JPH08180656A - Information recording and reproducing or information reproducing device and information recording medium and its storage method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To automatically conduct medium storing, recording and reproducing by recording prescribed recording information in a replaceable recording medium and controlling a recording medium and recording information using the replaceable recording medium above. CONSTITUTION: By operating a remote controller 20 or a switch, a recording medium is loaded into a recording reproducing section 2, the control information on the medium is read and a CPU 13 records the information in an information control memory 9. After the recording, the CPU 13 controls a feeding mechanism controller 6, the medium is removed from the section 2, the medium is stored and the stored position is recorded in the memory 9 in accordance with the control information. The above processes are repeated to store all media in a device main body 1. When a medium is to be taken out from the body 1, the CPU 13 reads all control information recorded in the memory 9 by the operation of the controller 20 or the switch and a summary of the control information is displayed on the monitor of an external information output device 18 through an information output controller 17. A necessary medium is specified from the summary by an input device 19, the control information is erased from the memory 9 and the information is discarded from the device 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording, reproducing or reproducing recorded information on an exchangeable information recording medium,
The present invention relates to an information recording medium used for it and a storage method of the information recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of large-capacity exchangeable media such as optical disks, hard disks, and tape media, it has become easy to create a database of images, sounds, text data, and the like. With the creation of such a database, it is possible to exchange a photo CD for recording photograph data in a home on an exchangeable medium, a music CD for recording music data on an exchangeable medium, and even video data such as a movie. Products such as video CDs recorded on a medium have been put into practical use. Further, not only these read-only exchangeable media but also those using recordable or rewritable exchangeable media have been widely available.

On the other hand, by storing a large number of these exchangeable media and designating a desired recording medium from among them,
An autochanger for automatically mounting a desired exchangeable medium on an information recording / reproducing apparatus has also been developed, and a larger number of exchangeable mediums can be managed. Examples of such an autochanger include an autochanger for music software and an autochanger for a magneto-optical disk as a secondary memory of a computer.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional autochanger, the user manages the recording medium. For example, it is necessary for the user to check which CD contains a music title. The idea was to store the desired CD in the autochanger. As described above, in the related art, the user has to manage the recorded information on the recording medium, which is troublesome and inconvenient.

In view of the above conventional problems, the present invention provides an information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus, an information recording medium and an information recording medium capable of automatically managing a recording medium and recorded information of the recording medium. It is intended to provide a storage method.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is, in an information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus having a storage section for storing a plurality of exchangeable recording media, recorded in advance on a recording medium inserted in the main body of the apparatus. Information recording / reproducing, characterized in that it has a means for reading the management information that has been read, a storage means for storing the read management information, and a means for storing the recording medium from which the management information has been read in the storage section. This is achieved by an information reproducing device.

Further, the object of the present invention is achieved by an information recording medium characterized in that management information of predetermined items is recorded corresponding to the recorded information.

Further, an object of the present invention is to mount a recording medium inserted from an insertion slot in a recording / reproducing section in a method of storing a replaceable recording medium in a storage section, and to record the recording medium in advance on the recording medium. Reading the management information stored therein, storing the read management information in the storage means in association with the storage location of the storage unit, and removing the recording medium from the recording / reproducing unit after the storage, and storing the storage unit in the storage unit. And a step of storing the information recording medium in the information recording medium.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B are views showing the outer appearance of an information recording / reproducing apparatus or an information reproducing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a front view. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an apparatus main body for recording / reproducing information on / from an exchangeable information recording medium 7 or reproducing information. In the device body 1, a recording / reproducing unit 2 for recording / reproducing information on / from a recording medium 7 and reproducing information from the recording medium 7, and a storage for storing a plurality of exchangeable recording media 7. A section 3 is provided. Reference numeral 4 is an arm for carrying the recording medium 7, and 5 is a feed screw for moving the arm. The feed screw 5 has a structure that meshes with an insertion hole formed with a threaded portion at one end of the arm 4, and the feed mechanism controller 6 rotates the feed screw 5 to move the arm 4 to the feed screw 5.
Is configured to move along the longitudinal direction of the.
The recording medium 7 inserted from the insertion opening 8 by such a mechanism is mounted in the recording / reproducing unit 2 or stored in the storing unit 3. Further, in the apparatus body 1, an information management memory 9 for storing management information recorded in advance on the recording medium 7, a receiving unit 10 for receiving a command sent from a remote controller (not shown), and a direct command are input. There is provided a switch unit 11 for.

