corresponding data file is an invisible file, a system file, or the data file location is specified by the extent record unit. Various attributes such as whether or not there are are shown.

  Subsequently, as in the directory record unit of FIG. 20, a character set code, a short name ID for recording a file name, a directory formation date / time, a directory update date / time, and a status update date / time are recorded. In the short name ID, a data file name is recorded with an ASCII code of 11 characters or less.

  Subsequently, data indicating the ID number of the data file and the data file length are recorded. Subsequently, “extent start location” and “number of blocks” are recorded. This extent start location represents the position of a file recorded in the file extent area by an allocation block number. The number of blocks represents the number of allocation blocks used from the start position specified by the extent start location.

  Subsequently, “index to ERB” and “number of ERB” are recorded.

  This index to ERB represents the position in the volume management area of the extent record block including data for indicating each distributed position of the distributedly recorded data file by the management block number from 0 to 511. The number of ERB represents the number of extent record blocks for indicating the distributed and recorded data file by the number of management blocks.

  Thereafter, the length of the variable long name ID is recorded, and the long name ID according to the length is recorded. When the long name ID is not recorded, the length of the long name ID is “00h”. Also, only when the length of the long name ID is an even number of bytes, “00h” is recorded as padding to fill the remaining bytes. The byte following the long name ID is used as a system extension area.

  One unit of the directory record unit corresponding to the data file is configured in this way, and a plurality of such directory record units can be provided in a 2048-byte data area.

  An EDC area and an ECC area are provided following the data area.

  When a data file such as an image file is recorded on the disk, there are the following two cases, and the method for specifying the position of the data file differs depending on the case.

  In the first case, a continuous free area for the data of the image file to be recorded can be secured on the disc, and at this time, it is recorded as one file in a physically continuous area.

  That is, one file is recorded so as to be composed of continuous allocation blocks. Normally, recording is performed in such a physically continuous area. In this case, the position of the data file is indicated by the allocation block number recorded as the extent start location in the directory record unit for this file.

In the second case, a continuous free area corresponding to the data of the image file to be recorded cannot be secured on the disc. In this case, one file is distributed and recorded in a distributed area on the disc. Yes. That is, one file is recorded so as to be composed of a plurality of distant allocation blocks. In this case, the position in the management area of the extent block is determined by the management block number recorded as index to ERB included in the directory record unit for the file, and is included in this extent record block. Based on the data, the location of each distributed area is specified. The extent record block will be described later. In the first case, the data of the index ERB is not recorded, and in the second case, the extent start location is not recorded.
6-8 [Extent record block]
Management blocks after block number 4 in the volume management area can be used as extent record blocks ERB.

  As described above, this extent record block is used when one data file is recorded in a distributed area specified by a remote allocation block, and this extent record block includes an allocation block of each distributed area. Data for indicating the position is recorded.

  In this extent record block, a maximum of 64 extent record units (ER units) can be recorded, and this ER unit is composed of an index ER unit and a descriptor ER unit. The index ER unit is recorded as the first unit of the plurality of ER units in the ERB, and manages the usage status of the second and subsequent ER units.

  The second and subsequent ER units are used as descriptor ER units, and the recording position of each distributed area is indicated by an allocation block number by data included in this unit.

  FIG. 22 shows the sector structure of the extent record block DRB. In this sector, 64 extent record units can be recorded in 2048 bytes serving as a data area following the header in which the synchronization pattern and address are written. One extent record unit is composed of 32 bytes.

  FIG. 22 shows an example in which the first 32-byte extent record unit in the data area is used as an index extent record unit.

  In this index extent record unit, an index ID is recorded first. This index ID is “FFFF”, indicating that this extent record unit is used as an index extent record unit.

  Subsequently, the maximum depth is recorded. The extent record tree structure is constructed by the index extent record unit, and the maximum depth indicates the sub-tree hierarchy designated from the extent record unit. If the index extent record unit designates an extent record unit including an extent descriptor, that is, in the lowest layer, the maximum depth is set to “0000h”.

  Thereafter, a maximum of seven logical offsets and ER indexes can be recorded. The ER index is data indicating which ER unit of the 64 ER units that can be recorded in the extent record block is data indicating the distributed area. Any ER unit number from 0 to 63 is recorded. In the logical offset, data indicating the number of ER units for constituting the data file is recorded in the ER unit indicated by the ER index.

  In the example of FIG. 22, the second and subsequent ER units are used as descriptor ER units. In this descriptor ER unit, a maximum of 8 extent start locations and the number of allocation blocks are recorded. In the extent start location, an allocation block number indicating the recording position of one distributed area is recorded, and as the number of allocation blocks, data indicating the number of allocation blocks included in the distributed area is recorded. Therefore, one distributed area is designated by one extent start location and one allocation block number. Therefore, since eight extent start locations and the number of allocation blocks can be recorded in one descriptor DR unit, a maximum of eight distributed areas can be designated by one descriptor DR unit.

  In addition, when specifying 8 or more distributed areas, the third ER unit is newly used as the descriptor ER unit, and the descriptor ER unit recorded in the second ER unit by the index ER unit is used. As the subsequent descriptor ER unit, the newly recorded descriptor ER unit may be linked to the third ER unit.

  Next, a case where the positions of data files recorded in a plurality of distributed areas by ERB are specified will be described.

  First, the position in the management block area of the ERB is designated by the index to ERB recorded in the DRB file DR unit. Subsequently, since “FFFF” data is registered at the head of the first ER unit of the ERB, this first ER unit can be determined as an index ER unit. Next, in order to search for the first ER unit constituting the data file, it is only necessary to search where the logical offset data is “0000”. Therefore, the ER index data corresponding to the logical offset “0000” is obtained in this index ER unit. Eight distributed areas are designated by eight extent start locations recorded in the descriptor ER unit indicated by the data of the ER index and the number of allocation blocks.

  Therefore, since the position of the file distributed on the disk can be grasped by the data in the management area, it is not necessary to search the disk when reading the file, and high speed reproduction can be realized.

7). [Description of file and file hierarchy]
Files used in the image recording / playback system include a management file, an image file, an index image file, and the like.

  The extension of the file name of the management file is “PMF”. When it is detected that this extension is PMF, it identifies that the file is a management file. The management file includes a general information management file (OVF_INF.PMF), an image data management file (PIC_INF.PMF), a print data management file (PRT_INF.PMF), a reproduction control management file (PMS_INF.PMF), and the like. A specific description of each management file will be described later.

  Next, the extension of the file name of the image file is “PMP”. When it is detected that this extension is PMP, it is identified that the file is an image file. The image file includes a high resolution image file for recording the high resolution image data HD surface and an intermediate resolution image file for recording the intermediate resolution image data SD surface. The intermediate resolution image file has an aspect ratio of 4: 3, PSNnnnn.n having image data of 640 pixels × 480 pixels. PSWnnnnn.PMP file having image data with an aspect ratio of 16: 9 and 848 pixels × 480 pixels. It consists of PMP files. The high-resolution image file has a PHPnnnnn.x format image data having an aspect ratio of 3: 2, 1536 pixels × 1024 pixels. PMP file, PHWnnnnn. With image data of aspect ratio 16: 9, 1920 × 1080 pixels. It consists of PMP files. In addition, as a file for recording the ultra-high resolution image data HD as one of the high-resolution image files, PUPnnnn.P having image data with an aspect ratio of 3: 2, 3072 pixels × 2048 pixels. There is a PMP file.

  Note that the file name of an image file with an extension of PMP is determined by the first three characters (for example, PHP) depending on the type of image, and the next five characters (nnnnnn) depending on the image number given in the order of image file creation Is determined.

  Next, when recording image data in this image recording / playback system, as shown in FIG. 23, the optical disc is placed in the 0th position as a directory D1 (PIC_MD) for image recording and a subdirectory provided below it. The image directory D2 (PIC00000) and the first image directory D3 (PIC00001) have a hierarchical directory structure. The five characters following “PIC” are determined by the directory number assigned in accordance with the image directory creation order, and the image directory name is determined.

  Each image data recorded on the optical disk 20 is provided with a directory D1 (PIC_MD) for recording the image data as shown in FIG.

  That is, for example, the directory D1 includes a general information management file f1 (OV_INF.PMF) for managing the entire information and a general index file for managing the entire index file. f2 (OV_IDX.PMX) and image directories D2 to D4 (PIC00000 to PIC00002) of each album are provided. Further, in the directory (PIC_MD), a print directory (PRINT) for managing print information such as print color, print size, and rotation, and a telop for managing titles of images to be displayed on a monitor, etc. A telop directory (TERO.PMO), an image number of each image and a keyword search directory (KW_DTBS.PMO) attached to each image, and a time stamp directory (TS_DTBS.PMO) for managing the recording date and time of the image And a reproduction control directory (PMSEQ) for managing program reproduction such that only designated images are reproduced.

  In this example, an image directory (PIC00002) with a directory number “00002” is provided from an image directory (PIC00000) with a directory number “00000” as the image directory.

  In the image directory (PIC00000), an image data management file f3 (PIC_INFPMMF) for managing a plurality of image files designated by the directory number “00000” and an index image of the image directory D2 are included. The collected image index file f4 (PIDX000.PMX) is recorded.

  In the image directory D2 (PIC0000) designated by the directory number 00000, the intermediate resolution image file f5 (PSN00000.PMP) generated from the image data designated by the image number 00000 and the high resolution image file f6 ( PHP00000.PMP) is recorded. In addition, an intermediate resolution image file f7 (PSN00001.PMP) generated from the image file data designated by the image number 00001 and an ultra high resolution image file f9 (PUP00001.PMP) are recorded. Further, an intermediate resolution image file f10 (PSN00002.PMP) generated from image data designated with an image number of 00002 and an intermediate resolution image file f11 (PSN00003.PMP) generated from image data designated with an image number of 00003. PMP) is recorded.

  Next, in the image directory (PIC00001) designated by the directory number “00001”, the above-described image data management file (PIC_INF.PMF) and two index files (PIDX000 that manage index images of the respective images) are stored. .PMX, PIDX001.PMX). The two image index files manage the index images corresponding to the image files recorded in the image directory (PIC00001). Formally, the two index files are linked. To be used.

  Next, the print directory (PRINT) includes a print data management file (PRT_INF.PMF) for managing a plurality of print data files therein, and print data files (PRT000PMO˜) managed by the print data management file. PRTnnn.PMO) is recorded.

  Next, in the playback control directory (PMSEQ), the playback control management file (PMS_INF.PMF) for managing the playback control data file recorded in the playback control directory (PMSEQ) and the image sequence are controlled. A plurality of reproduction control data files (PN4S000.PMO to PMSnnn.PMO) are recorded.

  Next, as described in FIG. 14C, the management blocks are assigned block numbers from 0 to 511. From the block number 0, volume descriptor VD, volume space bitmap VSB, management A table MT, a management table MT, a directory record block DRB, a directory record block DRB, an extent record block ERB, a directory record block DRB, an extent record block ERB,.

  The directory record block DRB for indicating the directory D1 (PIC_MD) can be determined to be the fourth block of the management block based on the data of the volume descriptor VD. In FIG. 24, the directory record block DRB recorded in the fourth block of this management block indicates the recording position of the comprehensive information management file f1 and the comprehensive index file f2 shown in FIG. 23 following the header. Two file DR units are provided.

  Specifically, in the file DR unit recorded in the first unit, the allocation block position of the comprehensive information management file f1 is determined by the allocation block number recorded as “Extent Start Location”. It has come to show. Also, in the file DR unit recorded in the second unit, the allocation block position of the comprehensive index file f2 is indicated by the allocation block number recorded as “Extent Start Location”. It has become. Note that the “index to ERB (Index to ERB)” in the DR unit for file includes the above-described total information management file f1 and total index file f2 recorded in continuous allocation blocks on the optical disc 20, and therefore this index. Not recorded in to ERB.

  Next, after the two file DR units, that is, in the third and fourth units, an image directory D2 represented by a directory number “00000” and an image directory D3 represented by a directory number “00001”. There are provided two directory DR units for indicating the recording position of the directory.

  Specifically, in this directory DR unit, relative management within the management block of the DRB corresponding to the image directory D2 is performed by the management block number of 0 to 511 recorded as “Index to DRB”. The correct position is indicated. In this example, “Index to DRB” data in the directory DR unit of the third unit includes “005” as data indicating the block position in the DRB management block of the image directory D2. Is recorded. Similarly, in the “index to DRB” data of the directory unit DR unit of the fourth unit, “007” is stored as data indicating the block position in the management block of the DRB of the image directory D3. It is recorded.

  As described above, the DRB of the fifth block of the management block has its block position designated by the directory DR unit which is the third unit in the DRB of the fourth block of the management block.

  The DRB of the fifth block is a block in which data relating to the image directory D2 is recorded. This DRB is provided with eight file DR units following the header.

