JPH05181803A - Electronic publishing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly reproduce the part desired to look at by recording digital information by using a memory medium being detachable, attachable and changeable to a random access, and reading out and outputting the digital information of the memory medium. CONSTITUTION:By using a memory medium being detachable, attachable and changeable substantially to a random access, digital information containing video information is recorded, and by a reproducing device, the digital information of the memory medium is read out and outputted. In this case, the digital information is sold integrally with the memory medium, and the reproducing device is integrated into a home VTR. Also, as for the memory medium, an optical disk contained in a card-like protective case is used. In such a way, a part desired to look at can be reproduced quickly, and also, an electronic publishing object whose picture quality is not deteriorated due to repeated reproduction can be obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic publishing system, and more particularly to a technique effectively used for so-called electronic magazines containing video and moving image information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of electronic publishing, a floppy disk (hereinafter, simply referred to as FD) is described in detail in an article dated January 14, 1991, "Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun".
There is one that uses. In this way, electronic publishing using FD is introduced as having features such as easier information retrieval than paper magazines, incorporating voices, and allowing readers to freely process information. ing.

[0003]

The above-mentioned FD magazine is mainly intended for computers such as personal computers. Therefore, it is not available to anyone who can handle and apply the computer. Examples of magazines to watch include various kinds of software for home VTRs. However, in the case of a household VTR, since a relatively large cassette tape is used as a medium, it is inconvenient to carry and store, and since it takes a relatively long time for dubbing, it is not suitable for mass production and is repeatedly reproduced. Causes the image quality to deteriorate. Also,
It is inconvenient because it cannot be accessed randomly during playback. An object of the present invention is to provide a novel electronic publishing system which is easy to handle and has realized the transmission of information including a high-quality video signal. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0004]

The outline of the representative one of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows. That is, digital information including video information is recorded using a memory medium that can be substantially randomly accessed and removable, and the digital information in the memory medium is read and output by a reproducing device.

[0005]

According to the above-mentioned means, it is possible to obtain an electronic publication in which the desired portion can be quickly reproduced and the image quality is not deteriorated by repeated reproduction.

[0006]

1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an editing system used in an electronic publishing system according to the present invention. In the figure, the workstation 1 is used as the editing system for easy understanding, but it goes without saying that a computer system of a larger scale can be used.

As is well known, the work test 1 is 1
In the figure, a display device, a keyboard, and a main body as input / output devices are shown as an example. Inside the body,
External memory device including hard disk memory, RAM (random access memory) as main memory, various memory devices such as cache memory, microprocessor for data processing, program ROM incorporating basic software, etc. Composed of. A drive device for FD is also provided as an external memory device.

Information such as characters is input by operating the keyboard using the function of the workstation as a word processor. It is also possible to input a simple graphic illustration by operating the keyboard.

Photos and still images are input from the image scanner 2. A video signal such as a moving image is input from the television receiving device 3, a video table recorder (simply referred to as VTR in the present invention) 4, a video camera 5, or a video disc reproducing device 6. When each of the above video signals includes an audio signal, the audio signal is also input as a part of the video signal. When editing is performed by combining separately created music with the video signal, a compact disc reproducing device for audio input, a tape recorder, or the like is also connected.

The video signals including the characters, still images, moving images and sounds as described above are combined and edited by the workstation 1 to process and form one digital information for electronic publication.

As described above, the digital information including a moving image cannot be recorded in a memory medium such as a conventional FD due to its enormous storage capacity. Therefore, in this embodiment, a small optical disk memory 7 is used as the recording medium. As the optical disk memory 7 suitable for this embodiment,
Applicant's prior application specification (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-249154)
However, the outline is as follows.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of the optical disk memory device and an information processing device such as a workstation connected to the optical disk memory device, and FIGS. 5A and 5B show an optical disk as a memory medium thereof. A plan view and a cross-sectional view of one embodiment are shown.

The memory device of this embodiment uses an optical disk in a transparent protective case. The optical disk in the transparent protective case is formed into a card shape as shown in FIG. 4, and can be attached / detached to / from the disk drive device shown by a chain line in FIG. The disk drive device includes an optical head for writing / reading on the inserted optical disk, a motor for rotating the optical disk inserted in the transparent protective case, and a drive circuit. The optical head performs read / write and erase (reproduction / recording and erasing). The drive circuit has a data demodulation function for modulating and reproducing the above-mentioned write and erase data.
The drive circuit also controls the rotation of the motor.

It is connected to a processor that performs various information processing operations via a drive circuit. The processor performs arithmetic processing or recording / reproduction on / from the optical disk in response to a command from an input means such as a keyboard, and outputs the recording content or the arithmetic result of the optical disk by output means such as a flat display device or a printer as necessary. Output.

As shown in FIG. 5, the optical disk is housed in a credit card size protective case which has been widely used in the past. Here, in the optical disc, at least the light beam incident part of the protective case shown by the dotted line in the figure is composed of a transparent protective plate. It goes without saying that the entire protective case may be made transparent.

