JP2014207043A - Method and system for recording digital content - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To mitigate reusability of content without providing a plurality of physical tuners and without complicating operation in handling the content.SOLUTION: As a most important feature, a form connecting a plurality of virtual tuners to a physical tuner or a form connecting a plurality of virtual control systems to a control system is configured by software. Content regarding each virtual tuner is recorded or content as many as the number of virtual tuners is recorded while being multiplexed, thereby handling content as many as or more than the number of physical tuners.

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording, copying, and storing digital content distributed to an unspecified number of content viewers, such as broadcasting and communication.

  Products such as a BD recorder, a DVD recorder, or a television with a built-in BD / DVD / HDD are widely used as devices for recording the contents of the television broadcast due to the complete digitization of the television broadcast.

  However, due to the copyright protection mechanism assigned to the content being broadcast, even if the content user personally uses it, the content cannot be freely edited or reused is difficult. The inconvenience to say is a problem.

  Many of the digital content recording devices described above are equipped with a plurality of physical tuners (physical tuners) and can record a plurality of contents simultaneously. However, this function is originally intended to record different contents, not to record the same contents a plurality of times and to facilitate the use of the contents.

  By extending this method and providing a large number of physical tuners, restrictions on the use of content can be relaxed, but there are problems such as increased costs and complicated operations when handling content. is there.

JP-A-2005-327324

  The problem to be solved is to alleviate the reusability of content without providing a plurality of physical tuners and without complicating operations for handling the content.

  The main feature of the present invention is that a configuration in which a plurality of virtual tuners are connected to a physical tuner or a configuration in which a plurality of virtual control systems are connected to a control system is configured by software.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to handle more than the number of physical tuners by recording contents for each virtual tuner or by multiplexing and recording contents for the number of virtual tuners.

It is explanatory drawing which showed the implementation method of the digital content recording system. Example 1

  Since the system requirements such as the virtual tuner and the virtual signal multiplexer are implemented by software, the system is characterized in that it can be realized at low cost without adding special parts.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of the system of the present invention. (1) An input signal is extracted (2) a signal (content) to be recorded by a physical tuner. This is divided into a plurality of identical signals by (3) virtual tuner. Furthermore, the content content is multiplexed by (4) virtual signal multiplexer and (5) physical complex to reduce the data capacity. This is recorded as content in (6) an external recording device. When editing content, it is edited through (7) Data converter and (8) Editor. When playing back content, it plays through (7) data converter and (9) player. Thus, (10) an output signal is finally obtained. Each of the above constituent elements is performed by (11) a controller and software incorporated therein.

The specific examples described above are as follows: (1) The input signal may be a broadcast signal such as a television or radio, information from the Internet, or analog data read into digital data, regardless of the type of device (image signal, audio signal, etc.). Not).

(2) The physical tuner is a device for selecting (1) the digital content that the user wants to record from (1) the input signal, and (1) has the function of converting into digital data regardless of the form of the input signal. To do. In this embodiment, only one physical tuner is provided, but a plurality of physical tuners can be provided as the hardware resources allow.

(3) The virtual tuner (2) has a function of dividing the digital content selected by the physical tuner into a plurality of identical contents according to the number of users desired. The virtual tuner is implemented by software combined with a driver program for controlling the physical tuner. In the present embodiment, four virtual tuners are provided. However, since the software is implemented as variable array data and a driver program, it is possible to provide as many software resources as possible.

(4) The virtual signal multiplexer has a function of (3) expressing the content divided by the virtual tuner by a numerical value defined by the multiplicity of the content, and reducing the amount of content to be recorded. . Specifically, (6) it is realized by embedding multiplicity information in a content file stored in an external recording device.

(5) The physical complex has a function of (4) efficiently recompressing the digital content data multiplexed by the virtual signal multiplexer. As a result, (6) the utilization efficiency of the external recording device can be improved.

(6) The external recording device is a device for temporarily storing a series of digital contents, and is assumed to be composed of an HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state disk), a flash memory, and the like.

(7) The data converter reconstructs the digital data according to the operation performed by the user, such as (5) the function of combining the data recompressed by the physical composite device, and playback / editing of digital content. It has a function.

(8) The editor is a device in which the user has (6) editing operations such as cutting, joining, compression format conversion, and copying of digital content stored in an external recording device.

(9) The player has a function of (6) converting the original digital content data when playing back the digital content stored in the external recording device.

With the system configuration as described above, a single physical digital content can be handled as a plurality, so that a reusing operation such as editing / copying can be performed more freely than in the current system.

  In addition to digital broadcast recording equipment, such as Blu-ray recorders and DVD recorders, it can be used in products such as digital multifunction devices, digital cameras, digital radios, mobile phones, and smartphones that handle digital content, and application software for PC / tablet terminals. Can also be applied.

(1) Input signal (2) Physical tuner (3) Virtual tuner (4) Virtual signal multiplexer (5) Physical compounder (6) External recording device (7) Data converter (8) Editor (9 ) Regenerator (10) Output signal (11) Controller

JP2008-310869 JP 2008-234711 A JP 2010-161434 A

Claims (4)

  In a system for recording / editing / copying a large number of unspecified digital contents, by extracting a digital content desired by a user having a physical tuner, and having a plurality of virtual tuners and a virtual signal multiplexer, A digital content recording system characterized by handling a single digital content as a plurality of digital contents.   A digital content recording system comprising the digital content recording system according to claim 1.   2. The digital content recording system according to claim 1, wherein the digital content of the first aspect is recorded as a single content on the recording apparatus, but can be handled as a separate content when the user edits or copies it.   A digital content recording system comprising the digital content recording system according to claim 3.

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