JP3315879B2 - Image recording device and image reproducing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus capable of creating an index screen when recording a video / audio signal of a program such as a movie or a drama, and an image reproducing apparatus capable of reproducing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, programs such as movies and dramas have been
In the case of recording on a recording medium such as, the title, time, and the like are written on a label so as to know what is recorded. If you want to know the contents of the recorded program,
This can be done by performing high-speed playback and viewing it. At this time, if there is a scene to be watched in the middle, it can be returned to the normal reproduction and can be slowly appreciated.

[0003]

However, in the method of writing the title and time of a program on a label, it is not possible to know the specific contents and the like. In addition, in the method of high-speed reproduction, the entire program must be reproduced from the beginning, so that high-speed reproduction takes time, and it is necessary to constantly watch during high-speed reproduction.

[0004] Therefore, a highlight screen of a program is extracted, a digest screen is created as an index, and recorded in an area other than the recording area of the entire program on a recording medium. You can understand the contents of.

[0005] Incidentally, since the highlight part of the above-mentioned program is not sent by the broadcast sender (broadcasting station), it must be created by the receiver. However,
In general, in order to create a highlight portion on the receiver side, it is necessary to look at the entire program once and then extract and record a portion that is considered to be a highlight portion, which is troublesome and requires an index of the program once viewed. There is a problem that it is meaningless to create

[0006] The present invention, taking into account such problems in the conventional image recording, easily extracts the highlights of the program,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording device capable of recording and an image reproducing device capable of reproducing the image.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from a video / audio signal;
Signal extraction means for extracting a video / audio signal within a predetermined time range based on the time at which the change is detected; time range setting means for setting a predetermined time range; and a recording medium for storing the video / audio signal extracted by the signal extraction means. And an image recording apparatus comprising: a recording unit that records the image on a recording medium.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording section for recording a video / audio signal, change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from the video / audio signal, and a predetermined time range based on a time at which the change is detected. Address generation means for generating an address range in the video / audio signal recording unit, time range setting means for setting a predetermined time range, and address recording means for recording the address range information generated by the address generation means on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus provided with:

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an identification information detecting means for inputting a video / audio signal to which identification information for identifying a program is added, and detecting the identification information, and determining a time when the identification information is detected. Signal extraction means for extracting a video and audio signal in a predetermined time range as a reference, time range setting means for setting a predetermined time range, and recording means for recording the video and audio signal extracted by the signal extraction means on a recording medium Image recording apparatus.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording section for inputting a video / audio signal to which identification information for identifying a program is added and recording the video / audio signal, and identification information detecting means for detecting the identification information. Address generation means for generating an address range in the recording section of the video / audio signal within a predetermined time range based on the time at which the identification information is detected, time range setting means for setting the predetermined time range, and address generation means. An address recording unit that records the generated address range information on a recording medium.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a time range setting means for setting one or more predetermined time ranges for a predetermined program, and an image of the input program based on the set predetermined time range. An image recording apparatus includes a signal extracting unit that extracts a part from an audio signal and a recording unit that records the extracted video / audio signal on a recording medium.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording section for recording a video / audio signal of a predetermined program, a time range setting means for setting one or more predetermined time ranges for the predetermined program, Address generation means for generating an address range in the recording section of the video / audio signal in the predetermined time range based on the predetermined time range, and address recording means for recording the address range information generated by the address generation means on a recording medium An image recording apparatus comprising:

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from a video / audio signal, and generating an address range of a predetermined address range based on an address on the video / audio signal where the change is detected. The present invention is an image recording apparatus comprising: an address generation unit that sets a predetermined address range; an address range setting unit that sets a predetermined address range; and an address recording unit that records the address range generated by the address generation unit on a recording medium.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect of the invention.
Extracted by any of the image recording devices of 4, 5, and 7,
There are a plurality of recorded video / audio signals, and an image provided with a selection unit for selecting a desired video / audio signal from the plurality of video / audio signals, and a reproduction unit for reproducing the selected video / audio signal It is a playback device.

