MXPA99010568A - Recording/reproduction and/or editing of real time information on/from a disc like record carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

Various measures are proposed for enabling simultaneous reading and writing of real time information, such as a digital video signal, from/onto a disc-like record carrier. The measures embody a requirement to the size of the blocks of information recorded in fixed sized fragment areas on the record carrier, and may require a re-ordering of read steps in a read/write cycle. Further, measures are disclosed to enable reproduction and seamless editing. The seamless editing method requires the generation of one or more bridging blocks to be recorded in fixed size fragment areas on the disk like record carrier.

Description

REGISTRATION / REPRODUCTION AND / OR EDITING OF INFORMATION IN REAL TIME ON / OF A CARRIER OF REGISTRATION SIMILAR TO A DISK DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to an apparatus for recording a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, on a record carrier similar to a disk, with an apparatus for editing an initially registered information signal. on the record carrier similar to a disk, with the corresponding methods to record / edit information, with a reading device to read the information signal and with a record carrier. The record carrier can be of the magnetic or optical type. An apparatus for recording a real-time information signal, such as a video information signal encoded by MPEG on a record carrier is known from USP 5,579,183 (PHN 14818). The record carrier in such a document is longitudinally. Disk-like record carriers have the advantage of a short access time. This allows the possibility of carrying out the "simultaneous" recording and reproduction of information signals on / of the record carrier. During registration and reproduction, the information should be recorded on / reproduced from the record carrier, so that a real-time information signal can be recorded on the record carrier and "at the same time" a real-time information signal Initially registered on the record carrier can be reproduced without any interruption. The main purpose of the invention is to provide the measures to allow different requirements, such as those described above. According to the invention, the apparatus for recording a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, on a record carrier similar to a disk, a data recording portion which is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, the apparatus comprises input means for receiving the information signal, signal processing means for processing the information signal in a channel signal to register the channel signal on the record carrier similar to a disk, - means for writing to write the channel signal on the record carrier, the signal processing means are adapted to convert the information signal into information blocks of the channel signal, the writing is adapted to write a block of information of the signal of channel in a fragmented area on the record carrier, and where the signal processing is further adapted to convert the signal signal of information in the information blocks of the channel signal, so that the size of the information blocks can be variable and satisfies the following relationship: SFA / 2 < size of a block of the channel signal < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented area. In addition, the apparatus for avoiding a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, recorded in a previous registration step on a record carrier similar to a disk, a data recording portion which is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, the information signal is converted into a channel signal before being recorded and after being recorded on the record carrier, so that the information blocks of the channel signal are recorded in the fragmented areas corresponding to the record carrier, the apparatus comprises: input means for receiving an output position in a first recorded information signal on the record carrier to receive an entry position in a second information signal, which may be the first information signal, recorded on the record carrier, means for storing information related to the position of exit and entry, means that generate union blocks to generate at least one information junction block, information binding block which comprises information of at least one of the first and second information signals, information signal which is located before the exit position in the first information signal and / or after the information position. entry in the second information signal, and where the size of the information binding block can be variable and satisfies the requirement: SFA / 2 < size of a union of information block < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented areas, writing means for writing at least one information binding block in a corresponding fragmented area, and means for reproducing the edited information flow of the record carrier.

