JP4186949B2 - Information recording / reproducing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording medium for recording moving image audio information, and more particularly to a recording medium having a data management structure for recording information for simply confirming an outline and additional contents of the recorded moving image audio information, The present invention relates to a moving image / audio recording / reproducing apparatus having means for outputting the information based on a data management structure, and means for recording or reproducing moving image / audio information and management information.

Conventionally, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-37385, there is provided means for additionally recording a still image indicating the outline of the recorded original image data in the original image data and displaying the still image. Further, there is a device that displays a warning when the still image is not prepared.

Japanese Patent Application No. 9-37385

  In the prior art, regarding the presence / absence determination of the still image, it is necessary to read the data file of the original image and the still image appended thereto and determine the presence / absence thereof. In this case, for example, when displaying still images for a plurality of original images, it is necessary to read out all the corresponding files and determine the processing time required for the determination. Similarly, regarding the presence / absence determination of character information representing additional contents, it is necessary to read the original image and the data file of character information added to the original image and determine the presence / absence thereof. In this case, for example, when displaying character information for a plurality of original images, it is necessary to read and determine all of the corresponding files, which may take a processing time required for the determination.

  In addition, when a still image is not added, a screen indicating why no still image is prepared is displayed. However, the user does not know what image is recorded and does not record it. However, sufficient consideration has not been given to improving the operability of searching original images.

An object of the present invention is to provide an information recording / reproducing apparatus that solves the above problems and improves usability .

The above problems are solved by the invention described in the claims.

According to the present invention, an information recording / reproducing apparatus with improved usability can be provided .

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a structure of moving image / sound data recorded on a recording medium by the moving image / sound recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and management data of the moving image / sound data. Here, the moving image audio data to be recorded will be described as data compressed with MPEG2.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 110 denotes a moving image / audio data sequence, and reference numeral 111 denotes moving image / audio data obtained by dividing the moving image / audio data sequence by an arbitrary reproduction time unit. In addition, the moving image audio data 110 includes moving image data, audio data, moving image data recorded in the moving image audio data 110, audio data management information, compressed data decoding, and information for reproduction.

  Reference numeral 120 denotes a time management data string for managing the correspondence between the reproduction time and the moving image / sound data 111, and reference numeral 121 denotes time management data which is one record unit of the time management data string. The moving image / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention specifies moving image / audio data 111 to be decoded based on the time management data 121, and decodes and reproduces the moving image / audio data.

  Reference numeral 130 denotes a reproduction management data string for managing reproduction units, and 131 denotes a record unit of the reproduction management data string. The playback unit is a unit that can be recognized by the user, for example, a broadcast program program, an event such as an athletic meet recorded by a camera, etc., but recording start, stop, power off, recording medium of the video / audio recording / playback apparatus It is a set of at least one or more recording data units divided by extraction or the like. Reference numeral 132 denotes a playback index (playback recording position information) for managing the correspondence between playback units and time management data 121. This reproduction index is recorded in each reproduction management data area. The video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention specifies the range of the time management data 121 included in the reproduction unit from the index 132 and specifies the range of the video / audio data 111 to be decoded based on the time management data 121. Then, the playback unit designated by the user is reproduced by reading out the moving image / sound data 111 and performing decoding and reproduction.

  In the above description, the correspondence between the time management data 121 and the video / audio data 111 and the correspondence between the reproduction index 132 and the time management data 121 are the recording head address and the recording size, or the recording position information and the number of records of the head data record. It is possible to make a judgment by taking a configuration in which the recording is performed, or it is possible to record only the recording position information of the recording head address or the head data record, and record it at the recording head address or the target index recorded in the target record. It may be determined from the recording position information of the first data record being recorded and the recording head address or the recording position information of the first data record recorded in the next record of the target record.

  Further, the time management data string 120 and the reproduction management data string 130 may be combined with information indicating the data string and other information for recording and reproduction.

  Reference numeral 133 denotes a thumbnail index (rough image recording position information) for recording information for specifying a recording position of moving image data used as a still image or a moving image, which is an outline of a reproduction unit (hereinafter referred to as a thumbnail). In this embodiment, the index 133 records the recording position of the time management data 121. In this embodiment, only one thumbnail index is described in each piece of reproduction management data. However, a plurality of thumbnail indexes may exist in each piece of reproduction management data. The video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention specifies the video / audio data 111 from the time management data 121 corresponding to the index 133, decodes the video data included in the data, and decodes at least one or more playback frames. The thumbnail is displayed by stopping the reproduction output while only the frame is being displayed. At this time, one thumbnail may be displayed on the screen, or a plurality of small screens may be displayed. Further, when a moving image is displayed as a thumbnail, a still image may be displayed after the moving image is reproduced, or the reproduction of the moving image may be repeated.

  In the present invention, as means for representing a state in which moving image data to be displayed as a thumbnail is not specified, a value indicating the state is set in the thumbnail index 133. The state is a state in which a thumbnail is not designated for the playback unit by the user, a state in which the designation is canceled, or a state recorded by another video / audio recording device that does not support thumbnail display. Further, the value is not limited as long as it is a value that cannot be taken as the recording position of the time management data 121 by the index 133.

  Next, a video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing video / audio using the recording medium recorded with the data structure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the moving picture audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a video signal input to and processed by the video processing unit 202 via the video input unit 201 is sent to the video output unit 203 as its through output, and at the same time, an image memory serving as a buffer for waiting for compression encoding 204. Reference numeral 205 denotes an encoding compression / decompression unit (hereinafter referred to as a CODEC processing unit). During compression encoding, a video memory is sequentially read out from the image memory 204, is subjected to compression encoding processing, and is a buffer memory for recording. In 206, the compressed signal is recorded. The signal recorded in the buffer memory 206 is sent to the disk recording / reproducing unit 208 via the disk I / F 207 and recorded on the recording medium.

  At the time of decompression decoding, the signal flows in the reverse direction described above, and the CODEC processing unit 205 decompresses and decodes the video signal before compression and records it in the image memory 204. The video signal recorded in the image memory 204 is further modulated into a carrier wave signal conforming to a predetermined standard (for example, NTSC) by the video processing unit 202 and sent to the video output unit 203 in the same manner as the through output. . As for audio, the audio signal input / processed to the audio processing unit 210 via the audio input unit 209 is sent to the audio output unit 211 as its through output, and at the same time, the CODEC processing unit 205 performs compression encoding. It is recorded in the same way as the video signal. The CODEC processing unit 205 also performs compression / decompression of video and audio by merging or dividing the compressed signals of video and audio. In this configuration, a buffer for waiting for transmission to the CODEC processing unit 205 may be provided for the audio signal.

  Further, the controller 212 reads out the program recorded in the program memory 213, controls the block based on an operation instruction with the user via the user interface unit 214, and stores data necessary for control in the program memory 213. Read and write.

  Next, a thumbnail display operation via the user interface unit 214 in a state where moving image data to be displayed as a thumbnail is not specified will be described. In this state, as described above, a value indicating the state is recorded in the thumbnail index 133, and when the moving image / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention detects the value, the time management data 121 specified by the reproduction index 132 is obtained. The thumbnail value is displayed with the index value of the time management data at the head of the thumbnail as the thumbnail index value.

Further, the thumbnail index value may be recorded in the thumbnail index 133 after the thumbnail is displayed.
Further, a screen for notifying the user that the thumbnail cannot be displayed may be displayed without performing the thumbnail display process.

  FIG. 3 shows the structure of the character information data recorded on the recording medium by the moving picture audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and the management data of the character information data. In FIG. 3, 310 is a character information data string, and 311 is character information data which is a record unit of the character information data string. As described with reference to FIG. 1, reference numerals 130 and 131 denote a reproduction management data string for managing reproduction units and one record unit of the reproduction data management string. Reference numeral 321 denotes character information recording position information for managing the correspondence between reproduction units and character information data 311. This character information recording position information is recorded in each reproduction management data area.

  The video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention specifies a range of character information data 311 related to reproduction management data including 321 from the character information recording position information 321, reads character information 311, performs decoding and reproduction. Thus, the character information related to the reproduction unit designated by the user is reproduced and displayed. In the above description, the correspondence between the character information recording position information 321 and the character information data 311 may be determined by recording the recording head address and the recording size, or the recording position information and the number of records of the head data record. And only the recording position information of the recording start address or the first data record is recorded, the recording position information of the first data record recorded in the recording start address or the target index recorded in the target record, and the target record It may be determined from the recording head address or the recording position information of the head data record recorded in the next record.

  In addition, the reproduction management data string 130 may be combined with information indicating that the data string and other information for recording and reproduction.

  Reference numeral 321 denotes a character information index (character information recording position information) for recording information for specifying a recording position of character information data used as character information representing additional contents related to a reproduction unit. In the present embodiment, it is considered to record / reproduce the title name of the reproduction unit, the date / time and place where the reproduction unit was recorded, the name of the recording person, etc. as the character information, but this is not necessarily limited to this. The user may freely determine and record the contents of the character information as a memo, or the video / audio recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention is set in advance so as to automatically record the contents of the character information. May be.

  In this embodiment, only one piece of character information recording position information is described in each piece of reproduction management data, but a plurality of pieces of character information recording position information may exist in each piece of reproduction management data. The video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention specifies character information data 311 from the character information recording position information 321, decodes the data, decodes at least one or more playback frames, and keeps only the frames in a display state. Character information is displayed by stopping reproduction output. At this time, there may be one character information screen displayed on the screen, or a plurality of small screens may be displayed.

  In the present invention, as means for representing a state in which character information data to be displayed as character information is not specified, a value indicating the state is set in the character information recording position information 321. The state is a state in which character information is not recorded for a reproduction unit by the user or in the automatic mode of the moving image audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, or a state in which the instruction to display the character information is canceled, Or, it is a state in which moving image audio is recorded by another moving image audio recording device that does not support character information recording. The value is not limited as long as it is a value that cannot be taken as the recording position of the character information data 311 in the character information recording position information.

  A video / audio recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing character information using a recording medium recorded with the data structure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the moving picture audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention as described above. In FIG. 2, the character information signal input / processed to the video processing unit 202 via the video input unit 201 or the user interface unit is sent to the video output unit 203 as its through output, and at the same time waiting for compression encoding. Is recorded in the image memory 204 serving as a buffer for

  Reference numeral 205 denotes a CODEC processing unit which sequentially reads out signals from the image memory 204 at the time of compression encoding, performs compression encoding processing, and records the compressed signal in the buffer memory 206 for recording. The signal recorded in the buffer memory 206 is sent to the disk recording / playback unit 208 via the disk I / F 207 and recorded on the recording medium. At the time of decompression decoding, the signal flows in the reverse direction as described above, and is decompressed and decoded into a signal before compression by the CODEC processing unit 205 and recorded in the image memory 204. The signal recorded in the image memory 204 is further modulated by the video processing unit 202 into a carrier signal that conforms to a predetermined standard (for example, NTSC) and sent to the video output unit 203 in the same manner as the through output. .

Next, an operation of displaying character information via the user interface unit 214 in a state where character information data to be displayed as character information is not specified will be described. In this state, as described above, a value indicating the state is recorded in the character information recording position information 321, and when the moving image audio recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention detects the value, the character information data 311 is converted into the character information. It does not go to the data column 310 for searching, nor does it display character information. At this time, a screen for notifying the user that character information cannot be displayed may be displayed.
One of the objects of the embodiment is to provide a data management structure that can efficiently determine whether or not a still image or character information representing additional contents is added so as to eliminate the above-described disadvantages and show an outline of the original image. And a moving image audio recording / reproducing device that improves the operability of searching for a recorded original image by generating and outputting the still image from the original image even if the still image is not added. It is to provide.
In order to solve this problem, the recording medium according to the embodiment electronically generates a moving image and an audio signal, encodes and compresses the moving image and the audio signal, converts them into compressed moving image audio data, and records them by a recording unit. In addition, the general image recording position information, which is the recording position information of the compressed moving image audio data used as a still image or moving image representing the outline of the moving image and the audio signal, or the general image is not set by the user or the system Is recorded. Then, the character information recording position information that is the recording position of the character information representing the additional contents related to the moving image and the audio signal, or the character information recording position information indicating that the character information is not set by the user or the system is recorded. To do.
Further, the approximate image recording position information and the approximate image recording position information indicating that the approximate image is not set are the same data area on the information recording medium, and the approximate image recording position information is the recording area. You may make it record with the value which cannot be taken as position information.
Further, the character information recording position information and the character information recording position information indicating that the character information is not set are in the same data area on the information recording medium, and the character information is not set. The character information recording position information shown may be recorded with a value that cannot be taken as the character information recording position information.
The moving image audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the embodiment further includes means for electronically generating a moving image and an audio signal, performing encoding and compression processing on the moving image and the audio signal, converting them into compressed moving image audio data, and recording them. Means for generating a moving image and an audio signal that can be output to a television receiver or the like by performing an expansion process on the recorded compressed moving image and audio data, and the compression used as a still image or a moving image that represents the outline of the moving image and the audio signal Referring to the approximate image recording position information, which is the recording position information of the moving image / sound data, the compressed image / sound data is read out, the approximate image generating means for generating the approximate image, and the approximate image recording position information can be taken as the recording position information. It is determined whether or not the value is a non-existent value. The character information with reference to character information recording position information which is character information recording position information representing additional contents related to the moving image and the audio signal. Character information generating means for generating character information, and whether or not the character information recording position information is a value that cannot be obtained as recording position information, and if it is a value that cannot be obtained, the character information is read. It has a second control means for making it unnecessary. Further, when the control unit determines that the approximate image recording position information is a value that cannot be taken as the recording position information, the recording start position information of the compressed moving image audio data is stored in the information recording medium as the approximate image recording position information. It may be recorded.
According to the embodiment, the thumbnail image can be displayed even when the thumbnail image is not designated by the user or the moving image audio recording apparatus. For example, it is possible to display even before designation by the user, and by recording with the recording method of the thumbnail index of the embodiment even on a medium on which moving image audio is recorded by a recording device without a thumbnail recording and reproduction function, In the moving image / audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the embodiment, thumbnails can be displayed, and the recorded moving image / audio can be efficiently searched.
In addition, by specifying the thumbnail so that the video / audio data that is the subject of the thumbnail is at the beginning of the playback unit, the processing for specifying the thumbnail image when the thumbnail is not specified can be omitted from the next display. And high-speed display is possible.
Even on a medium on which moving image audio is recorded by a recording device without a character information recording / reproducing function, the character information is displayed in the moving image / audio recording / reproducing device of the embodiment by recording with the recording method of the character information recording position information of the embodiment. It is possible to provide information other than moving image audio.
In addition, when character information data to be displayed as character information is not specified, it is not necessary to search the character information data string in order to confirm the presence or absence of character information. Is possible.

3 is a structure of moving image / sound data recorded on a recording medium by the moving image / sound recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and management data of the moving image / sound data. It is a block block diagram of the moving image audio | voice recording / reproducing apparatus of this invention. 2 is a structure of character information data recorded on a recording medium by the moving image audio recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and management data of the character information data.

Explanation of symbols

110: Video / audio data sequence, 111: Video / audio data, 120: Time management data sequence, 121 ... Time management data, 130 ... Playback management data sequence, 131 ... Playback management data, 132 ... Playback index, 133 ... Thumbnail index, 310 ... character information data string, 311 ... character information data, 321 ... character information recording position information.

Claims (6)

  A compression unit that performs encoding and compression processing on the moving image and the audio signal to convert into compressed moving image audio data;
  Recording and reproducing means for recording and reproducing the compressed moving image audio data on a recording medium,
  The recording / reproducing means is a general image recording position information which is a recording position information of the compressed video data used for creating a still image or a moving image representing an outline of the moving image and the audio signal, or a still image or a moving image representing the outline. An information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording, on the recording medium, schematic image recording position information indicating that an image is not set by a user or a system.   The information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1,
  The recording / reproducing means records the approximate image recording position information and the approximate image recording position information indicating that the approximate image is not set as the same data area on the recording medium,
  An information recording / reproducing apparatus characterized in that a value that cannot be taken as recording position information of compressed moving image audio data is used as the approximate image recording position information indicating that no still image or moving image representing the outline is set. .   The information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
  The recording / reproducing means records the first recording position information for each reproduction unit of the compressed moving image audio data in the recording medium on the recording medium,
  An information recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein the general image recording position information is recorded separately from the head recording position information.   The information recording / reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
  The recording / reproducing means records time management information of the compressed moving image audio data on the recording medium,
  An information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording the general image recording position information on the recording medium as indicated by the corresponding time management information.   An information recording medium on which compressed moving image audio data obtained by encoding and compressing a moving image and an audio signal is recorded,
  Schematic image recording position information that is recording position information of the compressed moving image data used to create a still image or moving image that represents the outline of the moving image and audio signal, or that the approximate image is not set by the user or system Outline image recording position information,
  The first recording position information for each reproduction unit of the compressed video and audio data is recorded,
  The general image recording position information is recorded separately from the head recording position information.   An information recording medium according to claim 5,
  Time management information of the compressed video / audio data is recorded,
  2. The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the approximate image recording position information is indicated by the corresponding time management information.

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