KR20010011536A - Method for placement of recording area of a recording medium in a broadcast receiving system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for dividing the recording area of a hard disk drive of a TV receiver is provided to record and play back plural video streams at the same time while keeping a time delay watch function. CONSTITUTION: A circular buffer area(130) is allocated in the center of the recording surface of a hard disk to record the first broadcasting signal and play back the past-recorded first broadcasting signal in real time at the same time. Video file areas(110A,110B) are allocated to the inner/outer circumferences of the recording surface of the hard disk respectively to manage the second broadcasting signal by each logical file. A normal file area is allocated to the boundary of the circular buffer area to manage files for recording other data except video data. A control data area(120) having file data is allocated to the border portion between the circular buffer area and video file area.

Description

TECHNICAL FOR PLACEMENT OF RECORDING AREA OF A RECORDING MEDIUM IN A BROADCAST RECEIVING SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a broadcast receiving system that can simultaneously support time delay viewing and recording and playback of broadcast signals, and more particularly to allow recording and playback of broadcast programs while allowing time delay viewing of broadcast signals. A method of dividing a recording area is provided.

The hard disk drive, which is a secondary memory device of a computer system, can be randomly accessed, and the data transmission speed is high, and it can be cheaper and larger in capacity than other auxiliary memory devices. It is used as an access storage device.

A broadcast receiving system having a random access storage device is a system capable of simultaneously recording and playing back a broadcast video stream and viewing time delays. Simultaneous recording and reproducing of the time-delayed viewing of the broadcast signal and the video stream may be implemented by buffering the video stream input / output to the hard disk drive.

Hereinafter, a method of arranging a video stream on a hard disk surface of a recording medium in a broadcast receiving system capable of recording and playing at the same time as time delay viewing will be described.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method of managing a hard disk in a circular buffer form in a broadcast receiving system for time delay viewing, and FIG. 2 is another diagram of managing a plurality of video streams arranged in a discontinuous manner on a hard disk side. The drawings for explaining the method are illustrated.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the hard disk is managed in the form of a circular buffer, the video stream is recorded and stored in blocks of fixed size. When the hard disk is managed as a circular buffer, a write point (W) and a read point are set, and then a new video stream is recorded and stored while moving clockwise based on the write point (W). do. In contrast, during the read operation, the circular buffer is randomly accessible at an arbitrary time point so that a predetermined video stream is reproduced.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 2, in the method of disposing and managing a video stream discontinuously, a hard disk area includes blocks of fixed size, and the recorded video stream is a logical video file unit composed of several blocks. Is stored as. In this case, the blocks constituting each video file are not necessarily physically contiguous. This is because video files of different sizes are deleted, resulting in discontinuous free blocks. On the other hand, various information (title, time information, etc.) related to each video file and the position information of blocks belonging to each file are recorded and stored in a separate control information area.

3 illustrates an example of I / O transaction scheduling of a hard disk drive for recording and playing back a plurality of video streams in real time. 3 shows an example of processing three video streams using the C-LOOK algorithm in an I / O transaction scheduling method of a hard disk drive for simultaneously recording and playing a plurality of video streams. The C-LOOK algorithm is basically described in "IEEE Computer. Vol. 27, No. 3," I / O ISSUES in a Multimedia System ". Pp 67-74. Mar 1994. Reddy ALN, and Wyllie JC," SCAN-Earliest-Deadline-First (SCAN-EDF) method of Computer Communications, Vol 18, No. 3, "Multimedia File Systems Survey: Approaches for Continuous Media Disk Scheduling", pp 133-144, Mar. 1995, Ralf Steinmetz. The description is similar to the Gated Operation method described in US Pat. No. 5,754,882, and will be omitted herein.

Referring to Fig. 3, video streams 1 and 2 are video streams being played back and video stream 3 are video streams being recorded. In most methods of processing video streams, input / output (I / O) control of the hard disk drive is performed at a constant period T, and processes each video stream within each period. Example cycle If you read the blocks stored on the hard disk side so that video streams 1 and 2 are output at the Playback during playback (corresponding to a video processor). To ensure continuous playback without delay, the hard disk drive must read the blocks to be played in the next cycle at each cycle. In the case of recording, on the contrary, the block must be generated before the block writing cycle and transferred to the hard disk drive. The order of processing each video stream within one period may vary depending on the specific I / O transaction scheduling method. In the C-LOOK algorithm, the order of processing each video stream coincides with the head moving direction. . For example, if the head of the HDD moves from the outermost track to the innermost track and the video streams 1,2,3 blocks are located at track numbers 10,100 and 60, respectively, the period is as shown in FIG. Will read the video streams 1, 3, and 2 in this order.