In addition, the apparatus for simultaneously recording and reproducing information signals in real time, such as digital video signals, on / of a record carrier similar to the disk, a portion of the data record is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, apparatus comprises, input means for receiving a first information signal to register it, signal processing means for processing the first information signal in a channel signal for recording the channel signal on the record carrier similar to the disk, writing means to write the channel signal on the record carrier, the signal processing means is adapted to convert the first information signal into the information blocks of the channel, the writing means is adapted to write a block of information of the signal of channel in a fragmented area on the record carrier, the apparatus further comprises: reading god to read the information blocks of the corresponding fragmented areas on the record carrier, signal processing means for processing the information blocks to obtain a second information signal, output means for supplying the second information signal reproduced from the register carrier, the simultaneous registration / reproduction of the first and second information signals is carried out in subsequent cycles, a cycle comprises a write step for writing a signal block of the first information signal in a fragmented area on the register carrier and a plurality of steps for reading a portion of the information of the second information signal of the same plurality of fragmented areas, the apparatus is adapted to order the reading of the portions in a cycle. These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and deduced with reference to the subsequent embodiments in the description of the figures, in which Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the apparatus, Figure 2 shows the registration of the information blocks in fragmented areas on the record carrier, Figure 3 shows the principle of reproduction of a video information signal, Figure 4 shows the editing principle of the video information signal, / Figure 5 shows the beginning "simultaneous" playback and recording, Figure 6 shows a situation during editing when the generation and registration of the information binding block is not required, Figure 7 shows an example of the editing of a video information signal and the generation of an information binding block, in the place of an exit point of the information signal, Figure 8 shows another example of editing an information video information signal and the generation of an information binding block, in the same place of the exit point as in Figure 7, Figure 9 shows an example of the edition of a video information signal and the generation of an information junction block, in the place of an entry point to the information signal, Figure 10 shows an example of the edition of two information signals and the generation of an information junction block, Figure 11 shows an example of the edition of two information signals and the generation of an information binding block, where the edition includes recoding some of the information of the two information signals, Figure 12 shows the additional elaboration of the apparatus, and Figure 13 shows two examples of a rearrangement of the reading steps in a cycle in which the information is written and read "simultaneously" on / of the record carrier. Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention. The following description of the figures, attention will focus on the recording, reproduction and editing of a video information signal. However, it should be noted that other types of signals could be equally processed, such as audio signals or data signals. The apparatus comprises an input terminal 1 for receiving a video information signal to be recorded on the record carrier similar to a disk 3. Further, the apparatus comprises an output terminal 2 for supplying a video information signal reproduced from the record carrier 3. The record carrier 3 is a record carrier similar to a magnetic or optical disk. The data area of the record carrier similar to a disk 3 consists of a contiguous range of physical sectors, which has corresponding sector addresses. That address space is divided into fragmented areas. A fragmented area is a contiguous sequence of sectors, with a fixed length. Preferably, this length corresponds to an integer number of ECC blocks included in the video information signal to be recorded. The apparatus shown in Figure 1 is shown decomposed into two main parts of the system, namely the disk subsystem 6 and what is known as the "video recorder subsystem" 8. The two subsystems are characterized by the following characteristics: The disk subsystem can be managed transparently in terms of logical addresses. This handles the management of defects (which involves the mapping of logical addresses on physical addresses) autonomously. For real-time data, the disk subsystem is directed on a basis related to the fragment. For data driven in this way, the disk subsystem can guarantee a maximum sustainable bit rate for reading and / or writing. In the case of simultaneous reading and writing, the disk subsystem handles the reading / writing and the associated intermediate memory of the flow data of the independent reading and writing channels.

For data in non-real time, the disk subsystem can be managed on a sector basis. For data addressed in this way, the disk subsystem can not guarantee any sustainable bit rate for reading or writing. The video recorder subsystem cares for the video application, as well as the administration of the file system. As a result, the disk subsystem does not interpret any of the data recorded in the data area of the disk. To perform real-time playback in all situations, the fragmented areas introduced at the beginning need to have a specific size. Also, in a situation where simultaneous recording and reproduction takes place, the reproduction must be uninterrupted. In the present example, the size of the fragment is chosen so that it satisfies the following requirement: fragment size = 4 MB = 2 22 bytes The recording of a video information signal will be discussed briefly hereinafter with reference to figure 2. In the video recorder subsystem, the video information signal, which is a real-time signal, is converted into a video signal. a real time file, as shown in figure 2a. A real-time file consists of a sequence of information signal blocks registered in corresponding fragmented areas. There is no restriction on the location of the fragmented areas on the disk and, consequently, two consecutive fragmented areas comprising portions of information of the recorded information signal can be anywhere in the logical address space, as shown in FIG. Figure 2b. Within each fragmented area, the real-time data is assigned contiguously. Each real-time file represents a single AV stream. The AV flow data is obtained by concatenating the fragmented data in the sequence order of the file. Next, a reproduction of a recorded video information signal on a record carrier with reference to FIG. 3 will be discussed briefly hereinafter. The reproduction of a recorded video information signal on the record carrier is controlled by means of what is known as "reproduction control program" (PBC program). In general, each PBC program defines a (new) playback sequence. This is a sequence of fragmented areas with, for each fragmented area, a specification of a data segment that has been read from that fragment. Reference is made in this regard to Figure 3, where the reproduction of only a portion of the first three fragmented areas in the sequence of fragmented areas in Figure 3 is shown. A segment may be a complete fragmented area, but in general it will be only part of the fragmented area. (The latter usually occurs around the transition from some part of an original record to the next part of it or another record as a result of editing). Note, that the simple linear reproduction of an original record can be considered as a special case of a PBC program: in this case, the reproduction sequence is defined as the sequence of fragmented areas in the real-time file, where each segment is a complete fragmented area except, probably for the segment in the last fragmented area of the file. For fragmented areas in a sequence of reproduction, there is no restriction on the location of fragmented areas and, consequently, any two consecutive fragmented areas can be anywhere in the logical address space. Hereinafter, the editing of one or more video information signals recorded on the record carrier is discussed briefly hereinafter with reference to Figure 4. Figure 4 shows two video information signals initially recorded on the record carrier 3, indicated by two sequences of fragments named "file A" and "file B". To make an edited version of one or more video information signals initially recorded, a new PBC program must be made to define the edited AV sequence. This new PBC program thus defines a new AV sequence obtained by concatenating parts of the initial AV registers in a new order. The parties can be from the same registry or from a different registry. To play a PBC program, the data of the different parts of (one or more) real-time files have to be provided to a decoder. This implies a new flow of data that is obtained by concatenating parts of the flows represented by each file in real time. In Figure 4, this is illustrated by a PBC program that uses three parts, one from file A and two from file B. Figure 4 shows that the edited version starts at a point Pi in the fragmented area f (i) in the sequence of fragmented areas of figure A and continues to point P2 in the new fragmented area f (i + l) of file A. Then playback jumps to point P3 in the fragmented area f (j) in file B , and continue to point P in the fragmented area f (j + 2) in file B. Then the playback jumps to point P5 in the same file B, which may be an earlier point in the sequence of areas fragmented from file B to point P3, or a later point in the sequence to point P4. Next, a condition for seamless reproduction during simultaneous registration will be discussed. In general, seamless reproduction of PBC programs can be done under certain conditions. The most severe conditions are required to guarantee the seamless reproduction that takes place simultaneously with the registration. A simple condition will be produced for this purpose. This is a restriction on the length of the data segments that occur in the reproduction sequences, as follows: to guarantee the seamless simultaneous reproduction of a PBC program, the reproduction sequence defined by the PBC program must be such that the length of the Segment in all fragments (except the first and last fragmented areas) must satisfy: 2 MB < segment length < 4 MB The use of fragmented areas allows the operation requirements to be considered at worst in terms of fragmented areas and segments (the signal blocks stored in the fragmented areas) only, as will be described hereinafter. This is based on the fact that it is guaranteed that the unique logical fragmented areas, and consequently the data segments within the fragmented areas, are physically contiguous on the disk, even after being traced again due to defects. Among the fragmented areas, however, there is no such guarantee: logically, consecutive fragmented areas can be arbitrarily far away on the disk. As a result of this, the analysis of the operation requirements concentrates on the following: a. For reproduction, it is considered that a data stream of a sequence of segments on the disk is read. Each segment is contiguous and has an arbitrary length of between 2 MB and 4 MB, but the segments have arbitrary locations on the disk. b. To register, it is considered that a data stream must be written in a sequence of fragmented areas of 4 MB on the disk. Fragmented areas have arbitrary locations on the disk. Note that for reproduction, the length of the segment is flexible. This corresponds to the condition of the segment for seamless reproduction during simultaneous registration. For the record, however, segmented areas with fixed length are written.