The present invention according to claim 11 is the invention according to claims 2, 6,
A plurality of pieces of address range information recorded by the image recording apparatus of any one of claims 8 and 9; and address range selecting means for selecting an address range corresponding to a desired video / audio signal from the plurality of pieces of address range information. And a reproducing unit that reproduces the video and audio signals recorded in the recording unit based on the selected address range.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the image recording apparatus includes a video / audio signal detection circuit 1 for detecting a video / audio signal from an input video signal,
A video / audio signal separation circuit 2 for separating the detected signal into a video signal and an audio signal, a video signal compression circuit 3 for compressing the separated video signal, an audio signal compression circuit 4 for compressing the audio signal, From the EPG included in the video signal (a signal that encodes the program content and genre embedded in the scanning line) or the stereo signal of the audio signal to the CM
(CM) detection circuit 5, a video memory 7 for temporarily storing the compressed video signal, a video memory control circuit 6 for controlling the video memory 7, and a temporary storage of the compressed audio signal. An audio memory 8, an audio memory control circuit 9 for controlling the audio memory 8, a video / audio data synthesizing circuit 10 for synthesizing the data of the video memory 7 and the audio memory 8, and a detection signal from the CM detection circuit 5. Index image storage circuit 1 for temporarily storing an index portion (a highlight portion) of a video / audio signal
2. Time setting circuit 13 for setting the time of the highlight to be stored in the index image storage circuit 12, HDD (hard disk device) 14 for recording the program data from the video / audio data synthesizing circuit 10 and the image data of the index section , And a CPU 11 for controlling these circuits, etc.
It consists of.

Here, the CM detection circuit 5 is a change detection means or identification information detection means, the index image storage circuit 12 is a signal extraction means, and the time setting input circuit 13
Are time range setting means, and the CPU 11 and the like are recording means.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, a video / audio signal is detected by a video / audio signal detection circuit 1 from a video signal input to an image recording apparatus for recording a certain program. This means that not all of the 525 scanning lines of video signals represent video / audio signals, and some of them are text broadcasts or EPs.
Since it is used for transmitting G (a signal indicating information such as program content and genre), it is for extracting video / audio signals from 525 scanning lines.

Next, the video / audio signal separation circuit 2 separates the video and audio signals by utilizing the difference between the frequency bands of video and audio, and separates the separated signals into a video signal compression circuit 3 and an audio signal compression circuit, respectively. The circuit 4 performs a compression process. The compressed video signal and audio signal are stored in the video memory 7 and the audio memory 8, respectively. Here, writing or reading of each signal to / from the video memory 7 and the audio memory 8 is controlled by the video memory control circuit 6 and the audio memory control circuit 9, respectively. The video signal stored in the video memory 7 and the audio signal stored in the audio memory 8 are separately transferred to a data bus.
The video / audio data synthesizing circuit 10 records the transferred video signal and audio signal as one data (packetized) in the HDD 14.

On the other hand, the audio signal separated by the video / audio signal separation circuit 2 is branched and input to the CM detection circuit 5. The CM detection circuit 5 outputs a detection signal to the index image storage circuit 12 when the audio signal changes from monaural to stereo. When a normal program is a monaural broadcast, it can be recognized that a CM (commercial broadcast) has started when a sound signal changes to stereo by utilizing the fact that sound changes to stereo during broadcasting. In FIG. 1, the video signal is directly transmitted to the CM detection circuit 5 (in this case, C
The M detection circuit has a function of detecting an EPG), and a similar CM can be detected using the EPG. The EPG at this time needs to be a code for CM, but it will be possible in the future.

On the other hand, the time setting input circuit 13
For example, images one minute after detection, images two minutes before CM detection, etc.
A time range of an image to be recorded as an index, such as an image several minutes after or several minutes before the time when M is detected, and an image several minutes after and several seconds after CM detection, is set.

Next, the index image storage circuit 12
Detection signal from CM detection circuit 5 and time setting input circuit 1
For example, based on the time information from 3, the image data of several minutes after the CM detection is captured and stored via the data bus. In this way, the index image is stored for each CM detection, and when the recording of this program ends, the index image data (generally a plurality) stored in the index image storage circuit 12 stores all programs in the HDD 14. The information is collectively recorded in an area different from the recorded area. (Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 2, the image recording apparatus of the present embodiment differs from the image recording apparatus of the first embodiment of FIG. 1 in that an index image address storage circuit 15 is provided instead of the index image storage circuit 12. is there. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. 1, and the description of the overlapping parts will be omitted.

Here, the CPU 11 and a part of the HDD 14 and the like constitute a recording unit, the index image address storage circuit 15 constitutes an address generation unit, and the CPU 11 and the like constitute an address recording unit.

