JP2011182440A - Information recording apparatus and information recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information recording apparatus and an information recording method in which, when a multi-channel simultaneous recording function is attained, management for the deletion of recorded program information is enhanced, and thereby a user is made to easily grasp programs of channels sequentially updated by loop recording. <P>SOLUTION: According to one embodiment, an information recording apparatus includes a first recording means, a second recording means and a deleting means. The first recording means simultaneously receives streams of programs distributed on a plurality of channels and performs loop recording into a first recording area by channel. The second recording means receives program information on the programs whose streams have been recorded in the first recording area, and records the program information in a second recording area. Each time a fixed time elapses, the deleting means deletes the program information of a program having a program ending time which is temporally preceding to a time when a fixed time has elapsed among the program information recorded in the second recording area. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The embodiment of the present invention relates to an information recording apparatus having a so-called multi-channel simultaneous recording function for simultaneously recording streams of programs distributed on a plurality of channels. The embodiment of the present invention also relates to an information recording method for executing the multi-channel simultaneous recording function described above.

  As is well known, in recent years, there has been an information recording device that incorporates a digital recording device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), and that can receive a television broadcast and record a stream such as video and audio related to the broadcast program. It is popular. In this type of information recording apparatus, the recording capacity of built-in digital recording devices has been dramatically increasing year by year.

  In an information recording apparatus incorporating such a large-capacity digital recording device, a user currently designates a plurality of channels, so that a program broadcast on each of the designated plurality of channels can be obtained. There have appeared so-called multi-channel simultaneous recording functions that simultaneously receive and record streams.

  With this multi-channel simultaneous recording function, a recording area having the same fixed recording capacity is secured in the recording area of the digital recording device in correspondence with a plurality of received channels. A stream of each program obtained by simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels is recorded in parallel in each corresponding recording area from its initial position.

  In this case, the multi-channel simultaneous recording function repeats the operation of overwriting a new stream from the initial position of the recording area again when the recording area becomes full for each recording area for recording a program stream. Control is performed to perform loop recording.

  As a result, for each channel in which the program stream is recorded, the maximum amount of the stream that has the maximum recording area is recorded from the current time to the past. For this reason, the user can view the program retroactively from the present to a predetermined time, and the convenience for the user can be improved.

  By the way, the technology for realizing such a multi-channel simultaneous recording function is still in the development stage, and there is a lot of room for development in detail. That is, when recording a program stream, it is necessary not only to record video and audio streams related to the program content, but also to record program information related to the program.

  The program information includes various information such as information for searching for the program, program title, performer, outline description, start time, end time, and the like. For this reason, it is necessary to record both the stream related to the program contents and the program information for each of a plurality of channels, and it is important to manage both rationally.

JP 2009-16959 A

  Information that improves the management related to the deletion of recorded program information when realizing the multi-channel simultaneous recording function so that the user can easily grasp the program of each channel that is sequentially updated by loop recording. An object is to provide a recording apparatus and an information recording method.

  According to the embodiment, the information recording apparatus includes a first recording unit, a second recording unit, and a deleting unit. The first recording means simultaneously receives a stream of a program distributed on a plurality of channels, and loop-records it on the first recording area for each channel. The second recording means receives the program information relating to each program whose stream is recorded in the first recording area, and records it in the second recording area. The deletion means is a program whose program end time is earlier in time in the program information recorded in the second recording area than the time when the predetermined time elapses every time the predetermined time elapses. Delete program information for.

The block block diagram shown in order to demonstrate an example of the signal processing system which the information recording / reproducing apparatus in embodiment has. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the stream recording area and program information recording area which are formed in a hard disk with the information recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment. The figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the corresponding | compatible table of the recording date produced by the information recording / reproducing apparatus in the same embodiment, and the address in a recording area. The figure shown in order to demonstrate that the start time of the oldest program which can be reproduced | regenerated retroactively differs for every channel when loop recording is repeated in each channel. The flowchart shown in order to demonstrate an example of main processing operations which the information recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment performs. The figure shown in order to demonstrate that the start time of the oldest program which can be reproduced | regenerated retroactively for every channel by the information recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment is arranged.

  Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a signal processing system of an information recording / reproducing apparatus 11 described in this embodiment. The information recording / reproducing device 11 has a digital television broadcast receiving function, and can record and reproduce a stream of video and audio related to the received broadcast program, program information related to the program, and the like.

  That is, the digital television broadcast signal received by the antenna 12 is supplied to a plurality of tuner units 141, 142,..., 14n constituting the tuner processing unit 14 via the input terminal 13, respectively. Each of these tuner units 141 to 14n selects a broadcast signal of a desired channel from the input digital television broadcast signal.

  The broadcast signals selected by the tuner units 141 to 14n are supplied correspondingly to the plurality of demodulation units 151, 152,..., 15n constituting the demodulation processing unit 15. Each of these demodulation units 151 to 15n demodulates a continuous stream such as video and audio related to the broadcast program from the input broadcast signal, and demodulates program information related to each program.

  Thereafter, the program stream, the program information, and the like demodulated by the demodulation units 151 to 15 n are supplied to the demultiplexer 16. The demultiplexer 16 selects one of the plurality of input streams and separates the selected stream into a video stream and an audio stream.

  The video stream output from the demultiplexer 16 is supplied to the video decoding unit 17. The video decoding unit 17 performs a decoding process on the input video stream and then converts it into an analog video signal. The analog video signal output from the video decoding unit 17 is supplied to the video display unit 19 via the output terminal 18 and used for video display.

  The audio stream output from the demultiplexer 16 is supplied to the audio decoding unit 20. The audio decoding unit 20 decodes the input audio stream and converts it into an analog audio signal. The analog audio signal output from the audio decoding unit 20 is supplied to the speaker 22 via the output terminal 21 and used for audio reproduction.

  The demultiplexer 16 divides the video stream supplied from each of the demodulating units 151 to 15n into a plurality of areas on the screen of the video display unit 19 and simultaneously displays different videos in the divided areas. It is also possible to output so as to perform so-called multi-screen display.

  Here, in the information recording / reproducing apparatus 11, all the operations including the above-described various reception operations are comprehensively controlled by the control unit 23. The control unit 23 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 23a, receives operation information sent from an operation unit 24 including a remote controller (not shown), and controls each unit so that the operation content is reflected. is doing.

  In this case, the control unit 23 uses the memory unit 25b. The memory unit 25b mainly includes a ROM (read only memory) storing a control program executed by the CPU 23a, a RAM (random access memory) for providing a work area to the CPU 23a, various setting information and control information. And so on.

  In addition, a disk drive unit 25 is connected to the control unit 23. The disk drive unit 25 is a unit that allows an optical disk 26 such as a DVD (digital versatile disk) to be detachable, and has a function of recording / reproducing digital data on the mounted optical disk 26.

  Then, based on the operation of the operation unit 24 by the user, the control unit 23 performs encryption processing or conversion into a predetermined recording format into a video stream or an audio stream related to the predetermined program obtained from the demultiplexer 16. After the processing, it can be controlled to be supplied to the disk drive unit 25 and recorded on the optical disk 26.

  In addition, the control unit 23 causes the disc drive unit 25 to read a video stream, an audio stream, or the like related to a predetermined program from the optical disc 26 based on the operation of the operation unit 24 by the user, and performs a decryption process of the code Thereafter, by supplying the data to the demultiplexer 16, it can be controlled to be used for the video display and the audio reproduction described above.

  Further, an HDD (hard disk drive) 27 is connected to the control unit 23. Based on the operation of the operation unit 24 by the user, the control unit 23 performs encryption processing and conversion processing to a predetermined recording format on a video stream, an audio stream, and the like related to the predetermined program obtained from the demultiplexer 16. Then, it can be controlled to be supplied to the HDD 27 and recorded on the hard disk 27a.

  Further, the control unit 23 causes the HDD 27 to read a video stream, an audio stream, and the like related to a predetermined program from the hard disk 27a based on the operation of the operation unit 24 by the user, By supplying to the demultiplexer 16, it can be controlled to be used for the above video display and audio reproduction.

  In this case, the control unit 23 acquires the program information regarding each program obtained from the demodulation units 151 to 15n from the demultiplexer 16 and records it on the hard disk 27a. Based on the operation of the operation unit 24 by the user, program information relating to a desired program can be read from the hard disk 27 a and displayed on the video display unit 19.

