JP2010171481A - Apparatus and method for recording information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem wherein the number of recorded entry information reaches the upper limit before using up the storage capacity of an recording medium and further recording becomes impossible, since an upper limit value on specification may be set to the total of recordable entry information, when the entry information is uniformly created at a short interval, especially when streams of low bit rate are recorded for a long time, although the information (entry information) for associating a time information with an address information for an AV (audio and video) stream is very useful in case when special reproduction and random access of the AV stream are performed, and access performance to an arbitrary position in the AV stream improves as the creation interval becomes shorter for the entry information. <P>SOLUTION: When the entry information is created and recorded, recording interval is controlled for management information, according to free space of the recording medium and the status of recorded management information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and information processing method for recording digital data such as a series broadcast program using a recording medium such as an optical disk.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, devices and services that handle digital data encoded with moving images, voices, and the like have become widespread with the increasing capacity of recording media and the advancement of transmission technology in communication networks. For example, in the broadcasting field, digital broadcasting using digital encoding technology is becoming mainstream instead of conventional analog broadcasting. Also in the field of video cameras, instead of conventional video cameras that perform analog recording such as VHS-C and 8 mm video, optical disks such as DVD-RAM (Digital Versatile Disc-Rewritable), SD (Secure Digital) cards, and the like Digital video cameras that record encoded video on the most memory cards dominate the market. In view of these backgrounds, the use of recording broadcast and private video on a recording medium such as a BD (Blu-ray Disc), DVD-RAM, or SD card, and sharing digital data between devices will further accelerate in the future. Expected.

As a means for recording digital data such as an AV stream on a recording medium such as a BD, a standard for recording management information of digital data in addition to the digital data itself has been proposed. (For example, see Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2.)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an AV stream recording apparatus 101. The recording apparatus 101 includes an AV stream analysis unit 102 that acquires information that is characteristic of an AV stream, a management information creation unit 103 that generates management information of an AV stream according to the standard from the characteristic information, an AV stream, and an AV stream The data recording unit 104 records the management information on the recording medium 100. Note that a recording apparatus generally includes an AV stream conversion unit that converts the bit rate and encoding method of an AV stream, an encryption conversion unit that performs encryption / decryption of a copyright-protected stream, and the like. However, the description is omitted because it is not directly related to the present invention.

AV stream management information, particularly information (entry information) that associates time information and address information in the AV stream is very useful when performing special reproduction or random access of the AV stream. When performing random access using the management information, the AV stream data is first accessed from the entry information close to the time to be displayed, and thereafter, the data at the time to be displayed is searched by sequentially acquiring information in the data. Therefore, the shorter the interval of entry information (for example, recording entry information for each MPEG2 I picture), the smaller the amount of information that is sequentially checked and searched, the random access can be performed quickly and easily. .
JP 2001-238176 A JP 2008-234692 A

  As the entry information has a shorter creation interval, the access performance to an arbitrary position of the AV stream is improved. However, a standard upper limit may be set for the total number of recordable entry information. Therefore, when the entry information is created uniformly at short intervals, especially when a low bit rate stream is recorded for a long time, the number of entry information records reaches the upper limit before the storage capacity of the recording medium is used up. There was a problem that no further recording was possible.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. In addition to the configuration of a conventional recording apparatus, the present invention provides a storage capacity detection unit that detects a free storage capacity of a recording medium, a management information acquisition unit that acquires management information recorded on the recording medium, and a storage capacity detection unit Management information recording interval control means for controlling the recording interval of management information in accordance with the free storage capacity detected in step 1, the recorded management information obtained by the management information acquisition means, and the address information described in the management information And a recording apparatus.

  In addition, when creating and recording management information, the recording method is characterized in that the recording interval of the management information is controlled according to the free capacity of the recording medium and the state of the recorded management information.

  The information recording apparatus and information recording method according to the present invention controls the recording interval of entry information according to the bit rate of the AV stream and the capacity of the recording medium, so that the processing performance at the time of random access is used while using up the storage capacity of the recording medium. Has the advantage that it can be secured to the maximum.

  In addition, the information recording apparatus and information recording method according to the present invention create and record management information in parallel with AV stream recording. As a result, it is possible to reproduce the AV stream being recorded based on the management information being recorded. Furthermore, even when the recording is interrupted unintentionally, such as when the power supply to the device is cut off, the video data up to the vicinity of the interruption position can be used by relying on the management information during the recording.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. The recording apparatus 201 of the present invention includes an AV stream analysis unit 102, a management information creation unit 103, a data recording unit 104, a recording capacity acquisition unit 205, a management information acquisition unit 206, and a management information recording interval control unit 207. Here, parts that perform the same operations as those of the conventional recording apparatus 101 are denoted by the same reference numerals. Also, since the subject of the present invention is a method for controlling the recording interval of entry information, a detailed description of the AV stream analysis method, management information creation method, data recording method, etc. will be omitted.

  First, a recording medium, a capacity, and recorded management information are acquired.

  Next, the recording interval of management information is calculated. The recording interval of entry information is calculated from the capacity of the recording medium and the recorded management information by the following formula 1.

By determining the entry information recording interval according to the above equation, the entry information can be recorded almost uniformly with respect to the capacity of the recording medium. By using the above formula when the recording medium is a rewritable type, it is possible to record entry information without bias even when deletion and re-recording of AV streams having different bit rates are repeated.

  Next, AV stream recording and analysis are performed. The AV stream analysis unit extracts address information and time information of AV stream entry points (for example, MPEG2 Video I picture). The management information creation unit creates AV stream management information according to the standard from the entry point information.

  The created management information is input to the management information recording interval control means. In the management information recording interval control means, the input entry information is recorded on the recording medium while being appropriately thinned according to the previously calculated recording interval. When the input entry information is the head, it is recorded on the recording medium. Thereafter, when the difference between the address information between the newly input entry information and the entry information recorded on the previous recording medium is larger than the recording interval S, the entry information is recorded on the recording medium.

  During the above recording and analysis processing, the AV stream is sequentially recorded on the recording medium by the data recording means.

  As described above, even when a low-bit-rate stream is recorded for a long time, it is possible to record without leaving a disc capacity while enabling special reproduction. In addition, since the management information is created and recorded in parallel with the recording of the AV stream, it is possible to reproduce the AV stream being recorded based on the management information being recorded. Furthermore, even when the recording is interrupted unintentionally, such as when the power supply to the device is cut off, the video data up to the vicinity of the interruption position can be used by relying on the management information during the recording.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The information recording apparatus and method according to the present invention are applied to all devices using a method for recording digital data entry information in addition to digital data itself as means for recording digital data such as an AV stream on a recording medium. Is possible. This is particularly effective when a low bit rate AV stream is recorded on a large-capacity recording medium such as a BD for a long time.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the conventional recording device 101 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a recording apparatus 201 according to the present invention. The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the recording device 201 of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Recording medium 101 Conventional recording apparatus 102 AV information analysis means 103 Management information creation means 104 Data recording means 201 Recording apparatus 205 Recording capacity acquisition means 206 Management information acquisition means 207 Management information recording interval control means

Claims (2)

An information recording device for recording digital data including video, audio, data, etc. on a recording medium together with digital data management information,
Information analysis means for analyzing digital data;
Management information creation means for creating management information of digital data based on the analysis result of the information analysis means,
Storage capacity detecting means for detecting the free storage capacity of the recording medium;
Management information acquisition means for acquiring management information recorded on a recording medium;
The management information recording interval is controlled in accordance with the free storage capacity detected by the storage capacity detection means, the recorded management information obtained by the management information acquisition means, and the address information described in the management information. Management information recording interval control means;
Recording means for recording digital data and management information whose interval is controlled by the management information recording interval control means on a recording medium;
An information recording apparatus comprising: An information recording method for recording digital data including video, audio, data, etc. on a recording medium together with digital data management information,
An information analysis step for analyzing digital data;
Management information creation step of creating management information of digital data based on the analysis result in the information analysis step,
A storage capacity detecting step for detecting a free storage capacity of the recording medium;
A management information acquisition step for acquiring management information recorded on the recording medium;
The management information recording interval is controlled according to the free storage capacity detected in the storage capacity detection step, the recorded management information obtained in the management information acquisition step, and the address information described in the management information. A management information recording interval control step;
A recording step of recording digital data and management information whose interval is controlled by the management information recording interval control step on a recording medium;
An information recording method comprising:

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