In the image recording apparatus of the present embodiment, the index image address storage circuit 15 stores, for example, a CM based on the detection signal output from the CM detection circuit 5 and the time information output from the time setting input circuit 13. An address in the HDD 14 corresponding to the video / audio data for several minutes after the detection is captured and stored through the address bus when the video / audio data synthesizing circuit 10 writes the data to the HDD 14. In this manner, the index image address data is stored for each CM detection, and when the recording of this program is completed, the index image address storage circuit 15
The address data (generally a plurality) of index images stored in the HDD 14 are collectively recorded in an area of the HDD 14 which is different from the area where the program is recorded. (Third Embodiment) FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 3, the image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment is different from the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment in FIG. 1 in that a screen switching detection circuit 1 is used as a change detection unit instead of the CM detection circuit 5.
6 is provided. This screen change detection circuit 16
Is for detecting a case where the screen scene changes greatly using the video signal separated by the video / audio signal separation circuit 2 and outputting the detected signal to the index image storage circuit 12. Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. 1, and the description of the overlapping parts will be omitted.

Generally, a large change in the screen scene is considered to be related to a change in the program contents or a different scene. Therefore, if this change in the screen switching is detected and the images before and after the change are used as index images, Thus, it is possible to accurately obtain a screen that is a highlight of a program. (Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. 4, the image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment differs from the image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment in FIG. 1 in that the CM detection circuit 5 as a change detection unit is omitted. In the present embodiment, an index image is extracted using only the time information set by the time setting input circuit 13. This is to set a time that matches the characteristics of the program contents or genre. For example, in the case of an action movie, the near-end of the program is set as the highlight time. If an appropriate time is set in the middle of a program, an index image can be obtained only by setting the time. Of course, a plurality of times can be set for one program. (Fifth Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image recording / reproducing apparatus having an image reproducing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, this embodiment corresponds to FIG.
An image reproducing apparatus is added to the image recording apparatus of the first embodiment. That is, the configuration of the present embodiment is different from the image recording apparatus of FIG. 1 in that an index playback control circuit 20 that outputs an address of an index section in the HDD 14 by an index playback command and the HDD 14 uses the index section address.
A video / audio data expansion circuit 21 that expands video / audio data read from the index image recording area and decodes the data is added. The expanded video / audio data is displayed on the screen of the monitor 22. Here, a part of the index reproduction control circuit 20 and the video / audio data decompression circuit 21 constitute reproduction means. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as described in the first embodiment,
First, an index image serving as a highlight part of a program to be recorded is recorded in an area of the HDD 14 which is different from a recording area of the entire program. Next, if the user wants to view the recorded index image, the index reproduction control circuit 20 is activated by inputting an index reproduction command, the index image is read from the HDD 14, and expanded by the video / audio data expansion circuit 21. Displayed on the monitor screen.

Here, as a method of displaying the index image, in addition to the method of displaying the images of the highlight portions in the order of sequential recording, only the first one frame is displayed for one highlight portion (the highlight). When the part is composed of a plurality of images), a method of displaying one frame of the next highlight part by operating the feed button, or a method of displaying the first one frame of the plurality of highlight parts on a multi-screen display can be considered. By using such a display method and further providing a selection means for selecting which of the highlights to display, it is possible to display only the video of the highlight to be viewed. Although this selection means is not shown, it can be easily realized if it is connected to the index reproduction control circuit 20 to control the address of the index section.

Also, the address of the index part is
In the configuration for recording on the HDD 14, an address range selecting means for selecting an address range corresponding to a desired video / audio signal is provided. First, the address range of the index portion is read from the HDD 14, and based on the address, the HDD 1
The data of the highlight portion of the program recorded in No. 4 may be read out, decompressed and displayed on the monitor screen.

In the above embodiment, both the data of the program main body and the data of the index part are recorded in the same recording medium, HDD 14, but the respective data are recorded in different recording media. It may be.

In each of the above embodiments, an example in which an HDD is used as a recording medium has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and another recording medium such as a magnetic tape or a magneto-optical disk may be used. Here, particularly in the case of a magnetic tape, a method of recording the image data of the index portion at the beginning or at the end can be considered.

In the configurations shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the CM detection circuit 5 is configured to detect a CM by using both a stereo signal and an EPG. A configuration using a signal may be used.

Further, in the fifth embodiment, the image reproducing apparatus is added to the image recording apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image reproducing apparatus may have only the image reproducing apparatus.

