JPH05258528A - Recording and reproducing device, cassette, recording system and retrieval system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the management of a recording program and the operability of retrieval by equipping a cassette housed with a tapelike recording medium with a semiconductor memory. CONSTITUTION:At the time of recording, a video signal is recorded on a tape 1 by rotary heads 10a and 10b while a switch 14 is switched over to the REC side, and a control signal for tracking control, generated by a recording current generator 15 is recorded on the tape 1. When an address code C for retrieving the recording program is inputted from a computer 7 to the recording current generator 15, the address code is contained in the control signal and is recorded on the tape 1. This address code, etc., and information on the recording program are recorded from the computer 7 via a contact point 6 and an electrode 52 to a semiconductor memory chip 51. When the recording program is to be retrieved, the recorded cassette is set in the VTR, so that the information is read out of the semiconductor memory unit 5 equipped on the cassette and is displayed on a display device 8 and then a next selecting process is entered by the computer 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing on / from a tape-shaped recording medium such as a video tape recorder, a cassette containing the recording medium used in the recording / reproducing apparatus, and information on the recording medium. Recording method to record,
The present invention relates to a search method for searching information recorded on the recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a simple method for searching a recording program in a recording / reproducing apparatus such as a video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as VTR) which uses a magnetic tape as a recording medium, there is a method using a cue signal, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 172
No. 238 publication. As a further advanced method, there is a method of directly searching for a target recording program by using an address signal instead of the cue signal.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the structure of the VTR disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-60710. 1 is a tape, 2a and 2b are reels around which the tape 1 is wound, and a reel motor 19a, It is rotated by 19b. Rotating heads 10a and 10b record and reproduce a video signal on the tape 1, and are attached to a rotating drum 11 rotated by a drum motor 12. A control head 13 records and reproduces a control signal for tracking control on the tape 1.

The tape 1 is stored in a cassette for easy handling. For example, Jikkou Sho 59-1998.
FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the cassette shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1 and FIG. 12 shows a side view thereof. In the figure, 3 is a cassette, and 4 is an opening / closing lid for protecting the tape 1.

In FIG. 10, the rotary head 1 is used for recording.
The video signal is recorded / reproduced on the tape 1 with 0a and 10b, and the switch 14 is set to the REC side so that the recording current generator 1
The control signal for tracking control generated by 5 is recorded on the tape 1. When an address code for retrieving a recording program is input to the recording current generator 15, the address code is inserted in the control signal and recording is performed on the tape 1 by the control head 13.

When searching for a recording program, the switch 14 is set to the SEARCH side, and a selection address corresponding to the desired recording program is input to the address comparison circuit 17. Then, the reel motor control circuit 18 operates to rotate the reel motors 19a and 19b to fast-forward the tape 1. At this time, the control signal is reproduced from the control head 13, the address is extracted from the control signal by the address signal extraction circuit 16 and sent to the address comparison circuit 17. The address comparison circuit 17 compares the address sent from the address signal extraction circuit 16 with the selected address, and if the selected address is larger, sends a fast-forward signal to the reel motor control circuit 18. If the selected address is smaller, a rewind signal is sent to the reel motor control circuit 18. This operation is repeated until the address sent from the address signal extraction circuit 16 matches the selected address,
When the addresses match, the address comparison circuit 17 sends a stop signal to the reel motor control circuit 18 to stop the tape feeding. If normal reproduction is performed in this state, reproduction from the specified address is performed.

As described above, by writing the address signal in the control track for tracking control and inputting the address number at the time of reproduction, it is possible to search the place where the target address number is written.

[0008]

Since the conventional recording / reproducing apparatus is constructed as described above, in order to search for the recording program by using the address number, the address number corresponding to the recording program must be known. Of course, for this purpose, the user had to perform a work such as recording a correspondence table of the recording program name and the address number on paper.

Generally, the recording program name, address number, etc. are generally written on a sticker attached to a cassette containing a tape, but when the cassette is attached to the VTR, it cannot be written on the sticker. Also, it is often impossible to read the seal. Further, in the case of recording by program reservation, it is difficult to know what was recorded, and in order to know the name of the recording program, reproduction is performed to see the contents.

Further, when an important recording is made on a part of the tape which can be recorded for a long time, when a new recording is made on an unused part of the tape or a part where the important recording is not made, it is mistakenly made. There was a risk of erasing important records.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and information about a recording program (recording program name, address number, recording date and time, etc.) is automatically recorded in a cassette, and this information is recorded. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus that does not require the user to remember the information or write it on a sticker attached to a cassette by making it immediately readable.

Further, according to the present invention, when information on a recording program (recording program name, address number, recording date and time, etc.) is immediately read from the cassette and the recording program is selected based on this information, the selected recording program is selected. The object is to obtain a recording / reproducing device for searching.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of setting write protection for each recording program recorded in one cassette.

[0014]

A cassette according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a tape and a semiconductor memory as a recording medium.

A recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention has means for recording / reproducing on / from a tape contained in the cassette, and means for recording / reproducing on / from a semiconductor memory provided in the cassette. It is a thing.

The recording system according to the third aspect of the present invention is information about information recorded on the tape stored in the cassette (for example, recording program name, address number for retrieval, recording date and time, etc.). Is recorded in a semiconductor memory provided in the cassette.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a search method in which information recorded in a semiconductor memory provided in the cassette (for example, recording program name, search address number, recording date and time, etc.) is recorded. ), The information recorded on the tape stored in the cassette is searched.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the recording position of the tape contained in the cassette is determined based on the information recorded in the semiconductor memory provided in the cassette. It was selected and recorded in this recordable place.

A cassette according to a sixth aspect of the present invention includes an electrode for connecting the semiconductor memory provided in the cassette and an external device, and a movable lid for protecting the electrode. It is a thing.

[0020]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, information having a large recording capacity is recorded on the tape stored in the cassette, and information requiring random and fast access is stored in the semiconductor memory provided in the cassette. Record.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the information relating to the information recorded on the tape is recorded in the semiconductor memory provided in the cassette containing the tape, it can be randomly accessed without moving the tape. it can.

According to the invention of claim 4, the information recorded on the tape is searched based on the information read from the semiconductor memory.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, when information is recorded on the tape, the location to be recorded on the tape is determined based on the information read from the semiconductor memory.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, the movable lid provided in the cassette protects the electrode for connecting the semiconductor memory and an external device.

[0025]

【Example】

Example 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a VTR according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a tape, 2a and 2b.
Is a reel around which the tape 1 is wound, and the reel motor 1
It is rotated by 9a and 19b. 10a and 1
Reference numeral 0b is a rotary head for recording and reproducing a video signal on the tape 1, and the rotary drum 1 is rotated by the drum motor 12.
It is attached to 1. A control head 13 records and reproduces a control signal for tracking control on the tape 1.

The tape 1 is stored in a cassette. A front view of the cassette according to this example is shown in FIG. 3, and a plan view thereof is shown in FIG.
The side view is shown in FIG. In the figure, 3 is a cassette,
Reference numeral 4 is a lid for opening and closing, and 5 is a semiconductor memory unit. The structure of the semiconductor memory unit 5 is shown in FIG. Reference numeral 51 is a semiconductor memory chip, and 52a to h are electrodes for connecting the semiconductor memory chip to the VTR, which are exposed on the surface of the cassette 3. The lid 4 operates to protect both the tape 1 and the electrodes 52. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the semiconductor memory unit 5 and the contacts 6 provided in the VTR when the cassette 3 is set in the VTR.

At the time of recording, the video signals are recorded on the tape 1 by the rotary heads 10a and 10b, and the switch 14 is used.
Is the REC side, and the control signal for tracking control generated by the recording current generator 15 is recorded on the tape 1. When an address code for retrieving a recording program is input from the computer 7 to the recording current generator 15, the address code is inserted in the control signal and recorded on the tape 1. This address code and other information regarding the recording program are transferred from the computer 7 to the contact 6
Data is recorded on the semiconductor memory chip 51 via the electrodes 52 and the electrodes 52.

Table 1 shows an example of the data format recorded in the semiconductor memory chip 51. The computer 7, the address, the recording year, month, day, hour, minute, second, the source (television broadcasting channel, etc.) are automatically recorded in the semiconductor memory chip 51. If the source is a television broadcast,
The title name is also automatically recorded in the semiconductor memory chip 51 based on the program table stored in the computer 7. This program table is stored in the computer 7 by a program sent by, for example, a teletext of a television broadcast. The data format shown in Table 1 corresponds to one recording program, and the data area shown in Table 1 is given to each recording program. In this example, since a data area of 60 bytes is given to one recording program, for example, when the capacity of the semiconductor memory chip 51 is 2048 bytes, information about 34 recording programs can be recorded.

[0029]

[Table 1]

Next, the case of retrieving a recording program will be described. FIG. 7 shows a flowchart for explaining the operation of searching the recording program. Recorded cassette is V
When it is set to TR and the search mode is entered, the computer 7 reads information from the semiconductor memory unit 5 provided in the cassette 3 and displays it on the display device 8. This display device may also be used as a display device for displaying a reproduced image of a VTR, for example. The user can display the title name displayed on the display device 8,
Select the recording program to play back by looking at the recording date, source, etc. This selection is made by the input device 9 and the display device 8
This is done by moving the cursor above.

The information read from the semiconductor memory unit 5 contains the start address of the selected recording program, and this address is sent to the address comparison circuit 17 as the selected address to start the search. The switch 14 is on the SEARCH side when searching. Address comparison circuit 1
When the selected address is input to 7, the reel motor control circuit 1
8 operates to rotate the reel motors 19a and 19b to fast forward the tape 1. At this time, the control head 13
The control signal is reproduced from the address signal and the address signal extraction circuit 16 extracts the address from the control signal.
It is sent to the address comparison circuit 17. Address comparison circuit 17
Compares the address sent from the address signal extraction circuit 16 with the selected address, and sends a fast-forward signal to the reel motor control circuit 18 if the selected address is larger. If the selected address is smaller, a rewind signal is sent to the reel motor control circuit 18. This operation is performed until the address sent from the address signal extraction circuit 16 and the selected address match, and when the addresses match, the address comparison circuit 17 sends a stop signal to the reel motor control circuit 18 to stop the tape feeding. If normal reproduction is performed in this state, reproduction from the specified address is performed.

Example 2. In the first embodiment, the address code is put in the control signal for tracking control and recorded by the control head 13, but it may be recorded at another place. For example, as shown in FIG. The video signal to be recorded by the processing circuit 20 and the address code sent from the computer 7 are multiplexed and recorded by the rotary heads 10a and 10b, and at the time of reproduction, from the multiplexed signal reproduced by the rotary heads 10a and 10b to the reproduction signal processing circuit 21. The video signal and the address code may be separated and the separated address code may be sent to the computer 7. In this case, there is an effect that it can be applied even in a system without the control head 13.

Example 3. In the first embodiment described above, the search of the recording program is mainly described as the usage of the semiconductor memory unit 5, but the semiconductor memory unit 5 may be used for other purposes, for example, write protection for preventing accidental erasure for each recording program. May be set. By controlling not to newly record to the place where the write protection is performed, important recording is made on a part of the tape that can be recorded for a long time, and then an unused part or important recording of this tape is recorded. When a new recording is performed on a portion that has not been recorded, there is an effect that there is no risk of accidentally erasing the important recording.

In the above embodiment, the semiconductor memory unit 5 is provided on the surface where the tape 1 is pulled out from the cassette 3, but it may be provided on another surface as shown in FIG. 9a or 9b.

In the above embodiment, the mechanism for protecting the tape 1 and the mechanism for protecting the semiconductor memory unit 5 are provided with the lid 4.
However, they may be made of separate members. In this case, writing and reading can be performed on the semiconductor memory unit 5 while the tape 1 is protected.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the VTR as an example of the recording / reproducing apparatus has been described, but another rotary head type magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus may be used, or an audio tape recorder, It may be applied to a fixed head type recording / reproducing apparatus such as a data recorder. When applied to a data recorder, high operability can be obtained by recording the data itself on a tape and recording a directory indicating the contents of the data in a semiconductor memory. Further, it may be applied to a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing on a tape-shaped recording medium other than a magnetic tape such as an optical tape.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the semiconductor memory is provided in the cassette containing the tape-shaped recording medium, information having a large recording capacity and information requiring random and fast access are recorded. There is an effect that can be done.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the information recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium can be randomly accessed without moving the tape-shaped recording medium.

According to the invention of claim 4, since the information recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium is searched based on the information read from the semiconductor memory, there is an advantage that it can be easily searched.

Further, according to the invention of claim 5, there is an effect that there is no fear that the important record is erroneously erased when the recording is performed on the tape in which the important record is partly formed.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, there is an effect that the electrode for connecting the semiconductor memory and the external device and the tape-shaped recording medium are simultaneously protected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a VTR according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a semiconductor memory unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a cassette according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which a cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention is set in a VTR.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a recording program search operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a VTR according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a cassette according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional VTR.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a conventional cassette.

FIG. 12 is a side view showing a conventional cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Tape 2 Reel 3 Cassette 4 Lid 5 Semiconductor Memory Unit 51 Semiconductor Memory Chip 52 Electrode 6 Contact 7 Computer 10 Rotating Head 13 Control Head

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location G11B 23/30 E 7201-5D

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cassette containing a tape-shaped recording medium and comprising a semiconductor memory. 2. A means for performing one or both of recording and reproduction on a tape-shaped recording medium contained in the cassette,
A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising one or both of a unit for reading information from a semiconductor memory provided in the cassette and a unit for writing information. 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2,
The first information is recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium, and the first information is recorded.
A second recording method for recording the second information in the semiconductor memory. 4. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2,
A search method for searching the information recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium based on the information read from the semiconductor memory. 5. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2,
A recording method characterized in that the recording position on the tape-shaped recording medium is determined based on the information read from the semiconductor memory. 6. The cassette according to claim 1, further comprising an electrode for connecting the semiconductor memory to an external device, and a movable mechanism for protecting the electrode.