JPH10326448A - Data transmitting device and data transmitting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a data transmitting device capable of realizing a multiple channel transmission of a long time program while reducing the number of required VTRs(video tape recorders). SOLUTION: The transfer of data to a disk device 2 from a VTR device 1 is performed at a high speed, and also the write-in of these transferred data to each disk block DB1-DBn is performed at a speed higher than the data transmitting speed from each transmitting channel of the disk device 2. In this case, the write-in of data to each disk block DB1-DBn is made on the region where the reproduction is already finished, among each disk block. By making the transferring data to compressive data, such a high speed transfer is easily realized. The transmission of the programs of multiple channels is allowed without using the plural VTR devices. Further, the long time program is easily transmitted as compared with the case of being composed by using the disk only, since the transmission is made by means of reproducing the material data accumulated in a cassette tape of a large capacity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data transmission device and a data transmission method for transmitting data such as video data and audio data to the outside.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of information provision due to the spread of CATV (cable television) and the like, the number of channels has increased.
There is an increasing demand to simultaneously reproduce a plurality of video / audio data from one video / audio data recording / reproducing apparatus. For example, the content of a plurality of programs that a broadcasting station is trying to provide is recorded in a distributed manner as a plurality of material data, and simultaneous transmission of multiple channels is performed. Various usage patterns are conceivable, for example, in the case of performing near-video-on-demand (NVOD) broadcasting by playing back with.

In order to satisfy such a demand, conventionally,
At least one V for each of the plurality of outgoing channels
Prepare a TR (Video Tape Recorder)
In order to realize multi-channel transmission, video and audio data independently reproduced are transmitted from corresponding channels.

On the other hand, there has been proposed a system for realizing multi-channel using a storage device such as a hard disk device which can be accessed randomly. In this system, for example, a plurality of program (program) data is stored in one disk device, and each of the program data is read out (reproduced) in a time-division manner and transmitted for each channel. It is.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, when multi-channeling is performed using a VTR as in the former case, a plurality of VTRs are required. In particular, two VTRs are required for each channel in order to eliminate interruption of broadcasting. Further, more VTRs are required for the entire transmitting apparatus. For this reason, there has been a problem that an increase in the cost of the entire multi-channel data transmission device cannot be avoided. On the other hand, when multi-channeling is performed using a hard disk device or the like as in the latter case, storage capacity is limited as compared with a system using a VTR, so that large program data cannot be stored. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to cope with a long program.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a data transmission apparatus and a data transmission method capable of realizing multi-channel transmission of a long program while reducing the required number of VTRs. Is to provide.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a data transmitting apparatus comprising: a tape device for reproducing material data recorded on a recording tape at a high speed; And a disk device for recording material data transferred from the tape device at a speed exceeding the above-mentioned predetermined speed in a storage area that has already been reproduced. Here, the disk device is composed of a plurality of disk blocks, and for each disk block, the material data recorded in the storage area is reproduced and sent to the outside at a predetermined speed, and transferred from the tape device. It is also possible to record the reproduced material data at a speed exceeding the above-mentioned predetermined speed in a storage area that has already been reproduced. It is also possible to configure so that the material data recorded on the recording tape is compressed data.

According to the data transmission method of the present invention, material data reproduced from a tape device is transferred to a disk device, and the transferred material data is stored in a storage area of the disk device already reproduced at a predetermined speed (external data). The data is recorded at a speed exceeding the data transmission speed, and the material data recorded in the storage area of the disk device is reproduced and transmitted to the outside at the above-mentioned predetermined speed.

[0010] In the data transmission device or the data transmission method according to the present invention, the material data transferred from the tape device to the already reproduced storage region of the storage region of the disk device transmits the data transmission speed from the disk device. Recorded at speeds exceeding In particular, when the disk device is composed of a plurality of disk blocks, the material data transferred from the tape device is distributed to the already-reproduced storage area of each disk block and has a predetermined speed (from the disk device). (Data transmission speed).

