WO2005104547A1

WO2005104547A1 - Moving picture information recording device, moving picture information recording method, moving picture information recording program, and recording medium containing the same

Info

Publication number: WO2005104547A1
Application number: PCT/JP2005/007328
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yoshiki Furuta
Original assignee: Pioneer Corporation
Priority date: 2004-04-19
Filing date: 2005-04-15
Publication date: 2005-11-03
Also published as: JP2007243232A

Abstract

There is provided an information recording/reproduction device capable of effectively using the storage capacity of the recording medium and satisfying the requirement of high quality by a user. The information recording/reproduction device (100) includes: a TV reception unit (101) for acquiring moving picture information provided by a broadcast wave; an information extraction unit (107) for acquiring characteristic information indicating the characteristic of the moving picture information provided; a recording rate decision unit (110) for setting a recording rate indicating the information amount to be recorded per unit image information when recording the moving picture information into a data storage unit (106) according to the characteristic information acquired; and a system control unit (115) for causing the data storage unit (106) to record the moving picture information acquired according to the recording rate which has been set.

Description

Specification

Moving image information recording device, moving image information recording method, moving image information recording program, and recording medium recording the same

Technical field

The present invention belongs to the technical field of a moving image information recording device that records high-quality moving image information while considering a recording capacity.

Background art

[0002] In recent years, with the spread of recording media such as hard discs (hereinafter simply referred to as HD) and DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), recording devices for recording video contents such as television broadcasts have become increasingly popular. A recording apparatus of high image quality and large capacity is being developed.

[0003] Conventionally, a moving image information recording apparatus that records moving image information that is such video content data (hereinafter, simply referred to as content data) requires, for example, an MPEG file before recording the moving image information. (Moving Picture Expert Group) Allows the user to select a recording rate that indicates the average amount of information to be recorded per unit image when recording the moving image information, such as the compression rate when recording using the 2 method. Content data is recorded based on the set average amount of information.

[0004] For example, a moving image information recording apparatus requires a large recording capacity, but requires an average recording rate (hereinafter, referred to as a high recording rate) and a large recording capacity that can be recorded with high image quality. However, a plurality of average recording rates such as an average recording rate (hereinafter, referred to as a low recording rate), which records at a low image quality, are switched in a stepwise manner. Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

[0005] However, in the conventional moving image recording apparatus, each time the recording rate of the content data is set, the unrecorded capacity of the recording medium such as an HD is checked before recording the content data. Since the user must set the average recording rate in advance

However, the operation of the user is troublesome.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is an example of the problem. In some cases, the operability of the user can be improved by determining the recording rate when recording the content data based on the characteristics of the content data such as the time zone in which the content data is provided or the genre thereof. In addition, there is a need to provide a moving image information recording device capable of realizing efficient use of the storage capacity of a recording medium.

Means for solving the problem

[0007] In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention according to claim 1 records image information provided in a predetermined time zone by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave in image information recording. A moving image information recording device that records moving image information provided by at least one of the communication line and the broadcast wave; A characteristic information acquisition unit for acquiring characteristic information indicating characteristics, and an information amount to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the image information recording unit based on the acquired characteristic information. Setting means for setting a recording rate indicating the following, and recording control means for causing the image information recording means to record the obtained moving image information based on the set recording rate. have.

[0008] Further, the invention according to claim 9 is a moving image in which moving image information provided in a predetermined time zone by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave is recorded in an image information recording unit. An information recording method, comprising: a moving image information acquiring step of acquiring moving image information provided by at least one of the communication line and the broadcast wave; and characteristic information indicating characteristics of the provided moving image information. And a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the image information recording means based on the characteristic information acquired above. And a recording control step of causing the image information recording unit to record the acquired moving image information based on the set recording rate.

[0009] Further, according to the invention set forth in claims 10 and 11, the computer records the moving image information provided in a predetermined time zone by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave. A moving image information recording program to be recorded by the means, A moving image information acquisition unit that acquires moving image information provided by at least one of the communication line and the broadcast wave; and acquires characteristic information indicating characteristics of the provided moving image information. Setting means for setting a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the image information recording means based on the obtained characteristic information; And a recording control unit that records the acquired moving image information in the image information recording unit based on the set recording rate.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between content data recorded on HD in a data storage unit and a recording rate.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of recording rate information setting processing and recording processing in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing operations of recording rate information setting processing and recording processing in a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information recording / reproducing device according to a third embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is an example (opening Z climax emphasis pattern) of recording rate information recorded in a recording rate information recording section in a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an example (opening Z ending emphasis pattern) of recording rate information recorded in a recording rate information recording section in a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an example (ending-oriented pattern) of recording rate information recorded in a recording rate information recording unit according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between content data recorded on HD in a data storage unit and a recording rate.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation of recording rate information setting processing and recording processing in a third embodiment. O

[11] FIG. 11I is a diagram (I) illustrating the process of determining the recording rate by the recording rate determining unit in the fourth embodiment.

〇

[12] FIG. 12 is a diagram (II) for describing a recording rate determination process of a recording rate determination unit in the fourth embodiment.

[13] FIG. 13 is a diagram (III) for describing a recording rate determination process of a recording rate determination unit in the fourth embodiment.

[14] FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing operations of recording rate information setting processing and recording processing in the fourth embodiment. Explanation of symbols

200… Information recording / reproducing device

101… TV receiver

102… DVD drive

103… Input processing unit

104, 201… Encoder

106… data storage

107, 202… Information extraction unit

109, 204… recording rate information recording section

110, 205… recording rate determination unit

111… Operation unit

115, 206… System control unit

203… unrecorded capacity detector

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present application will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013] In the embodiment described below, a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as "HD") for recording and reading content data including audio data and video data, and a digital versatile disc (DVD). This is an embodiment in which the moving image information recording device of the present invention is applied to an information recording / reproducing device provided with a drive. In the following, the recording rate refers to the input video data (hereinafter referred to as “moving image”) when content data is recorded. Also called image data. ) Indicates the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information.

[First Embodiment]

First, a first embodiment of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present application will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, an overall configuration and an outline operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present application, and FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between content data recorded on HD in a data storage unit and a recording rate. It is.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment includes a TV receiving unit 101 that receives broadcast waves transmitted from each broadcasting station via an antenna AT, and content data recorded therein. A DVD drive 102 in which a DVD 20 is loaded and content data is written to or read from the DVD 20, and content data input from an external camera, content data received by the TV receiver 101 or read from the DVD drive 102 An input processing unit 103 for performing a predetermined input process on the output content data, and a recording rate indicating a predetermined amount of information to be recorded per unit image information for the input processed content data The encoder 104 encodes the data into a data format of a predetermined compression format and a program stream based on the content data encoded in the predetermined format. It has a multiplexer 105 to generate the over arm, the.

[0017] Further, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 includes an information extraction unit 107 that extracts time zone information (hereinafter, referred to as time zone information) of content data to be recorded from the input content management information, A data storage unit 106 having the HD 10 and recording the generated program stream in the HD 10 and recording rate information (hereinafter referred to as recording rate information) associated with each time zone are recorded in advance. A recording rate information recording unit 109, an operation unit 111 for performing various setting operations for recording the content data on the HD 10 or the DVD 20, and a recording rate determining unit 110 for determining a recording rate when recording content data. The operation unit 111 uses a display unit 112 that is used when selecting and determining a recording rate, and when displaying content data recorded on the HD 10 or DVD 20. An output processing unit 113 for performing output processing on the content data, television broadcast It has a program reservation management unit 114 that manages recording reservation of programs, a system control unit 115 that controls each unit, and performs control and recording control related to setting of a recording rate when content data is recorded, and a ROMZRAM 116. are doing.

The units are connected to each other by a node 117. Unless particularly described below, each information or content data is input to and output from each unit via the bus 117. I have.

Also, for example, the TV receiving unit 101, the DVD drive 102, and the input processing unit 103 of the present embodiment constitute an image information obtaining unit of the present invention, and the data storage unit 106 stores the image information of the present invention. The information extracting unit 107 constitutes the characteristic information acquiring means and the specific information acquiring means of the present invention. Further, for example, the recording rate information recording unit 109 of the present embodiment constitutes a recording unit of the present invention, and the recording rate determining unit 110 constitutes a setting unit and a recording rate determining unit of the present invention. Further, for example, the system control unit 115 of the present embodiment constitutes a recording control unit of the present invention.

[0020] TV receiving section 101 receives a broadcast wave transmitted from each broadcasting station via an antenna AT, for example, an RF signal such as a VHF (Very High Frequency) broadcast or a BS (Broadcasting Satellite) digital broadcast. In this way, a signal wave tuned to the reception band selected by the user is converted into an IF (intermediate frequency) signal. The TV receiving section 101 demodulates the converted IF signal into a TV video signal and an audio signal (hereinafter, simply referred to as a TV signal), and converts the TV signal into a normal signal such as an NTSC signal. The content data is generated by performing a decoding process on the video signal, and the generated content data is output to the input processing unit 103.

[0021] In addition, when the received broadcast wave is accompanied by content management information for managing content data such as a broadcast time and a broadcast time, the TV receiving unit 101 transmits the content management information to the broadcast wave. The content management information is detected from the signal wave and is output to the information extraction unit 107.

[0022] For example, when the broadcast wave is a BS digital broadcast, the TV receiver 101 receives, separately from the content data, data called metadata which describes predetermined information on the content data in the broadcast wave. This TV receiver 101 The received metadata is output to the information extracting unit 107 as content management information.