In each of the above-described embodiments, in order to generate the address range of the image of the highlight (index portion), a predetermined time range is set based on the time when a predetermined change of the video / audio signal is detected. Then, the detection time and the predetermined time range are used, but instead of this, an address range setting means is provided instead of the time setting input circuit based on an address when a predetermined change of the video / audio signal is detected. Alternatively, a predetermined address range may be set, and the address range of the image of the highlight portion may be generated based on the address at the time of this detection and the predetermined address range.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from a video and audio signal, and a video and audio signal within a predetermined time range based on the time when the change is detected. Signal extracting means, a time range setting means for setting a predetermined time range, and a recording means for recording the video and audio signals extracted by the signal extracting means on a recording medium, so It has the advantage that it can be easily extracted and recorded.

Further, the present invention comprises a selecting means for selecting a desired video / audio signal from a plurality of video / audio signals, and a reproducing means for reproducing the selected video / audio signal. There is an advantage that the highlight part of the recorded program can be easily reproduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an image recording apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an image recording / reproducing apparatus having an image reproducing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 video / audio signal detection circuit 2 video / audio signal separation circuit 5 CM detection circuit 10 video / audio data synthesis circuit 11 CPU 12 index image storage circuit 13 time setting input circuit 14 HDD 15 index address storage circuit 16 screen switching detection circuit 20 Index playback control circuit 21 Video / audio data expansion circuit

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from a video / audio signal, a signal extracting means for extracting the video / audio signal within a predetermined time range based on a time at which the change is detected, and the predetermined time range An image recording apparatus, comprising: a time range setting unit for setting the video signal; and a recording unit for recording the video / audio signal extracted by the signal extraction unit on a recording medium. 2. A recording unit for recording a video / audio signal, change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from the video / audio signal, and the video / audio signal in a predetermined time range based on a time at which the change is detected. Address generation means for generating an address range in the recording unit, time range setting means for setting the predetermined time range, and address recording means for recording the address range information generated by the address generation means on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus, comprising: 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined change is a change from a monaural signal to a stereo signal of an audio signal of the video and audio signals. 4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined change is switching from a screen to a screen in the video / audio signal. 5. An identification information detecting means for inputting a video / audio signal to which identification information for identifying a program is added and detecting the identification information, and a predetermined time range based on a time when the identification information is detected. Signal extracting means for extracting the video and audio signals, time range setting means for setting the predetermined time range, and recording means for recording the video and audio signals extracted by the signal extracting means on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 6. A recording section for inputting a video / audio signal to which identification information for identifying a program is added and recording the video / audio signal, identification information detecting means for detecting the identification information, and the identification information Address generation means for generating an address range in the recording unit of the video / audio signal within a predetermined time range based on the time at which is detected, time range setting means for setting the predetermined time range, and the address generation means An image recording apparatus, comprising: an address recording unit that records the generated address range information on a recording medium. 7. A time range setting means for setting one or more predetermined time ranges for a predetermined program, and based on the set predetermined time range, a part from an input video / audio signal of the program. An image recording apparatus, comprising: a signal extracting means for extracting; and a recording means for recording the extracted video / audio signal on a recording medium. 8. A recording unit for recording a video / audio signal of a predetermined program, time range setting means for setting one or more predetermined time ranges for the predetermined program, and a time range setting unit for setting the predetermined time range. Address generating means for generating an address range of the video / audio signal in the recording unit in the predetermined time range based on the predetermined time range, and address recording means for recording the address range information generated by the address generating means on a recording medium. An image recording apparatus characterized in that: 9. A change detecting means for detecting a predetermined change from a video and audio signal, and an address generating means for generating an address range of a predetermined address range based on an address on the video and audio signal where the change is detected. An image recording apparatus comprising: an address range setting unit that sets the predetermined address range; and an address recording unit that records the address range generated by the address generation unit on a recording medium. 10. A plurality of video and audio signals extracted and recorded by the image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7, and a desired one is selected from the plurality of video and audio signals. An image reproducing apparatus, comprising: selecting means for selecting a video / audio signal to be reproduced; and reproducing means for reproducing the selected video / audio signal. 11. A plurality of address range information recorded by the image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a desired video / audio signal is selected from the plurality of address range information. An image reproducing apparatus comprising: an address range selecting unit that selects a corresponding address range; and a reproducing unit that reproduces the video and audio signals recorded in the recording unit based on the selected address range. apparatus.