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that the data transmission method according to one embodiment of the present invention is embodied by the data transmission device according to the present embodiment, and will be also described below.

The data transmitting apparatus according to the present embodiment is used as a multi-channel automatic video / audio transmitting apparatus, and includes a VTR device 1 capable of reproducing a cassette tape at a high speed, and a data access device by random access. The disk drive 2 includes a readable and writable disk device 2 and a system control device 3 for controlling the entire data transmission device. These devices are interconnected by a data bus 4, an address bus 5, and a control bus 6. Here, the cassette tape corresponds to the “recording tape” in the present invention, the VTR device 1 corresponds to the “tape device” in the present invention, and the disk device 2 corresponds to the “disk device” in the present invention.

The VTR device 1 is provided with two VTR blocks VB1 and VB2 capable of independently reproducing a cassette tape. Here, the cassette tape to be played back is recorded with digitized and compressed video and audio data (hereinafter referred to as material data), and necessary editing is performed depending on the tape. Data compression is performed, for example, using MPEG2 (Moving Picture Expert).
Group 2) and so on. V
Material data recorded on a cassette tape set in the TR block VB1 or VB2 is reproduced at high speed according to a predetermined schedule, and is transferred to the disk device 2 via the data bus 4 at high speed. In the VTR blocks VB1 and VB2, required cassette tapes selected from the tape library 7 and conveyed by a tape exchanging mechanism (not shown) are set. The tape library 7 has a large number of cassette tapes in which material data of various programs are recorded and manages the insertion and removal of the tapes. The operation of the tape library 7 is performed by the system controller via the address bus 5 and the control bus 6. 3 is controlled.

The two VTR blocks VB1 and VB
The reason why 2 is provided is to prevent the reproduction data from being interrupted when the cassette tape is replaced. For this purpose, not only two but also three or more VTR blocks may be provided. Conversely, if the interruption of the reproduction data is not considered, only one VTR block may be provided.

The disk device 2 has a plurality of (here, n) disk blocks DB1 which can operate independently.
To DBn. Each of these disk blocks records and accumulates material data transferred at a high speed from the VTR device 1 at a high speed, sequentially reads and decodes the material data, and decodes video and audio signals for one channel. (Hereinafter referred to as program data.)
At a normal speed (1 × speed). Therefore, the disk device 2 stores n channels of program data (video signals V1 to Vn and audio signals A1 to A1).
n) can be sent in parallel. Here, the disk blocks DB1 to DBn correspond to "disk blocks" in the present invention.

The system control device 3 manages the time of the program to be transmitted from the data transmission device and the contents thereof. More specifically, the system control device 3 controls the program recorded on the cassette tape of the VTR device 1. Control for transferring material data to the disk device 2 according to a predetermined schedule;
Transmission control of program data from the disk device 2, and
The control necessary for exchanging the cassette tape for the VTR device 1 is performed.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the VTR device 1 in FIG. The VTR device 1 includes a reproducing unit 11-1 for reproducing material data digitally recorded on a set cassette tape 10-1 as it is (compressed), and a digital compression unit for setting a cassette tape 10-2. A reproducing unit 11-2 for reproducing recorded material data as it is, and reproducing units 11-1 and 11-
And a buffer memory 13 for temporarily storing the material data output from the playback unit selected by the changeover switch 12 and then outputting the material data.
A bus I / F (interface) 14 for sending material data output from the buffer memory 13 to the data bus 4 (FIG. 1); a control unit 15 for controlling the above units; a control unit 15 and an address bus 5 and a bus I / F 16 connecting the control bus 6 (FIG. 1). The reproducing section 11-1 mainly corresponds to the VTR block VB1 in FIG. 1, and the reproducing section 11-2 mainly corresponds to the VTR block VB2 in FIG.