In the conventional optical disk device, when the light beam is incident, the door of the protective case is opened and the light beam is directly incident on the optical disk. For this reason, dust and dirt enter from the entrance door of the light beam, so that it is necessary to use a 1.2 mm transparent substrate as a countermeasure.

On the other hand, in the optical disc of the present embodiment, since the incident part of the light beam is covered by the transparent protective case, dust and dust do not directly adhere to the optical disc and support the optical disc medium. There is no need for the substrate to have a thickness of 1.2 mm. The optical disc is
Instead of being fixed inside the protective case, it is allowed to rotate freely inside. As a result, the thickness of the optical disk including the transparent protective case can be made as thin as about 1.8 mm. Although not shown, a dustproof mat is laid in the non-recording area of the central part or a bearing is provided to eliminate the release part in order to prevent mixing of dust and dust from the central part where the rotation axis of the optical disk is provided. Is desirable. The magnet clamp provided on the optical disk is used for mechanically coupling with the rotating shaft of the motor. By using such a magnet clamp, it is possible to easily attach and detach (replace) the card-shaped optical disc and the memory device (disc drive device).

The storage capacity of the optical disk of this embodiment can be estimated as follows. In the field of IC cards and memory cards, the external dimensions of cards have already been standardized, and the external dimensions are approximately 54 mm × 86 mm. Since the optical disk memory (memory card) of this embodiment is also premised to be used as a portable memory, it is formed so as to have a size substantially equal to the size of the card of the above standard. That is, the transparent protective case is formed so as to meet the above standards.

Since the horizontal width of the transparent protective case is 54 mm, it is preferable that the outer shape of the optical disk is 50 mm or less when each 1 mm is taken as the edging. Also, the storage area inside the optical disk is preferably about 1 mm inside the outer shape of the disk, so the outer diameter of the storage area is 4 mm.
It is about 8 mm. On the other hand, the inner diameter of the storage area is determined by the hub removal for rotating the disk and the size of the pressing portion of the disk.
A size of about mm is sufficient. From the above, the disk can be used as a storage area between the inner diameter of 15 mm and the outer diameter of 48 mm.

For example, the memory capacity when 24 to 48 mm is used as a storage area is calculated as follows. If an optical system of an ordinary optical disk is used, a track spacing of 1.6 μm is used, and if the number of tracks is calculated from this, about 7,500 tracks can be formed. Further, since the bit density is about 1.4 μm / bit, the number of bits per track is about 53.8 Kbits. Therefore, the total storage capacity is about 50 on one side even though it is a small memory card like the one described above.
A storage capacity as large as MB (megabyte) can be obtained. By using both sides, it is about 100 times as much as twice that.
MB storage capacity is also possible.

The disc drive device shown in FIG. 3 is incorporated so that the above-mentioned card-shaped optical disc can be attached and detached and the lens of the optical system for recording / reproducing and erasing is stacked. As described above, the card is thin, and the reversible phase-change optical disk described below that does not require a magnetic head for recording and erasing is used as a storage medium for recording and erasing. Can be formed as thin as about 5 mm. As a result, the overall thickness of the disk drive device can be reduced to about 10 mm. As a result, it can be easily mounted on a television body, a VTR, or the like.

The outline of the principle of recording / erasing and reproducing of the phase change optical disk is as follows. Recording is realized by irradiating a recording medium with a laser beam of relatively high power, and melting the recording film and then cooling the recording film to bring the recording film into an amorphous state. The erasing is realized by irradiating the recording medium with laser light having a relatively low power to crystallize the recording film in an amorphous state. For reproduction, laser light of lower power is applied to the recording medium, and information is reproduced by the difference in reflectance between the amorphous state and the crystalline state. As an example of the recording film having such a property, In
An example of the recording film is a -Sb-Te based recording film.

By constructing a memory device using the card-shaped optical diff card and the disk drive device as described above, a small and thin cassette-type drive device can be realized as described later. Although not particularly limited, the size of the memory medium is set to the credit card size. As a result, the handling is simple and the video signal can be recorded for about 15 minutes.

For example, considering "Golf Magazine" as an example of electronic publication, articles such as how to hit a driver and how to escape a bunker can be expressed by superimposing voices and characters while reproducing an actual swing. In this case, the random access function of the optical disk is effective when repeatedly viewing or when viewing only a desired scene, as compared with the one using the VTR tape as a medium. In addition, since it is recorded in the form of a digital signal, it has the feature that image quality does not deteriorate due to repeated reproduction. In this way, it becomes an electronic publication suitable for teaching materials for various sports lessons.

Articles such as cooking methods and travel guides are also suitable for the electronic publishing system of this embodiment. In the cooking method article, you can stop, repeat, and quickly access the part you want to see according to the actual cooking procedure. In the travel guide, it is possible to take advantage of the fact that the display of maps and characters as still images and the actual scenery can be realistically reproduced as a moving image.

