JPH09200674A - Device, method for recording video data and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record data so as to retrieve/edit video data at high speed while efficiently using a memory for a video cassette tape incorporating that memory. SOLUTION: DCT encoding is performed to video data from a camera part 10 by a compression part 30 and these video data are recorded through a variable length encoding part 40 and an error correction code applying part 50 to a video tape 91 of a video cassette tape 90 by a recording part 60. At such a time, an index image generating part 70 reduces the first video data of respective cuts, successively arranges them in a frame memory 77 and generates index images. When the recording of respective cuts is finished, that index image is recorded in the video tape 91 and the start position of data of respective cuts, end position shown by a relative position from that start position and the position of that index image are recorded in a flash memory 92. The video data of the next cut update that index image and are recorded from the position following the data of the preceding cut.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video data recording apparatus and method for efficiently confirming recorded video data and searching for desired video data, and a recording medium recording such video data. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Video data shot by an image pickup device such as a television camera and recorded on a recording medium such as a video tape is a relatively short cut (a continuously shot image or a video thereof) which is sequentially input. Data) in many cases. Therefore, when confirming or editing the contents later, it is necessary to search for a desired cut. In particular, when a television broadcast station uses it for news gathering, it is necessary to select and edit necessary cuts at high speed from a large number of cuts shot by a video camcorder or the like.

[0003] As a method for performing such high-speed search and editing of video data, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 7-154731 and Hei 7-7-1 filed by the present applicant have been disclosed.
There is a method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 54740. In this method, when the captured video data and audio data are recorded on a recording medium, index information is generated by compressing the data, and the index information is recorded on another recording medium or the original data on the same recording medium. The data is recorded in an area continuous with the recording area of. Then, by creating the edited data with reference to the index information, the processing on the original data is omitted, and the work can be performed efficiently.

[0004]

By the way, with the progress of data compression technology and data recording technology, it is possible to record video data for a longer time on a recording medium such as a video tape. For example, in a 1/4 inch digital video cassette tape whose standard is being determined in sequence, a standard cassette can record video data for 4 hours and 30 minutes and a small cassette for 1 hour. As the recording time increases, the number of cuts that can be recorded on one recording medium naturally increases. As a result, even in the above-described search / edit method in which the index picture is recorded in the recording area continuous with each cut, for example, it takes time just to reproduce the index picture, and the search for the desired cut is efficient. There is a problem that it cannot be performed well, and there is a demand for more efficiently searching for a desired cut.

Further, in the above-mentioned 1/4 inch digital video cassette tape, a semiconductor memory device such as a flash memory is incorporated in a cassette for accommodating the video tape, and information such as recording time, recorded contents and title is recorded in the memory. I am able to do it. If such a semiconductor memory is used effectively, it may be possible to efficiently search the recorded video data without using a completely different recording medium as described above. Is expensive and has a practically limited recording capacity, there is a demand to efficiently use such a semiconductor memory to search recorded video data.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to record a video data on a video data recording medium having a built-in semiconductor memory so that the semiconductor memory can be used efficiently and the recorded video data can be easily searched. To provide a data recording device. Another object of the present invention is to record video data on a video data recording medium having a semiconductor memory so that the semiconductor memory can be used efficiently and the recorded video data can be searched easily. It is to provide a recording method. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium having a semiconductor memory in which video data is recorded so that the semiconductor memory can be efficiently used and the recorded video data can be easily searched.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, index pictures for each cut are collectively recorded on a tape recording medium, and a recording area of each cut on a video tape and its index picture are recorded. Information indicating the recording area is recorded in a semiconductor memory built in a cassette containing a video tape. At that time, the recording area is indicated by the relative time so that the amount of data to be recorded in the semiconductor memory is reduced.

Therefore, the video data recording apparatus of the present invention is a video data recording apparatus for recording video data on a video cassette tape having a semiconductor memory built in a cassette for accommodating a tape-shaped recording medium such as a video tape. , Input video data recording means, index video data extracting means, search video data generating means, search video data recording means, and position information recording means. The input video data recording means is video data of an arbitrary length, which is photographed by a video camera or the like and is appropriately input while being interrupted (hereinafter, this may be referred to as cut or cut video data). DC
It is compression-encoded by an encoding method using T (discrete cosine transform) and sequentially recorded on a video tape.