  Further, the control unit 23 obtains program streams obtained from the demodulating units 151 to 15n corresponding to a plurality of channels designated by the user from the demultiplexer 16, and performs encryption processing or predetermined processing on the respective program streams. After performing the conversion process to the recording format, a so-called multi-channel simultaneous recording function that is supplied to the HDD 27 and simultaneously recorded on the hard disk 27a can be realized.

  Also in this case, the control unit 23 obtains program information related to the program of each channel whose stream is recorded on the hard disk 27a from the demultiplexer 16, supplies it to the HDD 27, and records it on the hard disk 27a.

  Here, the control unit 23 includes a program information deletion control unit 23c. As will be described in detail later, the program information deletion control unit 23c uses the multi-channel simultaneous recording function to record program information recorded on the hard disk 27a, that is, program information related to a program whose stream is recorded in a loop on the hard disk 27a. In particular, it functions so as to be deleted from a program related to an old program at a predetermined timing.

  That is, in the multi-channel simultaneous recording function performed by the information recording / reproducing apparatus 11, as shown in FIG. 2, the video stream and audio of a program broadcast on a plurality of channels designated by the user in the recording area of the hard disk 27a. A stream recording area 28 for recording a stream and the like, and a program information recording area 29 for recording program information relating to each program in which the stream is recorded in the stream recording area 28 are provided.

  Among these, the stream recording area 28 includes recording areas 281, 282,..., 28 n each having the same constant recording capacity, corresponding to a plurality of channels CH 1, CH 2,. ing. The program streams received simultaneously on the channels CH1 to CHn are recorded in parallel in the recording areas 281 to 28n corresponding to the channels.

  That is, the program stream obtained by simultaneously receiving a plurality of channels CH1 to CHn is recorded in the corresponding recording areas 281 to 28n at their initial positions (as shown by arrows A1, A2,..., An in FIG. In the figure, the recording is simultaneously performed in parallel from the upper end positions of the recording areas 281 to 28n.

  When the recording areas 281 to 28n corresponding to the respective channels CH1 to CHn are filled (when reaching the lower end position of the recording areas 281 to 28n in the figure), the arrows in FIG. As indicated by B1, B2,..., Bn, so-called loop recording is performed in which the operation of returning to the initial positions of the recording areas 281 to 28n again and overwriting a new stream is repeated.

  In the program information recording area 29, program information relating to a plurality of programs in which streams are recorded in the recording areas 281 to 28n is recorded. For example, CH1 program information related to program 1 of channel CH1, CH1 program information 2 related to program 2 of channel CH1,..., CHn program information m related to program m of channel CHn, etc. are recorded.

  As described above, the recording areas 281 to 28n for recording the program streams are provided corresponding to the respective channels CH1 to CHn, and loop recording is performed for each of the recording areas 281 to 28n. The stream can be automatically deleted by overwriting without affecting each other.

  Further, by separating the program information recording area 29 from the stream recording area 28, it is possible to delete desired program information at an arbitrary timing on the information recording / reproducing apparatus 11 side. For example, when a moving process to another recording medium is performed on an individual program stream, program information that is no longer necessary after the moving can be individually deleted from the hard disk 27a.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 23 adds recording areas 281 to 28n corresponding to the channels CH1 to CHn in the stream recording area 28 (only the recording area 281 corresponding to the channel CH1 is shown in FIG. 3). In a state where the stream is being recorded, the recording date and time are measured at regular intervals, and a table in which the measured recording date and time is associated with the address in the recording area 281 where the stream is recorded at the recording date and time. Creating.

  In the table shown in FIG. 3, at 13:00 on July 24, 2009, a stream is recorded from the initial position (address 0x0000 — 0000) in the recording area 281 corresponding to the channel CH1, and thereafter the recording area 281 is recorded every 15 minutes. The address is described, and it returns to the initial position (address 0x0000 — 0000) at 19:00 on the same day, and it can be seen that this operation is repeated.

  By creating such a table, the control unit 23 can determine what time the recording date and time have been automatically deleted by overwriting by loop recording. For this reason, it is possible to delete program information related to a program in a state where it is determined that the stream related to one program has been completely deleted by overwriting.

  By the way, each of the plurality of recording areas 281 to 28n provided in the stream recording area 28 has the same constant recording capacity, and the loop recording of the stream is started simultaneously from the respective initial positions. Become. However, the bit rate of the stream varies for each broadcast program even in each channel CH1 to CHn or the same channel.

  For this reason, if only the automatic deletion of a stream by overwriting by loop recording is repeatedly performed for a plurality of recording areas 281 to 28n, each of the recording areas 281 to 28n includes a currently recorded reproducible stream. The playback time of the most recorded stream varies.

  More specifically, FIG. 4 shows recording corresponding to each channel CH1 to CH7 when loop recording of a stream related to a broadcast program is repeated for a plurality of channels CH1 to CH7 (seven in the drawing). The recording status of a reproducible stream at a certain point in the areas 281 to 287 is shown. In FIG. 4, the reproducible stream that has been recorded once and remains without being overwritten by the next loop recording is indicated by the hatched portion.

  As is clear from FIG. 4, in channels CH1, CH3, CH4, CH6, and CH7, there is a stream that can be played back after 9:30 am, and the program is played back to the past from 9:30 am to the past. be able to. On the other hand, in the channel CH2, there is a stream that can be played back after 10:00 am, and the program can be played back to the past from 10:00 am to the past. In channel CH5, a stream that can be played back after 9:00 am remains, and the program can be played back to the past from 9:00 am to the present.

  In this way, the start time of the oldest program that can be reproduced retroactively differs for each channel CH1 to CHn, and the program of each channel CH1 to CHn recorded by the user with the multichannel simultaneous recording function is as follows. It is difficult to grasp how long each can be played back in the past.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the program information deletion control unit 23c described above sets the program information recorded in the program information recording area 29 by the multi-channel simultaneous recording function at a certain interval from that related to the old program. And control to delete. However, if the program stream corresponding to the program information to be deleted is recorded before and after the time to delete the program information, wait until the program stream is completely automatically deleted by overwriting. The program information is deleted from.

  FIG. 5 shows a flowchart for explaining in detail the processing operation of the program information deletion control unit 23c. That is, when the process is started (step S1), the program information deletion control unit 23c determines whether or not the time for deleting the program information is set in step S2. The setting of the time for deleting the program information is set, for example, by setting a specific time in the past from the current time when the user operates the operation unit 24 and every time a certain time elapses from that time. For example, it is set every time one hour has passed since 9:00 am (in this case, every hour at 0:00).

  If it is determined that the time to delete the program information is set (YES), the program information deletion control unit 23c deletes the program information in step S3 (in this case, from 9:00 AM to 00:00) If it is determined that the deletion time has been reached (YES), the following processing is executed in parallel for each of the channels CH1 to CHn.

  That is, the program information deletion control unit 23c detects the end time of the program described in all program information recorded in the program information recording area 29 for the channel CH1 in step S41. Thereafter, in step S51, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines whether or not the end time of each program is earlier than the deletion time of the program information determined to have arrived in step S3.

  Then, the program information deletion control unit 23c deletes, from the program information recording area 29, the program information that is determined (YES) in step S61 that the end time of the program is earlier than the deletion time of the program information. Then, the process ends (step S7). Also, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines that the program information determined in step S51 that the program end time is not earlier than the program information deletion time (NO) is directly stored in the program information recording area 29. Otherwise, the process returns to step S2.

  In step S42, the program information deletion control unit 23c detects the end times of the programs described in all program information recorded in the program information recording area 29 for the channel CH2. Thereafter, in step S52, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines whether or not the end time of each program is earlier than the deletion time of the program information determined to have arrived in step S3.

  Then, the program information deletion control unit 23c deletes from the program information recording area 29 the program information that is determined (YES) in step S62 that the end time of the program is before the deletion time of the program information. Then, the process ends (step S7). Also, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines that the program information determined in step S52 that the program end time is not earlier than the program information deletion time (NO) is directly stored in the program information recording area 29. Otherwise, the process returns to step S2.

  Similarly, in step S4n, the program information deletion control unit 23c detects the end times of programs described in all program information recorded in the program information recording area 29 for the channel CHn. Thereafter, in step S5n, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines whether or not the end time of each program is earlier than the deletion time of the program information determined to have arrived in step S3.

  Then, the program information deletion control unit 23c deletes, from the program information recording area 29, the program information that is determined (YES) in step S6n that the end time of the program is before the deletion time of the program information. Then, the process ends (step S7). Also, the program information deletion control unit 23c determines that the program information determined in step S5n that the program end time is not earlier than the program information deletion time (NO) is directly stored in the program information recording area 29. Otherwise, the process returns to step S2.

  According to the processing operation of the program information deletion control unit 23c described above, the end time of the program described in all program information recorded in the program information recording area 29 is detected for each channel CH1 to CHn, and the program ends. Program information whose time is earlier than the preset program information deletion time is deleted from the program information recording area 29.

  In short, by deleting the program information whose program end time is earlier than the preset deletion time, the program stream reproduced before the deletion time is still automatically overwritten. Even if the stream remains undeleted, the stream cannot be played because the program information has been deleted.

  For this reason, the start time of the oldest program that can be played back in the past can be made uniform based on the deletion time of the program information, and each channel CH1 to CHn recorded by the user with the multi-channel simultaneous recording function can be obtained. It is possible to easily grasp how long each program can be played back in the past.

  Specifically, FIG. 6 shows a case where the program information of a program that ends by 10:00 am is deleted for a plurality of channels CH1 to CH7 (multiple channels 7 in the figure shown) that are recorded simultaneously. The recording status of reproducible streams is indicated by diagonal lines. As is clear from FIG. 6, the time of the oldest program that can be played back in the past for each of the channels CH1 to CH7 is aligned at 00 minutes per hour (in this case, 10:00 am).

  For program information corresponding to a program that starts before the deletion time (10:00 am) and ends after the deletion time, such as a two-hour program that starts at 9:00 am and ends at 11:00 am Since the end time described therein is 11:00 am, it is not deleted at 10:00 am, and is deleted when the deletion time is 11:00 am.

  Here, in the above-described embodiment, the case where digital television broadcasting is received has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a program stream is transmitted on a plurality of channels via a network such as cable television or the Internet. Of course, the present invention can also be applied to a system that distributes program information.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by variously modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements according to different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Information recording / reproducing apparatus, 12 ... Antenna, 13 ... Input terminal, 14 ... Tuner processing part, 141-14n ... Tuner part, 15 ... Demodulation processing part, 151-15n ... Demodulation part, 16 ... Demultiplexer, 17 ... Video Decoding unit, 18 ... output terminal, 19 ... video display unit, 20 ... audio decoding unit, 21 ... output terminal, 22 ... speaker, 23 ... control unit, 23a ... CPU, 23b ... memory unit, 23c ... program information deletion control unit , 24 ... operation section, 25 ... disk drive section, 26 ... optical disk, 27 ... HDD, 27a ... hard disk, 28 ... stream recording area, 281 to 28n ... recording area, 29 ... program information recording area.

Claims (5)

First recording means for simultaneously receiving a stream of a program distributed on a plurality of channels and loop recording in a first recording area for each channel;
Second recording means for receiving program information relating to each program in which a stream is recorded in the first recording area, and recording the program information in a second recording area;
Each time a fixed time elapses, a program of a program whose program end time is earlier in the program information recorded in the second recording area than the time when the fixed time elapses An information recording apparatus comprising: deletion means for deleting information. The first recording area includes a plurality of recording areas corresponding to the number of channels to be received,
2. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first recording unit simultaneously records a stream of a program received through a plurality of channels in a recording area corresponding to each channel.   The information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of recording areas included in the first recording area has the same fixed recording capacity.   The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein both the first recording area and the second recording area are formed on a hard disk. Receiving simultaneously a stream of a program distributed on a plurality of channels and loop recording in a first recording area for each channel;
Receiving program information relating to each program in which a stream is recorded in the first recording area and recording the program information in a second recording area;
Each time a fixed time elapses, a program of a program whose program end time is earlier in the program information recorded in the second recording area than the time when the fixed time elapses An information recording method comprising: deleting information.

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