JP3960356B2 - Information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus and information recording medium recording / reproducing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus and an information recording medium recording / reproducing method, and in particular, a main information area in which main information is recorded, and a table of contents information area in which table of contents information corresponding to the main information area is recorded. Further, the present invention relates to recording / reproducing an information recording medium capable of recording / reproducing having a reproduction access information area in which reproduction access information relating to reproduction of main information is recorded.

  For example, when renting CDs, MDs, LDs, etc. at a rental shop, the charge is usually determined by how much per day.

  However, from the viewpoint of ensuring fair use of information, a fee system according to the number of accesses is preferable. In the future, various media such as music, movies, paintings, novels, game software, etc. will be mixed in these media, and such information will be copied and printed out. It is done. Then, a fee structure corresponding to the information content as well as the number of accesses is required.

  Further, when renting such media in a library or the like, it is very convenient for lending management and usage status investigation to grasp the access status. Further, if the access status is recorded in an electronic book or the like, there is an advantage that it can be used as a reading record. The present invention pays attention to these points, and an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus and an information recording medium recording which can easily perform various management such as rental fees and rental / return of electronic books according to access conditions. An object is to provide a reproduction method.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus and an information recording medium recording / reproducing method having the following configurations.
(1) A main information area in which main information is recorded, a table of contents information area in which table of contents information corresponding to the main information area is recorded, and a reproduction access information area in which reproduction access information relating to reproduction of the main information is recorded In an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing an information recording medium having recording / reproducing capability,
Table of contents information reproducing means for reproducing table of contents information corresponding to main information from the table of contents information area of the information recording medium;
Main information selection means for selecting main information from the reproduced table of contents information;
And recording means for recording in the playback access information area of the information recording medium playback access information including time information at the time of playback of the played back portion of the selected and played back main information. Recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus.
(2) A main information area in which main information is recorded, a table of contents information area in which table of contents information corresponding to the main information area is recorded, and a reproduction access information area in which reproduction access information relating to reproduction of the main information is recorded. In an information recording medium recording / reproducing method for recording / reproducing an information recording medium capable of recording / reproducing,
Reproducing the table of contents information corresponding to the main information from the table of contents information area of the information recording medium;
Selecting main information from the reproduced table of contents information;
And recording the playback access information including time information at the time of playback of the playback portion of the selected main information played back in the playback access information area of the information recording medium. Medium recording / reproducing method.
(3) Reproduction access information reading means for reading the reproduction access information from the reproduction access information area of the information recording medium;
2. The information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising reproduction access information display means for displaying the read reproduction access information.
(4) reading the reproduction access information from the reproduction access information area of the information recording medium;
3. The information recording medium recording / reproducing method according to claim 2, further comprising a step of displaying the read reproduction access information.

  According to the present invention, the external information management apparatus can determine the operation mode of the recording / reproducing apparatus via the interface unit, and can reproduce the reproduction access information when the operation mode can reproduce the reproduction access information. Therefore, for example, there is an effect that management of usage status such as rental fee management, book rental return management, and reading management can be easily performed according to the access status.

  According to the present invention, access information for the main information of the disc, for example, information such as access date, number of pages, fee, etc. is recorded on the disc. The main information is output after the access information is recorded. Access information is output during disk management. By using this access information, for example, in the case of disc rental, a charge corresponding to the access amount of the user can be made. For electronic books, it is possible to manage lending and return.

Hereinafter, an example of an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus related to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
<Example Configuration> FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of this example.

1) Configuration of User-Used Device In the figure, a disk drive device 10 used by a user has a basic recording / playback function as an MD player. More specifically, recording and reproduction of signals with respect to the disk 12 are performed by a transducer 16 such as a recording head 14 (only during recording) and an optical pickup. The disk 12 is rotationally driven by a spindle motor 18, and the recording head 14 and the transducer 16 are feed-driven by a feed motor 20. The drive control of the spindle motor 18 and the feed motor 20 is performed by a servo circuit 22.