  The seven file DR units provided in the first to seventh units respectively include an image data management file f3, an image index file f4, an intermediate resolution image data file f5, a high resolution image data file f6, and an intermediate resolution image. Data for recording positions of the data file f7, the ultra-high resolution image data file f9, and the intermediate resolution image data file f10 are recorded. Similarly to the above-described file DR unit, this is based on the image data management file f3 and image by the allocation block number recorded as “Extent Start Location” in each file DR unit. The recording positions of the index file f4, the intermediate resolution image data file f5, the high resolution image data file f6 and the intermediate resolution image data file f7 are shown.

  Data for indicating the recording position of the ultra-high resolution image data file f9 is recorded in the file DR unit provided in the seventh unit. This ultra-high resolution image data file is recorded with a data length of 18 clusters, for example. If there is no continuous free space for 18 clusters on the optical disk 20, the file is distributed and recorded in non-contiguous allocation blocks.

  As described above, when one file is distributed and recorded, the data of the extent start location of the file DR unit does not directly specify each distribution area of the file, but specifies an image file specified as DRB. An ERB is provided between f9 and the position of each distributed area of the image file is designated by the ERB data.

  As shown in FIG. 22, the ERB is provided with four extent record units (ER units) following the header. Note that a maximum of 64 ER units can be provided.

  The first ER unit is used as an index ER unit, and the second and third ER units are used as descriptor ER units. In the index ER unit, index data relating to the second and subsequent ER units is recorded. In the index ER unit, ER indexes and logical offsets are recorded for the number of ER units used. The ER index is data indicating which ER unit among the 64 ER units exists, and is indicated by ER unit numbers of 0 to 63. The logical offset is data indicating what number of ER units the ER unit indicated by the ER index constitutes one file.

  The descriptor ER unit can record 8 extent start positions and 8 extent block numbers. The extent start position is data for indicating the start position of the distributed area, and is expressed by an allocation block number. The number of extent blocks is data for indicating the data length of the distributed area and is expressed by the number of allocation blocks. Accordingly, eight distributed areas can be specified by one descriptor ER unit based on the data of the extent start position and the number of extent blocks.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 25, “FFFF” data indicating the index ER unit is registered at the head of the first ER unit. Next, in order to search for the first ER unit constituting the data of the ultra-high resolution image data file f9, it is only necessary to search where the logical offset data is “0000”. Since “2” is recorded as ER index data corresponding to the logical offset “0000” in the index ER unit, the second ER unit is the first ER unit constituting the data of the file f9. It can be detected.

  Next, referring to the second ER unit (descriptor ER unit), the start position of the first division area of the file f9 is the allocation block number “0152”, and the data of the first division area It can be seen that the length is “0002” as the number of allocation blocks. Similarly, data related to the second divided area to the eighth divided area are recorded in this descriptor ER unit in order.

  Next, “0001”, which is the next data of the logical offset “0000” in the index for index, is searched as data following the descriptor ER unit which is the second ER record. Since the data of the ER index whose logical offset is “0001” is recorded as “3”, it indicates that the third ER unit exists as data continuous to the second ER unit. Next, referring to the third ER unit (descriptor ER unit), the allocation block number indicating the start position of the ninth distribution area and the tenth distribution area and the number of allocation blocks indicating the data length are recorded. ing.

  As described above, the allocation block positions of the distributed areas distributed in 10 are shown by the ERB descriptor ER unit. Therefore, even when one file is distributed and recorded, the position of each distributed area can be grasped in the management block having the ERB. For this reason, even when each distributed area is continuously reproduced as one file from the optical disc 20, it is not necessary to search each of the distributed areas on the disc on the disc, thereby enabling high-speed access. Can do.

  In this embodiment, as an example of recording an image file in a distributed manner on the disk, an example of recording an ultra-high resolution image file is given as an example. However, this is because the unrecorded area on the disk is reduced and 18 clusters are recorded. Such distributed recording is performed when a continuous area of minutes cannot be secured. Similarly, if an area for eight consecutive clusters cannot be secured, distributed recording is also performed for a high-resolution image file. If a continuous area can be secured, the ultra-high resolution image file and the high resolution image file are always recorded in the continuous area.

8). [File structure]
Each file is composed of a header and a data body. The start address of the data body is specified by the header. The data body starts from, for example, an address that is a multiple of 4, and the upper byte is prioritized for data of 2 bytes or more. The data size is a multiple of 4 except for each fixed-length encoded image data (including 00h dummy data added when raster-block conversion of the above-described low-resolution image data). The character string is terminated with null data (00h). In addition, it is good also as a structure which provides a vacant area between a header and a data main body.

8-1 [Configuration of header]
The header is composed of a plurality of tables, and a “format table” indicating what the file is, which will be described later, is arranged at the top, and options such as the image processing information are described below. The tables are arranged in an arbitrary order. Each table starts from an address that is a multiple of 4, for example, and the interval between the table and the next table is 256 bytes or less. A configuration in which empty data exists between a table and the next table may be adopted.

  Specifically, the types of the table include a format table (10h), a name table (11h), a comment table (12h), a disk ID table (14h), an image parameter table (20h), a recording information table (21h), There are a color management parameter table (22h), an option table (90h), etc. (in parentheses are identification symbols (ID) of each table).

8-2 [Format Table]
As shown in FIG. 26, the format table includes a table ID (1 byte), a next table pointer (1 byte), a format version (2 bytes), a file format (1 byte), a file format version (1 byte), and all tables. Number (1 byte), free space (reservation: 1 byte), data start address (4 bytes), data size (4 bytes), free space (reservation: 4 bytes), all of which are binary ( The data is recorded in the data format B).

  As the “file format” recorded in 1 byte, the general information management file is recorded as “00h”, the image data management file is recorded as “01h”, and the print data management file is “03h”. The playback control management file is recorded as “05h”, the image data file is recorded as “10h”, the comprehensive index file is recorded as “11h”, and the image index file is recorded as “12h”. It has become. Also, the print data file is recorded at “30h”, the telop data file is recorded at “32h”, the keyword search data file is recorded at “33h”, and the time stamp search data file is recorded at “34h” for playback. The control data file is recorded with “35h”.

8-3 [Image Parameter Table]
The image parameter table is recorded in the header of each image file for recording the high resolution image data and the intermediate resolution image file data, and the image processing relating to the original image data based on the high resolution image data and the intermediate resolution image data. Information is recorded as a parameter.

  In this image recording / reproducing system, high resolution image data and intermediate resolution image data are created based on original image data captured from a scanner or the like, and are recorded as a high resolution image file and an intermediate resolution image file. However, since the original image itself is not recorded on the disc, the original image data does not remain.

  However, based on the data of the image parameter table recorded in the header of the image file, the original image that is the basis of the high-resolution image data is recorded in what state, how it is processed, and the high-resolution image data and Whether or not the intermediate resolution image data has been created can be grasped based on the image processing information. Therefore, in order to leave information relating to the original image data, the data of the image parameter table is recorded together with the image data in the header of the image file and is not rewritten.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 27, the image parameter table includes a 1-byte table ID, a 1-byte next table pointer, a 2-byte image size (horizontal size), and a 2-byte image size (vertical size). ), 1-byte image component, 1-byte vertical / horizontal identification, 1-byte wide ID, 1-byte compression ratio of the image data, 1-byte copyright, editing right information, 1-byte Input device identification information is recorded. In addition, information indicating the presence / absence of a 3-byte empty area (reservation) and 1-byte dummy data is recorded.

  The “image size” is information indicating the size of the number of pixels of the image, and the “image constituent element” has luminance (Y), color difference (Cr), and color difference (Cb) of 4: 2: “0” is recorded for 0, “01h” is recorded for 4: 2: 0 orthogonal, “10h” is recorded for 4: 2: 2, and 4: 2: 2 orthogonal. In this case, “20h” is recorded. Note that “orthogonal” indicates that the head Y data and the C data match.

  The “vertical / horizontal identification” is rotation information for displaying an image (counterclockwise). In the case of normal horizontal display, “00h” is recorded and rotated by 90 degrees with respect to the horizontal display. In the case of the vertical display, “01h” is recorded, in the case of the horizontal display rotated by 180 degrees with respect to the horizontal display, “02h” is recorded, and in the case of the vertical display rotated by 270 degrees with respect to the horizontal display “03h” is recorded. Note that “FFh” is currently undefined.

  Each of these pieces of information can be reproduced and displayed. Therefore, the user can easily recognize the parameters of the image by displaying the image parameter table on the monitor device 9.

8-4 [General information management file (first management file)]
The comprehensive information management file is a management file for comprehensively managing all data files recorded in the directory (PIC_MD).

  The general information management file includes a header and a data body as shown in FIG. As described above, the format table (10h), name table (11h), comment table (12h), disc ID table (14h), and option table (90h) are recorded in the header.

  In the data body, the total number of images of 2 bytes, the next image directory number of 2 bytes, the total number of 2-byte image directories, the information indicating the presence or absence of a 1-byte playback control directory, the number of 1-byte playback control files, 1 byte The number of print data files and information indicating the presence / absence of a 1-byte telop data file are recorded. Also, information indicating presence / absence of 1-byte search information file, 1-byte automatic start file number, 2-byte last access image directory number, 2-byte last access image number, 8-byte password, 6-byte narration language information , A 2-byte free area (reserved) and N 48-byte image directory information units (N is the number of image directories) are recorded. These pieces of information are all recorded in a binary data format.

  The “total number of pixels” is information indicating the total number of pixels of a normal resolution (intermediate resolution image data) image having an aspect ratio of 3: 4, and the “next image directory number” is 1 in the final number of the image directory. The “total number of image directories” is information indicating the number (N) of image directories. Further, “00h” is recorded as “the presence / absence of the number of files of telop data”, and “01h” is recorded when it exists.

  As described above, the 48-byte image directory information unit is recorded in association with the index image recorded in the general index file. In this comprehensive index file, one index image selected by the user among the index images included in each image directory is recorded in the order of the image directory. Therefore, since one index image is extracted from each image directory, the same number (N) of index images as the image directory are recorded in this comprehensive index file.

  The one image directory information unit corresponds to one index image recorded in the general index file, and an image directory corresponding to the mth index image recorded in the general index file. The information unit is recorded as the mth unit.

  That is, the same number of image directory information units are recorded in the same order as the recording order of the index images of the general index file.

  Each image directory information unit has a 2-byte directory number, 2-byte index image number, 2-byte directory image count, 1-byte index image individual information, and 1-byte character as shown in FIG. It consists of an identification code, a 36-byte directory name, and a 4-byte free area. All except the “directory name” are recorded in a binary data format, but the “directory name” is recorded in ASCII code (A). When this “directory name” is recorded in a code other than an ASCII code such as an ISO code or a JIS code, the data format is “C”.

  In the above directory number, a directory number for indicating an image directory including an image file corresponding to the index image is recorded. In the index image number, an image number for indicating the number of the image file with respect to the index image is recorded. It is recorded.

  Therefore, when the user designates the m-th index image of the comprehensive index file, the next refers to the m-th image directory information unit from the top. Subsequently, it is possible to determine in which image directory the specified image index is included based on the directory number data recorded in the referenced image directory information unit.

  The index image individual information includes rotation information when the index image is displayed on the monitor, and the index image is displayed based on this data.

8-5 [Image data management file (second management file)]
One image data management file is always provided for each image directory, and data for managing each image stored in the directory is recorded.

  Next, the image data management file includes a header and a data body as shown in FIG. As described above, the format table (10h), the name table (11h), the comment table (12h), the disk ID table (14h), and the option table (90h) are recorded in the header.

  The data body includes a 1-byte link ID, a 3-byte free area (reserved), a 2-byte next image number, a 2-byte number of images, a 2-byte free area (reserved), and a 1-byte image index. The number of files, 1-byte next image index file number, 4 × 256-byte index file information, and N 16-byte image information units (number of images) are recorded. These pieces of information are recorded in a binary data format.

  The “number of images” is information indicating the total number of images (N) in the image directory. The “index file information” is arranged according to the display order, and for example, 256 entries are prepared regardless of the number of index files actually present.

  As described above, the 16-byte image information unit is recorded in association with an index image recorded in an image index file described later.

  In this image index file, index images for indicating all image files included in the image directory are recorded in the display order. Therefore, N index images having the same number as the total number N of images in the image directory are recorded in the image index file.

  The one image information unit corresponds to one index image recorded in the image index file and corresponds to the mth index image recorded in the image index file. Is recorded as the mth unit.

  That is, the same number of image information units are recorded in the same order as the recording order of the index images of the image index file.

  As shown in FIG. 29B, the “image information unit” includes a 2-byte directory number, 2-byte image number, 1-byte image type information, 1-byte image individual information, 1-byte link number, 1-byte narration information, 2-byte keyword search data number, 2-byte time stamp search data number, 2-byte telop number, and 2-byte free area (reserved) are recorded. Each piece of information is recorded in a binary data format.

  A directory number for indicating an image directory including an image file corresponding to the index image is recorded in the directory number, and an image number for indicating the number of the image file corresponding to the index image is recorded in the image number. Is recorded. Accordingly, when the user designates the mth index image of the image index file, the mth image information unit from the top is referred to next.

  That is, it is determined in which image directory the specified image index is included based on the directory number data recorded in the referenced image information unit, and the image number in the image directory is determined based on the image number. Determine if it is a file.

  In the image type information, data indicating the image type such as “PSN” representing the intermediate resolution image file and “PHP” representing the high resolution image file is recorded, and the high resolution image file is represented by the index image. When the intermediate resolution image file is designated, the file name (first three characters) is designated based on the image type information.

8-6 [Print data management file]
The print data management file includes a header and a data body as shown in FIG. A format table (10h), a name table (11h), a comment table (12h), and an option table (90h) are recorded in the header.

  In the data body, a 1-byte next print data file number, a 1-byte print data file total number, a 2-byte free area (reserved), and a print data file management information of 4 × N (several minutes) bytes are recorded. It has become so.

  A value obtained by adding 1 to the number of the last print data file is recorded as the “next print data file number”, and the total number of the print data files is recorded as the “total number of print data files”. As “information”, the number of print data files is recorded.

  In the “print data file management information”, as shown in FIG. 30B, a 1-byte print data file number, a 1-byte print execution ID, and a 2-byte free area (reserved) are recorded. It has become. The print data file number is information indicating the print data file number. As the “print execution ID”, “00h” is recorded when printing is not performed, and “01h” is recorded when printing is performed.

8-7 [Image data file]
The image data file includes a header and a data body as shown in FIG. The header includes a format table, an image parameter table, a division management table, a name table, a comment table, a copyright information table, a recording date table, a color management information table, an aviation information table, a camera information table, a scanner information table, and laboratory information. A table and an option table are recorded respectively. The “format table” and the “image parameter table” are indispensable recording items when configuring the system, and other than these are optional items.

  Each piece of data recorded in each of these tables is image processing information or the like indicated by conditions when the original image data is processed to generate high resolution data or intermediate resolution image data. Therefore, the data recorded in these tables is not replaced in normal recording / reproduction.

  The data body records high-resolution image data or intermediate-resolution image data that has been fixed-length encoded.

8-8 [General index file]
In this comprehensive index file, one index image selected by the user among a plurality of index images included in each image directory is recorded in the order in which the index images are displayed on the monitor. Therefore, the same number of index images as each image directory are recorded in this comprehensive index file.

  The comprehensive index file is a set of index image data (low-resolution image data), and no header is provided for the file itself. The number of index images is recorded as “total number of directories” by the above-described general information management file. Each index is arranged in the same order as the order of management files.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 32A, the comprehensive index file is composed only of data bodies of index image data 0 to N each having 4096 bytes. Each index image data includes a header and a data body as shown in FIG. A format table is recorded in the header. This header is provided with an empty area following the format table, so that arbitrary information of the user can be recorded. In the data body, index image data (low resolution image data) is recorded. In this data body, an empty area is provided following the index image data.

8-9 [Image index file]
In this image index file, index images for indicating all image files included in the image directory are recorded in the display order. Therefore, N index images of the same number as the total number of images in the image directory are recorded in this image index file.

  Next, the image index file is a set of index image data (low-resolution image data), and does not have the header of the file itself as shown in FIG. Each data has a header. The number of index images is recorded as the total number of directories in the general information management file. Each index is arranged in the same order as the order of management files.

  Specifically, each index image data is composed of a format table and a header having a free area as shown in FIG. 33 (b), low-resolution image data that has been fixed-length encoded, and a data body having a free area. Has been. The total amount of the header and the low resolution image data is, for example, 4096 bytes. Further, the header is fixed to 256 bytes including an empty area.

8-10 [Print data file]
The print data file is composed of a header and a data body as shown in FIG. A format table, a name table, a comment table, and an option table are recorded in the header. In the data body, print data of 2 bytes, print area of 2 bytes (reserved), and print information of 40 × N (several minutes) bytes are recorded.

  The “total number of prints” is information indicating the total number of images to be printed, and the “print information” is information indicating 40 bytes × total number of prints. Each of these pieces of information is recorded in a binary data format.

  As shown in FIG. 34B, the “print information” records a 2-byte image directory number, a 2-byte image number, a 1-byte image type, a 2-byte print number, and the like. . Note that, as the “number of printed sheets”, the number of printed sheets of the same image is recorded.

9. [Recording operation]
Next, a recording operation based on the above hierarchical directory structure and each file structure will be described. This recording operation is as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. First, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 35, when the user turns on the power key 31 shown in FIG. 8, the storage unit 5 enters the standby state. Then, this flowchart is started and the process proceeds to step S51.

  In step S51, the user inserts the optical disc 20 into the disc insertion slot 30 shown in FIG. 8, and proceeds to step S52. As a result, the optical disk 20 inserted through the disk insertion slot 30 is loaded into the storage unit 5 and image data can be recorded.

  In step S52, the system controller 6 sets the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the P-TOC and U-TOC on the optical disc 20 shown in FIG. 13A via the storage unit controller 5d shown in FIG. Control. Then, the read P-TOC and U-TOC data are transferred to the system controller 6 shown in FIG. The system controller 6 detects each data of the transferred P-TOC and U-TOC, thereby confirming whether or not the data U-TOC exists, and the recording position of the data U-TOC. Check. Specifically, in the data U-TOC, the area where the data file is formed cannot be managed. Therefore, if the data file exists, the system controller 6 determines that the data U-TOC exists at the head of the data file, and proceeds to step S53.

  In step S53, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the data U-TOC on the optical disc 20 shown in FIG. 13A via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the data U-TOC data is transferred to the RAM 6 a of the system controller 6. The system controller 6 grasps the position of each image directory and each file by temporarily storing and reading the transferred data U-TOC data in the RAM 6a, and proceeds to step S54. The search for the storage location of the file will be described in detail later in the section “Explanation of operation during search”.

  Next, in step S54, the system controller 6 determines whether the directory (PIC_MD) and the general information management file exist based on the data U-TOC data stored in the RAM 6a. It is determined whether or not the optical disc 20 is formatted for recording image data. In the case of No, the optical disk 20 is formatted for recording image data, this routine is once ended, and it is in a standby state until recording is designated again. In the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S55.

  In step S55, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / playback unit 5c so as to read all management files via the storage unit controller 5d, and temporarily stores all the read management files in the RAM 6a. Store and proceed to step S56.

  In step S56, the system controller 6 controls the display of the monitor device 9 so as to display a screen for selecting a recording mode of an image to be recorded. Specifically, the monitor device 9 records an HD recording mode selection screen for recording a high-resolution image of 1024 pixels × 1536 pixels and an ultra-high-resolution image of 2048 pixels × 3072 pixels. The UD recording mode selection screen is displayed.

  The intermediate resolution image is recorded with a fixed data length of 2 clusters as described above, but a recording mode for recording the intermediate resolution image with a fixed data length of 1 cluster is provided. A fixed length encoding with a length and a fixed length encoding with a data length of one cluster may be selectable by the user. Thus, when a recording mode with a fixed data length of 2 clusters is selected, it is possible to record high resolution intermediate resolution image data, and when a recording mode with a fixed data length of 1 cluster is selected. Although the resolution is somewhat inferior, the number of recordable sheets can be increased.

  Next, in step S57, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether one of the HD recording mode and the UD recording mode has been selected. In the case of No, step S57 is repeated until the above selection is made, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S58.

  In step S58, the system controller 6 determines the total number of recorded images (total number of images of intermediate resolution image data) in the general information management file stored in the RAM 6a, the number of images in the image data management file, and Based on the image type information of the image information, the number of recordable images in the HD recording mode or UD recording mode designated by the user is calculated.

  Specifically, about 200 images can be recorded on the optical disc 20 by combining only two clusters of intermediate resolution image data and eight clusters of high resolution image data, and two clusters of intermediate resolution image data. In addition, about 100 images can be recorded by combining only 18 clusters of ultra-high resolution image data. For this reason, when the recorded capacity is subtracted from the recordable capacity of the entire optical disc 20, the recordable number when the HD recording mode is selected and the recordable number when the UD recording mode is selected can be calculated. it can.

  In step S59, the system controller 6 reads out the image directory information unit in the general management file from the RAM 6a, and controls display of data such as the directory name, directory number, and the number of images in the image directory on the monitor device 9. Then, the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S60, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether the user has designated an image directory for recording the image data. If No, the process proceeds to step S62. In the case of Yes, it progresses to step S71 shown in FIG.

  In step S62, since the user does not specify an image directory, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether a new image directory other than the existing image directory is specified. In the case of No, the above step S60 and step S62 are repeated until the formation of the new image directory is designated, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S63.

  In step S63, since the formation of a new image directory has been designated, the system controller 6 determines the number of existing image directories based on the general information management file, attaches the directory number of the new image directory, and this image directory. An image data management file and an image index file are formed in step S71, and the process proceeds to step S71 shown in FIG.

  Next, in step S71 shown in FIG. 36, the system controller 6 records and reproduces the disc via the storage unit controller 5d so as to read out all the image data recorded in the index file of the designated image directory. The unit 5c is controlled, and the image data of the index file is controlled to be transferred to the main memory 11a shown in FIG. 4, and the process proceeds to step S72. From the index file, the image data recorded by being fixed-length encoded together with the header is read as it is and is transferred to the main memory 11a without performing the decompression decoding process. Further, when image data is not recorded in the index file, the image data is not read out to the main memory.

  In step S72, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether or not the recording start is designated by the user. If No, this step S72 is performed until the recording start is designated. Is repeated, and if yes, the process proceeds to step S73.

  In step S73, the system controller 6 determines whether or not the image to be recorded is an index image. If NO, the process proceeds to step S74, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S83.

  In step S83, data indicating that the image to be recorded is an index image is supplied to the thinning / compression / decompression controller 41 shown in FIG. When the data is supplied, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i sets a fixed length coefficient for the index image in the compression / decompression circuit 4h, and proceeds to step S84.

  In step S84, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i controls the compression / decompression circuit 4h so as to perform compression coding processing on the image data thinned to ¼ based on the set fixed length coefficient. As a result, an index image that is fixed-length encoded to a fixed data length of 1/15 cluster is formed, and the process proceeds to step S85.

  In step S85, the system controller 6 controls the memory controller 13 to record a 4096-byte index image with a header added to the index file stored in the main memory 11a shown in FIG. Proceed to

  In step S86, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all index images have been recorded in the main memory 11a. If no, the process returns to step S73, and if yes, the process proceeds to step S87.

  In step S87, the system controller 6 sets the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a to “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). By searching the place where is, an empty area is detected, and the process proceeds to step S88.

  In step S88, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to access the detected empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S89.

  In step S89, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to record the index file having the index image in an empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S80. .

  That is, when the index image is fixed-length encoded and recorded on the optical disc 20, a predetermined number of index images that have been fixed-length encoded are recorded on the main memory 11a in order before being recorded on the optical disc 20. Then, one index file is formed from a predetermined number of index images on the main memory 11a and then recorded in a physically continuous area on the optical disc 20.

  On the other hand, as described above, one index image is fixed-length encoded to a data length of 1/15 cluster. For this reason, in order to record image data having a data length of 1/15 cluster on the optical disc 20, dummy data for 14/15 clusters is added to the image data for 1/15 clusters to add 1 Must be the data length of the cluster. Therefore, if the 1/15 cluster image data is recorded on the disk each time the dummy data recording area is larger than the index image data recording area on the disk. Cannot be used effectively.

  However, in the still image recording / playback system according to the present invention, a predetermined number of index image data is once recorded as an index file on the main memory 11a, and after the loading of all index image data is completed, the main memory The index file recorded in 11a is recorded on the disc. That is, for example, when recording an index file having 25 index images, 15 index images (15 × 1/15 clusters) are recorded in an area for one cluster, and the remaining 10 index images (10) are recorded. × 1/15 cluster) and 5/15 cluster dummy data are recorded in the next one cluster area. As a result, the amount of dummy data recorded on the disc can be reduced, and the recording area on the disc can be used effectively.

  In the still image recording / reproducing system in this description, a plurality of fixed-length-coded index images are once recorded on the main memory 11a, so that a predetermined number of index images on the main memory 11a Since an index file is formed and this index file is recorded in a physically continuous area on the disk, the index file recorded on the disk can be always a continuous file. For this reason, when reading the index file from the optical disk 20, it is possible to perform high-speed reading because it is continuously recorded on the disk.

  The case of adding a new index image to the index file will be described. In this case, the data of the index file is read onto the main memory 11a prior to recording as described above. When recording, the new index image is recorded in the area immediately after the last recorded index image by deleting the dummy data added after the last recorded index image (dummy data). If there is no, there is no need to delete.)

  On the other hand, if it is determined No in step S73 and the process proceeds to step S74, in step S74, the system controller 6 detects an empty area on the optical disc 20 for recording an intermediate resolution image or a high resolution image. Proceed to S75.

  Specifically, the system controller 6 sets the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a to “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). The empty area is detected by searching for a place where “

  In step S75, the system controller 6 detects the optimum empty area among the empty areas searched in step S74, and the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c is accessed via the storage unit controller 5d so as to access this area. Control.

  Here, the optimum recording position is the area after the recorded file (the last recorded file) recorded in order under the same directory and the image (several clusters) to be recorded. Most preferably, the areas are physically contiguous areas.

  However, when recording large data such as high-resolution image data (8 clusters) or ultra-high-resolution image data (18 clusters) and there are few unrecorded areas on the optical disk 20, the end of the same directory is used. There may be cases where a physically continuous area cannot be secured in the area behind the recorded file. In such a case, an excellent record block ERB is formed in the management block, and a plurality of non-consecutive distributed areas are linked by this ERB to record one file.

  Next, in step S76, the system controller 6 sets a fixed length coefficient corresponding to the high resolution image data or the ultra high resolution image data in the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S77.

  In step S77, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i performs compression / decompression so as to form high-resolution image data for 8 clusters or ultra-high-resolution image data for 18 clusters based on the set fixed length coefficient. The circuit 4h is formed and the process proceeds to step S78.

  In step S78, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to record the fixed-length image data in the optimum area on the detected optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the process proceeds to step S79.

  In step S79, the system controller 6 sequentially determines the image data management file data in the designated directory and the file name corresponding to the resolution of each image data, together with the recording control of the image data, and proceeds to step S80.

  Specifically, for example, when images 1 to 6 read from a negative film are recorded in the HD recording mode in the image directory PIC00001, the following is performed.

  That is, before recording, it can be determined from the data of the image data management file on the RAM 6a that the number of images recorded in the HD recording mode is zero, so the high resolution (HD) of the first image. Is PHP00000. At the same time, the intermediate resolution (SD) is PSN00000. PMP. Therefore, when all the six images have been recorded, PHP00000. PMP to PHP00005. PMP, PSN00000. PMP to PSN00005. A PMP file is formed.

  The case where the index images of the six images are recorded will be described. These six index images are stored in the PIDX000. Recorded sequentially in PMX. For this reason, a new index file is not formed. However, if the number of index images to be recorded in one index file exceeds a preset number of index images (for example, 25 in this description), a new PIDX001. A second index file such as PMX is formed.

  In step S80, the system controller 6 records all three types of resolution image data, ie, low resolution image data (index image), intermediate resolution image data, and high resolution image data (or ultra high resolution image data). If NO, the process returns to step S73 to record image data having a resolution that has not yet been recorded. If YES, the process proceeds to step S81.

  In step S81, the system controller 6 detects whether or not the eject key 32 of the operation unit 10 is turned on. If No, this step S81 is repeated, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S82.

  In step S82, the system controller 6 uses the data U-TOC, the general information management file, and the image data management file recorded on the disk as the data U-TOC, the general information management recorded on the RAM 6a. All the routines relating to the recording operation shown in FIG. 35 and FIG. 36 are completed after updating with the data of the file and the image data management file.

  Specifically, in the data U-TOC, each of volume descriptor (VD), volume space bitmap (VSB), management table (MT), directory record block (DRB), extents record block (ERB), etc. Data is mainly rewritten.

  That is, in the above VD, data relating to allocation blocks (recordable allocation blocks, etc.), number of directories (when formation of a new directory is designated), number of files, data relating to DRB (new directory or file formed) Data) related to ERB (when a newly formed file is recorded at physically discontinuous positions and linked by ERB), etc. are rewritten.

  In the VSB, a 2-bit code indicating the attribute of each allocation block is rewritten.

  In the MT, entry is made when DRB and ERB are newly formed. However, when one directory record unit in the existing DRB is added, the MT is not updated.

  In the DRB, when a new directory is formed, one directory directory record unit is added. Similarly, when a file is formed, one file directory record unit is added for each file.

  The ERB is formed when a file is specified by the DRB and the file is not physically continuous. It is not formed at the time of formatting.

  Next, in the general information management file, data such as the total number of images, the next image directory number, the total number of image directories, and the image directory information unit are mainly rewritten. When the image directory is newly formed, one unit is formed as the image directory information unit.

  Next, in the image data management file, when a new image directory is formed, a new image data management file is formed in the newly formed image directory. Data such as the number of images, the number of image index files, the next image index file number, index file information, and image information unit are mainly updated. The index file information is updated when an index file is newly formed, and the index number is updated when the index number in the index file is added. Further, since the image information unit is provided corresponding to each index image, the number of image information units increases by the increased number of images. In normal recording, the data in the image information unit is not updated, but when the order of the index images is changed, the image numbers are changed and updated.

10. [Description of other recording operations]
Next, another recording operation of the image data of each resolution will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart of FIG. 37 starts when the routine of steps S35 to S63 of the flowchart described in FIG. 35 ends, and proceeds to step S91. In step S91, the system controller 6 reads all the image data recorded in the index file of the designated image directory. In step S92, the system controller 6 detects designation of recording start from the user. Then, the process proceeds to step S93.

  Note that step S91 and step S92 shown in FIG. 37 are steps corresponding to step S71 and step S72 described with reference to FIG. 36, respectively.

  Next, in step S93, the system controller 6 determines whether the image data to be recorded is high resolution image data (HD or UD), intermediate resolution image data (SD), or low resolution image data (index image). Data). When it is determined that the low resolution image data is being recorded, the process proceeds to step S104. When it is determined that the intermediate resolution image data is being recorded, the process proceeds to step S94, where the high resolution image data is being recorded. If it is determined, the process proceeds to step S103.

  Steps S104 to S110 which are proceeded after it is determined that the low-resolution image data is being recorded in step S93 correspond to steps S83 to S89 shown in FIG.

  That is, in step S104, the system controller 6 supplies data indicating that the image to be recorded is an index image to the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i shown in FIG. When the data is supplied, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i sets a fixed length coefficient for the index image in the compression / decompression circuit 4h, and proceeds to step S105.

  In step S105, the system controller 6 performs compression encoding processing on the image data that has been thinned to ¼ based on the set fixed length coefficient via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i. Then, the compression / decompression circuit 4h is controlled to form an index image that is fixed-length encoded to a fixed data length of 1/15 cluster, and the process proceeds to step S106.

  In step S106, the system controller 6 controls the memory controller 13 to record a 4096-byte index image with a header added to the file stored in the main memory 11a shown in FIG. move on.

  In step S107, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all index images have been recorded in the main memory 11a. If No, the process returns to step S93. If Yes, the process proceeds to step S108.

  In step S108, the system controller 6 sets the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a to “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). By searching for a place where is, an empty area is detected, and the process proceeds to step S109.

  In step S109, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to access the detected empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S110.

  In step S110, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to record the index image in an empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S100.

  Next, an empty area for low resolution image data in step S108, an empty area for intermediate resolution image data in step S94, and an empty area for high resolution image data (or for ultra high resolution image data) in step S103. Are detected respectively. As described above, the free area is detected when the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a is “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). ) Is performed by searching for the location, and at that time, the address to be searched is designated corresponding to the recording of each resolution.

  That is, the case of recording low-resolution image data (step S108) will be described. In a normal application, up to 200 index images can be recorded in the HD recording mode. Even if the HD recording mode is selected or the UD recording mode is selected, the index image has a fixed data length of 1/15 cluster in any case. Therefore, the area necessary for the index image is 200 ×. 1/15 cluster = 13.33 cluster. However, if the number of image directories increases, there will be an image directory in which only one or two index images are recorded in one image directory. Since the maximum number of the image directories is set to 20 directories, in such a case, the capacity to record for the index image is most required, and at least 32 clusters are required. For this reason, the system controller 6 searches for the code of the allocation block designated by the address corresponding to the 1st to 32nd clusters from the inner periphery of the disk when detecting the free area at the time of recording the index image. Detect area. In this case, other empty areas are not detected.

  Next, the case of recording intermediate resolution image data (step S94) will be described. Up to 200 sheets can be recorded in the HD recording mode, and an intermediate resolution (SD) image is recorded with a fixed data length of 2 clusters. Therefore, 2 clusters × 200 sheets = 400 clusters are required as an intermediate resolution image area. For this reason, the system controller 6 detects an area of 400 clusters after the index image area (1 to 32 clusters) from the inner periphery of the disk, that is, 33 to 33, when detecting an empty area of the intermediate resolution image recording. The code of the allocation block in the area designated by the address corresponding to the 432 cluster is searched to detect an empty area, and the process proceeds to step S95.

  Similarly, in the UD recording mode, a maximum of 100 sheets can be recorded, and an intermediate resolution (SD) image is recorded with a fixed data length of 2 clusters. Cluster × 100 sheets = 200 clusters are required. For this reason, the system controller 6 detects an area for 200 clusters from the inner periphery of the disk to the index image area (1 to 32 clusters), that is, 33 to 33, when detecting an empty area for image recording at an intermediate resolution. The code of the allocation block of the area designated by the address corresponding to the 232 cluster is searched to detect a free area, and the process proceeds to step S95.

  Next, the case of recording high-resolution image data and ultra-high-resolution image data (step S103) will be described. First, in the HD recording mode, a maximum of 200 images can be recorded, and high-resolution image data has 8 clusters. The fixed data length is.

  Therefore, 8 clusters × 200 sheets = 1600 clusters are required for the image area of the high resolution image data. For this reason, in step S103, the system controller 6 determines the area for 1600 clusters from the inner area of the disc to the index image area (1 to 32 clusters) and the intermediate resolution image area (33 to 432 clusters). That is, the code of the allocation block of the area specified by the address corresponding to the 433 to 2032 clusters is searched to detect a free area, and the process proceeds to step S95.

  Similarly, in the UD recording mode, a maximum of 100 sheets can be recorded, and the super high resolution image data has a fixed data length of 18 clusters. Therefore, the super high resolution image area is 18 clusters × 100 = 1800 clusters. Free space is required.

  For this reason, the system controller 6 detects the free area of the super high resolution image recording from the inner periphery of the disk to the index image area (1 to 32 clusters) and the intermediate resolution image area (33 to 232 clusters). The code of the allocation block specified by the area corresponding to the subsequent 1800 clusters, that is, the addresses corresponding to the 233 to 2032 clusters is searched to detect a free area, and the process proceeds to step S95.

  Next, when the search for the free area is completed, in step S95, the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled via the storage unit controller 5d so as to access the optimum area among the free areas searched by the system controller 6. Then, the process proceeds to step S96. In this case, as the optimum recording position, regardless of the directory, a free area search is performed, and each data is recorded in order at a position where a free area exists first. Therefore, the recorded data is recorded in order from the head of each area.

  In step S96, the system controller 6 sets a fixed length coefficient corresponding to the high resolution image data or the ultra high resolution image data in the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S97.

  In step S97, the system controller 6 sends high resolution image data for 8 clusters or ultra high resolution image data for 18 clusters based on the set fixed length coefficient via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i. Then, the compression / expansion circuit 4h is controlled so as to form, and the process proceeds to step S98.

  In step S98, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c to record the fixed-length image data in the optimum area on the detected optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the process proceeds to step S99.

  In step S99, the system controller 6 sequentially determines the image data management file data in the designated image directory and the file name corresponding to the resolution of each image data, together with the recording control of the image data, and proceeds to step S100. .

  In step S100, whether or not the system controller 6 has recorded all the three types of resolution image data, that is, low resolution image data (index image), intermediate resolution image data, and high resolution image data (or ultra high resolution image data). If the answer is No, the process returns to step S93 to record the image data of the resolution that has not yet been recorded. If the answer is Yes, the process proceeds to step S101.

  In step S101, the system controller 6 detects whether or not the eject key 32 of the operation unit 10 has been turned on. If No, this step S101 is repeated, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S102.

  In step S102, the system controller 6 uses the data U-TOC, the comprehensive management information file, and the related data of the image data management file recorded on the disk as the data U-TOC, the comprehensive management recorded on the RAM 6a. After updating the data in the information file and the image data management file, all routines relating to the other recording operations shown in FIG. 37 are completed.

  Steps S95 to S102 correspond to steps S75 to S82 shown in FIG.

  In such another recording operation, search areas of low resolution, intermediate resolution, and high resolution (or ultra-high resolution) are designated by addressing the allocation block in the VSB stored in the RAM 6a. That is, since the recording area on the disk is divided by addressing only by reading the VSB data of the RAM 6a, it is possible to speed up the detection of the empty area.

  For example, it is conceivable to perform recording by physically determining the recording position of each area on the disc. However, in this case, since the amount of area (intermediate resolution area and high resolution area) used in the HD recording mode and the UD recording mode differs, the area is secured in advance assuming the most necessary amount. There is a need. That is, it is necessary to secure each area for 400 clusters in the HD recording mode in the intermediate resolution area and 1800 clusters in the UD mode in the high resolution area, and the recording area cannot be used effectively.

  Also, in this explanation, the address for searching the free area is specified for the index, intermediate resolution, and high resolution from the inner side of the disc, but this is conversely for the index and intermediate resolution from the outer side of the disc. , An address for searching for an empty area may be designated for high resolution, and can be changed as appropriate according to the design.

