JP2011223078A - Video recording/playback device and method for controlling plural devices - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that simultaneous processing is not secured due to difference in control time caused by sequential control of devices when many video recording/playback devices are controlled simultaneously by a computer.SOLUTION: To control many video recording/playback devices simultaneously, control information for changing the operation of other recording/playback devices is multiplexed with ancillary data on a serial digital image signal outputted from one video device. As a result, all or any of other video devices can be controlled simultaneously by controlling one video device.

Description

  The present invention is effective when a video recording / reproducing apparatus using a serial digital signal is controlled at the same time.

  Conventionally, when a plurality of video recording / playback apparatuses are used, each apparatus is connected to a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and changes in recording and playback states are controlled from a control computer through the network.

JP 2008-252422 A JP-A-2005-274937

Conventionally, when using a plurality of video recording / playback devices, each device is connected to a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and the time information is shared by each video playback device from the control computer through the network. Means such as time control or direct control of a plurality of video devices via a network are used. However, in an example such as Patent Document 1 that uses time information, a highly accurate time management server is necessary, and in order to transmit the time information via the network, an error in delay time depending on packet transmission of the network occurs. In addition, even in the case of direct control through a network as in Patent Document 2, there is a difference in control time due to delay time depending on packet transmission of the network, and when control is required in frame (or field) units, The problem that the case where it cannot control arises occurs. The problem is that this problem becomes more serious as the number of devices increases. In order to solve this drawback, the present invention provides means for simultaneously controlling a large number of video recording / playback apparatuses regardless of the number of apparatuses.

In the video recording / playback apparatus of the present invention, the video transmission unit is provided with means for changing the playback content, and usually the display content can be changed by a command from the control computer. Similarly, when recording, there is a mechanism that can change the recording contents such as starting and stopping recording by a command from the control computer. Furthermore, the video transmission unit is equipped with a device for converting and multiplexing the recording / playback content change command into ancillary data, and the control command is multiplexed as ancillary data on the serial digital signal from the transmission device. It is like that. Since this multiplexing is performed during the horizontal blanking period, in principle, the control command can be output from the serial digital signal within the time of one horizontal cycle.
When a plurality of video recording / playback apparatuses are used, a transmission signal of one video recording / playback apparatus is connected to an input terminal of another video recording / playback apparatus via a distributor. The receiving unit of the recording / playback apparatus is provided with a mechanism for detecting the ancillary data and changing the state of the device in accordance with a control command. With this mechanism, the control computer can simultaneously control many other recording / playback apparatuses in the same way by changing the state of one recording / playback apparatus, and there is no problem due to a shift in control time.
In the present invention, a mechanism for identifying a plurality of devices to be used simultaneously is provided, and the information is also multiplexed with ancillary data, thereby controlling one device.
It is possible to realize a function of controlling all other devices at the same time or controlling only a specific device.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to control a plurality of other devices arbitrarily and simultaneously by controlling only one specific device from a computer. There is no problem such as a shift in control time that occurs in the case of sequential control.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the video recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first embodiment. The figure shown in order to carry out the structure in the case of using two or more video recording / reproducing apparatuses concerning Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure shown in order to demonstrate the multiplexing state of the ancillary data which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A main configuration of the video recording / playback apparatus according to the present embodiment is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 1, in a conventional reproducing apparatus, necessary synchronization signals such as a horizontal synchronization signal and a vertical synchronization signal are added to data read from video signal data 1 such as an image memory by a synchronization signal adding unit 3, and a serial digital transmission unit 7 is output as a serial digital signal. The display content of the video can be changed by the video data transmission control unit, and necessary control such as start / stop of the moving image, black screen, etc. is performed. The control command is transmitted from the control computer to the apparatus via a network or the like, and the control computer interface unit 4 interprets the command and sends control information to the transmission control unit. Here, the video recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention includes a control command conversion unit 5 and an ancillary data multiplexing unit 6. The control command is converted into ancillary data, multiplexed into a serial digital signal, and transmitted simultaneously. It has become.

In the conventional recording / playback apparatus using a serial digital signal, audio information is mainly multiplexed in the ancillary data part, but in the recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention, the control command is multiplexed in the horizontal blanking area of the unused part. It becomes. FIG. 3 shows a state of multiplexing. In the figure, 31 represents a video display period, and 32 represents a horizontal blanking period.
In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the command from the control computer is sent to the recording / playback apparatus at the time of 33, that is, the period of the line number 3. In this case, the control command conversion unit 6
Converts the control command into ancillary data during the video display period 31 of line number 3, and multiplexes the ancillary data converted at the time of 34 in FIG.
The control command information converted to ancillary data is the data to be written as the display video address or the setting register address.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram in the case of using a plurality of this apparatus, but the output signal of one recording / reproducing apparatus # 1 (13) connected to the control computer passes through the serial digital signal distributor 14 to another recording / reproducing apparatus #. 2 to #N
It is configured to be connected to. As a result, the serial digital signal in which the control information is multiplexed is simultaneously transmitted to the receiving unit of another device. The received signal is converted by the serial digital receiving unit 9 and then sent to the ancillary data separation unit, and only the ancillary data including the control information is transmitted to the control command inverse conversion unit 10. The control command reverse conversion unit 10 is designed to perform reverse processing at the time of transmission and connect to the video data transmission control unit 2. That is, the display video address included in the ancillary data is decoded, and a control command in the same form as the control computer interface unit 4 is output. As a result, a plurality of devices can be controlled in the same way at the same time without being directly controlled by a control computer.
The time required for this decoding can normally be implemented in several tens of clocks, and is executed within the period of line number 4 in the timing chart of FIG. Currently used television signals have a horizontal period of about 15 to 60 microseconds. In this apparatus, a control command is transmitted to all playback apparatuses with a delay time of at least 60 microseconds.

This apparatus further includes an identification number register 8 and a device identification decoder 11. Different numbers are set in advance in the identification number register 8, for example, “1” for the device # 1 and “2” for the device # 2 in FIG. These identification numbers are converted into ancillary data together with the control command by the control command conversion unit 5 and multiplexed. In another device that has received this serial digital signal, the identification number decoder 11 determines whether the preset device number and the device number transmitted by the ancillary data match, and the control command is reversed only when they match. It is designed to enable the operation of the conversion unit 10. Thereby, it is possible to control only one specific device among the plurality of devices. In order to control a plurality of devices as a whole, a specific number (for example, 0) is determined in advance, and if it is that number, the operation of the control command reverse conversion unit 10 may be validated regardless of the device number. . It is also possible to group a plurality of devices by the same method and control only devices belonging to a specific group.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Video signal data 2 Video data transmission control part 3 Synchronization signal addition part 4 Control computer interface part 5 Control command conversion part 6 Ancillary data multiplexing part 7 Serial digital transmission part 8 Identification signal register 9 Serial digital reception part 10 Ancillary data separation Part 11 Identification number decoder 12 Control computer 13 Recording / playback apparatus # 1
14 Serial digital distributor 15 Recording / playback device # 2
16 Recording / playback device # 3
17 Recording / playback device #N
31 Video display period 32 Horizontal blanking period 33 Control command reception time 34 Ancillary data multiplexing time

Claims (3)

In a video recording / playback apparatus comprising means for outputting video data as a serial digital signal, means for inputting a serial digital signal, and means for changing the state of recording / playback, the means for changing the state of recording / playback is multiplexed as ancillary data And a means for receiving the multiplexed ancillary data and changing the state according to the control information. An ancillary data to be multiplexed in the video recording / reproducing apparatus is multiplexed in an unused period of horizontal blanking. In the case of using a plurality of the video recording / playback apparatuses, means for setting a number for specifying each video recording / playback apparatus and means for selectively controlling the specific video recording / playback apparatus are ancillary for serial digital video signals. A video recording / playback apparatus comprising means for multiplexing data.