Given a data flow to record and reproduce, we will concentrate on the disk subsystem during simultaneous recording and playback. It should be assumed that the video recorder subsystem delivers data a peak user speed R to the disk subsystem for the record. Similarly, it accepts data with a peak R user speed of the disk subsystem for playback. It is also assumed that the video recorder subsystem distributes a sequence of segment addresses for the registration and playback flow also in advance. For simultaneous recording and playback, the disk subsystem must be capable of interleaving the read and write sections, so that the recording and reproduction channels can guarantee sustained operation at peak speed without overflowing or maintaining a low flow in the buffer In general, different R / W programming algorithms can be used to achieve this. There are, however, strong reasons to do the programming in such a way that the cycle time from R / W to peak speed is as short as possible: Shorter cycle times involve smaller buffer sizes for the buffer of reading and writing, and consequently for the total memory in the disk subsystem.

Shorter cycle times imply shorter response times to user sections. As an example of response times, consider a situation where the user is performing simultaneous recording and playback and suddenly wants to start playing from a new position. To keep the total response time of the device (visible to the user on its screen) as short as possible, it is important that the disk subsystem be able to start the flow data distribution from the new position as soon as possible. Of course, this must be done in such a way that once the distribution is started, a seamless reproduction at peak speed is guaranteed. Also, writing must continue uninterrupted with guaranteed performance. For the analysis here, a programming method is assumed, based on a cycle in which a complete fragmented area is written. For the analysis of the parameters of subsequent operation, it is sufficient to consider the minimum cycle time under worst-case conditions. Such a cycle in the worst case consists of a writing interval in which a 4 MB segment is written, and a reading interval in which at least 4 MB are read, divided into one or more segments. The cycle includes at least 2 hops (to and from the writing site), and possibly more, because the lengths of the segments for reading are flexible and may be less than 4 MB. This may result in additional breaks from one place in the read segment to another. However, since the segments read are not less than 2 MB, more than two additional jumps are necessary to collect the total of 4 MB. In this way, an R / W cycle in the worst case has a total of four jumps, as illustrated in Figure 5. In this figure, x denotes the last part of a segment read, and denotes a segment of complete union, with a length between 2 MB and 4 MB, and z denotes the first part of a segment read and the total size of x, y and z is again 4 MB in the present example. In general, the drive parameters required to achieve guaranteed performance for simultaneous playback registration depends on major design decisions such as rotational mode, etc. These decisions in turn depend on the characteristics of the media. The conditions formulated above for seamless reproduction during simultaneous registration are derived so that they can satisfy the different designs with real parameters. To show this, we discuss the example of a CLV (constant linear speed) drive design here.

In the case of a CLV design, the transfer rates for reading and writing are the same and independent of the physical location on the disk. Therefore, the worst-case cycle described above can be analyzed in terms of only two drive parameters: the transfer rate R and the total access time in the worst case t. The access time in the worst case t is the maximum time between the end of the transfer of data on one place and the beginning of the transfer of data on another place, for any pair of places in the data area of the disk . The time covers the ascent / descent of the disk speed, rotational latency, possible recoveries, etc., but not processing delays, etc. For the worst-case cycle described in the previous section, all jumps can be jumps in the worst case of duration t. This gives the following expression for the worst-case cycle time: Tmax = 2F / Rt + 4.t where F is the size of the fragment: F = 4 MB 33. 6.106 bits, To ensure sustainable operation at the peak speed of user R, the following must be satisfied: F > R.Tmax This produces: R < F / Tmax = Rt.F / 2. (F + 2Rt.t) As an example, with Rt = 35 Mbps and t = 500 ms, we will have: R < 8.57 Mbps. Next, the edition will be described further. Creating a new PBC program or editing an existing PBC program usually results in a new playback sequence. The adjective is to ensure that the result is reproducible seamlessly under all circumstances, even during simultaneous registration. A series of examples will be discussed, where it was assumed that the user's intention is to make a new AV flow out of one or two existing AV flows. The examples will be discussed in terms of two flows A and B, where the user's intention is to make a transition from A to B. This is illustrated in Figure 6, where a is the intended departure point of flow A and where b is the intended entry point in flow B. Figure 6A shows the sequence of fragmented areas, f (il), f (i), f (i + l), f (i + 2), ... of the flow A and Figure 6b shows the sequence of fragmented areas, f (jl), f (j), f (j + l), f (j + 2), of stream B. The edited video information signal consists of the portion of the flow A that precedes the exit point A in the fragmented area f (i + l), and the portion of the flow B starting from the entry point b in the fragmented area f (j). This is a general case that covers the entire edition such as cut and paste, including the annexation of two flows, etc. It also covers the special case where A and B are equal. Depending on the relative position of A and B, this special case corresponds to PBC effects such as skipping a part of the flow or repeating a part of the flow. The discussion of the examples focuses on achieving seamless reproducibility during simultaneous registration. The condition for seamless reproducibility is the condition of the length of the segment over the length of the information signal blocks stored in the fragmented areas, which was discussed at the beginning. It will be shown later that, if flows A and B satisfy the length condition of the segment, then a new flow can be defined so that it also satisfies the segment length condition. In this way, reproducible streams can be avoided seamlessly in new, seamlessly reproducible streams. Since the original records are reproducible seamlessly by construction, this implies that any edited stream will be reproducible seamlessly. As a result, it is possible to arbitrarily avoid the initially edited streams. Therefore the flows A and B- in the discussion do not need to be original records: they can be arbitrary results of the first steps of virtual editing. In a first example, a simplified assumption will be made about the AV encoding format and the choice of the exit and entry points. It is assumed that points a and b are such that, from the point of view of the AV coding format, it would be possible to make a direct transition. In other words, it is assumed that the direct concatenation of the data from flow A (editing at the output point a) and the data from flow B (starting from entry point b) results in a valid flow as well as the format of related AV coding. The above assumption implies that in principle a new reproduction sequence can be defined based on the existing segments. However, for seamless reproducibility in the transition from A to B, we have to make sure that all segments satisfy the segment length condition. Let's concentrate on flow A and see how to ensure this. Consider the fragmented area of flow A that contains the exit point a. Let s be the segment in this fragmented area that ends at point a, see figure 6a. If l (s), the length of s, is at least 2 MB, then we can use this segment in the new reproduction sequence and point a is the output point that should be stored in a PBC program. However, if l (s) is less than 2 MB, then the resulting segment s does not satisfy the length condition of the segment. This is shown in Figure 7. In this case a new fragmented area is created, the so-called fragmented junction area f. In this fragmented area, a junction segment comprising a copy of s preceded by a copy of some preceding data in stream A is stored. For this, consider the original segment r preceding it in stream A, shown in the figure 7a. Now, depending on the length of r, the segment stored in the fragmented area f (i) copies all or part of r into the new fragmented area f: If l (r) + l (s) <; 4 MB, then the entire r is copied to f, and the original segment r is not used in the new reproduction sequence, as illustrated in Figure 7a. More specifically, the new exit point is the point denoted as a ', and this new exit point a' is stored in the PBC program, and subsequently, after having finished in the editing step, recorded on the carrier record similar to the disk. In this way, in response to this PBC program, during the reproduction of the edited video information stream, after having read the information stored in the fragmented area f (il), the program jumps to the area of the joining fragment f ', to reproduce the information stored in the area of the binding fragment f ', and then jump to the entry point in the video stream B to reproduce the portion of the flow B, as shown schematically in figure 7b. If l (r) + l (s) > 4 MB, then some part p of the end of r is copied to f ', where the length of p is such that we have 2 MB < l (r) - l (p) < 4 MB? 2 MB < 1 (p) + l (s) < 4 MB Reference is made to Figure 8, where Figure 8a shows the original flow A and Figure 8b shows the flow A edited with the fragmented bonding area f '. In the new reproduction sequence, only a smaller segment r 'is now used in the fragmented area f (i) that contains r. This new segment r 'is a subsegment of r, viz. the first part of r with length l (r ') = l (r) - l (p).