In the VTR device 1, for example, the reproduction unit 11
The material data reproduced from the cassette tape 10-1 by the -1 is transferred to the buffer memory 1 via the changeover switch 12.
3 is once written into the data bus 3 and output at a proper timing, and sent out onto the data bus 14 via the bus I / F 14. If the program continues even after the playback of the cassette tape 10-1 ends, the changeover switch 12 is switched to the playback unit 11-2, and the playback of the cassette tape 10-2 is continued. Further, if the program continues even after the playback of the cassette tape 10-2 ends, the changeover switch 12 is switched to the playback unit 11-1 side, and the cassette tape 10-2 is played back during the playback of the cassette tape 10-2. The reproduction of the next cassette tape replaced with -1 is continued. As a result, long program data recorded over a plurality of cassette tapes can be reproduced without interruption. The control of each unit as described above is performed by the control unit 15.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of the disk device 2 in FIG. This disk device 2 has a VTR
An input unit 21 for inputting material data transferred from the device 1 via the data bus 4, a control unit 22 for controlling the entire disk device 2, and dividing the disk medium into n disk areas a1 to an Hard disk drive (HDD) 23 and n output units 24-1 to 24-n for outputting data read from each disk area of HDD 23 as program data of independent channels, respectively.
And These units are interconnected by an internal bus 25 including a data bus, an address bus, and a control bus. Here, the disk area ai and the output unit 24-i correspond to the disk block DBi in FIG.
Is equivalent to However, i = 1 to n.

The input unit 21 connects a bus I / F 211 for connection to the data bus 4 and the like, a buffer memory 212 connected to the bus I / F 211, and connects the buffer memory 212 to the internal bus 25. Bus I / F2 for
13 are provided.

The control unit 22 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 2
21, ROM (Read Only Memory) and RA
Memory 222 including M (random access memory)
And a CP to which the CPU 221 and the memory 222 are connected.
It has a U bus 223 and a bus bridge 224 for connecting the CPU bus 223 and the internal bus 25.

The HDD 23 is, for example, configured as a disk array capable of securing redundancy, increasing the transfer rate at the time of recording and reproduction, and increasing the capacity, and each of the disk units as its constituent units is composed of disk areas a1 to an. Alternatively, one disk may be physically divided into a plurality of logical areas, and the respective areas may be allocated to the disk areas a1 to an. V
Material data sent from the TR device 1 via the internal bus 25 is divided into disk areas a1 to an and recorded at high speed, and the material data is read out from each of these disk areas a1 to an and read out from the internal. The data is transferred to the output units 24-1 to 24-n via the bus 25, respectively.

The output unit 24-1 has a buffer memory 242.
I / F 24 for connecting -1 to internal bus 25
1-1, a buffer memory 242-1 for temporarily storing reproduction data transferred from the HDD 23,
A decoder 243-1 for decoding (decompression and video / audio separation processing) material data (compressed data) output from the buffer memory 242-1 to generate baseband video digital data and audio digital data; -1 is converted into an analog video signal V1 and output to the outside, and a video I / F 244-1 is output from the decoder 243-1, and audio digital data output from the decoder 243-1 is converted into an analog audio signal A1. Audio I / F 245 to output to external
-1. Video signal V1 and audio signal A1
Is transmitted at a signal transmission speed (hereinafter, referred to as 1 × speed) that enables normal viewing on a television receiver or the like. Other output units 24-2 to 24-
Since n has the same configuration, the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the operation of the data transmitting apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described.

First, a characteristic portion according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 conceptually shows one of the disk areas a1 to an of the HDD 23 in FIG. 3 (this is described as the disk area a1 here). In this figure, it is assumed that the material data is recorded in chronological order from the left end side to the right end side, and the reproduction of the data is also performed in the same direction. The position (reproduction address) where data is reproduced is indicated by the reproduction address pointer P
The disk area to the right of the address indicated by the reproduction address pointer P is an untransmitted disk area W to which data has not yet been transmitted, and the disk area to the left of the reproduction address pointer P is already This is the transmitted disk area F for which data transmission has been completed.

The untransmitted disk area W of the disk area a1
Are sequentially read out with the movement of the reproduction address pointer P, transferred to the corresponding output unit (here, the output unit 24-1), and temporarily stored in the buffer memory 242-1. After that, it is decoded and output as 1x speed program data (video signal V1 and audio signal A1).

As the reproduction address pointer P sequentially moves to the right in this way, the transmitted disk area F expands rightward with this. The material data transferred at a high speed from the device 1 (FIG. 1) is sequentially written from left to right. However, when writing new material data, the untransmitted disk area W
Do not get inside. Such reading and writing are performed in a time-division manner. At this time, the VTR device 1
The substantial transfer speed of the material data from the computer and the substantial write speed to the disk area a1 are set to be sufficiently higher than the transmission speed of the program data transmitted from the output unit 24-1 to the outside. be able to. This is because program data is decompressed data, whereas material data transferred from the VTR device 1 is compressed data.

When the reproduction address pointer P reaches the right end of the disk area a1 (the right end of the untransmitted disk area W), this time the left end of the disk area a1 (the left end of the area which was the previously transmitted disk area F). Move to. At this point, the entire disk area a1 becomes the untransmitted disk area W. Thereafter, the reproduction is continued while the reproduction address pointer P moves rightward.

The same operation is performed in the other disk area a2.
Are performed in parallel with .about.an. Thereby, VT
The material data transferred at high speed from the R device 1 is distributed to the disk areas a1 to an and written, and the material data is read from the disk areas a1 to an, respectively, and output units 24-1 to 24- From n, it is output as program data of each channel.
As a method of distributing and writing material data to the disk areas a1 to an, a method of simply dividing the material data and writing the divided data to each of the disk areas a1 to an can be used. a
There is also a method of writing multiple times to n.

The writing and reading of data to and from the disk areas a1 to an are performed in a time-division manner as described above. For example, when a certain time interval is set to the disk area a1
To an, and n time slots for writing data to each of the disk areas a1 to an, and a total of 2n time slots. Access (data reading or writing) may be performed within the period. in this case,
The order of the time slots can be set as appropriate.

As described above, program data transmitted from each transmission channel (output units 24-1 to 24-n) is expanded data, whereas program data transmitted from the VTR device 1 to the disk device 2 is Since the material data to be transmitted is compressed data, the substantial transfer speed of the material data from the VTR device 1 and the substantial writing speed to the disk area a1 are determined by the program data transmitted from the output unit 24-1 to the outside. Can be made sufficiently higher than the sending speed.
For example, each transmission channel (output units 24-1 to 24-n)
The playback bit rate (program data transmission speed) from
0 Mbps. In this case, without using a device having a mechanism capable of exceptionally high-speed operation as the VTR device 1,
By increasing the degree of compression of the data recorded on the cassette tape, it is possible to increase the substantial data transfer speed from the VTR device 1 to the disk device 2 to, for example, about 100 Mbps. Here, it is assumed that the time required for exchanging the cassette tape, searching for a specific address on the cassette tape, and high-speed servo lock is not taken into account.
Material data equivalent to 0 minutes can be transferred from the VTR device 1 to the disk device 2 in about 10 minutes. Therefore,
In this example, it is possible to transmit program data of 10 channels from the disk device 2 while supplying the material data for 10 channels from the VTR device 1 to the disk device 2. In this case, the processing speed of the entire disk device 2 is equal to the data recording speed (100 Mbp) equal to the transfer speed from the VTR device 1 to the disk device 2.
s) and the sum of the transmission speeds from the respective transmission channels of the disk device 2 (100 Mbps = 10 channels × 10 Mbps)
s / channel), which is 200 Mbps.

However, in an actual system, in consideration of the above-mentioned time for exchanging video tapes and the like, a margin is given to the processing speed of the entire disk device 2 and, for example, the number of transmission channels is reduced or the VTR device is reduced. It is necessary to set the disk transfer speed from the disk drive 1 to the disk device 2 higher.

Next, the operation of the entire data transmitting apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 5 mainly shows the operation of the tape library 7 and the VTR device 1.

When operating this data transmission device for the first time, the system control device 3 selects a cassette in the tape library 7 via the control bus 7 and the address bus 6 according to a preset transmission schedule list (not shown). Issue instructions and transport instructions. Tape library 7 receiving this
Drives a not-shown tape exchanging mechanism to select a corresponding cassette tape (step S101 in FIG. 5), conveys the cassette tape to the VTR device 1, and simultaneously executes the VTR block V
B1 is selected and set on its mounting portion (not shown) (step S102). At this time, if the transmission schedule list indicates a plurality of cassette tapes, the first two cassette tapes are selected and set in the VTR blocks VB1 and VB2 of the VTR device 1, respectively.

Control unit of tape library 7 (not shown)
In addition, the control unit 15 of the VTR device 1 reports the completion of the cassette tape mounting to the system control device 3 via the control bus 7. The system control device 3 that has received the instruction issues a cassette tape reproduction command (that is, a data transfer command to the disk device 2) to the VTR device 1. VTR receiving this
The control unit 15 of the apparatus 1 controls the reproduction unit 11-1 to search for a reproduction target area on the set cassette tape 10-1, preroll, and wait (step S10).
3). Here, it is assumed that the changeover switch 12 has been switched to the reproduction unit 11-1. When the cassette tape 10-2 is also set in the VTR block VB2, the search and preroll of the cassette tape 10-2 are performed simultaneously with the search and preroll of the cassette tape 10-1 of the VTR block VB1. .

After the cueing of the cassette tape and the pre-roll are completed, a ready state is established (step S104;
Y), when the data transfer destination address on the disk device 2 is set by the system control device 3 (step S1).
05; Y), the control unit 15 of the VTR device 1
-1 to start the high-speed reproduction of the cassette tape 10-1, add a transfer destination address to the reproduced material data, and start the high-speed transfer to the disk device 2 via the data bus 4 (step S106). ). Such high-speed reproduction and transfer of material data are continued until the end of the cassette tape. Then, the reproduction of the cassette tape ends up to the end of the tape (step S107; Y),
Then, when the material data of the scheduled program ends (step S108; N), the processing ends. On the other hand, if the material data of the scheduled program continues to the other cassette tape 10-2 (step S10).
8; Y), the changeover switch 12 is switched to the reproduction section 11-2 side (step S109), and the reproduction of the cassette tape 10-2 and the high-speed transfer to the disk device 2 are continuously performed (step S106).

The input unit 21 of the disk device 2 receives material data transferred at high speed from the VTR device 1. The CPU 221 of the control unit 22 converts the received material data into H
The control necessary for writing data in a time-division manner by distributing the data to the disk areas a1 to an of the DD 23 is performed.

When the writing of the material data to all the disk areas a1 to an of the HDD 23 is completed, the control unit 22 starts reading data from each of the disk areas a1 to an. Data reading is performed in parallel on a time division basis for each of the disk areas a1 to an.
The material data read from each of the disk areas a1 to an are transferred to the corresponding output units 24-1 to 24-n via the internal bus 25, where they are decoded and processed at 1x speed. Video signals V1 to Vn
And audio signals A1 to An).

When data is read, the disk area a1
.. An, the material data newly transferred from the VTR device 1 is recorded in a time-division manner in each sent-out disk area F generated on the left side of the reproduction address pointer P in each of.

As described above, in the data transmission apparatus according to the present embodiment, the data transfer from the VTR apparatus 1 to the disk apparatus 2 and the data transmission to the disk apparatus 2 are performed at a higher speed than the data rate reproduced and transmitted from the disk apparatus 2. Since writing is performed, multi-channel program transmission can be performed without using a plurality of VTR devices. Moreover, since the material data stored in the large-capacity cassette tape is reproduced and transmitted, it is easier to transmit a program for a longer time than in the case where the disk is constructed using only the disk.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can be variously modified within an equivalent range. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the VTR device 1 enables high-speed transfer by reproducing material data digitally recorded on the cassette tape 10-1 and transferring the material data to the disk device 2.
If the VTR device 1 has an exceptionally high-speed drive mechanism and can transfer data to the disk device 2 at a higher speed than the transmission speed of each channel of the disk device 2, even if the data is not compressed, there are many cases. It is possible to realize channel transmission.

Further, in the above embodiment, a schedule transmission system for transmitting a program according to a predetermined schedule has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the program is transmitted in response to a request from a user. Video to do
It is also applicable to on-demand systems.

[0043]

As described above, according to the data transmission apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 or the data transmission method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, the data is recorded in the storage area of the disk device. The reproduced material data is reproduced and transmitted to the outside at a predetermined speed, and the material data transferred from the tape device is transferred to the already-reproduced storage region of the storage region of the disk device. Since it was recorded at a speed exceeding the sending speed,
It is easy to construct a multi-channel data transmission system.

In particular, according to the data transmission device of the second aspect or the data transmission method of the fourth aspect, the disk device is constituted by a plurality of disk blocks, and each disk block is recorded in the storage area. The reproduced material data is reproduced and transmitted to the outside at a predetermined speed, and the material data transferred from the tape device is recorded in the already reproduced storage area at a speed exceeding the data transmission speed from the disk device. Because it was configured as
Further, it is possible to transmit data of multiple channels while greatly reducing the number of tape devices as compared with the conventional system. Therefore, there is an effect that the system cost per channel can be reduced. Further, since the large capacity characteristic of the tape device is used, there is an effect that long-term continuous data transmission can be easily realized while using a disk device having a limited capacity.

According to the data transmission device of the third aspect or the data transmission method of the sixth aspect, the material data recorded on the recording tape is configured to be compressed data. Can transfer high-speed data from a tape device to a disk device without having a special high-speed playback mechanism. Therefore, there is an effect that the number of transmission channels from the disk device can be increased, or data can be written to the disk device with a margin.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic circuit configuration of the VTR device in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic circuit configuration of the disk device in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation of the disk device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for mainly explaining the operation of the VTR device in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... VTR apparatus, 2 ... disk apparatus, 3 ... system control apparatus, 4 ... data bus, 5 ... address bus, 6 ... control bus, 7 ... tape library, 10-1 ... cassette tape, V1 ... video signal, A1 ... Audio signal, F: transmitted disk area, W: untransmitted disk area, P: reproduction address pointer, DB1 to DBn: disk block

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A tape device for reproducing material data recorded on a recording tape at high speed, and reproducing material data recorded in a storage area and sending the material data to the outside at a predetermined speed, and transferring the data from the tape device. And a disk device for recording the material data that has been reproduced at a speed exceeding the predetermined speed in a storage area that has already been reproduced. 2. The disk device includes a plurality of disk blocks. For each of the disk blocks, the disk device reproduces material data recorded in a storage area and sends the material data to the outside at a predetermined speed. 2. The data transmitting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material data transferred from the tape device is recorded at a speed exceeding the predetermined speed in a storage area that has already been reproduced. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the material data recorded on the recording tape is compressed data.
The data transmission device according to the above. 4. A tape device capable of reproducing material data recorded on a recording tape at a high speed, and a disk device capable of reproducing material data recorded in a storage area and sending the material data to the outside at a predetermined speed. Transferring the material data reproduced from the tape device to the disk device, and transferring the transferred material data to the already reproduced storage area of the disk device at the predetermined speed. A data transmission method for recording at a higher speed, reproducing material data recorded in a recording area of the disk device, and transmitting the material data to the outside at the predetermined speed. 5. The disk device is constituted by a plurality of disk blocks, and material data reproduced and transferred by the tape device is transferred to a storage area of each disk block which has already been reproduced, at a speed exceeding the predetermined speed. 5. The data transmission method according to claim 4, wherein the data is recorded at a speed, and the material data recorded in the recording area of each disk block is reproduced and transmitted to the outside at the predetermined speed. . 6. The material data recorded on the recording tape is compressed data.
Described data transmission method.