However, in the broadcast receiving system that manages the hard disk area in a circular buffer form as shown in FIG. 1, although one video stream can be recorded and recorded parts can be played with a time difference at the same time, a plurality of video streams can be simultaneously recorded. Can not play. In addition, video streams cannot be organized in logical video file units, and arbitrary video files cannot be deleted.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, in the broadcast reception system for disposing and managing video streams discontinuously, since the hard disk space can be freely used, the advantage of configuring recorded video streams in logical file units is advantageous. However, because the block is not automatically recycled in a limited space such as a circular buffer, it is not easy to manage the buffer for time delay viewing. The reason is that the free blocks are scattered.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for solving the problems in utilizing a recording area of a recording medium in broadcast reception systems capable of recording and reproducing broadcast signals at the same time as the conventional time delay viewing.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of efficiently dividing and managing a recording medium recording area to provide a time delay viewing function in a broadcast receiving system and to simultaneously record and reproduce a plurality of video streams.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a recording medium recording area partitioning method for providing a time delay viewing function and simultaneously recording and reproducing a plurality of video streams at a high speed.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for arranging a recording medium recording area in a broadcast receiving system having a random access storage device.

A first step of disposing a circular buffer area at a predetermined position on the recording medium for recording the first broadcast signal and simultaneously reproducing the first broadcast signal recorded at a past time point in real time;

A second process of arranging a video file area for managing the second broadcast signal recorded according to time in logical file units at another predetermined position of the recording medium;

And a third process of arranging a control information area in which information of the recorded files is recorded and stored at another predetermined position of the recording medium.

1 is a view for explaining a method for managing a hard disk in the form of a circular buffer in a broadcast receiving system for time delay viewing.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining another method of managing a plurality of video streams so that they are arranged discontinuously in terms of a hard disk.

3 is an illustration of I / O transaction scheduling of a hard disk drive for recording and playing back multiple video streams in real time.

Figure 4 is a block diagram of a broadcast receiving system capable of recording and playing back a broadcast signal simultaneously with time delay viewing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is an exemplary hard disk recording area partitioning arrangement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary view of a video stream recorded and stored in divided hard disk recording areas according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of processing each stream allocated as shown in FIG. 6 using the C-LOOK algorithm. FIG.

8 is a simplified diagram of a hard disk recording area according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an operation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4 is a block diagram of a broadcast receiving system capable of recording and reproducing broadcast signals simultaneously with time delay viewing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the broadcast signal receiver 10 includes an RF tuner 12 for receiving a digital broadcast signal input from the outside and a plurality of RF tuners 14 and 16 for receiving an analog broadcast signal input from the outside. And a plurality of video compressors 18, 20 and 22 for converting and compressing analog signals input through the plurality of RF tuners 14 and 16 into digital signals.

The random access storage device 30 records and stores a digital video stream input from the broadcast signal receiving unit 10 under the control of the controller 50 on a hard disk surface of a recording medium, and reads out the stored video stream to restore the video. Output as (50). The random access storage device 30 described above includes a dual port RAM 32 for temporarily storing the digital video stream, a hard disk (s) for permanently storing the digital video stream, and a drive, as is already known. And an expansion unit for expanding the HDD control unit and the hard disk drive (HDD) for controlling the operation of the drive. The extension refers to the IEEE 1394 interface.

The video recovery unit 50 restores the video stream output from the random access storage device 30 to the original signal through the system bus and outputs the original signal to the television receiver 90.

The controller 40 is a ROM for storing control program data for controlling the random access storage device 30 and the broadcast signal receiving unit 10, and a RAM for temporarily storing data generated during a control operation. And a memory configured.

The remote controller 60 includes a plurality of control keys for system control, and generates and outputs data according to the operation of the control key to the controller 40. The plurality of adjustment keys are composed of adjustment keys for inputting a pause, rewind, and fast search command.

The computer connection unit 70 interfaces signals transmitted and received between the broadcast receiving system and the computer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the time checker 80 notifies time information so that the broadcast receiving system can perform automatic recording. .

5 illustrates an exemplary hard disk recording area division according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, the hard disk recording area is divided into four areas. In this case, the hard disk recording area is assumed to indicate an area from the outermost track (denoted by track number "0") to the innermost track (denoted by track number "n"). The hard disk recording area according to an embodiment of the present invention is a video file area 1, 2 (110A, 110B), a control information area 120, a circular buffer area 130 and a general file area 140 for time delay viewing. Divided. The reason for dividing the hard disk recording area into four areas as described above is to efficiently record and reproduce broadcast signals simultaneously with time delay viewing of broadcast signals.

Hereinafter, the use of each of the above-described areas, first, the circular buffer area 130 for time-delay viewing is an area for recording the signals being broadcast and at the same time the reproduction of the broadcast signal recorded in the past time point in real time. The circular buffer area 130 may be located anywhere in the hard disk recording area. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the circular buffer area 130 is preferably set to tracks adjacent to the left and right sides of the center track n / 2. The reason is to minimize search movement time of the head when recording or reproducing a specific channel broadcast signal simultaneously with time delay viewing.

On the other hand, video file areas 1 and 2 (110A and 110B) respectively located on the outer and inner circumferences of the hard disk are areas for recording broadcast signals at a reserved time. The recorded video streams are recorded in logical file units according to the recording time. Managed. As the video file arrangement method in the video file areas 110A and 110B, a discontinuous arrangement method is used as shown in FIG.

The general file area 140 is an area for managing files that store information other than a continuous medium such as video, and is also managed using a discontinuous arrangement method.

The control information area 120 is an area in which various information (title, time information, etc.) related to each video file and location information of blocks belonging to each file are recorded and stored.

Meanwhile, FIG. 6 illustrates a video stream recorded and stored in divided hard disk recording areas according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates four video stream blocks arranged in each area. FIG. 7 illustrates a diagram for describing a process of processing each stream allocated as shown in FIG. 6 using the C-LOOK algorithm.

In FIG. 6, video stream 1 220 represents a video stream that is being recorded for time delay viewing, and is recorded and stored in the circular buffer area 130. Video stream 2 210 is video that has already been recorded for time delay viewing. Represents a stream. Video stream 3 230 is a video stream that is separately recorded regardless of the broadcast currently being viewed, and is recorded and stored in video file area 2 110B, and video stream 4 200 is a video stream that belongs to a video file that has already been recorded. The state stored in the video file area 1 110A is illustrated.

Assuming such an example, if the time delayed viewing and playback operations are selected to be performed at the same time, the C-LOOK algorithm reads or records the video stream in order of increasing track number. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 7, video stream input / output (I / O) processing procedures of the hard disk drive (HDD) are performed in the order of video streams 4, 2, 1, and 3. As a result, video streams 1 220 and 3 230 To dual port RAM (32) and cycles Is written to the allocated recording area of the hard disk drive 34 at. Video streams 2 210 and 4 200, on the other hand, Read from the hard disk recording area Is output (reproduced) from the dual port RAM 32 to the video reconstruction unit 50. If it is assumed that delay-free playback is performed continuously, the video stream to be reproduced in the next cycle must be read from the recording area in each cycle, and in the case of recording, the video stream must be generated before the cycle in which the video stream is recorded.

As described above, when the circular buffer area 130 is disposed in the center portion of the hard disk recording area, the movement time of the head that occurs on average, that is, the average search time, can be minimized as compared with that otherwise.

8 is a simplified view of a hard disk recording area according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which tracks in which two video stream blocks are recorded and stored are spaced apart from n (track or area where a circular buffer area is located) by i and j, respectively. It shows the state. As illustrated, when the circular buffer region is located at n, if the video stream processed in the circular buffer region and blocks of two arbitrary video streams are processed using the C-LOOK algorithm, the search must be performed by i. However, if the circular buffer area is located on track 0, i + n search must be performed and thus more distances must be searched by n. Consequently, the present invention consequently performs recording and playback simultaneously with time delay viewing. The travel time can be reduced.

As described above, the present invention divides a recording area of a recording medium into a circular buffer area and a discontinuous file arrangement area in a broadcast receiving system capable of recording and reproducing broadcast signals simultaneously with time delay viewing, thereby reducing the recording area within a limited space. In addition to automatic recycling, the video stream can be organized in logical video file units. In addition, it is possible to selectively delete any recorded video file, and above all, it is possible to shorten the search time of the head to speed up the data access speed.

Claims (7)

A recording medium recording area partitioning method in a broadcast receiving system having a random access storage device, the method comprising: A first step of disposing a circular buffer area at a predetermined position on the recording medium for recording the first broadcast signal and simultaneously reproducing the first broadcast signal recorded at a past time point in real time; A second process of arranging a video file area for managing the second broadcast signal recorded according to time in logical file units at another predetermined position of the recording medium; And a third process of arranging a control information area in which information of the recorded files is recorded and stored at another predetermined position of the recording medium. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the video file area is divided into a plurality of small areas and managed separately. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the circular buffer area and the video file area consist of blocks of fixed size. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the video file area is managed by discontinuously arranging video file blocks. 4. A fourth process according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a general file area for managing files storing other information other than a continuous medium such as video information is arranged at another predetermined position of the recording medium. The recording medium partitioning method of claim 1, further comprising a recording medium. A recording medium recording area partitioning method in a broadcast receiving system having a hard disk drive, A first step of allocating a circular buffer area to a central portion of the hard disk recording surface for recording the first broadcast signal and simultaneously reproducing the first broadcast signal recorded at a past time point in real time; A second process of allocating a video file area for managing the second broadcast signal recorded according to time in logical file units to each of an inner circumferential portion and an outer circumferential portion of the hard disk recording surface; A third process of allocating a general file area for managing files storing information other than a continuous medium such as video information to the circular buffer area at a boundary portion; And a fourth process of allocating a control information area in which information of recorded files is recorded and stored at a boundary portion between the circular buffer area and the video file area. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the circular buffer area is allocated to be symmetrical with respect to the center track of the hard disk recording surface.