In addition, a new exit point a 'is required, indicating the position where the original flow A should be left such as for a jump to the junction fragment f'. This new output position must therefore be stored in the PBC program, and subsequently stored on the disk. In the example given above, we discussed how to create a junction segment (or: the information junction block) for the fragmented area f ', in the event that the last segment in the A stream (ie s) becomes too short. Now we will concentrate on the flow B. In the flow B, there is a similar situation for the segment that contains the entry point b, see figure 9. Figure 9a shows the original flow B and figure 9b shows the edited flow. Let t be the segment comprising the entry point b. If t becomes too short, a joint segment g can be created to be stored in a corresponding fragmented junction area. Analogous to the situation for the union area f ', g will consist of a copy of t plus a copy of some more data of flow B. This data is taken from the original segment u that happens at in the fragmented area f ( j + l) in the flow B. Depending on the length of u, all or part of u is copied in g. This is analogous to the situation for r described in the initial example. Now we will not describe the different cases in detail here, but Figure 9b gives the idea, by means of an illustration analogous to that of Figure 8, where u is divided into v u '. This results in the new entry point b 'in the flow B, to be stored in the PBC program and, finally, on the record carrier. The following example, described with reference to Figure 10, shows how a new sequence can be defined reproducibly seamlessly under all circumstances, creating at most two binding fragments (f and g). It can be shown that, in effect, a fragmented area of union is sufficient, even if both s and t are too short. This is achieved if s and t are copied into a single fragmented junction area (and, if necessary, some preceding data from flow A and / or some subsequent data from flow B). This will not be described broadly here, but Figure 10 shows the general result. In the examples described above, it was assumed that the concatenation of the flow data and the exit and entry points a and b are sufficient to create a valid AV flow. In general, however, some recoding has to be done to create a valid AV stream. This is usually the case if the exit and entry points are not in the GOP limits, when the encoded video information signal is a video information signal encoded by MPEG. The recoding will not be discussed here, but the general result will be that some binding sequence is necessary to go from flow A to flow B. Consequently, there will be a new exit point a 'and a new entry point b', and the The sequence of union will contain recoded data corresponding to the original pictures of a 'aa followed by the original pictures of bab'. Not all cases will be described in detail here, but the total result is similar to the previous examples: there will be one or two binding fragments to cover the transition from A to B. In opposition to the previous examples, the data in the fragments The union data is now a combination of recoded data and some data copied from the original segments. Figure 11 gives a general flavor of this. As a final observation, note that no special restriction has been placed on the recoded data. The recoded flow data simply has to satisfy the same bit rate requirements as the original stream data. Figure 12 shows a schematic version of the apparatus in greater detail. The apparatus comprises a signal processing unit 100, which is incorporated into the subsystem 8 of Figure 1. The signal processing unit 100 receives the video information signal via the input terminal 1, and processes the video information into a channel signal for recording the channel signal on the record carrier similar to a disk 3. In addition, a read / write unit 102 is available, which is incorporated in the disk subsystem 6. The read / write unit 102 comprises a read / write head 104, which is in the example hereof an optical read / write head for reading / writing the channel signal on / of the registration carrier 3. In addition, positioning means 106 are present. to place the head 104 in a radial direction through the record carrier 3. A read / write amplifier 108 is present to amplify the signal to be recorded and amplify the signal read from the registration tool 3. An engine is available 110 to rotate the registration carrier 3 in response to an engine control signal supplied by a motor control signal generating unit 112. A microprocessor 114 is present to control all circuits via the control lines 116, 118 and 120. The signal processing unit 110 'is adapted to convert the video information received via the input terminal 1 into blocks of information of the channel signal having a specific size. The size of the information blocks (which is the segment mentioned at the beginning) may be variable, but the size is such that it satisfies the following relationship: SFA / 2 < size of a block of the channel signal < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented areas. In the example given above, SFA = 4 MB. The writing unit 102 is adapted to write a block of information of the channel signal in a fragmented area on the record carrier. To allow editing of the recorded video information in an initial recoding step on the record carrier 3, the apparatus is further provided with an input unit 130 for receiving an output position in a first registered video information signal on the record carrier to receive an entry position in a second video information signal recorded on the same record carrier. The second information signal may be the same as the first information signal. In addition, the apparatus comprises a memory 132, for storing information related to the output and input positions. In addition, the apparatus comprises a junction block generating unit 134, incorporated in the signal processing unit 100, to generate at least one information junction block (or junction segment) of a specific size. As explained above, the information binding block comprises information of at least one of the first and second video information signals, information which is located before the output position in the first video information signal and / or after the entry position in the second video information signal. During the editing, as described above, one or more joining segments are generated in the unit 134 and in the editing step, one or more editing segments are recorded on the record carrier 3 in a corresponding fragment. The size of at least one information junction block also satisfies the relationship: SFA / 2 < size of an information binding block < SFA In addition, the PBC program obtained in the editing step may be stored in a memory incorporated in the microprocessor 114, or in another memory incorporated in the apparatus. The program can be created in the editing step for the edited video information signal will be registered on the record carrier, after the editing step has been completed. In this way, the edited video information signal can be reproduced by a different reproduction apparatus by retrieving the PBC program of the record carrier and reproducing the video information signal edited using the PBC program corresponding to the edited video signal.

In this way, an edited version can be obtained, without recoded portions of the first and / or second video information signal, but simply by generating and registering one or more joint segments of corresponding fragmented shapes (union) on the record carrier. A further improvement of the simultaneous recording and playback mode, described above with reference to Figure 5, will be described later. It should be noted here that the improved simultaneous recording and reproduction method described herein can be applied to recording / reproducing apparatus that does not need to be equipped with the other features described above. Reading time to read the portions x, y and z, shown in Figure 5, can be further reduced by reordering the reading steps of the x, y and z portions, in a, b and c, with. { a, b, c} =. { X and Z} , so that the time required to reach and read the points x, y, and z, including the jump times between the reading steps of the reading of the x, y, and z portions, and even the jump to the position where the next fragmented area should be registered, it is minimal. Long jumps in the radial direction of the record carrier in a CLV system require large speed variations of the rotational speed of the record carrier and thus require a large response time before the record carrier has reached its rotational speed required after a jump. In this way, minimizing the effect of the total time required for the jump in a complete cycle, the cycle time can be obtained in the worst case Tmax lowest. The improvement can be done in the following way, namely if the new order is such that the movement defined by the jump from the last fragmented area written to the fragmented area from which the first portion to be read must be retrieved, after having read the first portion, jump to the fragmented area from which the next portion to be read should be retrieved, after having read the second portion, jump to the fragmented area from which the third portion to be read should be retrieved, - after having read the third portion, jump to the fourth position of the fragmented area from which the next portion of the information signal should be recorded, never cross any radius more than twice. As a result, the total adjustment of the revolution speed of the record carrier counts no more than the equivalent of an up / down speed sweep. Figure 13 shows two examples of breaks in a cycle. In Figure 13a, after having written a 4 MB fragment, the writing step indicated by or in Figure 13a, the system jumps to the position indicated by a, where one of the portions x, y and z, is registered, for read the portion. Next, the system jumps to b, the position where the other portion of the portions x, y and z, is recorded, to read the portion. Next, the system jumps to c, the position where the last of the x, y and z portions is recorded, to read the portion. Next, the system jumps to position i, indicating the position where the next 4 MB fragment is registered. Figure 13b shows the same, for the different location of the different positions on the record carrier. The upper limit for the jump time comes out in the worst case in the total cycle (four jumps): t (w0 a) + t (a + t (b? c) + t (c? j) &ttx4 An example of an approximation of the upper limit of the basic drive parameters: speed access time (ascending / descending speed) CLV maximum 500 ms, and access time CAV (constant angular velocity) maximum 200 ms, results in tmax < 1.4 s. Sustained maximum user speed: R < F / tmax = Rt.F / 2 (F + 2.Rt.t).

With t = 0. 25 tmax4 = 350 ms and Rt = 35 Mbps, this results in R < 10.1 Mbps. The initial calculation of the user's speed resulted in R < 8.57 Mbps. As shown in the above calculation, based on the same drive parameters, the reordering allows a higher user speed, namely < 10.1 Mbps. Although the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that there are no limiting examples. In this way, the different modifications may be evident to those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the claims. In this regard, it should be noted that the first generation of apparatuses according to the invention, capable of carrying out the registration and reproduction of a real-time information signal, may be able to register SFA fixed-size signal blocks in areas fragmented only, although they are capable of reproducing and processing blocks of variable-sized signals from fragmented areas to reproduce a real-time information signal from a record carrier having variable-sized signal blocks stored in fragmented areas. The second generation of devices that are also capable of carrying out the editing step, will be able to register blocks of signals of variable size in fragmented areas. In addition, the invention lies, in each and every one of the features or combination of novel features.

Claims (29)

CHAPTER CLAIMEDICATORÍO Having described the invention, it is considered as a novelty and, therefore, the content is claimed in the following CLAIMS:

1. An apparatus for recording a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, on a record carrier similar to a disk, a data recording portion which is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, characterized in that it comprises - input means for receiving the information signal, signal processing means for processing the information signal in a channel signal for recording the channel signal on the record carrier similar to a disk, writing means for writing the signal of channel over the record carrier, the signal processing means is adapted to convert the information signal into information blocks of the channel signal, the writing is adapted to write a block of information of the channel signal in a fragmented area over the record carrier, and where the signal processing is further adapted to convert the information signal in the information blocks of the channel signal, so that the size of the information blocks can be made variable and satisfies the following relationship: SFA / 2 < size of a block of the channel signal < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented area.

2. The apparatus for editing a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, recorded in a previous registration step on a record carrier similar to a disk, a data recording portion which is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, the information signal is converted into a channel signal before being recorded and after being recorded on the record carrier, so that the information blocks of the channel signal are recorded in the fragmented areas corresponding to the record carrier, characterized in that it comprises: input means for receiving an output position in a first information signal registered on the record carrier to receive an entry position in a second information signal, which may be the first information signal, recorded on the record carrier, - means for storing information related to the position output and input, means generating link blocks to generate at least one information binding block, information binding block which comprises information of at least one of the first and second information signals, information signal which it is located before the output position in the first information signal and / or after the entry position in the second information signal, and where the size of the information binding block can be variable and satisfies the requirement: SFA / 2 < size of a union of information block < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented areas, writing means for writing at least one information binding block in a corresponding fragmented area, and means for reproducing the flow of the information state of the record carrier.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that SFA is equal to 4 MB.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in a first fragmented area of the first information signal comprising the exit position, from the beginning of the information block in that fragmented area to the position output is less than SFA / 2, then the means generating the junction block are adapted to generate the information information binding block in the first fragmented area preceding the exit position and at least a final portion of information stored in a second fragmented area, directly preceding the first fragmented area in the first information signal, so that the requirement for the size of the information junction block is satisfied.

The apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the remaining information stored in the second fragmented area satisfies the requirement: SFA / 2 <; size of the remaining portion of information in the second fragmented area < SFA, and because the limit between the remaining portion of information and the final portion of information in the second fragmented area is the new exit position of the first information signal, when the edited stream of information is reproduced by the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing information related to the new output position 6.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in a first fragmented area of the first information signal comprising the exit position, from the start of the information block in that fragmented area to the output position is less than SFA / 2, then the means generating the junction block are adapted to generate the information information binding block in the first fragment that precedes to the output position and the information stored in a second fragmented area, directly preceding the first area fragmented in the first information signal.

The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the final position of the signal block in a third fragmented area that directly precedes the second fragmented area in the first information signal is the new output position of the first signal of Information, when the edited flow of information is produced by the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing information related to the new output position.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in the first fragmented area of the second information signal comprising the entry position, from the entry position to the end of the information block in that fragmented area is smaller than SFA / 2, then the means generating the binding block are adapted to generate the information information binding block in the first fragmented area following the entry position and at least a portion of the information stored in a second fragmented area, directly after the first fragmented area in the second information signal, so that the requirement for the size of the information junction block is satisfied.

The apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the remaining information stored in the second fragmented area satisfies the requirement: SFA / 2 = size of the remaining portion of information in the second fragmented area < SFA, and because the boundary between the remaining portion of information and the information start portion in the second fragmented area is the new entry position in the second information signal, when the edited stream of information is reproduced by the apparatus, the The apparatus further comprises means for storing information related to the new entry position.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in the first fragmented area of the second information signal comprising the entry position, from the entry position to the end of the information block in that fragmented area is smaller than SFA / 2, the means generating the junction block are adapted to generate the information information binding block in the first fragmented area that follows the entry position and the information stored in a second area fragmented, directly after the first fragmented area in the second information signal.

The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that the initial position of the signal block in a third fragmented area that directly precedes the second fragmented area in the second information signal is the new input position of the second signal of information, when the edited flow of information is reproduced by the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing information related to the new output position.

12. The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in a first fragmented area of the first information signal comprising the exit position, the start of the information block in that fragmented area to the exit position. is smaller than SFA / 2, then the means generating the junction block is adapted to generate the information information junction block of the first fragmented area preceding the exit position and at least a portion of the information stored in a second fragmented area of the second information signal comprising the entry position, the portion extends from the entry point in the direction of the end position of the second fragmented area, so that the size requirement of the information union is satisfied.

The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the information binding block comprises the information in the first fragmented area that precedes the exit position and only a portion of information in the second fragmented area, so that the requirement of the size of the information portion in the second fragmented area after the portion stored in the joint block is also satisfied.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the final position of the signal block included in a third fragmented area that directly precedes the first fragmented area in the first information signal is the new output position of the first signal of information, when the edited flow of information is reproduced by means of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new output position.