  Next, the transducer 16 is connected to an RF amplifier 24, and the output side of the RF amplifier 24 is connected to a servo circuit 22, an address decoder 26, and an encoder / decoder 28, respectively. The encoder / decoder 28 is connected to the head drive circuit 30, the memory controller 32, and the system controller 34, and the servo circuit 22 is connected to the system controller 34. The output side of the head drive circuit 30 is connected to the recording head 14.

  Next, the memory controller 32 is connected to the system controller 34, the RAM 36, and the display processor 38. The display processor 38 is connected to the display device 40. The system controller 34 is further connected to the key unit 42, and includes a buffer memory 34A, an access information processing unit 34B, and an operation mode determination unit 34C. Furthermore, the memory controller 32, the display processor 38, and the system controller 34 are connected to an I / F (interface) 44 of an appropriate standard such as SCSI. The disk drive device 10 is configured by the above-described units.

2) Basic Operation of Disk Drive Device Here, the basic operation of the above disk drive device 10 will be described. First, the data recording operation on the disk 12 will be described. Information to be recorded (access information to be described later) is encoded by the encoder / decoder 28 based on the control by the memory controller 32, and is recorded via the head drive circuit 30. 14.

  On the other hand, the recording head 14 and the transducer 16 are in a predetermined position in the loop of the recording head 14 and the transducer 16 → the address decoder 26 → the encoder / decoder 28 → the system controller 34 → the servo circuit 22 → the feed motor 20 → the recording head 14 and the transducer 16. Servo control is performed as follows. Also, using the speed information obtained by this loop, the rotation control of the CLV (constant linear velocity) disk 12 is performed by the PLL in the circuit of encoder / decoder 28 → system controller 34 → servo circuit 22 → spindle motor 18. Is called. When the recording head 14 and the transducer 16 reach a predetermined position on the track on the disk 12, magneto-optical recording of information supplied to the recording head 14 is performed on the disk 12.

  Next, the reproducing operation will be described. The disk 12 is rotationally driven by the PLL so as to be CLV (constant linear velocity) as described above. When the transducer 16 reaches a predetermined track position by the feed motor 20 and information designated by the user with the key unit 42 is read, the read RF signal is amplified by the RF amplifier 24 and output. The address decoder 26 and the encoder / decoder 28 perform address processing, and on the one hand, an error signal for controlling the focus and tracking of the transducer 16 is supplied to the servo circuit 22, and on the other hand, decoding and error correction of the signal are performed. Is done.

  The digital data after error correction is supplied to the memory controller 32, where the timing is controlled and the digital data is supplied to the display processor 38. The display processor 38 performs display processing of input data, and displays corresponding to the display device 40. In this way, desired information is read from the disk 12 and displayed. Note that music or the like may be output or printed out.

3) Recording area of disk FIG. 2 shows a disk 12 according to this example. In FIG. 1A, the innermost circumference of the disk 12 is a TOC (Table of Contents) area 12A, and a first UTOC (User Table of Contents) area 12B and a second UTOC area 12C are provided outside the TOC area. It has been. And there is a ROM area 12D on the outside.

  Among these, the table of contents of main information is stored in the TOC area 12A (or the first UTOC area 12B). In this example, a flag indicating the type of main information is added to each table of contents. This flag is for distinguishing between the case where the main information is accessed continuously such as novels and the case where the main information is meaningful even when displayed on a single screen such as paintings and photographs. Used to calculate rental fees.

  Next, the UTOC areas 12B and 12C are areas in which desired information can be recorded, and access information described later is recorded in the second UTOC area 12C. The second UTOC area 12C is prohibited from being written to and played back by the user. The ROM area 12D is an area for storing various main information such as music and novels. In the hybrid disk, as shown in FIG. 5B, a ROM (pre-mastered) area 12D and a RAM (recording) area 12E are mixed. Table 1 shows an example of information recorded in the first UTOC area 12B, and Table 2 shows an example of information recorded in the second UTOC area 12C.

4) Main Configuration of System Controller Next, returning to FIG. 1, the buffer memory 34A of the system controller 34 is a memory for temporarily storing information read from the disk 12. The access information processing unit 34B is for processing the access information as described later and calculating the rental fee when the main information of the disk 12 is accessed. The operation mode determination unit 34C is for determining an operation mode by referring to input signals from the key unit 42 and the I / F 44, respectively. For example, it is determined that the user mode is normal, and the shop mode is determined when there is a preset key input.

5) Host-side configuration Next, a host-side management device installed in a disk rental shop or the like will be described. This management device has a configuration in which the disk drive device 10 and a host computer 50 composed of a personal computer or the like are combined. The host computer 50 is connected to the I / F 44 provided in the disk drive device 10 described above. It has a connected configuration. In addition, you may comprise the whole of FIG. 1 as integral.

  The host computer 50 is provided with an access information editing unit 50A for editing various information such as a customer code for the access information, a host memory 50B for storing access information of each customer, and an input key unit 50C. Yes.

<Operation during user use>
Next, the operation of the disk drive device will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The user borrows a disk from the rental shop and sets it in the disk drive device 10 (step S1). Next, when the drive start is instructed by the key unit 42 (step S2), the operation mode determination unit 34C of the system controller 34 determines that the user mode is selected, and the following user mode operation is performed.

  First, as described above, the disk 12 rotates at CLV, and the transducer 16 moves to the inner peripheral side to move to the TOC area 12A and the first UTOC area 12B (see FIG. 2) (step S3).

  Each type of information in the TOC area 12A and the UTOC area 12B, particularly the table of contents information, is checked on the one hand by the access information processing unit 34B (step S3). Then, the contents of the table of contents are displayed on the display device 40 (step S4). FIG. 4 shows an example of the display. According to this, the set disk 12 contains Picasso's paintings, Beethoven's sheet music and other main information from Volume 1 to Volume 3 of "Pipe Smoke" by Dan Ikuma. I understand.

  Next, the user operates the key unit 42 while referring to the table of contents to instruct and select desired main information (step S5). Then, the transducer 16 moves to the corresponding address (step S6), and the main information selected by the user is read from the disk 12 and stored in the buffer memory 34A (step S7). Next, the transducer 16 moves to the second UTOC area 12C (step S8), and when the access information is recorded, reads it and outputs it to the access information processing unit 34B (step S9).

  The access information processing unit 34B checks the input access information, updates the access date, time, number of times, continuity, and number of pages accessed, and calculates the access fee from the main information type. (Step S10). The access information is recorded in the second UTOC area 12C of the disk 12 by the recording head 14 and the transducer 16 (step S11).

  More specifically, if the current access is the first access after the rental of the disk 12, the access information of the user does not exist in the second UTOC area 12C of the disk 12, so that the current access information It is recorded in the second UTOC area 12C as it is (step S11). At this time, a table of contents (directory) for access information is set corresponding to the table of contents of main information.

  If the access has already been made after the rental, the previous access information is recorded in the second UTOC area 12C, and this is checked by the access information processing unit 34B. For example, it is assumed that the previous access is from page 1 to page 4 of “Pipe Smoke 1” by Dan Ikuma, and this time from page 4 to page 10 this time. The access information processing unit 34B determines that the access is continuous from the previous access page and the current access page. In addition, the number of accessed non-overlapping pages is also determined.

  Note that it is possible to determine whether a novel, music, movie, or the like has been viewed as a sample or continuously at a certain length based on continuity. In addition, poems, paintings, encyclopedias, etc. with little or no continuity use the current access information as it is regardless of the past access situation.

  For example, the access fee is calculated as follows. In the case of main information that is meaningful by continuous access such as novels, when there is continuous access, it is calculated as 1 page XX circle, and when it is discontinuous, it is seen as a sample Don't charge for things. Since paintings and the like are meaningful for each screen, they are added for each screen regardless of whether they are continuous or discontinuous.

  After the access information processing as described above, the main information stored in the buffer memory 34A is output and displayed on the display device 40 (step S12). If the user sees this display and determines that the external output, for example, printout is necessary, the user connects the printer to the I / F 44 and performs a key input to that effect on the key unit 42 (step S13).

  Then, the fact is first transmitted to the access information processing unit 34B, the transducer 16 moves, the access information “external output is present” is recorded in the corresponding part of the second UTOC area 12C, and the charge for the external output is calculated. And recorded (steps S14 and S15). Thereafter, the system controller 34 outputs the relevant main information from the I / F 44 to the outside (step S16).

  Although not shown in FIG. 3, when page turning is instructed by a key operation, the above-described processing is performed on the access information, and the corresponding page is displayed. When accessing other main information, the user issues a table of contents display instruction (step S17). Then, the operation after step S4 described above is repeated. When no display is performed, the process ends.

  As described above, in the disk drive device 10, the main information of the disk 12 accessed by the user is stored in the buffer memory 34A, and the access information is processed and written in the second UTOC area 12C of the disk 12, and then the main information is stored. Displayed / outputted. When the power of the disk drive device 10 is turned off, it is impossible to record the access information on the disk. Therefore, at least the recording of the access information is started before the main information is displayed / outputted. This prevents the inconvenience that the access information is missing and the fee for the accessed main information cannot be charged.

<Operation on the rental shop side>
Next, the operation on the management apparatus side when the disc used by the user is returned to the rental shop as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the disk 12 is set in the disk drive device 10 (step S20). The rental shop side instructs to start driving with the key part 42 or 40C (step S21) and performs a predetermined key operation. Then, the operation mode determination unit 34C of the system controller 34 determines the shop mode, and the following shop mode operation is performed (step S22). When this key operation is not performed, the above-described user mode operation of FIG. 3 is performed (step S23).

  When the shop mode is determined, the system controller 34 moves the transducer 16 in order to the second UTOC area 12C in addition to the TOC area 12A and the first UTOC 12B of the disk 12 (step S24), and the recorded contents are read out. And is taken into the buffer memory 34A (step S25). These recorded contents are displayed on the display device 40 (step S26).

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the display. As described above, in the shop mode, access information is displayed in addition to the table of contents of the main information of the disk 12. In the example shown in the figure, the novel in Table of Contents 1 has 20 pages of access on July 18th, and there is an external output, so the access fee is 40 yen. Next, the painting in Table of Contents 4 has two pages of discontinuous access on July 12, and the fee is 100 yen. Next, the encyclopedia in Table of Contents 6 had discontinuous and duplicated access on July 17, with 48 accesses and 35 pages. The fee is 48 yen. The same applies hereinafter.

  In the host computer 50, the rental fee considering the access fee is calculated by the access information editing unit 50A, and the user code is edited if necessary (step S28). Then, the screen display is as shown in FIG. 6B (step S29). Based on this display, the rental shop charges the user for a rental fee. Further, the edited access information is printed out as a usage statement according to the operation instruction of the key unit 50C, and further stored in the host memory 50B for subsequent user management. By statistically processing the contents of the host memory 50B, it is possible to know good customers and popular products.

Thereafter, when the key section 42 or 50C instructs to delete the access information (step S30), the access information in the second UTOC area 12C is deleted (step S31). As a result, the disk 12 can be rented again.

<Effect of this example>
In this way, according to this example, it is possible to charge a fee for the usage situation such as usage contents and usage frequency from a method of how much per day, as with a conventional rental CD, etc. Rental is possible. In other words, various types of information can be rented in addition to music and movies. In particular, when a single image such as a picture, a musical score, or a photograph is related to copyright, or in the case of a large file such as an encyclopedia, a charge according to information can be determined. Further, by accumulating access information, it is possible to easily manage the usage status.

<Use as electronic loan book>
Next, an example in which the present invention is used for electronic lending in a library or the like will be described with reference to FIG. When lending, the lending processing unit A of the host device 60 on the library side sends lending information such as the lending date, lending destination, and return deadline to the second UTOC area of the disk to be lent or the host memory 60C of the host device. To be recorded. When the user accesses the disc, access information is recorded in the same manner as in the above example.

  When the disc is returned to the library, a return process such as a return date check is performed by the return processing unit 60B of the host device 60. By accumulating such lending and return information in the host memory 60C and performing statistical processing, it is possible to ascertain the usage frequency and return status of electronic books.

<Other examples>
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said example at all, For example, the following are also included.

  (1) It can also be used as a personal reading record. In this case, the user can access the second UTOC area 12C of the disk 12. When the user accesses the main information, the access information is recorded in the second UTOC area 12C as described above. In this example, the date of access and the access page are particularly important. The user can make a reading record by referring to the access information.

  (2) In the above example, the fee is also calculated on the disk drive side, but the fee can be calculated if there is access information and basic data for fee calculation (for example, how much per page), so the fee is calculated on the host side. You may make it perform calculation. In this way, the calculation function of the user device can be omitted. In addition, it is possible to cope with changes in unit price and fee structure by simply changing the calculation processing on the host side. In addition, when a disc is rented, a predetermined amount is paid, and that amount is recorded on the disc as access information. A fee is calculated for each access to the main information and subtracted from the amount to reach the initial payment amount. At that time, access to the main information may be prohibited.

  (3) The fee calculation method may also be set as appropriate. For example, in the case of display output, the unit is one screen, and in the case of print output, how much is one page. The unit may be smaller or larger than one screen. Furthermore, various considerations are possible, such as taking into account the number of days of rental and discounts based on the past usage status of the user.

(4) The main information may be any information such as a novel, a movie, music, an encyclopedia, computer software, or a game. Access information may also be set as needed.
(5) In the above example, the present invention is applied to the MD according to the magneto-optical recording technology, but it is possible to write to a medium having a recordable area, for example, a CD using a PC (Phase change). It is applicable to various things such as things. In particular, in the above example, the area for recording the access information is an area different from the TOC area. However, an area for recording access information may be provided in the TOC area. Various design changes can be made to the device configuration, such as displaying access information on a display device on the host side.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the information recording-medium recording / reproducing apparatus relevant to this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the recording area of the disk of the said example. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the user use of the said example. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a table of contents display at the time of user use of the said example. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement at the time of the rental shop use of the said example. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a table of contents at the time of the rental shop use of the said example, and an access information display. It is explanatory drawing of the other example relevant to this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10: Disk drive device,
12: Disc (information recording medium),
12A ... TOC area,
12B ... 1st UTOC area,
12C ... 2nd UTOC area (reproduction access information area),
12D ... ROM area (main information area),
14: Recording head,
16 ... Transducer,
34 ... System controller,
34A: Buffer memory,
34B ... Access information processing unit,
34C: Operation mode determination unit,
38 ... Display processor,
40. Display device,
42, 50C ... key part,
44 ... I / F,
50: Host computer,
50A ... Access information editing section,
50B, 60C ... Host memory,
60 ... Host device,
60A ... Lending processing part,
60B: Return processing unit.

Claims (4)

Recording / reproduction having a main information area in which main information is recorded, a table of contents information area in which table of contents information corresponding to the main information area is recorded, and a reproduction access information area in which reproduction access information relating to reproduction of the main information is recorded In an information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing a possible information recording medium,
Table of contents information reproducing means for reproducing table of contents information corresponding to main information from the table of contents information area of the information recording medium;
Main information selection means for selecting main information from the reproduced table of contents information;
And recording means for recording in the playback access information area of the information recording medium playback access information including time information at the time of playback of the played back portion of the selected and played back main information. Recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus. Recording / reproduction having a main information area in which main information is recorded, a table of contents information area in which table of contents information corresponding to the main information area is recorded, and a reproduction access information area in which reproduction access information relating to reproduction of the main information is recorded In an information recording medium recording / reproducing method for recording / reproducing a possible information recording medium,
Reproducing the table of contents information corresponding to the main information from the table of contents information area of the information recording medium;
Selecting main information from the reproduced table of contents information;
And recording the playback access information including time information at the time of playback of the playback portion of the selected main information played back in the playback access information area of the information recording medium. Medium recording / reproducing method. Reproduction access information reading means for reading the reproduction access information from the reproduction access information area of the information recording medium;
2. The information recording medium recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising reproduction access information display means for displaying the read reproduction access information. Reading the playback access information from the playback access information area of the information recording medium;
3. The information recording medium recording / reproducing method according to claim 2, further comprising a step of displaying the read reproduction access information.

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