The index video data extracting means extracts the index video data whose contents can be confirmed when the respective cuts are searched later. The index video data may be a predetermined still image or a moving image, and the spatial or temporal compression condition for the original video data at the time of extraction is arbitrary. However, it is preferable that the screen area of the index video data is an area sufficiently reduced from the original video data in accordance with the configuration of search video data described later. As a specific example of the index video data extraction, new video data is generated by the DC component of each 8 × 8 block of DCT performed when the video data recording means encodes the video data. There is a method of extracting the index video data reduced to 1/64, which is preferable.

The search video data generating means can search, for example, the contents of a plurality of cuts based on the index video data extracted from the respective cuts recorded so far on the video tape. Video data for use. This search video data is, for example, video data in which index video data extracted from each cut is arranged in a reduced size on one screen, and the contents of each recorded cut can be confirmed by listing. Is. Of course, each cut may be displayed as a moving image on each reduced screen.

The search video data recording means compresses and encodes the search video data and records it on a video tape. This compression encoding method may be the same as the encoding method such as DCT in the input video data recording means, and further, the search video data recording means and the input video data recording means select video data and sequentially record video. The same data recording means for recording on the tape may be used. Also, this search video data is an area that is continuous with the area in which the last input cut of the video tape is recorded and is recorded in the area in which the next input cut is recorded, This is preferable because it can be played back at high speed when searching.

The position information recording means records information indicating the recording position of each cut and search video data recorded on the video tape in the semiconductor memory built in the cassette. At this time, it is desirable that the position information, such as the end position of the recording area, is recorded with a small amount of information by indicating the relative position from the head position of the recording area. Of course, the position information indicated by the relative position is not limited to the end position of the recording area, and any position may be indicated by this, and the reference position indicated by the absolute position is also the arbitrary position information. May be used for this. As a specific position information recording method, the recording start position of each cut is indicated by the absolute time on the video tape in units of seconds, and the recording end position is indicated by the relative position from the start position for retrieval. The recording position of the video data is
There is a method shown in absolute time of the video tape in units of frames, which is actually a very effective method.

The video data recording method of the present invention is
A video data recording method applied to a video data recording device as described above for recording video data on a video cassette tape having a semiconductor memory built in a cassette, in which video data of each cut that is sequentially input is recorded. Compression encoding, recording the compression encoded data of each cut on a video tape, recording the recording position information of each cut in a semiconductor memory, and video data for identifying each cut And a step of extracting index video data in which the screen area is reduced by a predetermined ratio,
A step of generating search video data such that a plurality of index video data extracted from each cut recorded on a video tape are displayed on one screen, and a step of compression-encoding the search video data. And a step of recording the compression-encoded search video data on a video tape,
Recording the position information of the recording area in which the search video data is recorded in the semiconductor memory.

In the recording medium of the present invention, video data of a plurality of cuts are sequentially recorded in succession, and the cuts are further continuously searched for in the area in which the data of each cut is recorded. A tape-shaped recording medium in which video data for search is recorded and is housed in a cassette,
Information indicating the recording position of each cut and search video data on the tape-shaped recording medium is recorded, and the semiconductor memory built in the cassette is provided.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a camera-integrated digital video tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as a digital camcorder) according to an embodiment of the present invention. The digital camcorder 1 includes a camera unit 10, a compression unit 30, and an error correction code addition unit 5 as main components.
0, a recording unit 60, an index image generating unit 70,
It is a VTR device that compresses video data obtained by shooting and records it on a video cassette tape with a built-in semiconductor memory.

FIG. 2 shows an external view of a video cassette tape for recording the video data relating to the recording medium of the present invention. First, the video cassette tape 90 used by being set in the digital camcorder 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the video cassette tape 90 accommodates a 1 / 4-inch video tape 91 inside, and a current television signal can record a signal of up to 4 hours and 30 minutes. When the video cassette tape 90 is set in the digital camcorder 1, the lid 95 provided on the front surface of the cassette case 93 is opened, and the video tape 91 is pulled out from this portion and wound around a rotating head (not shown) in the digital camcorder 1. The signal is recorded and reproduced.

In the video cassette tape 90, a flash memory 92 called MIC (Memory In Chip) is housed inside a cassette case 93. A terminal 94 composed of four electrodes is provided in the vicinity of the erroneous erasure preventing claw 96 on the back surface of the video cassette tape 90.
2 is written and read. These four terminals are specifically ground, power, clock, and data terminals, respectively. Data is written to and read from the flash memory 92 in units of a 5-byte data pack, and any data other than data such as tape thickness, tape type, and tape type recorded as basic data is recorded. It can be used to store data. The data format and write / read operation according to the present invention will be described later.