The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that the initial position of the signal block included in a fourth fragmented area directly after the second fragmented area in the second information signal is the new input position in the second signal of information, when the edited flow of information is reproduced by means of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new entry position.

The apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that the initial position of the information portion in the second fragmented area following the portion stored in the junction block is the new entry position of the second information signal, when the edited stream of information is reproduced by means of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new input position.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, when the amount of information in a first fragment of the second information signal comprising the entry position, from the entry position to the end of the information block in that area fragmented is less than SFA / 2, then the means generating the binding block are adapted to generate the information information binding block in the first fragmented area followed by the entry position and at least a portion of the stored information in the second fragment of the first information signal comprising the exit position, the portion extending from the exit point in the direction of the initial position of the second signal block in the second fragmented area, so that the requirement The size of the information binding block is satisfied.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, characterized in that the information linking block comprises the information in the first fragmented area following the entry position and only a portion of information in the second fragmented area, so that the requirement of the size of the information portion in the second fragmented area that precedes the portion stored in the joint block is also satisfied.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that the initial position of the signal block included in a third fragmented area directly following the first fragmented area in the second information signal is the new entry position in the second information signal, when the edited flow of information is reproduced. information through the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new entry position.

The apparatus according to claim 17, characterized in that the final position of the signal block included in a fourth fragmented area directly preceding the second fragmented area in the first information signal is the new output position in the first signal of information, when the edited flow of information is reproduced by means of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new output position.

The apparatus according to claim 18, characterized in that the final position of the information portion in the second fragmented area preceding the portion stored in the junction block is the new exit position of the first information signal, when the edited stream of information is reproduced by means of the apparatus, the apparatus further comprises means for storing the new output position.

The apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that the apparatus further comprises means for decoding a portion of the information in the first information signal before the exit point, for decoding a portion of the information in the second exit signal. after the entry point, means for generating a composite signal derived from the decoded portions of the first and second information signals, - means for encoding the composite signal, means for accommodating the composite signal encoded in one or more fragment attachment blocks of information, the size of the information binding block comprises the composite signal encoded can be variable and satisfies the requirement: SFA / 2 < size of an information block of the encoded composite signal < SFA and means for writing the information binding blocks comprising the composite signal encoded in the corresponding fragmented areas.

23. A method for recording a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, on a record carrier such as a disk, in an apparatus according to claim 1.

24. A method for editing a signal of real-time information recorded in an initial registration step on a record carrier, such as a disk, in an apparatus according to any of claims 2 to 22.

25. A record carrier, such as a disk, characterized because it is obtained by the method according to claim 23 or 24.

26. A disk, having a real-time information signal recorded on it, the record carrier has a data record portion which is subdivided into areas fragmented of fixed size, the information signal is registered on the record carrier in coded channel form, the information signal is divided into blocks of information of the signal l of channel, the information blocks of the channel signal are written in the fragmented areas, the size of the blocks of information stored in a corresponding fragment is variable and satisfies the following requirement: SFA / 2 < size of a block of information of the channel signal < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented areas.

27. An apparatus for simultaneously recording and reproducing information signals in real time, such as digital video signals, on / of a record carrier similar to the disk, a portion of the data record being subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, apparatus characterized in that it comprises, - input means for receiving a first information signal for recording it, signal processing means for processing the first information signal in a channel signal for recording the channel signal on the record carrier similar to the disk, Writing means for writing the channel signal on the record carrier, the signal processing means are adapted to convert the first information signal in the information blocks of the channel, the writing means are adapted to write a block of information of the channel signal in a fragmented area on the record carrier, the apparatus comp further renders: reading means for reading the information blocks of the corresponding fragmented areas on the record carrier, signal processing means for processing the information blocks to obtain a second information signal, output means for supplying the second signal of reproduced information of the record carrier, the simultaneous registration / reproduction of the first and second information signals is carried out in subsequent cycles, a cycle comprising a writing step for writing a signal block of the first information signal in a fragmented area on the record carrier and a plurality of steps to read a portion of the information of the second information signal of the same plurality of fragmented areas, the apparatus is adapted to order the reading of the portions in a cycle.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, characterized in that the apparatus is adapted to read from the portions in the cycles, so that the total jump time to locate the fragments in a cycle is minimal.

29. An apparatus for reading a real-time information signal, such as a digital video signal, and a disk, the information signal is registered in channel-encoded form in a record-keeping portion of the record carrier, the The data record portion is subdivided into fragmented areas of fixed size, the information blocks of the information signal coded by channel are registered in the corresponding fragmented areas, the size of the blocks of information can be variable and satisfies the following relationship: SFA / 2 < size of a block of information of the channel signal < SFA, where SFA is equal to the fixed size of the fragmented areas, the apparatus is characterized in that it comprises: means for reading the channel signal of the record carrier, signal processing means for processing the information blocks of variable size and reading the fragmented areas in portions of the information signal, means to produce the information signal.