11. [Recording album names, etc.]
With an album, one image directory formed under the directory is defined as one album. In the still image recording / reproducing system, when the recording of the image data of each resolution is completed as described above, the album name for each album, the image name for each image of each album, a keyword for searching for a desired image, The disc name can be entered.

  In this case, the user turns on the light key 53 provided in the operation unit 10. When the light key 53 is turned on, the system controller 6 detects this and enters a light mode for inputting character information.

  Next, the user operates the up / down / left / right key 54. Each time the up / down / left / right key 54 is operated once, the system controller 6 controls the display unit 26 so as to sequentially display, for example, album name, image name, keyword, and disc name characters.

  The user looks at the characters displayed on the display unit 26, decides which information is to be input, and turns on the EXEC key 55 provided on the operation unit 10. Thereby, the system controller 6 recognizes information to be input from now on.

  Next, the user operates a numeric keypad provided on the operation unit 10. As a result, the system controller 6 controls the display unit 26 to display characters according to the operation of the numeric keypad. Then, the user turns on the EXEC key 55 again when the album name displayed on the display unit 26 becomes a desired album name or the like.

  When the EXEC key 55 is turned on again, the system controller 6 detects this, ends the write mode, and sets the input character information such as the album name as a so-called ASCII code on the optical disc 20. The disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled to record.

  Specifically, when recording a desired image name, the user turns on the light key 53 to set the system controller 6 in the light mode and turns on the up / down / left / right key 54 to start the recording. “Image name” which is information to be input is selected. Then, the ten key 50 is operated to input the image name of the image.

  As a result, the system controller 6 forms an ASCII code corresponding to the input character and supplies it to the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c. As a result, the disc recording / reproducing unit 5 c records the ASCII code corresponding to the image name on the optical disc 20.

  Note that the number of characters that can be input as the image name is, for example, 16 characters, and the number of characters that can be input as the album name is 32 characters, which can be input in alphabet, katakana, kanji, or the like. That is, 432 characters (16 characters x 25 images + 32 characters of album name) can be input in one screen.

12 [Description of playback operation]
Next, the image operation of the still image recording / reproducing system when the image data recorded on the optical disc 20 is reproduced and displayed on the monitor device 9 will be described.

  In this case, the user first operates the album key 33 provided in the operation unit 10. The system controller 6 detects this every time the album key 33 is turned on, and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c and the display unit 26 to reproduce and display the album name of the album. To do. Four albums are recorded on the optical disc 20, and four album names are sequentially displayed on the display unit 26 every time the album key 33 is turned on.

  Next, the user selects a desired album from the above four albums and then turns on the first index key 38a. The system controller 6 detects when the first index key 38a is turned on, and displays the low resolution image data and ASCII code (album name, image name, etc.) for the index of the selected album. The disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled so as to reproduce data.

  One album is composed of image data for 50 sheets, for example, and these 50 images may be displayed on the display screen at one time, but the display area for one sheet is inevitably narrowed, and the user It may be difficult to select a desired image. For this reason, the system controller 6 reads and controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to read 25 low-resolution image data by one designation. As a result, the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c first reads the 25 low-resolution image data, the ASCII code of the album name, and the ASCII code of each image name from the inner peripheral side of the optical disc 20, and the image The data is supplied to the compression / decompression circuit 4h shown in FIG. 5 through the EFM circuit 21, and the ASCII code is directly supplied to the buffer circuit 4b.

  The compression / decompression circuit 4h performs low-resolution decompression processing on the image data, and supplies this to the buffer circuit 4b via a raster block conversion circuit 4g and a selector 4f. The buffer circuit 4b temporarily stores the image data and ASCII code.

  When the low resolution image data and ASCII code are stored in the buffer circuit 4b in this way, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i transfers the ASCII code stored in the buffer circuit 4b at a high speed together with the image data. Thus, the buffer circuit 4b is read and controlled. As a result, the ASCII code is transferred together with the image data to the video memory 11b shown in FIG. 4 via the interface 4a without the intervention of the system controller 6.

  The storage area of the video memory 11b as a whole is 2048 pixels x 2048 pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions, of which the storage area of 1024 pixels x 1536 pixels (vertical x horizontal) is the storage area for image data (image (Data area) and a storage area of 16 pixels × 32 pixels (512 bytes) of the remaining area other than the image data area is a command area which is a storage area of the ASCII code.

  When the image data and ASCII code are transferred from the buffer circuit 4b at a high speed, the memory controller 13 controls to write the image data in the image data area of the video memory 11b, and controls to write the ASCII code to the command area. .

  When the image data and the ASCII code are written in each storage area of the video memory 11b in this way, the memory controller 13 reads the ASCII code written in the command area and interprets the ASCII code. Then, the character of the interpreted ASCII code is written and controlled as image data in the video memory 11b.

  Specifically, when the ASCII code read from the command area is “41H”, the ASCII code indicates the letter “A” of the alphabet, and therefore the memory controller 13 has, for example, 24 pixels × 24 pixels. Image data of the character “A” is formed, and the video memory 11b is written and controlled so that the character “A” is displayed below the image.

  As described above, when the writing of the image data indicating the image data and ASCII code characters (hereinafter, these two image data are simply referred to as image data) is completed in the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 performs the video controller 11b. The image data written in the memory 11b is read and controlled. This image data is converted into an analog image signal via a D / A converter and supplied to the monitor device 9.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 41, the index image for 25 images and the image name of each image are displayed on the display screen of the monitor device 9 together with the album name of the selected album.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 39, on the display screen of the monitor device 9, together with the album name of the selected album (album A), 25 index images (A1 to A25) and the image names of the images are displayed. Is displayed.

  Further, when the user wants to display the remaining 25 images of the selected album, the user operates the operation unit 10 to designate the display of the remaining 25 images. Thereby, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to reproduce the remaining 25 low resolution image data and the ASCII code of each image data. As a result, the remaining 25 low-resolution image data and ASCII code are transferred at high speed as described above, and the remaining 25 images are displayed on the monitor device 9.

  Next, when 25 images are displayed for indexing on the monitor device 9, the user operates the operation unit 10 so as to select a desired image from the images.

  The system controller 6 detects when a desired image is designated by operating the operation unit 10, and detects the intermediate resolution image data corresponding to the selected image from the optical disc 20. The playback unit 5c is controlled. As a result, the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c reads image data having intermediate resolution for display recorded on the optical disc 20. The intermediate resolution image data is supplied to the video memory 11b as described above.

  When the intermediate resolution image data is supplied to the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 temporarily stores and reads the image data and supplies it to the monitor device 9 via the D / A converter. As a result, the image selected by the user is displayed on the display screen of the monitor device 9 in full.

  Here, the still image recording / playback system can select a desired image and display it on the monitor device 9 without displaying the index image.

  That is, when the user knows the album in which the desired image is recorded and the image number, the user operates the numeric keypad 50 provided on the operation unit 10 as described above to specify the album and the image. Specify a number.

  As described above, since 50 images can be recorded in one album, the user selects a desired image by inputting a desired image number using the numeric keypad 50. Then, after the desired image number is selected, the reproduction key 41 is turned on.

  When the system controller 6 detects that the playback key 41 is turned on, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / playback unit 5c so as to read out the image data of the intermediate resolution of the image number of the designated album. Thereby, the intermediate resolution image data of the designated image number is read from the optical disc 20 and an image corresponding to the intermediate resolution image data is displayed on the monitor device 9.

  Such a desired image can also be selected using the search key 52 provided on the operation unit 10. That is, when the search key 52 is turned on, the system controller 6 enters the search mode. In the search mode, the system controller 6 controls the display unit 26 to display the image name, keyword, recording date, and recording time in order each time the up / down / left / right key 54 is operated once. . When the user selects information to be input from the image name, keyword, and recording date recording time, the user inputs the image name, keyword, recording date, or recording time of the image to be searched using the numeric keypad 50, and executes the EXEC. The key 55 is turned on.

  As a result, the system controller 6 detects that the EXEC key 55 has been turned on and starts a search. Then, the display unit 26 is controlled to display an image corresponding to the image name, keyword, etc., and display the album number, album name, image name, image number, etc. of the searched image. When there are a plurality of corresponding images, the display unit 26 is controlled to display a plurality of album numbers, album names, and the like.

  Next, the user selects a desired image from the image names displayed on the display unit 26 using the up / down / left / right keys 54 and turns on the reproduction key 41.

  The system controller 6 detects when the reproduction key 41 is turned on, and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to reproduce the image data of the selected image.

  As a result, the designated image data is read from the optical disc 20 and supplied to the monitor device 9 for display.

  Next, when the user does not know what album is formed on the disc and wants to reproduce a desired image from the album, the user turns on the second index key 38b of the operation unit 10. .

  When recording low-resolution image data on the optical disc 20, the low-resolution image data recorded at the beginning of each album is recorded on the optical disc as one index file in advance.

  When the second index key 38b is turned on, the system controller 6 detects this and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to reproduce the index file. As a result, an index file having low resolution image data of the first recorded image of each album is reproduced from the optical disc 20 and supplied to the monitor device 9 via the video memory 11b as described above. .

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 40, only the first image (A1 to Y1) of each album (album A to album Y) can be displayed on the monitor device 9, and the user can select a desired image. You can search for recorded albums.

  Next, rather than displaying only the top image of each album in this way, it is easier to select a desired album when several images including the top image are displayed simultaneously. Therefore, the operation unit 10 is provided with a third index key 38c.

  Similarly, when recording low-resolution image data on the optical disc 20, the low-resolution image data recorded at the beginning of each album and the low-resolution from the first image to the fifth image as one index. A file is recorded on the optical disk.

  When the third index key 38c is turned on, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to detect and reproduce it.

  As a result, the disk recording / playback unit 5c plays back the low-resolution image data of the first recorded image of each album from the optical disk 20 and the low-resolution image data from the first image to the fifth image, As described above, the data is supplied to the monitor device 9 via the video memory 11b.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 41, the monitor device 9 has images (A1 to A5, B1 to B5, C1 to C5, D1 to D5) from the first image of each album (album A to album E) to the fifth image. , E1 to E5) can be displayed, and the user can easily search for an album in which a desired image is recorded.

  Next, it may be easier to understand the contents of each album if the images of each album are not displayed continuously but are displayed every predetermined number. For this case, the operation unit 10 is provided with a fourth index key 38d.

  Similarly, when recording low-resolution image data on the optical disc 20, the low-resolution image data recorded at the beginning of each album and the low-resolution image data recorded ten frames ahead of the first image are recorded in advance. The low-resolution image data recorded 20 sheets ahead of the first image is recorded on the optical disc as one index file.

  That is, when the fourth index key 38d is turned on, the system controller 6 detects this and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to reproduce the index file.

  As a result, the low-resolution image data of each album reproduced from the optical disk 20 every tenth is reproduced and supplied to the monitor device 9 via the video memory 11b as described above.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 42, images (A1, A11, A21, A31, A41, B1, B11, B21, and B1) reproduced on every ten albums (album A to album E) on the monitor device 9. B31, B41, C1, C11, C21, C31, C41, D1, D11, D21, D31, D41, E1, E11, E21, E31, E41), and the user can record a desired image. You can search for albums that are easier.

  Next, if a plurality of images of each album are displayed on one screen, it may be difficult to see and search each image. For such a case, the operation unit 10 is provided with a first album search key 56.

  That is, when the first album search key 56 is turned on, the system controller 6 detects this and continuously reproduces the image data of the intermediate resolution of the image recorded at the head of each album. The disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled.

  Thereby, the image data of intermediate resolution of each image recorded at the head of each album is reproduced from the optical disc 20 by the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c and transferred to the video memory 11b as described above. When the image data of each intermediate resolution is stored in the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 immediately reads out and supplies it to the monitor device 9.

  Thereby, as shown in FIG. 43, the images (A1 to Z1) recorded at the head of each album (album A to album Z) can be continuously displayed on the monitor device 9, and the user can Can be searched at high speed.

  When a desired album is selected from albums (images) that are continuously displayed in this way, the user turns on the stop key 42 when the desired image is displayed. When the stop key 42 is turned on in such a state, the system controller 6 recognizes that the album to which the image displayed at the time when the stop key 42 is turned on is designated, Thereafter, playback, editing, and the like are performed based on this album.

  Next, if only the first image of each album is displayed continuously, the contents of the album may not be known, and it may be difficult to search for a desired album. For such a case, the operation unit 10 is provided with a second album search key 57.

  That is, when the second album search key 57 is turned on, the system controller 6 detects this, and image data of intermediate resolution of the image recorded at the head of each album and up to, for example, the third image The disk recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled so as to continuously reproduce the intermediate resolution image data.

  As a result, the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c reproduces the intermediate resolution image data of each image and the intermediate resolution image data up to the third image recorded from the optical disc 20 at the head of each album, as described above. It is transferred to the video memory 11b. When the image data of each intermediate resolution is stored in the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 immediately reads out and supplies it to the monitor device 9.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 44, images (A1 to A3, B1 to B3, C1 to C3,...) Recorded on the monitor device 9 from the top of each album (album A to album Z) from the top to the third sheet are recorded. .) Can be displayed continuously, and the user can search for a desired album at a higher speed.

  When a desired album is selected from albums (images) that are continuously displayed in this way, the user turns on the stop key 42 when the desired image is displayed. When the stop key 42 is turned on in such a state, the system controller 6 recognizes that the album to which the image displayed at the time when the stop key 42 is turned on is designated, Thereafter, playback, editing, and the like are performed based on this album.

  In this way, a predetermined number of low resolution image data is recorded on the optical disc 20 as an index file, and when each of the index keys 38a to 38d is turned on, the index file is read and each album is displayed on one screen. By displaying a predetermined number of low-resolution image data indicating the contents of (image directory), it is possible to search for a desired image or a desired album (image directory) at high speed.

  Further, since a predetermined number of low-resolution image data is recorded as index files on the optical disc 20, when an index is displayed, a predetermined number of predetermined numbers can be obtained by searching and reading one index file from the disc. Since low-resolution image data can be displayed, index display can be performed at high speed.

  Next, the still image recording / reproducing system can directly designate a desired image and display it on the monitor device 9 without displaying the index image.

  That is, when the user knows the album in which the desired image is recorded and the image number, the album key 33, the numeric keypad 50, the return key 39, and the feed key 40 provided in the operation unit 10 as described above. To input a desired album and a desired image number. Then, after the desired image number is selected, the reproduction key 41 is turned on.

  When the system controller 6 detects that the playback key 41 is turned on, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / playback unit 5c so as to read out the image data of the intermediate resolution of the image number of the designated album. Thereby, the intermediate resolution image data of the designated image number is read from the optical disc 20 and an image corresponding to the intermediate resolution image data is displayed on the monitor device 9.

  The still image recording / reproducing system can also search for a desired image using a search key 52 provided in the operation unit 10.

  That is, when the search key 52 is turned on, the system controller 6 enters the search mode. In the search mode, the system controller 6 controls the display unit 26 to display the image name, keyword, recording date, and recording time in order each time the up / down / left / right key 54 is operated once. . When the user selects information to be input from the image name, keyword, recording date, and recording time, the user inputs the image name, keyword, recording date, or recording time of the image to be searched using the numeric keypad 50. The EXEC key 55 is turned on.

  As a result, the system controller 6 detects that the EXEC key 55 has been turned on and starts a search. Then, an image corresponding to the image name, keyword, etc. is searched, and the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled so as to read out low resolution image data of the searched image. When a plurality of images are retrieved by this retrieval, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to read out low resolution image data of the plurality of images.

  Thereby, the low-resolution image data of the searched image is supplied to the video memory 11b. When the low-resolution image data is stored in the video memory 11b, the memory controller 13 reads it and supplies it to the monitor device 9.

  Next, the user sees the image displayed on the monitor device 9 to recognize a desired image, inputs the album number and image number of the image using the numeric keypad 50, and turns on the reproduction key 41. . The system controller 6 reads out and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to reproduce the intermediate resolution image data of the designated image number from the designated album.

  Thereby, the intermediate resolution image data of the desired image is supplied to the monitor device 9 via the video memory 11b, and the searched desired image is displayed on the monitor device 9.

13. [Reproduction and display of index images]
Next, the reproduction and display operation of the low-resolution image data for the index described in item 12 [description of reproduction operation], item 6 [description of optical disc format], 7 [description of file and file hierarchy], The optical disk structure and file hierarchy structure described in 8 [File structure] will be referred to and will be described in more detail using the flowchart of FIG.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 38, when the user turns on the power key 31 shown in FIG. 8, the storage unit 5 enters a standby state and starts. Then, the process proceeds to step S120.

  In step S120, the user inserts the optical disc 20 into the disc insertion slot 30 shown in FIG. 8, and proceeds to step S121. As a result, the optical disk 20 inserted through the disk insertion slot 30 is loaded into the storage unit 5 and image data can be reproduced.

  In step S121, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the P-TOC and U-TOC recorded on the optical disc 20, and the P-TOC and U- It is determined whether or not a TOC exists. If each TOC does not exist, the process proceeds to step S139, where the display unit 26 is controlled to display “disk error”, and if each TOC exists, the process proceeds to step S122.

  In step S122, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the P-TOC and U-TOC, confirms the position of the data U-TOC, and proceeds to step S123. In the U-TOC, since the area where the data file is formed cannot be managed, if the data file exists, it is determined that the data U-TOC exists at the head thereof.

  In step S123, the system controller 6 stores the data U-TOC data in the RAM 6a, grasps the position of each directory and file, and proceeds to step S124.

  In step S124, the system controller 6 determines whether or not the optical disc 20 is formatted for image recording. Specifically, the system controller 6 determines a directory (PIC_MD), a general information management file, an image directory (at least one), an image data management file, an image based on the data U-TOC data stored in the RAM 6a. By determining whether or not an index file exists, it is determined whether or not the optical disc 20 is formatted for image recording. If No, the process proceeds to step S140, and the display unit 26 is controlled to display “disk error”, and the process ends. If yes, the process proceeds to step S125.

  In step S125, the system controller 6 reads all the management files (the general information management file, the image data management file of each directory, the print control data management file, and the reproduction control management file) via the storage unit controller 5d. Then, the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c is controlled, and all the read management files are temporarily stored in the RAM 6a, and the process proceeds to step S126.

  In step S126, the system controller 6 determines whether an image to be displayed has been designated. If Yes, the system controller 6 proceeds to step S130, and if No, the process proceeds to step S127.

  In step S127, the system controller 6 searches for the comprehensive index file recorded on the optical disc 20, and proceeds to step S128.

  In particular, when an image directory is not specified, it is necessary to display what image data is recorded in each image directory to allow the user to specify a desired image.

  Therefore, in step S128, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c to display the comprehensive index file recorded on the optical disk 20, and the process proceeds to step S129. The comprehensive index file is a file in which the same index image data as any one index image among the index image data stored in the image index file in each image directory is registered in the display order of the monitor. is there. By displaying the comprehensive index file on the monitor, the user can specify a desired image directory.

  Next, in step S129, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether or not the index image desired by the user is designated from the index image displayed on the monitor. In the case of, step S129 is repeated until the designation is made, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S130.

  In step S130, the system controller 6 searches for an image directory corresponding to the designated index image, and proceeds to step S131.

  That is, the same number of image directory information units (48-byte data) in the general information management file stored in the RAM 6a as the number of displayed index images (= the number of image directories) are registered. And are recorded in order so as to correspond to the display order of the index images. For example, a case where the second index image displayed by the general information management file is designated will be described as an example. First, the 48-byte image directory information unit corresponding to the designated second index image is: It is recorded second from the beginning. It is understood that data “00001” is recorded in the directory number of the second image directory information unit, and the directory in which this index image is recorded by this data is the image directory of the second PIC0001.

  Next, in step S131, the system controller 6 searches for the image index file in the directory searched in step S130, and proceeds to step S132.

  In step S132, the system controller 6 controls display of the first image index file (including 25 index images) in the searched directory on the monitor device 9, and the process proceeds to step S133.

  In step S133, the system controller 6 determines whether or not a user-desired image has been designated from among the index images displayed on the monitor device 9 by detecting the operation state of the operation unit 10. If No, the process proceeds to step S134, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S136.

In step S134, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether display of the next image index file (including the remaining 25 index images) has been designated. In the case of No, the process returns to step S133 described above, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S135.
In step S135, the system controller 6 controls display of the remaining 25 index images on the monitor device 9 and returns to step S133.
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S133 that an index image is designated, the process proceeds to step S136, and the system controller 6 searches for a high resolution image file or an intermediate resolution image file corresponding to the designated index image. Then, the process proceeds to step S137.

  Specifically, the system controller 6 selects an image data management file corresponding to the image directory where the displayed index file exists from among the image data management files in each image directory stored in the RAM 6a. select. In the image information unit (16 bytes) of the selected image data management file, the same number of image information units as the number (N) of indexes registered in the image index file are registered. The image information units are recorded in order so as to correspond to the displayed index order.

  For example, a case will be described in which 25 index images displayed by the image index file are designated as the fourth index image from among the index files in the index file of the first image directory. First, since the displayed index file is the index file of the first image directory, the system controller 6 refers to the data of the first image data management file on the RAM 6a. When the fourth index image is designated by the user, the fourth image information unit of the referenced image data management file is searched. In the retrieved data in the image information unit, data “00000” as the directory number and data “00003” as the image information are recorded. Therefore, the high resolution image file corresponding to the designated index image is determined to have the file name “PHP000003” in the image directory “PIC00000”, and the intermediate resolution image file is the file in the image directory “PIC00000”. The name is determined to be “PSN00003”.

  In addition, when an index image is selected as described above and corresponding high resolution and intermediate resolution image files are searched, it is always supported based on the data in the image information unit of the image data management file. The image file to be searched is retrieved.

  For example, when the position of the index image is changed by editing or the like described later, there is a difference between the display order of the index image and the image number of the image file. However, in the still image recording / playback system, since the display order of the index images and the image number of the image file match, the image information unit of the image data management file can be used even when the display order of the index images is changed. Thus, the correspondence between the index image and the image file of high resolution and intermediate resolution can be obtained. Details will be described later in the section “Image Editing”.

  Next, in step S137, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether monitor display of the searched intermediate resolution image file is specified. Proceeding to step S138, in the case of No, this step S137 is repeated.

  In step S138, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the data of the searched intermediate resolution image file, and displays the reproduced intermediate resolution image file thereby. The display of the apparatus 9 is controlled, and it is determined whether or not a printout of the searched high resolution image file is designated. And in the case of No, the said step S138 is repeated. In the case of Yes, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to read the searched high resolution image file, and supplies it to the printer unit 2 via the main memory 11a. All the index image reproduction and display routines shown in FIG. 38 are terminated.

  The printer unit 2 supplied with the high resolution image file converts the high resolution image data supplied as RGB data into yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) data. These are printed on the print paper by the thermal head in order from the Y data.

14 [Search file and image directory]
Next, a case where, for example, an image file f5 (PSN00000.PMP) is searched will be described with reference to the hierarchical structure of the file described with reference to FIG. This search operation is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The flowchart shown in FIG. 45 is started when the data U-TOC data is stored in the RAM 6a and the user designates a desired image directory and file name, and proceeds to step S141.

  In step S141, the system controller 6 searches the block number of the first directory record block (DRB) indicating the directory (PIC_MD) based on the volume descriptor (VD) of the volume management area, and proceeds to step S142.

  More specifically, the DRB position in the management block is recorded as a block number by data indicating the position of the first directory record block of the VD. In the still picture recording / reproducing system, the block number of the first DRB is “0004” as described above. Therefore, the system controller 6 determines that the DRB for indicating the directory D1 (PIC_MD) is the DRB indicated by the management block number “0004”.

  Next, in step S142, the system controller 6 determines whether the designated DRB is a single DRB or a continuous DRB by referring to the management block entry recorded in the MT, If it is alone, the process proceeds to step S143. If it is not alone, the process proceeds to step S147.

  In the file hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 24, since the DRB with the management block number “0004” is a single DRB, the process proceeds to step S143.

  In the above step S143, the system controller 6 indicates the directory DR unit for indicating the recording position of the image directory D2 (PIC00000) in which the image file f5 exists among the plurality of DR units provided in the DRB representing the directory D1. Search for. In other words, in the file hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 24, since the third DR unit of the DRB representing the directory D1 is a directory DR unit for indicating the recording position of the image directory D2, it is the third DR unit. A DR unit for a certain directory is searched. In this third DR unit, the directory DR unit, “index to DRB” is recorded, and the DRB block representing the image directory D2 by the management block number recorded as this “index to DRB” A position is specified. That is, in the file hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 24, “0005” is recorded as the data of “index to DRB”. Therefore, the DRB for representing the image directory D2 is the management block number “0005”. It is determined that the DRB is indicated by.

  On the other hand, in step S147, the system controller 6 sequentially searches for DR units in the DRB, and determines whether there is a directory DR unit for indicating the designated image directory. In the case of No (that is, the DR unit indicating the designated image directory does not exist in the first linked DRB), the process proceeds to Step S148, and in the case of Yes (that is, the linked first DRB). If there is a DR unit indicating the designated image directory in the DRB), the process proceeds to step S144. In the file hierarchical structure of FIG. 24, when searching for the image file f5, the DRB representing the directory D1 (PIC_MD) and the DRB representing the image directory D2 (PIC00000) are both independent DRBs. Steps S147 and S148 are not used.

  In step S144, it is determined whether or not the directory DR unit searched in step S143 is a directory DR unit indicating the designated directory. Since the file structure used in this recording / playback system is a tree structure as shown in FIG. 24, in this step S144, the last directory in the process in which the searched directory reaches the designated directory. It is determined whether or not the directory is the lowest layer. Note that when searching for the image file f5 in the file hierarchical structure of FIG. 24, the image directory D2 shown in step S143 is the lowest layer directory, so the determination result in step S144 is YES. Then, the process proceeds to step S145.

  In step S145, the system controller 6 selects a file DR unit for indicating the recording position of the image file f5 from the plurality of DR units provided in the DRB for representing the image directory D2 searched in step S143. Search for. That is, in the file hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 24, the third DR unit of the DRB representing the image directory D2 is a file DR unit for indicating the image file f5. A DR unit for a file that is a DR unit is searched. In this file DR unit, “extent start location” is recorded, and the recording position of the image file f5 is designated by the allocation book number recorded as this “extent start location”, and the process proceeds to step S146.

  In step S146, the system controller 6 accesses the allocation book position searched in step S145 in the file extents area, and confirms that the image file f5 exists at the accessed position. The image file f5 can be reproduced with the access position as the head.

  Therefore, in the present recording / playback system, as described above, since the image file is searched, the number of physical reads for the file search is reduced, and the images in the image directory having the hierarchical directory structure are reduced. Files can be searched easily and quickly.

  In addition, since the information related to the hierarchical directory structure is concentrated in the second area (volume management area), only the volume management area needs to be accessed when reading information necessary for file search. Since the recording position of the file can be grasped, the number of accesses can be reduced and the reading of the image file can be speeded up.

  Further, since the volume management area does not record any large-capacity data such as image data and records only management data, it is very suitable for storing in the RAM. Therefore, once this management data is stored in this RAM, the number of times the optical disk is accessed to retrieve a file can be further reduced.

15. [Edit image]
As described in the item 9 “Recording operation” or the item 10 “Other recording operation”, when the image recording is completed, the index image can be edited by the user's selection. This image editing refers to, for example, the operation of moving image data in a certain image directory to another image directory, or the operation of changing the display order of index images by exchanging index images within the same image directory. is there.

  As an example, an example in which the fifth index image displayed in the first image directory is moved to the tenth display position in the second directory will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 46 is started when the recording of a desired image is completed and the user turns on the edit designation key, and the process proceeds to step S151.

  In step S151, the system controller 6 reads the index file in the source image directory (first), controls the disk recording / playback unit 5c to display 25 index images, and proceeds to step S152 (playback). See the Operation section).

  In step S152, the system controller 6 determines whether or not an index image to be moved in the source image directory is specified (whether or not the index image displayed fifth in the first directory is specified). If the answer is No, Step S152 is repeated. If the answer is Yes, the process proceeds to Step S153.

  In step S153, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether or not the destination image directory and the movement position are specified (in this example, the tenth of the second directory). The original image is moved to the index image). If No, this step S153 is repeated, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S154.

  In step S154, the system controller 6 reads out all index images of the index file of the source image directory and all index images of the index file of the destination image directory onto the main memory 11a. 5c etc. are controlled and it progresses to step S155.

  In step S155, the system controller 6 moves only the designated index image (including the header) from the index file of the movement source (first image directory) to the index file of the movement destination (second image directory). The memory controller 13 is controlled so as to proceed to step S156.

  That is, in the image index file, as described above, each index image is fixed at 4096 bytes including the header and the data body. Therefore, in this example, since 4096 bytes after 4096 × 3 bytes from the head of the index file are determined as the data of the fourth index image (including the header), the position of the index image in the image index file is Easy to grasp. Similarly, the data destination of the index image (4096 bytes) to be moved is specified in an area of 4096 × 9 bytes or more of the index file of the destination directory (second), and is inserted into that area. . The insertion described here is to insert between the 8th index image and the 9th index image, not to overwrite the 9th index image.

  Next, in step S156, the system controller 6 deletes the moved index image of the source index file to update the file, and adds the moved index image of the destination index file to the memory. The controller 13 is controlled. Then, the destination file is updated and the process proceeds to step S157.

  In step S157, the system controller 6 re-records the edited source index file and the destination index file in the same location on the disc, and proceeds to step S158. In addition, even if it is not the same place, if there is another place that can secure an area, that place may be used.

  In step S158, the system controller 6 is recorded in the fifth of the plurality of image information units (16 bytes) recorded in the image data management file of the movement source (first directory) on the RAM 6a. The image information unit is moved to the 10th image unit in the image data management file of the movement destination (second directory) without changing the data, and the process proceeds to step S159. Note that there is no data update for high resolution and intermediate resolution image data files recorded on the disc.

  Next, in step S159, the system controller 6 determines whether or not the disk eject has been designated by determining whether or not the eject key 32 of the operation unit 10 is turned on. If No, this step S159 is performed. Is repeated, the process proceeds to step S160 if Yes.

  In step S160, the system controller 6 reads the data U-TOC on the RAM 6a, the general information management file, the image data management file, and controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to write it on the disc. And all the routines relating to this image editing operation are completed.

  Here, for example, a recording medium provided with a header in which data for matching with the display order of index images is provided at the beginning of a file of high resolution or intermediate resolution image data will be described as an example. In such a recording medium, when editing as described above is performed, the display order of the index images can be matched by rewriting the header data. However, in order to rewrite the header data, it is necessary to read all the data of the image file (including the image data) once, and it takes a very long time to reproduce from the disc.

  However, in the editing operation described above, the index file swaps its physical position on the disk in the order in which it is actually displayed. However, the position of the high-resolution and intermediate-resolution image data changes on the disk. Instead, the data of the image information unit in the image data management file read into the RAM 6a is replaced.

  Then, only by such replacement of each data, the correspondence between the display order of the index images and the high resolution image file and the intermediate resolution image file can be obtained. For this reason, only rewriting of the index image in the index file and rewriting of the image data management file on the RAM 6a are required to be rewritten. Therefore, the rewriting data can be greatly reduced, and the rewriting operation can be speeded up.

  Further, since the physical position of the index image on the disk is changed so that the index file is in the same order as the display order, high-speed reading of the index file can be realized.

  Further, when changing the display order of the index images in the same index file in the same image directory, the same control can be performed. For example, when the display order is changed so that the seventh index image in the same index file is displayed second, first, all data of the index file is once read from the disk onto the main memory 11a, and the seventh The index image is moved to the second position, the index file is edited on the main memory, and then re-recorded on the disc. On the other hand, on the RAM 6a, the seventh 16-byte image information unit is inserted second in the image data management file without changing the data. That is, even when the display order of the index images is changed in the same image directory, only the index file and the image information unit on the RAM are rewritten, and the actual image data is not rewritten. Become.

16 [Comprehensive index file formation operation]
As described in the item 9 “Recording operation” or the item “Other recording operation”, the high-resolution image data and the intermediate-resolution image data are simultaneously recorded on the optical disc 20, and the system controller 6 and the general index file (OV INDX.PMX). The operation of recording index image data in () will be described.

  This comprehensive index file is managed by the comprehensive information management file, and the index image recorded in each image directory is edited into one file.

  For example, in this example, when five image directories having 25 index images are formed, one of the index images at the head of each directory is taken out and recorded in order from each of the C5 index images. Comprehensive index file is formed. If the number of image directories is set to be small, the first five index images may be taken out from each directory to form a comprehensive index file.

  This comprehensive index file is formed when the screen data is formatted. For this reason, it is already formed when an image is recorded.

  The overall index file forming operation is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The start of the flowchart shown in FIG. 47 is a routine after step S60 in FIG. 35, that is, the subsequent routine shown in FIG. Since the routine before (A) is exactly the same, its description is omitted.

  In the flowchart shown in FIG. 47, in step S161, the system controller 6 reads the comprehensive index file into the main memory 11a and proceeds to step S162.

  In step S162, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c via the storage unit controller 5d so as to read all the image data recorded in the image index file of the designated image directory. The image data of this image index file is controlled to be transferred to the main memory 11a shown in FIG. 4, and the process proceeds to step S163.

  From the image index file and the general index file, the image data that has been fixed-length encoded together with the header and recorded is read as it is and is transferred to the main memory 11a without being subjected to the expansion decoding process. Further, when no image data is recorded in the image index file and the general index file, the image data is not read into the main memory.

  In step S163, the system controller 6 detects the operation state of the operation unit 10 to determine whether or not the user has designated the start of recording. If No, this step S163 is performed until the recording start is designated. Is repeated, and in the case of Yes, the process proceeds to step S164.

  In step S164, the system controller 6 determines whether or not the image to be recorded is an index image. If NO, the process proceeds to step S165. If YES, the process proceeds to step S172.

  In step S172, the system controller 6 supplies data indicating that the image to be recorded is an index image to the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i shown in FIG. When the data is supplied, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i sets a fixed length coefficient for the index image in the compression / decompression circuit 4h, and the process proceeds to step S173.

  In step S173, the system controller 6 performs compression encoding processing on the image data that has been thinned to ¼ based on the set fixed length coefficient via the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i. Then, the compression / decompression circuit 4h is controlled to form an index image that is fixed-length encoded to a fixed data length of 1/15 cluster, and the process proceeds to step S174.

  In step S174, the system controller 6 first records the index image, which has been fixed-length encoded in step S174, in the designated image directory based on the data of the general information management file stored in the RAM 6a. It is determined whether or not the image is an index image. If No, the process proceeds to step S181. If an index image, the process proceeds to step S175.

  In step S181, the system controller 6 records the fixed-length encoded index image in the image index file, and proceeds to step S176.

  In step S175, the system controller 6 records the first index image in the general index file and the image index, and proceeds to step S176.

  In step S176, the system controller 6 controls the memory controller 13 to record a total of 4096-byte index images with a header added to each index file stored in the main memory 11a shown in FIG. The process proceeds to S177.

  In step S177, the system controller 6 determines whether or not all index images have been recorded in the main memory 11a. If No, the process returns to step S164, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S178.

  In step S178, the system controller 6 sets the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a to “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). By searching for a place where is, an empty area is detected, and the process proceeds to step S179.

  In step S179, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to access the detected empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S180.

  In step S180, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to record the index image in an empty area on the optical disc 20 via the storage unit controller 5d, and the process proceeds to step S171.

  As described above, when the index image is fixed-length encoded and recorded on the optical disc 20, before the fixed-length encoded index image is recorded on the optical disc 20, it is temporarily recorded on the main memory 11a in order. Then, one index file is formed from all index images on the main memory 11a, and then recorded in a physically continuous area on the optical disc 20.

  On the other hand, when it is determined No in step S164 and the process proceeds to step S165, in step S165, the system controller 6 detects a free area on the optical disc 20 for recording an intermediate resolution image or a high resolution image. The process proceeds to S166.

  Specifically, the system controller 6 sets the 2-bit entry of the allocation block number of the volume space bitmap VSB in the data U-TOC stored in the RAM 6a to “00” (a code indicating an available allocation block). The empty area is detected by searching for a place where “

  In step S166, the system controller 6 detects the optimum free area from the free areas searched in step S165 as described above, and records the disc via the storage unit controller 5d so as to access the free area. The reproducing unit 5c is controlled and the process proceeds to step S167.

  Next, in step S167, the system controller 6 sets a fixed length coefficient corresponding to the high resolution image data or the ultra high resolution image data in the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i, and the process proceeds to step S168.

  In step S168, the thinning / compression / decompression controller 4i performs compression / decompression so as to form high-resolution image data for 8 clusters or ultra-high-resolution image data for 18 clusters based on the set fixed length coefficient. The circuit 4h is formed and the process proceeds to step S169.

  In step S169, the system controller 6d controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to record the fixed-length image data in the optimum area on the detected optical disc 20, and proceeds to step S170.

  In step S170, the system controller 6 sequentially determines the data of the image data management file in the designated directory and the file name corresponding to the resolution of each image data as well as the recording control of the image data as described above. The process proceeds to S171.

  In step S171, whether or not the system controller 6 has recorded all the three types of resolution image data, that is, low resolution image data (index image), intermediate resolution image data, and high resolution image data (or ultra high resolution image data). If the answer is No, the process returns to step S164 to record the image data of the resolution that has not yet been recorded. If the answer is Yes, the process proceeds to step S191 shown in FIG.

  Here, when the recording of the image to be recorded is completed in this way, the user can replace the data of the comprehensive index image. For example, since the first index image of each directory is set in advance in the general index file formed simultaneously with the formation of the high resolution, intermediate resolution, and index image files, 1 in each directory. Only the second index image is recorded. However, if the user desires, the first index image registered in the general management file can be exchanged with another index image.

  The desired index image replacement operation is as shown in the routines after step S191 in FIG.

  That is, in step S191 of FIG. 48, the system controller 6 performs display control of the comprehensive index image and proceeds to step S192.

  In step S192, the system controller 6 detects the operation status of the operation unit 10 to determine whether or not the index image desired by the user has been specified. If No, this step S192 is repeated. Advances to step S193.

  That is, in step S192, a desired index image is designated from the comprehensive index file, that is, this designates an image directory corresponding to the designated index image. In the following description, the designated image directory is the nth recorded image directory.

  In step S193, the system controller 6 controls to reproduce the image index file in the nth image directory designated in step S192 and display it on the monitor device, and then proceeds to step S194.

  In step S194, the system controller 6 detects whether or not a desired index image has been designated from a predetermined number of index images of the image index file displayed on the monitor device by detecting the operation status of the operation unit 10. If the determination is No, step S194 is repeated. If the determination is Yes, the process proceeds to step S195.

  That is, in step S192, a desired index image is designated from the nth image index file, that is, this designates an index image to be recorded instead of the first index image. is there. In the following description, the designated index image is the mth index image recorded in the image index file.

  In step S195, the system controller 6 stores the mth index image data recorded in the image index file of the nth image directory on the main memory, and the nth index image data recorded in the general index file. The memory controller 13 is controlled to overwrite the position where the index image data is recorded. At the same time, the image directory information unit corresponding to the nth image directory in the RAM 6a, that is, the index image number “00001” recorded in the nth image directory information unit corresponds to the newly replaced index image. The image number is replaced with “0000 m” and the process proceeds to step S196.

  In step S196, the system controller 6 controls the disk recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to record the comprehensive information management file on the optical disk 20, and the process proceeds to step S197.

  In step S197, the system controller 6 detects whether or not the eject key 32 of the operation unit 10 has been turned on. If No, this step S197 is repeated, and if Yes, the process proceeds to step S198.

  In step S198, the system controller 6 uses the data U-TOC, the comprehensive management information file, and the related data of the image data management file recorded on the disk as the data U-TOC, the comprehensive management recorded on the RAM 6a. All data in the information file and the image data management file are updated and all routines are terminated.

  The above-mentioned general index file records the first index image of each image directory at the time of data recording. However, when the number of image directories is reduced, the first five images of each image directory are recorded. An index image may be registered.

  For example, an example in which four image directories are formed and five index images are registered will be described. As shown below, the unit of the image directory information indicates the number of index images in the general index file. The following 20 units may be formed so as to correspond to 5 sheets × 4 directories = 20 sheets.

17. [Print operation]
Next, the operation of the still image recording / reproducing system in the case of printing an image captured via the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 or an image recorded on the optical disc 20 will be described.

  First, when printing an image captured via the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8, the user operates the operation unit 10 to capture the image via the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 in the same manner as described above. The image is displayed on the monitor device 9. When the image displayed on the monitor device 9 is a desired image, the operation unit 10 is operated to designate printing of the image.

  The image data captured via the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 is stored in the main memory 11a. Therefore, the system controller 6 reads out and controls the main memory 11a via the memory controller 13 so that the image data stored in the main memory 11a is read out when the print is designated. The image data read from the main memory 11a is supplied to the data conversion circuit 2a of the printer unit 2.

  The data conversion circuit 2a performs a data conversion process suitable for printing on the image data read from the main memory 11a. That is, when the image data is supplied in the form of R, G, B or Y, Cr, Cb, the color coordinates are converted to Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan). Thus, image data for printing is formed and supplied to the thermal head 2c.

  The thermal head 2c prints an image corresponding to the image data, for example, on an A6 size printing paper 2d at about 300 DPI. As a result, an image corresponding to the image data captured via the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 can be printed.

  The memory controller 13 controls transfer of image data read from the main memory 11 a to the image processing circuit 12 when image processing such as image enlargement processing, reduction processing, or rotation processing is designated. When the image data is transferred to the image processing circuit 12, the image processing controller 14 controls the image processing circuit 12 to perform the designated image processing. As a result, the image data subjected to the designated image processing is supplied to the printer unit 2 via the image processing circuit 12, and an image subjected to image processing such as enlargement processing or reduction processing is printed. Can do.

  Next, when printing the image recorded on the optical disc 20, the user displays the index image recorded on the optical disc 20 on the monitor device 9 by the above-described operation. Then, a desired image is selected from the index images. As a result, the selected image is displayed on the monitor device 9.

  When the image displayed on the monitor device 9 is a desired image, the user operates the operation unit 10 to designate printing of the image. As a result, the system controller 6 controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c so as to read out image data (high resolution image data or ultra-high resolution image data) for printing an image currently displayed on the monitor device 9.

  As described above, the optical disc 20 has recorded therein three types of image data: low-resolution image data for indexing, intermediate-resolution image data for monitor display, and high-resolution image data for printing. At the same time, print information relating to printing of the image data is recorded in advance. For this reason, the system controller 6 takes in the reproduced print information, and sets and controls the number of prints, color designation, image size, print position, etc. of the printer unit 2 based on the print information, and also the optical disc. The high-resolution image data read from 20 is supplied to the printer unit 2.

  As a result, images corresponding to the image data read from the optical disk 20 are printed on the print paper 2d by the number of sheets designated by the image size or the like corresponding to the print data.

  Such a printing operation and recording of the print information and image data in the printer unit 2 are as shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.

  That is, first, the flowchart shown in FIG. 49 starts when the main power supply of the still image recording / reproducing system is turned on, and the process proceeds to step S200.

  In step S200, the system controller 6 communicates with the storage unit controller 5d of the storage unit 5 to determine whether or not the optical disk 20 is loaded in the storage unit 5. If NO, the optical disk 20 is This step S200 is repeated until it is mounted. If YES, the process proceeds to step S201.

  In step S201, the storage controller 5d controls the disc recording / reproducing unit 5c to read the print information recorded on the optical disc 20, and transfers the read print information to the system controller 6. The process proceeds to S202.

  In step S202, the system controller 6 determines whether or not printing of the image is designated based on the print information read by the storage unit 5. If NO, step S211 shown in FIG. 50 is performed. If YES, the process proceeds to step S203.

  In step S211 shown in FIG. 50, the system controller 6 determines whether or not image data input from the scanner unit 1 or the video input unit 8 is designated. If NO, the step shown in FIG. 49 is performed. Returning to S200, the routine from step S200 to step S202 described above is repeated. If YES, the process proceeds to step S213.

  In step S213, the system controller 6 communicates with the storage controller 5d to determine whether or not recording on the optical disc 20 is possible. If NO, the routines shown in FIGS. 49 and 50 are terminated, and if YES, the process proceeds to step S214.

  In step S214, the storage controller 5d records and reproduces the image so that the image data of the image read by the scanner unit 1 or the image data supplied from the video input unit 8 is recorded on the optical disc 20. The unit 5c is controlled and the process proceeds to step S215.

  In step S215, the system controller 6 transfers the print information designated by the user to the storage unit controller 5d, and the storage unit controller 5d records / reproduces the disc so that the image data is recorded on the optical disc 20 together with the print information. The unit 5c is controlled to return to step S202 shown in FIG. Then, the above routine is repeated.

  Next, in step S203 shown in FIG. 49, the system controller 6 sets the printing conditions (number of prints, color setting, paper size, etc.) of the printer unit 2, and the process proceeds to step S204.

  In step S204, the system controller 6 determines whether or not there is a color designation for designating a desired hue among the print designations designated by the print data. If YES, the process proceeds to step S209. If NO, the process proceeds to step S205.

  In step S209, the system controller 6 changes the masking of the printer unit 2 so as to obtain the designated color and the like, and the process proceeds to step S205.

  In step S205, the system controller 6 determines whether there is a print area designation among the print designations designated by the print data. If YES, the process proceeds to step S210. If NO, the system controller 6 proceeds to step S210. The process proceeds to S206.

  In step S210, the system controller 6 changes the setting of the printer unit 2 so as to become the designated print area, and the process proceeds to step S206.

  In step S206, the system controller 6 controls the printer unit 2 to execute printing under the set conditions, and the process proceeds to step S207.

  In step S207, the system controller 6 deletes the set print data, and the process proceeds to step S208.

  In step S208, the system controller 6 determines whether or not printing has ended. If NO, the system controller 6 returns to step S202 and repeats the routine described above. If YES, the system controller 6 ends.

  Thus, by recording the print information of the image data together with the image data on the optical disc 20, each unit is automatically set based on the print data read from the optical disc 20 by the printer unit 2 at the time of printing. Can be set to print. For this reason, it is possible to omit troublesome print designation, and for example, it is possible to surely designate a desired hue in the hue and the like, thereby preventing a printing error.

  Further, when printing, the image data may be read from the optical disc 20 according to the printing state of the printer unit 2 and supplied to the printer unit 2. Since the optical disc 20 serves as a substitute for the frame memory 11, The frame memory 11 can be omitted or the storage capacity of the frame memory 11 can be reduced.

  Further, since print data such as the number of prints is recorded on the optical disc 20, only the optical disc 20 is brought to a place where a printer apparatus having the same structure as the printer unit 2 is provided at the time of printing. For example, printing can be performed with a desired color and the number of prints. Therefore, a novel system can be provided as a system for obtaining a still image print.

1 is a block diagram of a still image recording / reproducing system to which an image recording apparatus, an image recording method, an image reproducing method, a recording medium, and a management method according to the present invention are applied. It is a block diagram of the scanner part provided in the said still image recording / reproducing system. 2 is a block diagram of a printer unit provided in the still image recording / reproducing system. FIG. It is a block diagram of the image processing block provided in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a block diagram of a thinning and compression / decompression block provided in the still image recording / reproducing system. It is a block diagram of the storage part provided in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a block diagram of the video input part provided in the said still picture recording / reproducing system. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the operation part provided in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the 1st recording operation | movement of the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the 2nd recording operation of the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the recording area | region for every image data of each resolution formed on the optical disk by the said 2nd recording operation. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the 3rd recording operation | movement of the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the data structure of the image data recorded on the said optical disk. It is a figure for demonstrating the management block formed in data U-TOC. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of a volume descriptor. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of a volume space bitmap. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of an allocation block. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of a management table. It is a figure for demonstrating each data recorded on a management table. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of the directory record for directories. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of the directory record for files. It is a figure for demonstrating the sector structure of an extent record block. It is a figure for demonstrating the hierarchical directory structure for managing the image data for every resolution in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating DRB and ERB which comprise the said management block. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of ERB which comprises the said management block. It is a figure for demonstrating the format table in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the image parameter table in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the comprehensive information management file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the image data management file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the print data management file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the image data file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the comprehensive index file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the image index file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a figure for demonstrating the print data file in the said hierarchical directory structure. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the recording operation of the first half in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the recording operation | movement of the latter half in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the recording operation | movement of the image data for each resolution in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating reproduction | regeneration operation | movement in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the display form of the 1st index display in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the display form of the 2nd index display in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the display form of the 3rd index display in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the display form of the 4th index display in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the 1st album search in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the operation | movement of the 2nd album search in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the search operation | movement of the designated image data in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a figure for demonstrating the edit operation | movement of the image data in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the formation operation | movement of the first half of the comprehensive index file in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the formation operation | movement of the latter half of the comprehensive index file in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the printing operation | movement in the said still image recording / reproducing system. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the subroutine in the said printing operation.

Explanation of symbols

  1 scanner unit, 1a CCD image sensor, 1b A / D converter, 1c correction unit, 1d interface, 2 printer unit, 2a interface, 2b data conversion circuit, 2c thermal head, 2d printer paper, 3 image processing block, 4 decimation Compression / decompression block, 4a interface, 4b buffer, 4c 1/4 decimation circuit, 4d memory, 4e 1/60 decimation circuit, 4f selector, 4g raster block conversion circuit, 4h compression / decompression circuit, 4i compression / decompression controller, 5 storage unit, 5a interface, 5b EFM circuit, 5c disk recording / playback unit, 5d storage unit controller, 6 system controller, 6a RAM, 7 bus line, 8 video input unit, 8a-8c input terminal, 8d video processing unit 8e A / D converter, 9 monitor device, 10 operation unit, 11 frame memory, 11a main memory, 11b video memory, 12 image processing circuit, 13 memory controller, 14 image processing controller, 15 interface, 16 data lines, 17 Data line, 18 input terminals, 19 output terminals, 20 optical disc

Claims (2)

An image file including a plurality of high-resolution image files including high-resolution data and at least one index file including a predetermined number of low-resolution image data corresponding to each of the high-resolution image files, and included in the index file A management file that includes management data for indicating the high-resolution image file corresponding to low-resolution image data, and a management information table that includes position data that specifies relative recording positions of the image file and the management file in recording units; A reproducing apparatus for reproducing image data recorded on a recording medium having:
Reproducing means for retrieving an image file recorded on the recording medium and reproducing image data included in the retrieved image file;
Display means for displaying an image according to the image data reproduced by the reproduction means;
A desired index file is searched from the recording medium based on the management data of the management file and the position data of the management information table, and the display is performed by the predetermined number of low resolution image data included in the searched index file. And a control unit that controls the playback unit such that one display screen of the unit is configured. An image file including a plurality of high-resolution image files including high-resolution data and at least one index file including a predetermined number of low-resolution image data corresponding to each of the high-resolution image files, and included in the index file A management file that includes management data for indicating the high-resolution image file corresponding to low-resolution image data, and a management information table that includes position data that specifies relative recording positions of the image file and the management file in recording units; A reproduction method for reproducing image data recorded on a recording medium having
(A) Based on the management data of the management file and the position data of the management information table, a desired index file is searched from the recording medium,
(B) A reproduction method for reproducing the index file so that one display screen of the display means is constituted by the predetermined number of low-resolution image data included in the index file searched in the step (a).

Images