When manufacturing the optical disc for electronic publication as described above, since writing can be performed at a much higher speed than that of the VTR tape, mass productivity as a publication can be improved. In addition, since the card-shaped recording medium is used, it is easy to carry and does not take up an exhibition space at the store, so it is suitable for sale at a station shop or the like.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the reproducing system. In this embodiment, a home VTR
An example incorporated into is shown. That is, home V
The disk drive device is built in TR. The drive circuit is provided with an interface circuit with the reproduction output of the home VTR, and the reproduction signal from the optical disk can be output from the output terminal of the home VTR. At this time, an operation switch for VTR is also used to perform operations such as playing, stopping or stopping the disc, and jumping corresponding to fast forward and rewind. Since the disk drive device is extremely small as described above,
It may be built in the television body. By thus using a home-use television that is widely used as a display device, anyone can easily reproduce and output.

The personal computer 1 as shown in FIG. 2 may be used to enable reproduction. That is, the disc drive device as described above is connected to the personal computer 1 to reproduce the optical disc 7. In this case, the reader can create his or her own software by simply processing the necessary articles in addition to displaying them on the display device. For example, it is possible to copy only the character information to the FD 8 and add a comment or the like to write it on the optical disc.

As described above, the person who can operate the personal computer 1 can not only view and listen to the contents of the electronic publication but also organize and edit the necessary information from the given information. .. In this respect, it becomes possible to use information at a higher level on the receiving side, as compared with the conventional stock publications, which at best can only provide a stockbook in which clippings of articles are collected.

For such information processing, for example, VT
R4 can be used to record data for recording including a large amount of edited video. The other input / output devices 2 to 6 can also use the newly added video information.

When the electronic publication as described above is sold integrally with an optical disc, the price of the optical publication increases at the present time due to the cost of the optical disc. Paying attention to the fact that writing onto an optical disk is performed in a single time, the purchaser may bring the optical disk and connect it to a terminal for dubbing to purchase a magazine in the form of an electric signal. In this way, the optical disc can be used many times, so that the actual price can be reduced to the level of a paper magazine. As a device for selling various articles in the form of such an electric signal,
A device similar to a device for copying the software of a known electronic game to the FD can be used. Alternatively, the electronic information may be sent to a terminal having a writing function to the optical disk device through a high-quality digital communication line.

The effects obtained from the above embodiment are as follows. That is, (1) by recording digital information including video information using a memory medium that is substantially randomly accessible and removable, and by reading and outputting the digital information of the memory medium by a reproducing device, It is possible to obtain an effect that the desired portion can be quickly reproduced, and an electronic publication without deterioration of image quality due to repeated reproduction can be obtained. (2) By incorporating the playback device into a home VTR, an effect that anyone can easily play back using a home television receiver is obtained. (3) By using an optical disc housed in a card-shaped protective case as the memory medium, it is possible to obtain an electronic publication that is easy to handle.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the invention of the present application is not limited to the embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say. For example, as the replaceable memory medium, an IC card in which a large-capacity RAM chip and a battery are contained in a card-shaped protective case may be used. However, in reality, it is necessary to wait until a RAM chip having a large storage capacity of about 64 Mbits is developed. However, in this case, the IC card is composed of an electronic circuit including a memory controller for accessing the RAM chip,
Since a motor and an optical head are not required as in the case of using the above-mentioned optical disk, the tribe apparatus can be made smaller and thinner. The present invention can be widely used as an electronic publishing system.

[0034]

The effects obtained by the typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows. That is, the digital information including the video information is recorded by using a memory medium that can be substantially randomly accessed and detached and exchanged, and the digital information of the memory medium is read out by the reproducing device and output, so that the desired point can be seen. It is possible to obtain an electronic publication that can be quickly reproduced and has no deterioration in image quality due to repeated reproduction.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an editing system used in an electronic publishing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a reproduction editing system used in the electronic publishing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment of the optical disk memory device and an information processing device such as a workstation connected thereto.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a reproduction system used in the electronic publishing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an embodiment of an optical disc as a memory medium according to the present invention and a sectional view corresponding thereto.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... workstation / personal computer, 2
… Image scanner, 3… Television receiver, 4
... VTR, 5 ... video camera, 6 ... video dix playback device, 7 ... optical disk, 8 ... FD.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A reproducing apparatus for recording digital information including video information by using a memory medium that is substantially randomly accessible and removable, and for reading out and outputting the digital information of the memory medium. A characteristic electronic publishing system. 2. The electronic publishing system according to claim 1, wherein the digital information is sold together with a memory medium. 3. The reproducing apparatus is incorporated in a home VTR, wherein the reproducing apparatus is incorporated.
Electronic publishing system. 4. The electronic publishing system according to claim 1, wherein the memory medium is an optical disk housed in a card-shaped protective case.