Here, the recording medium 7 is recorded with management information indicating what the contents of all the recorded information are, and using this management information, the recording medium 7 and its contents are recorded. It is designed to manage recorded information. FIG. 2 shows an example of the management information. Here, the contents recorded on the recording medium 7 are music data, and as the items of management information indicating the contents, a medium name, a title (file name), a singer name, a lyricist name, and the like are listed. In addition to this, for example, a composer name or the like may be added. On the recording medium 7, the items of the management information listed above are recorded. Further, when the recording medium 7 is inserted into the apparatus main body 1 and stored in the storage unit 3, the management information of the recording medium 7 is read out and the management information and the recording medium 7 are stored as shown in FIG. It is stored in the information management memory 9 in association with the place.

Further, in FIG. 2, the medium names for identifying the recording medium 7 are shown as medium 1, medium 2, medium 3, ... For simplification, but this is the title of the music CD. May be Further, the title of the music data is shown as the item of management information for convenience sake, such as I to A, but this item corresponds to the file name in the secondary memory of the computer. When music data of a plurality of titles is recorded on one recording medium, the management information as shown in FIG. 2 is registered in the information management memory 9. That is, in FIG. 2, the medium name is medium 3.
In this case, a plurality of titles are registered under the same medium name, and management information such as a singer name is registered corresponding to each title. of course,
Since there is only one recording medium in this case, the storage location of the medium 3 is the same storage location C as shown in FIG. Further, in the management information of FIG. 2, keywords 1 and 2 are added to the items of singer name and lyricist name, respectively, and these keywords are used for searching the record information of the recording medium as described later.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the electric circuit of the above embodiment. The same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 3, 12 is a bus for transmitting and receiving signals inside the apparatus, 13 is a CPU for controlling the apparatus as a whole, and 14 is an internal main memory in which a program for operating the CPU 13 is recorded. Reference numeral 15 is an information input controller for taking in information such as image data and audio data from the external information input device 16 into the device and sending it to the recording / reproducing unit 2, and 17 is on the recording medium 7 read by the recording / reproducing unit 2. An information output controller for receiving image data, audio data, and the like and sending them to an external information output device 18, such as a monitor and a speaker. Reference numeral 19 is an input device for receiving signals such as commands from the remote controller 20 and the switch unit 11, and 21 is an external control device interface for enabling control by an external control device 22 such as a computer.

Next, a specific operation of the above embodiment will be described. First, the exchangeable recording medium 7 is attached to the apparatus main body 1
A method of storing the data in the memory will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, first, the remote controller 20 or the switch unit 1
Operate 1 to switch on the storage mode (S1),
The recording medium 7 to be stored is inserted from the insertion slot 8 (S2). When the recording medium 7 is inserted, the CPU 13 controls the feed mechanism controller 6 to transfer the recording medium 7 to the recording / reproducing unit 2 by the arm 4 and mount it on the recording / reproducing unit 2 (S3). When the recording medium 7 is loaded in the recording / reproducing unit 2, the management information previously recorded on the recording medium 7 is read, and the CPU 13 records the read management information in the information management memory 9 (S4). After that, the CPU 13 controls the feed mechanism controller 6 to remove the recording medium 7 from the recording / reproducing section 2 by the arm 4, and further, the recording medium 7
Are transferred by the arm 4 and stored in a vacant place of the storage unit 3 (5). At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the storage location of the storage unit 3 is recorded in the information management memory 9, and the management information and the storage location of the recording medium 7 are recorded correspondingly. When storing the recording medium 7 in the apparatus main body 1 in this way, S1
The recording medium 7 can be sequentially stored in the storage unit 3 by repeating to S5.