Next, the structure of the digital camcorder 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The camera unit 10 is the CCD 1
1, a camera processing unit 12, and a control unit 13 for controlling them. Based on a control signal from the overall control unit 81, a signal captured by the CCD 11 is converted into a television signal and output to the filter unit 21. To do. Filter unit 21
Displays the video signal input from the camera unit 10 at 4: 2:
This is a filter unit that performs processing such as conversion from the 2 system to the 4: 1: 1 system, and the converted video signal is output to the block division unit 22. The block division unit 22 divides each frame of the video signal input from the filter unit 21 and the index image signal input from the index image generation unit 70 described later into 8 × 8 macroblocks, and Output to

The compression unit 30 has a DCT unit 31, a motion detection unit 32, a rearrangement unit 33, a quantization unit 34, and a code amount estimation unit 35, and DCT the video signal input from the block division unit 22. The data is encoded, further quantized, and output to the variable length encoding unit 40. In the compression unit 30, the motion detection unit 32 performs motion detection on the video signal of each 8 × 8 macroblock input from the block division unit 22, performs the DCT conversion in the DCT unit 31, and performs the reordering unit. At 33, the elements obtained so that the DC component is at a predetermined position are rearranged in order of frequency. Then, based on the result, the code amount is estimated in the code amount estimating unit 35, and the quantization level is determined based on the estimated value, and
Performs adaptive quantization.

The variable length coding unit 40 outputs code data generated by variable length coding the compressed and quantized video signal input from the compression unit 30 to the error correction code addition unit 50. In the present embodiment, two-dimensional Huffman coding is performed in variable length coding section 40.

The error correction code adding unit 50 adds parity to the code data input from the variable length coding unit 40 to generate recording data, and outputs the recording data to the recording unit 60.
In the present embodiment, the error correction code adding unit 50 uses a Reed-Solomon product code in which the error correction block has a two-dimensional configuration. Specifically, the error correction code adding unit 50 includes a shuffling unit 51 and an error correction code adding unit 52.
The error correction code adding section 52 first adds outer code parity to the input code data, shuffles the shuffling section 51, adds a synchronization signal and an ID code, and again adds the error correction code. The adding unit 52 further adds an inner code parity.

The recording unit 60 includes a channel coding unit 6
1, a recording amplifier 62, and a recording head 63,
The recording data input from the error correction code adding unit 50 is
The data is converted into a digital bit sequence suitable for the magnetic recording characteristics of the video tape 91 by the channel coding unit 61, amplified by the recording amplifier 62, applied to the recording head 63, and recorded at a predetermined position on the video tape 91.

The index image generating section 70 includes a compression section 3
An image suitable for searching the contents of each cut is extracted based on the video signal input from 0, and an index image (also referred to as an index picture in some cases is used by using the images extracted for a plurality of cuts). ) Is generated, and is output to the block dividing unit 22 at a predetermined timing as appropriate so that the video data of each cut is recorded on the video tape 91 after being recorded. The index image generation unit 70 includes a control unit 71, a sampling unit 72, a timing pulse generation unit 73, a ROM 74, an SRAM 75, and an S.
RAM address controller 76, frame memory 7
7 and frame memory address controller 78
Having.

The control section 71 controls each section constituting the index image generating section 70 based on the control signal from the overall control section 81. The specific control contents of the control unit 71 will be described at the same time as the description of each unit described later. The sampling unit 72 uses the pulse input from the timing pulse generation unit 73 at a predetermined timing to compress the compression unit 30.
The rearranged section 33 reads the rearranged DCT result coefficients, extracts the DC components thereof, and outputs them to the ROM 74. The timing pulse generation unit 73 generates a pulse to the sampling unit 72 so as to extract an image used as an index image from the first video data of each cut. The ROM 74 converts the 9-bit DC component data input from the sampling unit 72 into 8-bit data,
Output to SRAM75.

The address of the SRAM 75 is controlled by the SRAM address controller 76, and the data write / read timing is controlled by the controller 71, and one data is sequentially stored for each macro block input from the ROM 74. Finally, the image corresponding to the first video data of each cut is stored. As described above, the sampling unit 72 sequentially outputs one DC component as its pixel value for each 8 × 8 macroblock, so that the image finally stored in the SRAM 75 is the original video data. The image is reduced to 1/8 in each of the vertical and horizontal directions. SRAM address controller 76
Is based on the control signal from the control unit 71.
The pixel data sequentially input to the SRAM 75 is SR
SRAM to form one image in AM75
The address of the SRAM 75 is controlled so as to be stored in 75.

The frame memory 77 is a memory capable of storing data corresponding to a frame of video data, and the frame memory 77 of the present embodiment has a capacity capable of storing video data of 7 frames. The frame memory 77
The address is controlled by the frame memory address controller 78, and the image for each cut sequentially formed in the SRAM 75 is sequentially stored based on the control signal input from the control unit 71. Since the image stored in the SRAM 75 is an image obtained by reducing the original video data vertically and horizontally by 1/8, that is, by reducing the area to 1/64, 64 images are stored in one frame memory of the frame memory 77. can do.

Frame memory address controller 78
Is based on a control signal from the control unit 71,
The address of the frame memory 77 is controlled so that the image data input from Step 5 to the frame memory 77 is appropriately stored at the above-described position. The time code generation unit 82 is a time counting unit that generates a time code serving as an index indicating a recording position of a signal and outputs the time code to the overall control unit 81. The output time is an absolute time or a relative time that is reset when the video cassette tape 90 is attached or detached or the reset button is pressed by the user, and the selection is arbitrary.

The tape control unit 83 receives the input video signal or the index image signal generated by the index image generation unit 70 on the basis of the control signal from the overall control unit 81, at an arbitrary position on the video tape 91. The tape running of the videotape 91 of the videocassette tape 90 is accurately controlled so that the recording can be performed. The operation / display unit 84 allows the user to control the imaging conditions of the camera, input recording start, recording end, marking, and other instructions to the digital camcorder 1, and inform the user of the digital camcorder 1. It is a user interface part that informs the operating status.

The overall control unit 81 is a digital camcorder 1
Controls the respective components of the digital camcorder 1 so as to perform a desired operation. For example, the camera unit 1 is operated based on an instruction such as a camera control input by the user via the operation / display unit 84 and start / end of recording of video data.
0 control of the camera, generation / output of a video signal from the camera unit 10, control of operation of the signal processing system below the compression unit 30, control of driving of the video tape to the tape control unit 83, operation of the operation / display unit 84. The status and processing results are displayed.

Further, the general control section 81 operates as an operation of the digital camcorder 1 according to the present invention, in particular, after recording a cut of a certain time during which normal video data is photographed on the video cassette tape 90, the index image is recorded. Each unit of the digital camcorder 1 is controlled so that the index image generated by the generation unit 70 for the cut is output from the index image generation unit 70 to the block division unit 22 and the index image is recorded on the video cassette tape 90. Then, at that time, the positions on the video tape 91 where the cut and index images are recorded are recorded in the flash memory 92 of the video cassette tape 90.

A flash memory 92 of the video cassette tape 90 for recording the data indicating the recording position of the video data.
The input and output of data to and from are performed in units of data packs of 5 bytes as described above. The data pack will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of a data pack of data indicating the position of recording data recorded in the flash memory 92 of the video cassette tape 90 by the digital camcorder 1, and FIG.
The figure which shows the structure of the data pack which shows the position of the in point and the out point of a cut, (B) is a figure which shows the structure of the data pack which shows the position of an index image, (C) The image marked by the photographer's instructions. It is a figure which shows the structure of the data pack which shows the position of.

First, in each data pack, the first byte is a header, and a code for identifying the type of each data pack is recorded. Since each data pack shown in FIG. 3 is a data pack of data indicating the position of video data recorded on the video tape 91, the code FDh is recorded in this header. Next, in the data pack indicating the position of the video data, bit 7 (b ₂ ), bit 6 (b ₁ ) of the second byte, and
A subheader is constituted by three bits of bit 7 (b ₀ ) of the third byte. The data content of each data pack is identified by the subheader, and the data format can be determined accordingly. Table 1 shows the correspondence between subheaders and data contents.

[0033]

[Table 1]

The structure of each data pack will be described below. In addition, in FIG. 3, a bit whose definition is not shown is a reserved area. The picture clip 1 and the picture clip 2 shown in FIG. 3A are identification information of video data of each cut recorded on the video tape 91,
And a data pack for recording information of the recording position.

The cut identification information is recorded in the second to fourth bytes of the picture clip 1. Specifically, the scene number of the scene input by the user through the operation / display unit 84, The take number and data for identifying whether the cut is OK or NG are recorded. Flash memory 9 storing the video data of the cut
2 is recorded in the second to fourth bytes of the picture clip 2. In the present embodiment, the recording position is indicated by the recording time on the video tape 91, and the time is recorded in the second byte, the minute is recorded in the third byte, and the second is recorded in the fourth byte. Since the start of the recording of the video data is determined by an instruction given by the user operating the digital camcorder 1,
It suffices if it can be managed in seconds, and it is sufficient not to manage in frames.

The information indicating the end position of the cut recording area is indicated by a relative value from the start position. That is, how many seconds after the start position or the number of the frame the end position of the recording area of the cut is recorded as information of the end position. The information indicating the end position is recorded in the fifth byte of picture clip 1 and the fifth byte of picture clip 2.
The end position may be determined in seconds or in frames. Since the recording bit width is 16 bits, when a relative value in seconds is used, 18 bits are used.
When a relative value in units of time and frame is used, it is possible to deal with a cut of about 36 minutes. The end position may be indicated using an arbitrary unit as a reference, depending on the type of video data to be recorded, the precision required for editing, and the like.

The picture clip address shown in FIG. 3B is a data pack showing the information of the recording position of the index picture recorded on the video tape 91. In the present embodiment, the recording position is indicated for each frame of each index picture. That is, the time is recorded in the second byte, the minute is recorded in the third byte, the second is recorded in the fourth byte, and the frame number within the second is recorded in the fifth byte. FIG.
The data pack shown in FIG.
4 is a data pack generated to record the position when the cue button provided in 4 is pressed to mark the video data. Then, in the configuration, similarly to the picture clip address, information indicating the marked frame is recorded. That is,
Second byte is hour, third byte is minute, fourth byte is second,
The frame number within the second is recorded in the fifth byte.

As the information regarding the recording position of the video data recorded on the video tape 91, such a data pack is generated by the overall control unit 81 and appropriately recorded in the flash memory 92 of the video cassette tape 90 as it is generated. .

Next, the operation of the digital camcorder 1 will be described. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, this digital camcorder 1 is used for coverage at a television broadcasting station or the like, and for example, cuts of several minutes are sequentially photographed and recorded on the video cassette tape 90. The operation of the digital camcorder 1 will be described below so that the photographed cut can be edited to obtain desired video data.

First, when the user wants to record the video and audio data captured by the digital camcorder 1, the user gives an instruction by pressing, for example, the REC button on the operation / display unit 84 of the digital camcorder 1. The recording start instruction input to the operation / display unit 84 is input to the overall control unit 81, and the overall control unit 81 controls each unit to record video data.
The camera section 10 outputs a signal acquired by the CCD 11 as video data based on a control signal from the overall control section 81. After the system is adjusted by the filter unit 21, the block division unit 22 divides the video data for each field into macroblocks, and the compression unit 30 sets D
CT code and compress. The compressed video data is encoded by a variable length encoding unit 40, an error correction code is added by an error correction code adding unit 50, and is converted into a recording signal by a recording unit 60.

At the same time, the tape control section 83 performs video control based on a control signal from the overall control section 81 so that a signal is applied from the recording head 63 to the recording area of the video tape 91 on which the video data should be recorded. The position of the video tape 91 of the cassette tape 90 is controlled. The information on the position on the video tape 91 at which recording was started at this time is sent from the overall control unit 81 to the video cassette tape 9.
No. 0 is recorded in the flash memory 92 in the format of the predetermined data pack shown in the figure. In this way, the video data that has started shooting and is sequentially input is sequentially recorded in a predetermined recording area of the video tape 91 by the recording head 63 of the recording unit 60, and the information on the head position of the recording area is the video cassette tape. It is recorded in the flash memory 92 of 90.

Further, when this photographing is started, the index image generating section 70 extracts a reduced image for identifying the cut from the first video data of the cut which has been input, and further extracts another cut. The index image is generated by arranging the reduced image and the reduced image on one frame. As shown in FIG. 4, the video data 101 of the first field input from the camera unit 10 is divided into macroblocks 102 of 8 × 8 pixels in the block dividing unit 22, and the DCT unit of each macroblock 102 is divided. DCT conversion is performed at 31. Then, the result of the DCT is rearranged by the rearranging section 33 into data 103 in which the DC component comes first. This DC component is extracted by the sampling unit 72 of the index image generation unit 70.

The sampling section 72 extracts this DC component from each macroblock of the first video data 101 and sequentially inputs it to the SRAM 75 via the ROM 74.
As a result, the reduced image 104 as shown in FIG. 4 is formed on the SRAM 75. When the reduced image 104 is extracted from the first image data of the video data that has begun to be input, the reduced image is arranged at a predetermined position in the frame memory 77. Since the reduced image 104 is an image obtained by reducing an 8 × 8 macro block to one pixel, that is, an image obtained by reducing the original frame to 1/64, 64 such reduced images can be arranged in one frame. it can. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the reduced image 104 obtained from the first recorded cut is, for example, the frame memory 77.
Is located in the upper left area.

During shooting of this cut, when, for example, a sudden scene or an expected scene occurs and the user wants to easily search the recording position of the video data, the user can perform digital recording. The cue button provided on the operation / display unit 84 of the camcorder 1 is pressed. When the signal for pressing the cue button is input to the overall control unit 81, the overall control unit 81 reads the time code from the time code generation unit 82 to generate a data pack as shown in FIG. It is recorded in the flash memory 92 of 90. As a result, the scene can be easily searched.

When the user tries to end the recording of the cut by pressing the REC button of the operation / display unit 84 of the digital camcorder 1 again, the overall control unit 81 is instructed to end the recording of the cut. Entered,
The control for recording the video data is performed for each unit by the overall control unit 81. As a result, the output of the video signal from the camera unit 10 is ended, the recording of the cut signal is ended, and the index image generated by the index image generation unit 70 is recorded on the video tape 91 following the cut signal. Will be recorded.

Specifically, the index image recorded in the frame memory 77 of the video index image generation unit 70 is input to the block division unit 22, compressed in the compression unit 30, and variable length in the variable length coding unit 40. After being encoded, an error correction code is added by the error correction code adding unit 50 and recorded on the video tape 91 via the recording unit 60. At this time, the index image is recorded in the recording area of the video tape 91 that is continuous with the signal of the cut up to that time. Note that this index image is an image in which all reduced images of each cut sequentially recorded on the video cassette tape 90 are arranged.

At this time, information on the recording end position of the input cut video signal and the recording position of the index image are recorded from the overall control section 81 to the video cassette tape 9.
0 in the flash memory 92. At the time when the recording of the video signal is started, the data pack indicating the recording position of the cut as shown in FIG. 3A is already recorded in the flash memory 92. Therefore, at the end of the recording of the cut, the overall control unit 81 reads the once-recorded data pack from the flash memory 92 and sets data indicating the end position of the data of the cut in the fifth byte of each of the two data packs. Are recorded in the flash memory 92 again. Note that this end position is indicated by a relative position from the head position recorded earlier. Further, the overall control unit 81 generates a data pack indicating the recording position of the index image as shown in FIG. 3B and records it in the flash memory 92.

Next, when the user gives an instruction to record the video data again, the overall control section 81 performs the same operation as described above to sequentially output the cut signals.
Record in 1. At this time, the overall control unit 81 controls the position of the video tape 91 with respect to the tape control unit 83 so as to continuously record new cut data in the data recording area of the previous cut. That is, the index image recorded after the data of the previous cut is updated,
The new cut data is recorded thereon. Therefore, specifically, the tape control unit 83 slightly rewinds the video tape 91.

A method of sequentially recording video signals of each cut, which are intermittently input in this way, will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. 5A to 5E are diagrams showing a state in which the first to fifth cuts are sequentially recorded on the video tape 91. First, when the recording of the first cut is completed, only the first cut and the reduced image extracted from the first cut are displayed on the video tape 91 as shown in FIG. 5A. The data of the index image for which is displayed is recorded.

The second cut inputted next is as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), it is recorded on the data of the index image so as to be overlapped and continuous with the first cut,
When the recording of the second cut is completed, the index image in which the reduced image extracted from the first cut and the second cut is displayed is recorded continuously in the recording area of the second cut. Thereafter, as shown in FIGS. 5C to 5E, the third to fifth cuts are sequentially recorded so that each cut is continuous while updating the index image recorded after the previous cut. It

Finally, the state of the video data recorded by the digital camcorder 1 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. When six cuts A to F are input as shown in FIG. 6, these cuts A to F are input.
Are sequentially recorded in the continuous area of the video tape 91. Then, the first image data a-1 to f-1 of each cut is reduced and index images arranged on the same frame are continuously recorded on the video tape 91 following the cuts A to F. In the flash memory (MIC) 92, the positions of the mark-in points (MI) and the mark-out points (MO) of the cuts A to F and the recording positions (M) of the index images are sequentially recorded. .

As described above, in the digital camcorder 1 of the present embodiment, when recording the sequentially input signals of each cut on the video tape 91, the start position and the end position of the data of each cut are recorded. It is recorded in the flash memory 92 of the cassette tape 90. Further, the first video data of each cut is reduced to generate an index image in which a plurality of index images are sequentially arranged on a frame, and this index image is simultaneously recorded on the video tape 91, and the recording position of the index image is also flashed. It is recorded in the memory 92. Therefore, when the video data is edited using the video cassette tape 90 on which the video signal is recorded by the digital camcorder 1, the index is calculated based on the position information of the index image recorded in the flash memory 92. The image can be read at high speed and the contents of each cut can be displayed in a list for confirmation, whereby the selected cut can be read at high speed based on the position information of each cut also recorded in the flash memory 92.

In the flash memory 92, the head position information of each cut is recorded in units of seconds, and the end position is recorded as relative information from the head position. As can be usually considered easily, if each of the start position and the end position is recorded with absolute position information in units of frames within a second, three or four data packs are required as the position information of the cut. By comparison, in the digital camcorder 1 of the present embodiment,
Since the information is recorded in two data packs, the capacity of the flash memory 92 can be suppressed to be small even if the number of cuts to be recorded increases.

The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, the index image may be configured by any method. Since the reduced image forming the index image is an image obtained by reducing the original video data to 1/8 in length and width, that is, the area is reduced to 1/64, 64 images can be stored in one frame. However, considering that the image formed in the frame memory will be subjected to DCT again, the image quality of a very fine image may be reduced. Therefore, it is preferable to reduce the number of reduced images accommodated in one frame. . For example, the reduced image may be arranged in every other area obtained by dividing one frame into 1/64. Even in such a case, since the frame memory 77 of the above-described index image generation unit 70 has a capacity of seven frames, a total of 224 (= 32 × 7) images can be stored. Of course, the capacity of the frame memory 77 may be appropriately changed according to the usage of the digital camcorder 1 or the like.

Further, the compression method for recording the video data is not limited to 8 × 8 DCT, and any method may be used. Also,
The extraction method of the reduced image performed by the index image generation unit may be arbitrarily changed. An image compressed by performing inverse DCT or the like may be restored, or a reduced image may be generated by thinning out original input video data before compression.

[0056]

As described above, according to the video data recording apparatus and method of the present invention, the semiconductor memory can be efficiently used for the video data recording medium such as the video cassette tape having the built-in semiconductor memory. use,
The video data could be recorded so that the recorded video data can be easily searched. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a recording medium such as a video cassette tape having a semiconductor memory in which video data is recorded so that the semiconductor memory can be efficiently used and the recorded video data can be easily searched. did it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital camcorder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a video cassette tape on which video data is recorded by the digital camcorder shown in FIG. 1 according to the recording medium of the present invention, wherein FIG. (B) is a rear view, and (C) is a side view.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a structure of a data pack recorded in a semiconductor memory of a video cassette tape by the digital camcorder shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3A shows positions of a mark-in point and a mark-out point of a cut. The figure which shows the structure of a data pack, (B) the figure which shows the structure of the data pack which shows the position of an index image, (C) the figure which shows the structure of the data pack which shows the position of the image marked by the photographer's instruction | indication. Is.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method of generating an index image in an index image generation unit of the digital camcorder shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which video data is sequentially recorded on a video tape by the digital camcorder shown in FIG. 1, and (A) to (E) respectively record the first to fifth cuts. It is a figure which shows the state after being processed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a result of recording video data on a video tape by the digital camcorder shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Digital camcorder 10 ... Camera part 11 ... CCD 12 ... Camera processing part 13 ... Control part 21 ... Filter part 22 ... Block division part 30 ... Compression part 31 ... DCT part 32 ... Motion detection part 33 ... Rearrangement part 34 ... Quantum Encoding unit 35 ... Code amount estimating unit 40 ... Variable length encoding unit 50 ... Error correction code providing unit 51 ... Shuffling unit 52 ... Error correction code providing unit 60 ... Recording unit 61 ... Channel coding unit 62 ... Recording amplifier 63 ... Recording head 70 ... Index image generation unit 71 ... Control unit 72 ... Sampling unit 73 ... Timing pulse generation unit 74 ... ROM 75 ... SRAM 76 ... Address controller 77 ... Frame memory 78 ... Address controller 81 ... Overall control unit 82 ... Time code generation unit 83 … Tape control unit 84… Operation / display unit 90… Video camera Set tape 91 ... Video tape 92 ... Flash memory 93 ... Cassette case 94 ... Terminal 95 ... Lid 96 ... Erase prevention tab

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication location G11B 27/00 C (72) Inventor Masataka Mukai 6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni -Incorporated (72) Inventor Masao Naito 6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Soni Corporation (72) Inventor Kiyoshi Inoue 6-35 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Sony Stock In-house (72) Inventor Takeo Nishijima 6-735 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A video data recording apparatus for recording video data on a video cassette tape having a semiconductor memory built in a cassette for accommodating a tape-shaped recording medium, wherein each input video data has an arbitrary length. Input video data recording means for compression-coding and sequentially recording on the tape-shaped recording medium; index video data extracting means for extracting index video data for identifying each of the input video data, Based on the index video data extracted from each video data recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium,
Search video data generating means for generating search video data for searching video data recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium, and search for recording the generated search video data on the tape-shaped recording medium Video data recording device having video data recording means for recording, and position information recording means for recording in the semiconductor memory information indicating the recording positions of the input video data and the search video data on the tape-shaped recording medium. . 2. The position information recording means, as a recording position of at least one of the input video data and the search video data, the head of a recording area in which each input video data is recorded. The video data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position and the end position indicated by the relative position from the start position are recorded in the semiconductor memory. 3. The position information recording means, as the recording position of each of the input video data, the head position of the recording area indicated by the absolute time in seconds on the tape recording medium, and from the head position. Is recorded in the semiconductor memory, and the position of the video data indicated by the absolute time of the frame period unit in the tape-shaped recording medium is recorded in the semiconductor memory as the recording position of the search video data. The video data recording device according to claim 2, wherein the video data is recorded in a semiconductor memory. 4. The index video data extracting means selects predetermined video data from the input video data, reduces a screen of the video data at a predetermined ratio, and outputs the index video data of the video data. 2. The video data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search video data generating means generates the search video data such that a plurality of index video data are displayed on one screen. 5. The video data recording means performs 8 × 8 Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coding on each input video data of arbitrary length and compresses the video data to record the tape-shaped recording medium. The index video data extraction means sequentially records in continuous areas, and the index video data extraction means performs DC component of each 8 × 8 block of DCT performed on the video data at the beginning of the input video data by the video data recording means. 5. The video data recording device according to claim 4, wherein the index video data obtained by reducing the video data to 1/64 is extracted by generating new video data by. 6. The search video data recording means is an area that is continuous with an area of the tape-shaped recording medium in which the last input video data is recorded, and the next input video data is The search video data is recorded in an area to be recorded, and the video data recording means is configured to record each of the input video data in a continuous area of the tape-shaped recording medium. 2. The search video data is updated and recorded in an area where the input video data is continuous with the video data input immediately before and in which the search video data is recorded. Video data recording device. 7. A video data recording method for recording video data on a video cassette tape having a semiconductor memory built in a cassette for accommodating a tape-shaped recording medium, comprising compressing input video data of an arbitrary length. Encoding, the compression-encoded video data is recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium, the position information of the recording area in which the video data is recorded is recorded in the semiconductor memory, and the video is input from the input video data. The index video data, which is video data for identifying the data and whose screen area is reduced by a predetermined ratio, is extracted, and the index video data extracted from each video data recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium is extracted. On the basis of,
Search video data in which a plurality of the index video data are displayed on one screen is generated, the search video data is compression-encoded, and the compression-encoded search video data is recorded on the tape-shaped recording medium. A video data recording method for recording and recording position information of a recording area in which the search video data is recorded in the semiconductor memory. 8. The position information of a recording area in which the video data is recorded, which is recorded in the semiconductor memory, includes a head position of the recording area indicated by an absolute time in seconds on the tape-shaped recording medium, and The position information of the recording area, which is the end position of the recording area indicated by the relative position from the head position and is recorded in the semiconductor memory, in which the search video data is recorded, is recorded in the tape-shaped recording medium. 8. The video data recording method according to claim 7, which is position information indicating each frame of the search video data indicated by an absolute time of a frame period unit. 9. A retrieval video for retrieving each original video data, wherein original video data of an arbitrary length is successively recorded in succession, and the original video data is further continuously retrieved in an area where the original video data is recorded. The tape-shaped recording medium in which the data is recorded and accommodated in the cassette, and the information indicating the recording position of each of the original video data and the search video data on the tape-shaped recording medium are recorded and built in the cassette. RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY.