JPH0962811A - Recording/reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize and lighten a whole device by only interesting a part of a PC card into the slot of a casing and making a remaining part a handle part. SOLUTION: This device is used in a state where a part of the PC card 2 is inserted into the slot for PC card 3 of the casing 1. A recording switch 19 and a reproducing switch 20 are provided in positions where they can be operated by fingers when a recording/reproducing device main body is grasped by the left hand. The casing 1 is driven by a battery 18. At the time of recording operation, sound data inputted from a mask 6 is converted into a digital by an A/D conversion part and is compressed by a data compression circuit 8. Compressed data is inputted to the PC card 2 through a FIFO memory 9 and a data input/output circuit 10. At time of reproduction, the digital signal read from the PC card 2 is inputted to a data expansion circuit 12, expanded to data before compression, converted into an analog signal by a D/A conversion part 13 and outputted to a speaker 14.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voice recording / reproducing apparatus using a PC card as a storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a small cassette tape recorder using a magnetic tape as a storage medium has been known as a portable voice recording / reproducing apparatus. In this device, voice data is stored on a magnetic tape as analog data. Except for some electronic devices having a voice input terminal from the beginning, it is difficult to perform editing and processing such as changing the band of the voice data stored on the magnetic tape. Further, there is a voice recording / reproducing apparatus using a semiconductor memory as a storage medium instead of a magnetic tape. For example, JP-A-5-173872
The publication discloses a voice recording / reproducing apparatus using a memory card equipped with a batch erasing type semiconductor memory as a medium.

[0003]

Since the small cassette tape recorder requires a drive mechanism for running the magnetic tape, there is a certain limit to miniaturization and weight reduction. Further, in the above-mentioned recording / reproducing apparatus which uses a semiconductor memory instead of a magnetic tape as a storage medium, since there is no drive mechanism, the apparatus can be made smaller and lighter. However, the erasing of data in the flash memory on the memory card and the management of writing of data are realized by the system control circuit on the recording / reproducing apparatus side, and the control method is complicated.

An object of the present invention is to provide a portable recording / reproducing apparatus which can be handled more easily.

[0005]

A portable recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention has a PC card having a memory, a surface having a slot into which a part of the PC card is inserted, and a PC card inserted into the slot. When holding the main body of the device, the surface provided with a recording switch and a playback switch in a position where it can be operated with a finger, an input unit for voice data, and an output unit for generating voice based on the voice data. A recording mechanism configured to have a housing having a surface, a recording mechanism that compresses audio data input to an input unit and stores the compressed audio data in a memory in a PC card in response to pressing of a recording switch provided in the housing. In response to the depression of, the data stored in the memory of the PC card is read, the read data is expanded and output to the output unit, and the power supply by the battery is used. A supply portion provided inside said PC card or housing. Alternatively, in a portable recording / reproducing apparatus, a PC card having a memory, a slot into which a part of the PC card is inserted, and a case where the apparatus main body is held in a state where the PC card is inserted into the slot In addition, a recording switch and a playback switch provided at positions that can be operated with a finger, an input unit for voice data, an output unit for generating voice based on the voice data, and an input unit for responding to pressing of the record switch. A recording mechanism that compresses the input voice data and stores it in the memory of the PC card, and in response to pressing the playback switch, reads the data stored in the memory of the PC card and expands the read data. And a power supply unit using a battery.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a recording / playback apparatus. The audio player is
A housing 1 for writing (recording) and reading (reproducing) audio data to and from a storage medium, and J as a storage medium.
It is composed of an EATA-compliant ATA specification PC card 2. The PC card 2 has a memory inside. This memory may be a flash memory or an SRAM as long as it can write and read data. The housing 1 is provided with a slot into which a part of the PC card 2 is inserted, and a group of operation switches for recording, playing, stopping, and cueing the recorded voice data on the surface opposite to the surface having this slot. 4, an LED display device 15 for displaying a file number of recorded voice data, a recordable remaining time, and the like, and a headphone jack 22. In the figure, on the front of the housing 1, there are a microphone 6 which is a voice input section and a speaker 14 which is a voice output section. A recording switch 19, a reproduction switch 20, and a lid 21 for a battery storage portion are provided on the left side surface (front surface in the drawing) of the housing 1. The recording / playback device is a PC in the housing 1.
It is used with a part of the PC card 2 inserted in the card slot (see FIG. 3). The recording switch 19 and the reproduction switch 20 are provided when the recording / reproducing apparatus main body is grasped by the left hand.
It should be installed at a position where it can be operated with fingers. In this example, the device is provided at a position on the left side when viewed from the front so that it can be easily operated with the thumb. To start recording audio data, the recording switch 19 is pressed. A file number is added to each of the recorded voice data. To reproduce the recorded voice data in order, the reproduction switch 20 is pressed. Specific file N
To play the audio data of o.,
o is designated by operating the operation switches provided in the operation switch group 4. The sound recording and reproduction may be performed by using the recording switch and the reproduction switch provided in the operation switch group 4.

FIG. 2 shows each block constituting the housing 1. ATA specification PC card 2 used as a storage medium
Is inserted into the PC card slot 3. Operation commands are input to the CPU 5 from the operation switch group 4, the recording switch 19, or the reproduction switch 20. CPU5
Executes the control program stored in the ROM 17 in response to the input operation command, switches the circuit of the data input / output circuit 10, and outputs a predetermined instruction code via the PC card slot 3 to the PC card 2 Output to. Further, the CPU 5 outputs information such as the file number of the recorded voice data and the remaining recordable time to the LCD display device 15 via the LCD driver 16. The housing 1 is driven by the battery 18. During the recording operation, the audio data (analog signal) input from the microphone 6 is converted into a digital signal in the A / D converter 7. The digital signal output from the A / D converter 7 is compressed in the data compression circuit 7. There are various types of audio encoding technology for compressing audio information,
A method having various compression rates is adopted according to the application (voice quality, processing circuit scale, etc.). The data compression circuit 7 employs a waveform coding method of several kbps. This realizes a recording time of about 20 minutes per MB. The compressed data is input to the PC card 2 via the FIFO memory 9 and the data input / output circuit 10. Further, when reproducing the audio data, the digital signal read from the PC card 2 is transferred to the data input / output switching circuit 10 and the FI.
The data is input to the data expansion circuit 12 via the FO memory 11 and expanded to data before compression. The decompressed data is converted into an analog signal in the D / A converter 13 and then output to the speaker 14. In addition, P in the housing 1
Only the C card slot 3, the microphone 6, the speaker 14, the recording switch 19 and the reproduction switch 20 may be provided, and the other parts (for example, the compression / expansion circuit and the CPU 5) may be provided inside the PC card 2.

The size of the ATA specification PC card is 5
It is 4.6 (W) × 85.6 (D) (unit: mm), and the recording / reproducing apparatus uses this PC card itself as a part (grip) of the apparatus. Moreover, the housing 1 does not require a drive mechanism unlike a small cassette tape recorder using a magnetic tape. Therefore, compared to small cassette tape recorders,
It is possible to reduce the size and weight of the entire recording / playback device. Specifically, the entire recording / playback apparatus can be sized to fit in the palm of the hand. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing portability and operability of the recording / playback apparatus, in which the AT is mounted on the housing 1.
The figure shows a state where the PC card 2 of A specification is mounted and held in a human hand (left hand). As shown in the figure, the recording / reproducing apparatus is provided with a recording switch 19 and a reproducing switch 20 on the left side surface of the housing 1 at a position where it is easy to operate with the thumb when the apparatus is held by the left hand. Therefore, recording and reproduction can be easily performed with only the left hand. The recording switch 19 and the reproduction switch 20 may be provided on the right side of the housing 1 at a position where it is easy for the thumb to operate when holding the device with the right hand. Further, by using an ATA specification PC card as the storage medium, a personal computer or the like having a JEIDA compliant PC card slot can be used.
The recorded data can be easily edited and processed. Since compressed audio data is stored inside the PC card 2, a personal computer that edits and processes audio data needs to be provided with a circuit or software for compressing and expanding audio data. is there.

[0009]

According to the first recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the PC
It is composed of a housing having a slot into which a part of the card is inserted and a PC card inserted into the slot. Only part of the PC card is inserted into the slot of the housing, and the remaining part functions as a grip. As a result, the overall size and weight of the device can be reduced. Moreover, since the recording switch and the reproduction switch are provided at positions where they can be operated with a finger, operability is improved. In the second recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, as compared with the first apparatus, in response to the pressing of the recording switch on the housing side,
A recording mechanism that compresses the audio data input to the input unit and stores it in the memory inside the PC card, and the data that is stored in the memory inside the PC card in response to the pressing of the playback switch, and the read data Is provided and a power supply unit using a battery is provided.
That is, the PC card to be used does not need a special processing unit as long as it has a memory. This makes it possible to easily edit and process the voice data recorded in the PC card by connecting to a personal computer or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing each block constituting the housing 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operability of the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing, 2 ... ATA specification PC card, 3 ... PC card slot, 4 ... Operation switch group, 5 ... CPU, 6 ... Microphone, 7 ... A / D conversion circuit, 8 ... Data compression circuit, 9,
11 ... FIFO memory, 10 ... Data input / output switching circuit,
12 ... Data expansion circuit, 13 ... D / A conversion circuit, 14 ...
Speaker, 17 ... ROM, 18 ... Battery, 19 ... Recording switch, 20 ... Playback switch

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A PC card having a memory, a surface having a slot into which a part of the PC card is inserted, and a finger when the device body is gripped with the PC card inserted into the slot. The housing is provided with a surface having a recording switch and a reproduction switch in an operable position, an input portion for voice data, and a surface having an output portion for generating a voice based on the voice data, and the housing is provided. In response to the pressing of the recording switch, the recording mechanism that compresses the audio data input to the input unit and stores it in the memory of the PC card, and in response to the pressing of the playback switch, is stored in the memory of the PC card. A reproducing mechanism for reading the stored data, expanding the read data and outputting the expanded data to the output unit, and a power supply unit using a battery are provided inside the PC card or the housing. Band type of recording and reproducing apparatus. 2. A PC card provided with a memory, a slot into which a part of the PC card is inserted, and a position where a finger can be operated when the main body of the apparatus is gripped with the PC card inserted into the slot. A recording switch and a reproduction switch provided in, an input section for audio data,
An output unit that generates a sound based on the sound data, and a recording mechanism that compresses the sound data input to the input unit and stores the sound data in the memory in the PC card in response to the pressing of the sound recording switch, and a reproducing switch. A housing provided with a reproduction mechanism that reads data stored in the memory of the PC card in response to the pressing, expands the read data, and outputs the expanded data to the output unit, and a power supply unit using a battery. A portable recording / playback device.