Next, a method for taking out the recording medium 7 from the apparatus main body 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, when the take-out mode switch is first turned on by the remote controller 20 or the switch unit 11 (S6), CP
In U13, all the management information recorded in the information management memory 9 is read. This management information is output to the external information output device 18 through the information output controller 17,
A list of management information is displayed on the monitor of the external information output device 18 (S7). The user uses the input device 19 to specify the recording medium 7 to be taken out from this list (S8). However, in this case, when it is difficult to directly find a desired recording medium from the management information list due to the large number of stored recording media 7, the search method as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is used. May be.

This search method will be described. First, when the storage mode switch is turned on, a search window 23 as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the monitor, and the user inputs which item 24 is used for the search. Here, it is assumed that the music data described with reference to FIG. 2 is recorded on the recording medium 7, and a title is input to the item 24 as shown in FIG. Then, when the search execution of 25 is performed, the information management memory 9 is searched and
Search results screen 26 for all titles recorded as
Are displayed in alphabetical order or in alphabetical order. When the user designates a desired title on the display screen 26, for example, when the title "I-" is designated as shown in FIG. 6, the information management memory 9 is searched again to correspond to the designated title. The management information to be displayed is displayed in the management information window 28 as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2, the medium name is medium 1, the title is “I”, the singer's name is “Ku”, and the lyricist name is “Shi” in the display screen 29 as shown in FIG. 7. . The user confirms the recorded contents of the recording medium by the management information displayed in this way, and specifies the recording medium to be taken out by the input device 19.

When the recording medium to be taken out in this way is designated, the CPU 13 erases the management information of the corresponding recording medium 7 from the information management memory 9 (S9). And CPU
At 13, the feeding mechanism controller 6 is controlled to transfer the designated recording medium 7 from the storage section 3 to the insertion port 8 and eject it out of the machine (S10). By repeating S6 to S10 in this manner, the designated recording media 7 can be sequentially taken out. In the above description, the title is included in the management information, but as described above, the keyword may be added to the singer's name or the lyricist's name.

Next, a method of reproducing information such as image data and music data recorded on the recording medium 7 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, first, when the reproduction mode switch is turned on by the remote controller 20 or the switch unit 11 (S11), all the management information recorded in the information management memory 9 is read by the CPU 13 as in the previous takeout mode. This management information is output to the external information output device 18 through the information output controller 17, and a list of management information is displayed on the monitor of the external information output device 18 (S12). The user designates the recording medium 7 to be reproduced from this list by using the input device 19 (S13). In this case, if the number of stored recording media is huge and it is difficult to directly find a desired recording medium from the list of management information, the search method as described in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be used. Good. When the recording medium 7 to be reproduced is designated, the CPU 13 controls the feeding mechanism controller 6 to take out the corresponding recording medium 7 from the storage section 3 by the arm 4, and further transfers it to the recording / reproducing section 2 to record / reproduce section 2.
(S14). The recording / reproducing unit 2 reproduces the designated information on the recording medium 7 (S15), and the obtained reproduction information is transferred to the external control device 22 through the external control device interface 21 under the control of the CPU 13.

Finally, a method of recording information such as image data and music data on a recording medium or a method of erasing the information recorded on the recording medium will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 9, when the recording or erasing mode switch is turned on by the remote controller 20 or the switch unit 11 (S16), the CPU 13 reads all the management information recorded in the information management memory 9. This management information is the information output controller 17
Is output to the external information output device 18 through, and a list of management information is displayed on the monitor of the external information output device 18 (S17). The user wants to record information from this list or inserts the recording medium 7 from which information is to be deleted into the input device 19
(S18). In this case, the recording medium may be designated by using the search method of FIGS. 6 and 7 as described above.

When a recording medium to be recorded or erased is designated, the CPU 13 controls the mechanism controller 6 to transfer the relevant recording medium 7 from the storage section 3 to the recording / reproducing section 2 and mount it (S19). The recording / reproducing unit 2 records or erases the designated information on the mounted recording medium 7 (S20). Next, the CPU 13 re-records new management information on the recording medium 7 as the information is recorded or erased, and additionally records or erases the management information in the information management memory 9 (S21). By repeating S16 to S21 in this manner, information can be recorded or erased on the sequentially specified recording medium 7.

In the above embodiments, an example of management information when music data is recorded on a recording medium has been described, but of course image data, text data or the like may be used. For example, in the case of image data, items in FIG. 2 are a medium name, a title (file name), a photographer (keyword 1),
The shooting location (keyword 2), the shooting date and time (keyword 3), and the like.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, management information of a predetermined item is recorded in a replaceable recording medium, and the management information and the recording information are managed by using this management information. It is possible to automatically store, record, and reproduce the recording medium, and there is an effect that operability can be significantly improved. Further, by searching the recording information using the management information, it is possible to find a desired recording medium or information from many recording media in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an appearance of an embodiment of information recording / reproducing or an information reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of management information used in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric circuit of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of storing the recording medium of the embodiment of FIG. 1 in a storage unit.

5 is a flowchart showing an operation of taking out the recording medium of the embodiment of FIG. 1 from a storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a method of searching a recording medium or recorded information using management information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a method of searching a recording medium or recorded information using management information.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of reproducing recorded information on the recording medium of the embodiment of FIG.

9 is a flowchart showing an operation of recording information on the recording medium of the embodiment of FIG. 1 or erasing the recorded information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Device Main Body 2 Recording / Reproducing Part 3 Storage Part 4 Arm 5 Feed Screw 6 Feed Mechanism Controller 7 Recording Medium 8 Insertion Port 9 Information Management Memory 11 Switch Part 13 CPU 16 External Information Input Device 18 External Information Output Device 19 Input Device

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus having a storage section for storing a plurality of exchangeable recording media, and means for reading out management information pre-recorded on a recording medium inserted in the apparatus body. An information recording / reproducing apparatus or an information reproducing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit that stores the read management information and a unit that stores the recording medium from which the management information is read in the storage unit. 2. The information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information recorded in the storage means is read out, the read management information is displayed in the storage section. Means for designating a recording medium to be taken out of the designated recording medium, means for erasing the management information of the designated recording medium from the storage means, and a corresponding recording medium after the management information is erased An information recording / reproducing device or an information reproducing device, characterized in that 3. The information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information recorded in the storage means is read out, the readout management information is displayed in the storage section. An information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus comprising: means for designating a recording medium or information to be reproduced from a stored recording medium; and means for reproducing the designated recording medium or information. 4. The information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management information stored in the storage means is read out, the readout management information is displayed in the storage portion. Means for designating a recording medium or information to be recorded or erased from the recorded recording medium,
Information recording / reproducing, characterized by having means for recording or erasing the designated recording medium or information, and means for recording or erasing management information in the storage means in response to recording or erasing of the information. Information reproduction device. 5. The information recording / reproducing or information reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for searching recorded information on a recording medium with a predetermined item of the management information. . 6. An information recording medium characterized in that management information of a predetermined item is recorded corresponding to the recorded information. 7. The information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the management information includes the name of the recording medium and the title of the recording information. 8. A method of storing a replaceable recording medium in a storage unit, a step of mounting a recording medium inserted from an insertion opening in a recording / reproducing unit, and reading management information recorded in advance on the recording medium. A step of storing the read management information in the storage means in association with the storage location of the storage part, and a step of storing the storage medium in the storage part after removing the recording medium from the recording / reproducing part after the storage. A method of storing an information recording medium, comprising: