JP2009238339A - Recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a high speed display of a listing of thumbnail images without restriction in the number of thumbnail images. <P>SOLUTION: When recording of scene is started, (compression encoding data of) a leading frame stored in a buffer memory (16) are read out to a decoder (22) by a CPU (40) and extended. A resizing circuit (30) and an encoder (32) create the thumbnail image compressed from the leading frame and temporarily stores it in a RAM (44). The thumbnail image already recorded on a recording medium (20) is read out at the ejection of the recording medium (20) and gathered with the thumbnail image to be recorded on the RAM (44) and recorded just behind the recorded area of the recording medium (20) as a representative image block. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to a recording / reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces a moving image and its representative image on a recording medium.

  In an optical disc such as a DVD, a DVD-R, or a DVD-RW, data is written or writable on one track that is spirally connected from the inner circumference side to the outer circumference side of the disc. This single track may have a configuration in which a plurality of sectors to which data of a predetermined length can be written are continuously arranged.

  In the optical disk drive, the optical pickup reads / writes data from / into the sector of the rotating optical disk that passes through the focal position of the optical pickup. The optical pickup can be moved in the radial direction of the optical disk by an actuator, and is controlled so as to follow a spiral track.

  In recent years, optical discs have been adopted as recording media for digital video cameras and the like. In a video camera, a list of recorded images is typically displayed as thumbnail images. In general, an optical disc is in a state where additional recording is possible. However, by applying a finalizing process, additional recording becomes impossible and the recorded content is determined.

  Since the recording content is finalized by the finalizing process, a menu screen including a list of thumbnail images may be generated and recorded on the optical disc in association with the finalizing process. However, in an intermediate state that is not finalized, it is useless to generate such a menu screen and record it on the optical disc every time a new image is recorded. Therefore, conventionally, when a list of recorded images is confirmed on an optical disc before finalization processing, the top image of each recorded image is read as a thumbnail image to be a representative image, and these thumbnail images are displayed as a list. However, this method takes time because the recorded image on the optical disk is scanned and each head image is read out.

Patent Document 1 describes that thumbnail image data of each recording image data is continuously recorded on successive sectors of recording tracks.
JP 2006-302352 A

  With the technique described in Patent Document 1, the thumbnail list display speed can be increased, but a disk area (thumbnail recording area) for recording thumbnail image data must be secured in advance. The number of thumbnail images that require a larger area than the previously secured thumbnail recording area could not be recorded. That is, the number of images that can be recorded is limited.

  Conversely, if the actual number of thumbnail images is smaller than the capacity of the thumbnail recording area, the thumbnail recording area is wasted.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of solving such problems and displaying a list of representative images such as thumbnail images at high speed.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises an image input means, a recording / reproducing means for recording / reproducing a signal on a recording medium, an operating means operating means operated by a user, The control means for recording on the recording medium by the recording / reproducing means as one scene from the recording start instruction to the recording end instruction by the means, and a representative for generating a representative image of each scene recorded on the recording medium An image generation means; and a memory for temporarily storing the representative image generated by the representative image generation means, wherein the control means is either an ejection operation of the recording medium by the operation means or a power-off. Accordingly, the representative image recorded on the recording medium and the representative image stored in the memory are collectively displayed in the recorded area of the recording medium. Controlling said recording and reproducing means to record as a block, and deletes the representative images stored in the memory from the memory.

  According to the present invention, a list of representative images of moving images recorded on a recording medium can be displayed at high speed without any limitation on the number of representative images.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The video camera 10 according to the present embodiment includes a camera unit 12 as image input means and an encoder 14 that converts a video signal from the camera unit 12 into a predetermined format. A disk access buffer memory 16 and a disk access unit 18 as a recording / reproducing means for performing writing / reading on the recording medium 20 are provided. The recording medium 20 is an additional recording type optical disc such as a DVD-R. In addition, a decoder 22 for decoding moving image data read from the recording medium 20 is provided. As an image display means, a liquid crystal display panel (LCD) 26 and an LCD control device 24 for controlling the LCD 26 are provided.

  In this embodiment, a video signal can be output from the external output terminal 28 to the outside. The CPU 40 is connected to the RAM 44, the ROM 46, the operation unit 42 and other blocks via the CPU bus 48, and controls each block. The operation unit 42 includes various operation keys or knobs by the user, and the operation is supplied to the CPU 40. Although details will be described later, the CPU 40 causes each unit to execute various processes in accordance with instructions from the user through these operations.

  The moving image recording operation of this embodiment will be described. The camera unit 12 includes an image sensor that converts an optical image of a subject into an electric image signal, and outputs an image signal having a constant period (30 frames / second or 60 fields / second) as digital data.

  When the user instructs the CPU 40 to start video recording through the operation unit 42, the CPU 40 instructs the encoder 14 to encode the output image data of the camera unit 12. The encoder 14 compresses and encodes the image data from the camera unit 12 and writes the encoded image data into the buffer memory 16. In accordance with control from the CPU 40, the disk access unit 18 sequentially reads data stored in the buffer memory 16 and records it in the recording medium 20. In this way, the video camera 10 can compress and encode a moving image composed of a series of images showing the subject and record it on the recording medium 20.

  In this specification, one moving image or its unit recorded from the start to the end of recording is called a scene, and a collection of a plurality of scenes and their management information is called a title. One title can include a plurality of scenes, but one title has only one management information. The management information stores addresses indicating recording positions on the recording medium 20 of all scenes included in the corresponding title. The title is closed when the recording medium 20 is ejected, when the power is turned off, or when the number of scenes exceeds 99, and the management information of the title is generated by the CPU 40 and recorded on the recording medium 20. At the same time, a backup of management information is also recorded on the recording medium 20.

  A thumbnail image generation / recording procedure according to this embodiment will be described. When recording of the scene is started, the CPU 40 reads out the first frame (compressed encoded data) stored in the buffer memory 16 to the decoder 22. The decoder 22 decodes the compression encoded data of the first frame. The resizing circuit 30 reduces the size of the first frame decoded by the decoder 22 and generates a thumbnail image as a representative image. The resizing circuit 30 functions as representative image generation means. The encoder 32 compresses and encodes the thumbnail image from the resizing circuit 30 using the JPEG method. The compression-encoded thumbnail image data is temporarily stored in the RAM 44 via the bus 48.

  Through such processing, one thumbnail image data is stored in the RAM 44 for each scene. However, as will be described later, the thumbnail image data stored in the RAM 44 is written to the recording medium 20 when the recording medium 20 is ejected and when the power is turned off. Accordingly, the thumbnail image data of the scene recorded on the recording medium 20 from the loading (or power-on) immediately before the recording medium 20 to the ejection (or power-off) is stored in the RAM 44.

  When the user instructs the CPU 40 to eject the recording medium 20 through the operation unit 42, the CPU 40 controls the disk access unit 18 to determine whether a thumbnail image block is recorded at the end of the title recorded on the recording medium 20. Check in order. An area in which a plurality of thumbnail images are recorded together is called a thumbnail image block (representative image block). The thumbnail image block includes thumbnail image data of all scenes recorded before the thumbnail image block by an update process described later.

  The disk access unit 18 writes the detected thumbnail image block in the RAM 44. The CPU 40 adds all the thumbnail image data of the thumbnail image blocks read out from the recording medium 20 in this way and the thumbnail image data stored in the RAM 44 after loading (or power-on) to the recording medium 20. To do. As a result, a new thumbnail image block made up of thumbnail images of all recording scenes is recorded after the last title recorded on the recording medium 20. The thumbnail image data stored and stored in the RAM 44 is deleted.

  By such a thumbnail image block update process, when the recording medium 20 is loaded, the thumbnail images of all the recording scenes are recorded together immediately before the additional recordable position of the recording medium 20. Of course, when the thumbnail image data is not stored in the RAM 44, the thumbnail image block is not updated. When the thumbnail image block is updated, the CPU 40 records the intermediate management information TMP_FS including the address of the thumbnail image of the updated thumbnail image block after the thumbnail image block.

  When the recording medium 20 is loaded in the reproduction mode, the CPU 40 displays a list of images recorded on the recording medium 20 as thumbnails. That is, a list of thumbnail images is displayed. For this list display, the CPU 40 controls the disk access unit 18 to search for the latest intermediate management information TMP_FS of the recording medium 20. With reference to the address of each thumbnail image recorded in the found intermediate management information TMP_FS, the compressed data of all thumbnail images (or the number of thumbnail images displayed at a time in the list display) is read from the recording medium 20.

  The compressed thumbnail image data read from the recording medium 20 is supplied to the decoder 34 via the disk access unit 18 and the buffer memory 16. The decoder 34 decompresses the compressed data of each thumbnail image, and the resizing circuit 36 resizes the thumbnail image data from the decoder 34 to the display size and stores it in the buffer 38. A frame memory for display on the LCD 26 is set in the buffer 38, and the resized thumbnail images of the number to be displayed on one screen are stored in the frame memory. FIG. 2 shows a list display example of thumbnail images. In the example shown in FIG. 2, six thumbnail images are stored in the frame memory, and six thumbnail images are displayed simultaneously on one screen.

  When the recording mode 20 is changed to the playback mode without ejecting the recording medium 20 from the recording mode, the RAM 44 stores thumbnail images that are not yet recorded on the recording medium 20. Therefore, in this embodiment, when the thumbnail images already recorded on the recording medium 20 are displayed on the screen of the LCD 26, the thumbnail images in the RAM 44 are displayed in a list. For this purpose, the CPU 40 checks whether or not an unrecorded thumbnail image (compressed data) is stored in the RAM 44. If there is an unrecorded thumbnail image (compressed data), the unrecorded thumbnail image (compressed data) is supplied to the decoder 34. The decoder 34 decodes the thumbnail image (compressed data) from the RAM 44, and the resizing circuit 36 resizes the decoded thumbnail image to the display size and stores it in the frame memory of the buffer 38. If the thumbnail image read from the recording medium 20 for list display is less than the list display, the thumbnail image from the RAM 44 is supplemented to the empty space.

  The CPU 40 causes the LCD control device 24 to display thumbnail images in a list format stored in the frame memory of the buffer 38 on the LCD 26.

  The operation in the case of the user operation example as shown in FIG. 3 will be described. In the operation example shown in FIG. 3, the user presses the recording start button to start recording the first scene (S1), and pressing the recording end button ends recording of the scene (S2). The recording medium 20 is ejected by the user's ejection operation (S3). The recording medium 20 is set again (S4). Recording of the second scene is started by pressing the recording start button (S5), and recording of the second scene is ended by pressing the recording end button (S6). The recording of the third scene is started by pressing the recording start button (S7), and the recording of the third scene is ended by pressing the recording end button (S8). The recording medium 20 is ejected by the user's ejection operation (S9). The recording medium 20 is set again (S10) and finalized (S11).

  4A to 4F show changes in the recorded contents of the recording medium 20 with respect to the operation example shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the hatched portion is not recorded. When the recording medium 20 is a single-layer recording DVD-R, the left end in FIG. 4 corresponds to the innermost periphery and the right end corresponds to the outermost periphery. However, although there is a fixed area in which an RMD (Recording Management Data) is arranged in the inner periphery of the innermost area, it is not shown here. The RMD stores an LRA (Last Recorded Address) indicating how much of the disk medium has been recorded. When the recording medium 20 is inserted, the disk access unit 18 reads the RMD and acquires the LRA. .

  FIG. 4A shows a physical image in a state at the end of step S2. The first scene is recorded as VOB66. The reserved area 60 in the innermost periphery is secured as an area where a UDF (Universal Disc Format) is written at the time of finalization. The next reserved area 62 is reserved for VMG (video manager), and the next reserved area 64 is reserved for VTSI (video title set information). The actual capacity of these UDF, VMG, and VTSI varies depending on the recording status of the scene. However, each maximum capacity is calculated from a predetermined maximum number of files or maximum scenes, and the UDF reserved area 60, the VMG reserved area 62, and the VTSI reserved area 64 are for the maximum capacity.

  UDF is file system information for managing files recorded on a recording medium, and is defined in the UDF standard. UDF is a general file system used in DVD and the like. VMG is management information including control information and a title menu for the entire DVD video. VMG is VTSI management information, and one VMG exists for one disk. The VTSI is management information including addresses and recording times of all scenes included in each title. When there are a plurality of titles, there are a plurality of VTSIs. Of these pieces of management information, UDF and VMG are related to the contents of the entire disk, and are therefore not written to the disk until finalized and the contents of the disk are confirmed. Since the VTSI needs to be updated every time a scene is recorded, the VTSI is not written to the disk at a stage where the scene may be recorded subsequently.

  In step S1, the recording of the VOB of the scene 1 is started in the area 66, and at the same time, the thumbnail image of the scene 1 is also generated. However, as described above, this thumbnail image is only stored in the RAM 44 and is not written in the recording medium 20. Further, intermediate management information TMP_FS for storing the address of the VTSI and the like is also generated, but at this time, the intermediate management information TMP_FS is only stored in the RAM 44 and is not written in the recording medium 20. At the time of reproduction or the like, the address of each VTSI is acquired with reference to the intermediate management information TMP_FS stored in the RAM 44.

  FIG. 4B shows a state at the end of step S3. When the recording medium 20 is ejected, the title is closed, the management information of this title is recorded in the VTSI reservation area 64, and VTSI_BUP consisting of the same data is recorded in the area 68 as a backup.

  Thumbnail images of all scenes recorded on the recording medium 20 are recorded after the VTSI_BUP area 68. At this time, there is no thumbnail image block previously written in the recording medium 20. Accordingly, only the thumbnail image Thum01 in the VOB area 66 stored in the RAM 44 is recorded in the area 70 as a thumbnail image block.

  Since UDF and VMG are not written to the recording medium 20, the intermediate management information TMP_FS is written to an area 72 after the recording area 70 of Thum01. At this time, similarly to the VMG and VTSI addresses, the address of the thumbnail image Thum01 (area 70) is also stored in the intermediate management information TMP_FS (area 72) of the area 72. The intermediate management information TMP_FS is fixed-length data recorded at the end of the recorded area of the recording medium 20, and a read address can be calculated from the LRA stored in the RMD. By doing so, when the recording medium 20 is set again, recording or reproduction can be continued.

  FIG. 4C shows a state at the end of step S6. A reserved area 74 for recording the VTSI for the second title is secured, and the VOB of the second scene is recorded in the area 76. Similar to step S2, the thumbnail image Thum02 is also generated simultaneously with the start of recording of the VOB of the second scene, but this thumbnail image Thum02 is only stored in the RAM 44 at this time and is written in the recording medium 20. I can't.

  FIG. 4D shows a state at the end of step S8. The VOB of the third scene is recorded in the area 78. When recording is continued without ejecting the recording medium 20, the VOB (area 76) of the first scene and the VOB (area 78) of the second scene are included in the same title. The title's VTSI and its backup are not yet written. The intermediate management information TMP_FS is not recorded yet. Similar to step S6, the thumbnail image Thum03 of the scene 3 is also generated simultaneously with the start of recording of the VOB (area 78). At this time, the thumbnail image Thum03 is only stored in the RAM 44 and written to the recording medium 20. I can't.

  FIG. 4E shows the state at the end of step S9. Since the title is closed, the VTSI for the title including the scenes 2 and 3 is recorded in the reserved area 74, and VTSI_BUP consisting of the same data is recorded in the area 80 as a backup. Then, thumbnail images are also recorded by the procedure described above. That is, the thumbnail image Thum01 recorded in the thumbnail image block (area 70) on the outermost periphery already recorded on the recording medium 20 is written in the area 82 after the recording area 80 of VTSI_BUP. Following the area 82, the thumbnail images Thum02 and Thum03 stored in the RAM 44 are written in the area 84 of the recording medium 20. These three thumbnail images recorded together constitute a new thumbnail image block.

  Since UDF and VMG are not written until finalization, intermediate management information TMP_FS indicating the addresses of VTSI and Thum01, Thum02, and Thum03 is written in an area 86 subsequent to the area 84. At this time, the written intermediate management information TMP_FS (area 86) also includes intermediate management information related to the first title included in the intermediate management information TMP_FS previously recorded in the area 72. Therefore, when the recording medium 20 is reinserted, all the titles on the recording medium 20 can be accessed by reading only the intermediate management information TMP_FS recorded in the area 86.

  FIG. 4F shows a state after the finalizing process in step S11. Finally, finalizing is performed to determine the contents of the recording medium 20. That is, the confirmed UDF information is written in the reserved area 60 and the VMG information is written in the reserved area 62. By doing this, an optical disc that can be played back in accordance with the DVD-Video standard is completed.

  In the recording state shown in FIG. 4F, the thumbnail images Thum01, Thum02, and Thum03 are collectively recorded in one place. Therefore, almost no seek operation occurs to read these, and the list display can be performed at high speed.

  In the present embodiment, not only when the recording medium 20 is ejected but also when the power is turned off, the thumbnail image block of the recording medium 20 is updated with the thumbnail image of the RAM 44 in the same manner as when ejecting. In the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, when steps S3 and S9 are turned off and steps S4 and S10 are turned on, the states at the end of steps S2, S3, S6, S8, S9, and S11 are shown in FIG. It becomes the same as what was shown to 4 (a)-(f).

  At the same time as updating the thumbnail image recorded on the recording medium 20 (writing to the recording medium 20), the scene management information may also be updated (writing to the recording medium 20).

  For example, in the thumbnail image list display, as illustrated in FIG. 5, it is common and convenient to display management information such as recording date and time and recording time on the thumbnail images of each scene. If the recording scene management information is also updated on the recording medium 20 before the finalization, it is possible to display at high speed without following each VTSI from the TMP_FS. This is because the necessary management information is recorded in one place of the recording medium, so that it can be read at high speed without causing a seek.

  The transition of the recording image of the recording medium 20 will be described in accordance with the operation example shown in FIG. When the scene management information is changed to be updated, the recording image after steps S1 and S2 is the same as that shown in FIG. FIG. 6A shows a recording image of the recording medium 20 at the end of step S3 when the scene management information is changed to be updated, and FIG. 6B shows a recording image at the end of step S9. . In FIG. 6, the shaded portion indicates an unrecorded portion.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, as in the first embodiment, the title is closed when the recording medium 20 is ejected. Therefore, the VTSI information is recorded in the area 94 of the recording medium 20 and is composed of the same data as the backup VTSI_BUP. Is recorded in area 98.

  In order to record the VTSI information in the area 94, the CPU 40 reads management information such as the address, recording date and time and recording time of the VOB (area 96) of the scene 1 from the recording medium 20 and stores it in the RAM 44. The CPU 40 functions as management information generating means. The management information stored in the RAM 44 is written as TMP_VMG information in the area 102 after the recording area 100 of the thumbnail image Thum01. At this time, thumbnail images of all scenes recorded on the recording medium 20 are recorded in the area 100 after the VTSI_BUP (area 98).

  Since UDF and VMG are not written to the recording medium 20 until finalization, TMP_FS is written in the area 104 after TMP_VMG (area 102) as intermediate management data indicating the VTSI address. Similarly to the VMG and VTSI addresses, the address of the thumbnail image recorded in the area 100 and the address of the management information TMP_VMG (area 102) are also stored in the intermediate management information TMP_FS (area 104).

  The recording image of the recording medium 20 for steps S5 to S8 is the same as the corresponding diagram in FIG.

  Since the title is closed by the ejection operation of the recording medium in step S9, VTSI is recorded in the area 106 as shown in FIG. 6B, and VTSI_BUP consisting of the same data is recorded in the area 112 as the backup. Thumbnail images Thum01, Thum02, and Thum03 of all scenes recorded on the recording medium 20 are continuously recorded in areas 114, 116, and 118 after VTSI_BUP (area 112). Since the thumbnail image Thum01 recorded in the area 114 has the same content as the thumbnail image Thum01 recorded in the area 100, a copy of the thumbnail image Thum01 recorded in the area 100 is stored in the area 114 of the recording medium 20 as described above. Is written to. The other thumbnail images Thum02 and Thum03 are created and recorded by a normal procedure.

  Unlike the first embodiment, in this embodiment, thereafter, the management information TMP_VMG is recorded in the areas 120 and 122 after the recording area 118 of Thum03. Since the first management information TMP_VMG (area 120) has the same content as the management information TMP_VMG recorded in the area 102, the management information TMP_VMG is read from the area 102 and recorded in the area 120 of the recording medium 20. The management information TMP_VMG recorded in the area 122 is created by a normal procedure.

  As in the first embodiment, UDF and VMG are not written to the recording medium 20 until finalization. Therefore, intermediate management information TMP_FS indicating the addresses of VTSI, thumbnail images Thum01, Thum02, Thum03, and TMP_VMG (areas 120 and 122) is written in the area 124 following the area 122. The written intermediate management information TMP_FS includes intermediate management information related to the first title included in the intermediate management information TMP_FS in the area 104. Therefore, when the recording medium 20 is reinserted, all the titles on the recording medium 20 can be accessed by reading only the intermediate management information TMP_FS in the area 124.

  As described above, in this embodiment, TMP_VMG storing the recording date and time and recording time of each scene is recorded in the areas 120 and 122 collectively. By reading these files, the recording date and time and recording time of each scene can be acquired without reading VTSI (areas 894 and 106). Therefore, in order to display the recording date and time and recording time of each scene in the list display, the intermediate management information TMP_VMG in the areas 120 and 122 may be read. Since the seek operation hardly occurs, the list display can be performed at high speed.

  The UDF and VMG are recorded on the recording medium 20 by finalization as in the first embodiment.

It is a schematic block diagram of one Example of this invention. It is a flowchart of the user operation example of a present Example. It is a recording image figure of the recording medium 20 in a present Example. It is a recording image figure of the recording medium 20 in 2nd Example. 3 is an example of an index screen according to the first embodiment. It is an example of the index screen of Example 2.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Video camera 12 Camera 14 Encoder 16 Buffer memory 18 Disk access part 20 Recording medium 22 Decoder 24 LCD controller 26 Liquid crystal display panel (LCD)
28 External terminal 30 Resize circuit 32 Encoder 34 Decoder 36 Resize circuit 38 Buffer memory 40 CPU
42 Operation unit 44 RAM
46 ROM
48 CPU bus

Claims (3)

Image input means (12);
Recording / reproducing means (18) for recording / reproducing a signal on a recording medium;
Operating means (42) operated by the user;
Control means (40) for recording the image input by the image input means on the recording medium by the recording / reproducing means as one scene from a recording start instruction to a recording end instruction by the operating means;
Representative image generation means (30, 32) for generating a representative image of each scene recorded on the recording medium;
A memory (44) for temporarily storing the representative image generated by the representative image generating means
And
The control unit combines the representative image recorded on the recording medium and the representative image stored in the memory together according to either the ejection operation of the recording medium by the operation unit or power-off. The recording / reproducing apparatus controls the recording / reproducing means so as to record as a representative image block following the recorded area, and deletes the representative image stored in the memory from the memory. And management information generating means for generating management information of the representative image,
The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit records the management information generated by the management information generation unit following the representative image block. Furthermore,
Reading means for reading a representative image of the representative image block from the recording medium by the recording / reproducing means;
3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying a list of representative images read by the reading means.

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