JPH04271082A - Magnetic recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the searching of a desired program and to effectively manage a personal video library by displaying information corresponding to a cassette tape in 2 storage section on a monitor. CONSTITUTION:The information is read at the reading section 2 at the time of loading a cassette tape 1 or after its loading is completed, the information is sent to a system control section 4 and the loaded cassette tape is identified. The information regarding the used tape 1 is stored in a storage section 3 corresponding to information written on the seal of a case. Information as to a value, etc., of a counter at the time of unloading is recorded and updated automatically every time. These bits of information are made into a data base and retrieving, processing, etc., are carried out at the control section 4 irrespective of a cassette tape unit. These bits of information are displayed on the screen of a monitor 14 by operating a remote controller 8 and a key 9.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus such as a VTR (video tape recorder).

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional magnetic recording and reproducing devices, especially video cassette tapes used in VTRs, etc., are difficult to confirm at a glance the contents recorded on the tape.
By pasting a label with the title and other information of the recorded content on the cassette case, it is possible to confirm the content recorded on the cassette tape. Furthermore, each person manages their own video library, which consists of numerous cassette tapes, in their own way.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the above-mentioned conventional technology is used, it is necessary to attach a label on each cassette case with the title name of the recorded content, etc. written thereon. Therefore, each time a recording is made, it is necessary to add and write the contents on the label, which is troublesome. Also, when multiple contents are recorded on a single cassette tape, in order to find the beginning of the content you want to watch, you need to rewind the tape once and examine it in order from the beginning, which is unnecessary. It was time consuming.

Furthermore, as the number of recorded cassette tapes increases, it becomes difficult to manage the large number of cassette tapes, and it takes time and effort to search for the cassette tape on which the content you want to play is recorded. there were.

In view of the above points, the present invention solves the problems of the conventional technology and eliminates the troublesome work of pasting a label with information such as the title of each recorded content on each cassette case. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a magnetic recording/reproducing device, such as a VTR, which allows users to easily locate the content they want to watch, and efficiently manage a personal video library consisting of many cassette tapes. shall be.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an identification means for reading a video cassette identification mark provided on the outer surface of the video cassette at the time of loading and identifying the video cassette, and an identification means for identifying the video cassette obtained by the identification means. a storage means for storing information regarding the recorded content of the cassette tape; an execution means for performing recording, playback, search, etc. according to the information stored by the storage means; and a storage means for storing information regarding the recorded content stored in the storage means. The present invention is a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising a display means for displaying a display, and an input means for inputting information regarding recorded contents into the storage means.

[0007]

[Operation] The troublesome work of pasting a label with information such as the title of each recorded content on each cassette case is eliminated, and the user can easily locate the content he or she wants to watch.

[0008]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a VTR will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a VTR according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a cassette tape, and a mark is attached to the case surface at a predetermined position, for example, at the center of the case surface, to identify the cassette tape. There is. The information for identifying the cassette tape written on the mark for identifying the cassette tape is obtained by the reading section 2, which consists of a reading device and a decoder.
The information is read when the cassette tape is loaded or when loading is completed, and the information is sent to the system control unit 4 to identify the loaded cassette tape. Reference numeral 3 denotes a cassette tape information storage section in which information regarding cassette tapes used in the present apparatus in the past is stored in correspondence with information written on stickers pasted on the cases of the cassette tapes.

Reference numerals 5 and 6 are a channel selection circuit section and a tuner section, respectively, which are used when recording a TV broadcast program. 7 is a character generator used when displaying the contents stored in 3 on the monitor screen. Reference numerals 8 and 9 are a remote control for operating the VTR and keys attached to the VTR, respectively. 10 is an input control unit for information input from a remote control and keys;
1 is a timer microcomputer for scheduled recording. 12 is a video circuit unit for recording and reproducing images and audio on a videotape;
13 is an output circuit section, and 14 is a monitor device.

FIG. 2 shows a tape cassette used in the present invention. As shown in the figure, a mark with information for identifying this cassette tape, such as a sticker 21, is pasted on a part of the surface of the case. The sticker 21 is pasted on the top of the case so that the VTR can read this information, but it does not matter where on the cassette case it is pasted as long as the reading device of the device can read this information. The symbol on the seal indicated by 21 may be written in a format that is easy to read by the device (for example, a bar code, numbers, etc.). 22 is a sticker affixed for humans to identify the cassette tape, and its location is as follows:
For example, it may be located at a position that is easy for people to see, such as on the back of a case. FIG. 3 shows the cassette tape information storage unit 3 shown in FIG.
This is a concrete example of the information stored in the . As shown in the figure, information is stored in units of cassette tapes, and each unit includes, for example, a cassette tape identification code at the beginning, followed by the title name of the content recorded on the cassette tape, and the recorded information. Date and time, VTR counter value at the start and end of recording, code indicating whether the content is scheduled for recording or already recorded, code indicating whether to insert a title during recording, channel number in the case of TV recording, and other information. Information such as the counter value at the time of unloading the last used cassette tape is stored. The cassette tape information recording section stores information consisting of such units for the number of video tapes used in the past. Recording of this information can be performed by operating the remote controller 8 or keys 9.

[0012] Further, for example, the recording date and time and the counter value can be automatically recorded from the system control unit, and conversely, it is also possible to perform absentee recording based on the recorded information. Information such as the counter value at the time of unloading is automatically recorded and updated each time. Also,
This information is made into a database, and the system control unit 4 can freely perform processing such as searching and processing regardless of the unit of cassette tape. This information can be freely displayed on the screen of the monitor 14 shown in FIG. 1 by operating the remote control 8 and keys 9, and the above information can be searched and processed while viewing the information displayed on the monitor screen. It can be performed.

The specific operation will be explained below. First, the operation when loading a cassette into a VTR will be explained. When using a new cassette tape, first attach a sticker or the like with a symbol to identify the cassette tape to the case, as shown in FIG. When I loaded the cassette tape into the VTR,
The VTR determines from the stored cassette tape information that the loaded cassette tape is new, and the cassette tape is newly registered in the cassette tape information recording section. At that time, zero is registered for the counter value at the time of unloading, and accordingly, VT
The counter value of R is also set to zero. When using a cassette tape that was used in the past, when the cassette tape is loaded into a VTR, the VTR identifies that the loaded cassette tape has been used in the past and stores it in the cassette tape information storage section. The value of the counter at the time of unloading of the corresponding cassette tape is called, and the value of the counter of the VTR is set to that value.

[0014] Recording reservations can be made by using the remote control or key operation after loading the cassette tape into the VTR.
This can be done by displaying information about the cassette tape on a monitor and registering the title of the content to be recorded, the date and time of recording, the channel number in the case of a TV program, and the presence or absence of a title insert at the time of recording while watching the monitor screen. Of course, recording reservations can also be made by instructing the VTR only information regarding recording reservations without displaying information regarding cassette tapes on the monitor. In that case, the VTR automatically additionally registers the corresponding cassette tape information stored in the cassette tape information storage section.

At the time of recording, recording is executed according to the information of the corresponding cassette tape stored in the cassette tape information storage section. In addition, when inserting a title during recording, information such as the title name, recording date and time, etc. is inserted into the image shown in FIG. The video will be recorded over a portion of the recorded content in the format shown. Furthermore, the values of the VTR counters at the start and end of recording are automatically additionally registered in the information of the corresponding cassette tape stored in the cassette tape information storage section.

Further, according to the VTR of this embodiment, the value of the VTR counter when unloading a cassette tape is always recorded and updated, and the value of the VTR counter is always set to that value when loading a cassette tape. The relationship between the value of the VTR counter and the actual position on the cassette tape can always be kept constant. Therefore, the counter value at the start of recording of the recorded content stored in the cassette tape information storage unit is used, and the tape is fast-forwarded or rewound so that the counter value matches the VTR counter value. By doing this, you can cue the content you want to see.

For example, it is possible to display a list of contents recorded on a cassette tape on a monitor in the format shown in FIG. 5, and to search for the beginning of the title by specifying the name of the title desired.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the cassette tape information storage section of the VTR stores all information regarding cassette tapes used in the past in the VTR, so that the individual can You can manage your video library. For example, Figure 6
As shown in the figure below, you can examine the contents of the library and find out which videotape contains the content you want to see.
By being able to easily check the content recorded in the past, it is also possible to prevent double recording of the same content. Furthermore, even if no recording is being performed, information regarding the cassette tape can be registered in the cassette tape information storage unit by inputting it from the remote control or keys. In addition to those described above, by having all the information regarding the cassette tapes used as a database, various applications are possible. Further, as for the sticker on which the symbol for identifying the cassette tape is written, not only the above-mentioned optical method but also a magnetic method may be used.

[0019]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the VT
A magnetic recording/reproducing device such as R reads the information written on the cassette tape identification symbol provided on the cassette case, identifies each cassette tape, and corresponds to that cassette tape stored in its storage unit. Browse the information and
By displaying this information on the monitor and freely processing it, you can eliminate the troublesome work of pasting labels with information such as the title of each recording content on each cassette case, and find the beginning of the content you want to watch. It also allows for efficient management of a personal video library consisting of many cassette tapes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a VTR embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the appearance of a video cassette used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram specifically showing the contents of information stored in a cassette tape information storage section of a VTR embodying the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a recording screen on which title insertion has been performed by a VTR embodying the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a monitor display when performing a title specification cueing function in a VTR embodying the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a monitor display when the content of information stored in a cassette tape information storage unit is retrieved.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Cassette tape 2 Reading section 3 Cassette tape information storage section 4 System control section 7 Character generator 8. Remote control 9 Key 12 Input control section 14 Monitor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Identification means for identifying the video cassette by reading a video cassette identification mark provided on the outer surface of the video cassette during loading, and information regarding the recorded content of the cassette tape of the video cassette obtained by the identification means. storage means for storing, and recording according to the information stored by the storage means;
A magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus comprising: execution means for performing playback, search, etc.; display means for displaying information regarding recorded contents stored in the storage means; and input means for inputting information regarding recorded contents into the storage means.