JP3643518B2 - Card recording / playback device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio on a memory card.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Card recording / reproducing apparatuses for recording / reproducing video / audio on a memory card include the following. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-234580 discloses a television broadcast receiver using a technique for reproducing video / audio signals recorded on a memory card.
The memory card used in the card recording / reproducing apparatus has the following types and characteristics.
[0003]
Various memory cards such as memory sticks, multimedia cards, smart media, and SD memory cards have been born as memory cards that can record and reproduce video and audio. Since the physical / logical formats of these memory cards are not unified and the application formats are different, the formats (compression methods) for recording and reproducing video / audio also differ depending on the memory cards. Video compression methods include MPEG (Moving Picture Exprets Group) 2, MPEG4, JPEG (Joint Photographic Exprets Group), M-JPEG, etc. Audio compression methods include PCM audio, ATRAC3 (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding 3) , MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3), TwinVQ (transform domain weighted interleave vector quantization), AAC (Advanced Audio Coding), and the like.
[0004]
When video / audio is recorded / reproduced by a card recording / reproducing apparatus corresponding to a specific memory card, the memory card can be provided with means corresponding to the format (compression method) defined by the memory card. Video and audio can be recorded and played back. Further, in a closed system having the same system, video / audio data can be freely transferred via the specific memory card.
[0005]
Also, terminal devices such as personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs) and set-top boxes (hereinafter referred to as STBs) (these devices are collectively referred to as host devices here) correspond to specific memory cards. In addition to the dedicated slot, various types of memory cards may be used through a PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card Interface Association) card adapter or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) adapter. Here, considering the case of recording video / audio using this host device, the host device may handle various memory cards via the above means, so the decoding means of the target card playback device Accordingly, it is necessary to switch or specify and record the video / audio encoder device owned by the host device. Even if one memory card is taken, the video / audio recording method varies depending on the application, so it is necessary to check the specifications of the target card playback device and set the encoder device of the host device.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a conventional card recording / reproducing apparatus, a card recording apparatus that does not specify a memory card, such as the host device described above, includes any video / audio decoding means in the target card reproducing apparatus. It was inconvenient that the encoding means had to be set after recognizing whether
[0007]
In other words, there are various types of memory cards that can record / reproduce video / audio, the physical / logical formats of these memory cards are not uniform, and the application format is different, so video / audio is recorded / reproduced. The format (compression method) also differs depending on the memory card. There is no problem when recording video / audio with a specific card recording / playback device, but when transferring memory cards between devices, recording between devices is necessary unless you are familiar with the specifications of both devices and the memory card to be used. There arises a problem that playback is impossible.
[0008]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and is a card recording which can easily and automatically obtain information (video / audio format) of a card playback device and record video / audio accordingly. An object is to provide a playback device.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The card recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention is a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in a memory card in a predetermined format, and writing the video / audio format information in the boot area or user area of the memory card. By providing the means, it becomes possible to record information relating to a reproducible video / audio format (compression method) on the memory card to be used.
[0010]
Further, in a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in a memory card in a predetermined format, a reading means for reading the format information of the video / audio recorded in a boot area or a user area of the memory card; Alternatively, the video / audio data to be reproduced is converted to various formats of video / audio, and the video / audio encoding method is switched based on the format information read by the reading unit, and the video / audio encoding method is changed based on the switched encoding method. Recording means for recording video / audio data on the memory card, and automatically setting a method for recording video / audio data based on information recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus, and recording the data on the memory card. It becomes possible to do.
[0011]
Further, in a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in a memory card in a predetermined format, a reading means for reading the video / audio format information recorded in the boot area or user area of the memory card; Decoding means for decoding audio data in various formats of video and audio, and video / audio decoding method switched based on format information read by the reading means, and video / audio data based on the switched decoding method And a reproducing means for reproducing the video / audio data based on the information recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus, and automatically reproducing the video / audio data from the memory card.
[0012]
Further, for example, when recording video / audio data, the information of the first card recording / reproducing device is obtained once through the first card recording / reproducing device and then recorded by the second card recording / reproducing device. Then, recording and playback of memory cards having various video / audio formats (compression methods) can be performed easily and automatically by following the procedure for playing back the recorded memory card with the first card recording / playback device. Is possible. Therefore, once the memory card to be used is inserted into the first card recording / reproducing apparatus after being inserted into the first card recording / reproducing apparatus, the first card recording / reproducing apparatus is compatible with reproduction. Can be recorded easily and automatically.
[0013]
Further, by providing display means for displaying video / audio format information written in the memory card, it is possible to display the video / audio format (compression method) to be recorded.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a card recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a card recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and shows a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording a video / audio format on a memory card. . The card recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment shows a configuration example for recording the video / audio format on the memory card, and is processed by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 (FIG. 3) of the second embodiment to be described later. And
[0015]
In FIG. 1, 1 is a memory card, 2 is a basic circuit unit of a card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 that records and reproduces a video / audio format on the memory card 1, and the basic circuit unit 2 of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 is a card slot. 3, card IF / control circuit 4, demultiplexer 5, video decoder unit 6, audio decoder unit 7, video signal D / A converter 8, audio signal D / A converter 9, video output terminal 10, audio output terminal 11 , CPU 12 (writing means), and display unit 13 (display means).
[0016]
The card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 is an apparatus that extracts and reproduces video / audio (music) data recorded on the memory card 1 (each of the video reproducing apparatus, the audio reproducing apparatus, and the video / audio reproducing apparatus depending on the application). A recording / reproducing apparatus provided with means for recording a reproduction method (video / audio format) on the memory card 1 as data.
[0017]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the memory card 1.
The data structure of the memory card 1 includes a boot area 1a including a header (block ID), a system entry, a boot, an attribute, and CI (card information), and TOC (table of contents) information and data. It consists of a user area 1b.
[0018]
A playback procedure using the card recording / playback apparatus 100 will be described.
The inserted memory card 1 is connected to the card IF / control circuit 4 via the card slot 3, reads data recorded on the memory card 1 under the control of the CPU 12, and outputs it to the demultiplexer 5. The data structure of the memory card 1 is roughly expressed as shown in FIG. 2, and a boot area 1a composed of a header, system entry, boot, attribute, CI (card information), etc., and a user area where content data is recorded The demultiplexer 5 reads out the TOC (table of content) information of the data in the boot area 1a and the signal data in the user area 1b and outputs it to the CPU 12, and the CPU 12 receiving it reads these information based on the information. The playback information of the content recorded in the memory card 1 is read and the playback operation is controlled.
[0019]
Upon receiving the control signal from the CPU 12, the demultiplexer 5 extracts the content data of the user area 1b and outputs it to the video decoder unit 6 and the audio decoder unit 7. The video decoder unit 6 and the audio decoder unit 7 perform predetermined signal reproduction. After (demodulation) processing is performed and converted into analog signals by the D / A converters 8 and 9, video / audio signals are output from the output terminals 10 and 11, respectively. Note that in a recording / reproducing apparatus having only video and audio, the video decoder unit 6, the audio decoder unit 7, and the D / A converters 8 and 9 can each be constituted by one system.
[0020]
The video / audio formats (compression methods) recorded on the memory card 1 are representative, but MPEG2, MPEG4, JPEG, M-JPEG, etc. for video, and PCM audio, MP3, ATRAC3, AAC for audio (music). , TwinVQ and the like have been studied and are expected to expand further with the development of compression technology.
[0021]
The present invention is characterized in that content data having various video / audio formats (compression methods) can be easily transferred between devices. The method will be described below.
[0022]
When content data is recorded on the inserted memory card 1, the CPU 12 of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 determines whether or not the content data can be reproduced from the information read out as described above. When the content data recording method and the reproduction method type of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 match, it is determined that reproduction is possible, and nothing is done to the memory card 1. On the other hand, if the content data recording method and the reproduction method type of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 do not match or cannot be determined, it is determined that reproduction is not possible, and the “required recording method” is described in this embodiment. Information (video / audio format (compression method)) "is written to the memory card 1. Similarly, when no content data is recorded on the memory card 1, “information indicating a necessary recording method (video / audio format (compression method))” is written in the memory card 1.
[0023]
The memory card 1 can be written in either the boot area or the user area shown in FIG. 2, and can be written in an optimum position so that the system can be paired with a card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 described later. desirable. Here, the boot area is an important part related to the start-up and card system, and it is not allowed to write it indefinitely, but since the reserved part is prepared for any memory card, use that reserved area become.
[0024]
In this way, the memory card 1 is recorded with information capable of determining what the video / audio format (compression method) that the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 can reproduce is.
[0025]
Second Embodiment FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a card recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The reproduction information of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 is obtained and video / audio is recorded. 1 shows a card recording / reproducing apparatus. In the description of the present embodiment, the same components as those in FIG.
[0026]
In FIG. 3, 1 is a memory card, 14 is a general-purpose adapter, 15 is a basic circuit unit of a card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 for recording / reproducing video / audio on the memory card 1, and the basic circuit unit 15 of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 is , Card slot 3, card IF / control circuit 16, demultiplexer 5, multiplexer 18, video / audio reproduction circuit 19, selector 20 (video selector 1) (switching means), various video encoders v1, v2, v3 A video encoder unit 21 (conversion means, recording means), a video signal A / D converter 22, an analog video input terminal 23, a digital video input terminal 24, a selector 25 (audio selector 2) (switching means), An audio encoder unit 26 (conversion means, recording means) composed of various audio encoders a1, a2, a3,. D converter 27, the analog audio input terminal 28, a digital audio input terminal 29, CPU 17, and a display unit 13.
[0027]
The operation of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 configured as described above will be described below.
In the present embodiment, description will be made on the assumption that video / audio is recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 and reproduced by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100. An example in which the reproduction information of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 is obtained and the video / audio is recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0028]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of the flow of recording video / audio on the memory card 1 using the card recording / reproducing devices 100 and 200. In the figure, S is each step of the flow. Steps S1 to S3 show a flow as a video / audio reproducing device, and steps S4 to S7 show a flow as a video / audio recording device.
[0029]
First, the recording signal information is read from the video / audio data recorded on the memory card 1 in step S1, and it is determined whether or not the method can be reproduced in step S2. If it is not a reproducible system, recording signal information by an appropriate recording system is written in step S3 and the process proceeds to step S4. If the reproduction method is available, the process proceeds to step S4. This is the function of the video / audio playback device.
[0030]
In step S4, the video / audio data recorded in the memory card 1 or the recording signal information described above is read to determine whether the recording method is set in step S5. If it is not the set recording method, the recording method is switched to an appropriate recording method in step S6, and the process proceeds to step S7. If the recording method is set, the process proceeds to step S7 as it is. In step S7, video / audio (music) data is recorded according to the recording method set in the memory card 1.
[0031]
The operation of the above flow will be described more specifically.
The memory card 1 in which the information of the video / audio format (compression method) that can be reproduced by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 is written is inserted into the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 for video / audio recording. The card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 has characteristics of a host device that handles contents having various recording methods such as a PC (Personal Computer), an STB (Set Top Box), and a home server. Therefore, the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 is provided with an encoder / decoder corresponding to each system so as to handle various contents. In addition to the slot 3 dedicated to the memory card 1, a PCMCIA card adapter, USB adapter, floppy disk It is possible to interface with various memory cards via a general-purpose adapter 14 such as a disk adapter.
[0032]
The memory card 1 is connected to the card IF / control circuit 16 via the card slot 3 or the general-purpose adapter 14, reads data recorded on the memory card 1 under the control of the CPU 17, and outputs it to the demultiplexer 5. The demultiplexer 5 reads out “information indicating a necessary recording method (video / audio format (compression method))” written by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 and outputs the information to the CPU 17. Based on this, the recording method for the memory card 1 is determined, and the selector 20 (video selector 1) and the selector 25 (audio selector 2) are controlled.
[0033]
The CPU 17 determines “information indicating a necessary recording method” with the highest priority, but the content recording method recorded on the memory card 1 and the reproduction method of the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 match as described above. Since a default state in which this “information indicating the necessary recording method” is not recorded is considered, it is determined from the default information.
[0034]
The video signal from the analog video input terminal 23 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 22 and input to the video encoder unit 21, and the digital signal from the digital video input terminal 24 is also input to the video encoder 21. The Similarly, the audio signal from the analog audio input terminal 28 is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 27 and input to the audio encoder unit 26, and the digital signal from the digital audio input terminal 29 is also converted to the audio encoder 26. Is input.
[0035]
The video encoder unit 21 and the audio encoder unit 26 have encoders and data conversion functions corresponding to various systems, respectively, and “information indicating a required recording system ( A video / audio recording signal encoded by a recording method matching the “video / audio format (compression method)” is input to the multiplexer 18. An output recording signal from the multiplexer 18 is recorded in the memory card 1 via the card IF / control circuit 16, the card slot 3, or the general-purpose adapter 14.
[0036]
When the memory card 1 in which the video / audio data is recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 in this way is inserted into the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100, a signal in accordance with the system is already reproduced, so there is no trouble. Video / audio can be obtained.
[0037]
As an additional function, the CPUs 12 and 17 determine what video / audio formats (compression methods) are set in the card recording / reproducing apparatuses 100 and 200 in the course of these processes. Therefore, by displaying the video / audio format (compression method) on the display unit 13 using a liquid crystal panel or the like connected to the CPUs 12 and 17, it is possible to provide information to the apparatus user.
[0038]
Here, the card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment switches the video / audio encoding method based on the read format information, and records the video / audio data on the memory card 1 based on the switched encoding method. However, the video decoder unit 6 and the audio decoder unit 7 in FIG. 1 are configured by a plurality of decoders that decode in various formats, such as the video encoder unit 21 and the audio encoder unit 26 in FIG. If the video / audio decoding method is switched based on the format information, video / audio data recorded in various formats can be reproduced.
[0039]
As described above, in each of the above embodiments, the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100 capable of writing the video / audio format (compression) of the card reproducing apparatus into the boot area 1a or the user area 1b of the memory card 1 is provided. The information of the playback device (video / audio decoding method) is written to the memory card 1. A card recording / reproducing apparatus 200 capable of supporting a wide variety of memory cards 1 includes various video / audio encoding / decoding means (video / audio reproduction circuit 19, video encoder unit 21, audio encoder unit 26). A video / audio encoding method is selected based on information (video / audio decoding method) recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus 100, and video / audio data is recorded in the memory card 1. Since the video / audio is recorded through the memory card 1 in which the specifications of the card playback device are recorded, the signal format compatibility between the two devices 100 and 200 can be easily and automatically taken, and the card recording / playback is possible. Users who use the device and the memory card can perform recording and reproduction without any special knowledge.
[0040]
As described above, the present invention can be applied to any apparatus as long as it is a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data on / from a memory card. In this case, the card recording / reproducing apparatus itself may be incorporated in, for example, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a small notebook personal computer.
[0041]
In the above embodiment, the name of the card recording / reproducing apparatus is used. However, this is for convenience of explanation, and for example, a card reproducing apparatus that performs only reproduction or a card recording apparatus that performs only recording may be used. Further, among video / audio data, an apparatus that records and reproduces only video data or only audio data may be used.
[0042]
The memory card may be any storage medium compressed by various compression methods such as ATRAC3, MP3, TwinVQ, and AAC. As such a recording medium, for example, an SRAM (Static RAM) card is used. It can be applied to all compact flash (CF), smart media, and memory sticks, etc., which do not require power backup.
[0043]
Furthermore, the switching unit such as a multiplexer constituting the card recording / reproducing apparatus, the interface, the types and number of input / output terminals, the connection method, and the like are not limited to the above-described embodiments.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to record information relating to a reproducible video / audio format (compression method) on a memory card to be used. Further, according to the present invention, a method for recording video / audio data can be automatically set and recorded on a memory card based on information recorded by the card recording / reproducing apparatus.
[0045]
Therefore, the information (video / audio format) of the card playback device can be obtained easily and automatically, and the video / audio can be recorded accordingly. For example, once the memory card to be used is inserted into the first card recording / reproducing apparatus after being inserted into the first card recording / reproducing apparatus, reproduction compatibility can be achieved with the first card recording / reproducing apparatus.・ Audio can be recorded easily and automatically.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a card recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure of a memory card of the card recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a card recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an outline of a flow of recording video / audio on a memory card of the card recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Memory card 1a Boot area 1b User area 2,15 Basic circuit part of card recording / reproducing apparatus 3 Card slot 4,16 Card IF / control circuit 5 Demultiplexer 6 Video decoder part 7 Audio decoder part 8 Video signal D / A converter 9 Audio signal D / A converter 10 Video output terminal 11 Audio output terminals 12, 17 CPU (writing means)
13 Display section (display means)
14 General-purpose adapter 18 Multiplexer 19 Video / audio reproduction circuit 20 Selector (video selector 1) (switching means)
21 Video encoder unit (conversion means, recording means) comprising various video encoders v1, v2, v3,.
22 Video signal A / D converter 23 Analog video input terminal 24 Digital video input terminal 25 Selector (audio selector 2) (switching means)
26 Audio encoder unit (conversion means, recording means) comprising various audio encoders a1, a2, a3,...
27 Audio signal A / D converter 28 Analog audio input terminal 29 Digital audio input terminal 100, 200 Card recording / reproducing apparatus

Claims (6)

In a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in / from a memory card in a predetermined format,
A card recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: writing means for writing video / audio format information into a boot area or a user area of the memory card. In a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in / from a memory card in a predetermined format,
Reading means for reading the format information of the video / audio recorded in the boot area or user area of the memory card ;
Switching the encoding of video and audio based on the format information read by the pre-Symbol reading means, and recording means for recording the video and audio data on the memory card based on the encoding method is switched it said,
A card recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: In a card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio data in / from a memory card in a predetermined format,
Reading means for reading the format information of the video / audio recorded in the boot area or user area of the memory card ;
Reproducing means for reproducing the video and audio data based on the previous SL read switching decoding system of a video and audio based on the format information read by means, said switching and decoding scheme,
A card recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: 3. The card recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising conversion means for converting video / audio data to be recorded or reproduced into various video / audio formats. 4. The card recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising decoding means for decoding video / audio data in various video / audio formats.   4. The card recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying video / audio format information written in the memory card.

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