[0023] The TV receiving section 101 is configured to receive metadata based on the control of the system control section 115 when reserving recording of content data to be broadcast. The extracted metadata is extracted by the information extracting unit 107.

[0024] Further, the metadata includes information on a channel on which the content data is broadcast, a broadcast start time and an end time, a total time of the content data, a genre, a title, and a performer of the content data. Various data related to the advertisement information, such as various data related to the content data and an insertion time of the advertisement information inserted when the content data is reproduced, are included.

[0025] The DVD drive 102 has a structure in which the DVD 20 can be removably mounted, and has a drive interface for the DVD 20 that conforms to standards such as the AT Attachment Packet Interface (AT API). In addition, the DVD drive 102 switches input / output of data to be recorded on the DVD 20 or data to be read from the DVD 20 under the control of the system control unit 115 and controls recording and reproduction of the DVD 20 accordingly. Has become.

More specifically, the DVD drive 102 reads a program stream having content data recorded in advance from the DVD 20 and outputs the program stream to the input processing unit 103 via the bus 117. The program stream generated by the encoder 104 is received via the bus 117, and the received program stream is recorded on the DVD 20.

[0027] The input processing unit 103 is connected to an input terminal for also inputting external data to the content data, and the input processing unit 103 includes content data externally input via the input terminal, TV reception, and the like. The content data output from the unit 101 and the program stream output from the DVD drive 102 are input.

[0028] The input processing unit 103 performs predetermined processing such as signal conversion into a predetermined format or AZD conversion for converting the input content data or program stream into a predetermined format or an analog digital signal. , Where a predetermined process has been performed The content data is output to the encoder 104 via the bus 117 for each of the video data and the audio data.

[0029] In particular, when a program stream output from the DVD drive 102 is input, the input processing unit 103 separates video data and audio data from the input program stream, and separates them into predetermined formats. And the decoded video data and audio data are output to the encoder 104, respectively.

[0030] For example, the input processing unit 103 separates video data having an MPEG format and audio data having an AC-3 format from an input program stream, and separates data having each format into video data or The data is decoded into audio data, and the decoded signals are output to the encoder 104.

[0031] Also, the input processing unit 103 is for managing content such as metadata in the content data or program stream input from the outside similarly to a broadcast wave, or for managing a recorded program stream. When the content management information is attached, the attached content management information is output to the information extraction unit 107 via the bus 117.

For example, when the content data read from the DVD 20 is recorded on the HD 10, the content management information recorded in the control information area of the DVD 20 is also detected by the input program stream power, and the detected The management information is output to the information extraction unit 107.

Video data and audio data, which are content data output from the input processing unit 103, are input to the encoder 104. The encoder 104 performs processing on the input video data. In addition, the encoding is performed based on the recording rate instructed by the system control unit 115, and the input audio data is encoded according to a preset format. Then, the encoder 104 outputs the encoded video data and audio data to the multiplexer 105 via the bus 117, respectively.

[0034] Specifically, as described later, the encoder 104 sets the recording rate when starting recording. Is specified, the input video data is encoded based on the set recording rate, which is the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information, and the encoded content data is output to the multiplexer 105. It has become.

[0035] For example, when the encoder 104 encodes by the MPEG system, the encoder 104 sets the recording rate to an average recording rate under the control of the system control unit 115, and does not exceed the set recording rate. Within the range, content data is encoded by changing based on the characteristics of video data.

[0036] Each image of MPEG moving image data is represented by an I picture, a B picture, and a P picture, and is encoded (predicted encoding) into data in the MPEG format by a difference based on the I picture. I have. Therefore, even if the recording rate is not always constant, even if a predetermined value is set in advance, the components of the image data, that is, an image having a low luminance, a change in the image is poor, and depending on the characteristics of the image such as the image, each picture has The recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit of image information changes to a low rate. For this reason, when encoding is performed by the MPEG method as described above, the encoder 104 basically performs the average operation under the control of the system control unit 115 even if the recording rate is always set to be constant. Content data is recorded at a recording rate.

[0037] An I-picture (intra-coded picture) is a frame image that can reproduce a complete frame image only with its own image !, P-picture (Predictive-coded picture). : Forward predicted coded image) refers to a predicted image generated by, for example, decoding a difference between a previously decoded I picture or a predicted image that has been compensated and reproduced based on another P picture. Also, a B picture (Bidirectionally predictive-coded picture) is an I-picture or P-picture that has already been decoded and is recorded on an optical disk or the like that has only a temporally future I-picture. A predicted image reproduced using a picture or a P-picture for prediction.

[0038] Encoded video data and audio data are input to the multiplexer 105 via the bus 117. (Multiplexing) to generate a program stream, and output the generated program stream to the data storage unit 106. It has become.

[0039] The data storage unit 106 has an HD10 inside, and has a drive interface for HD10 conforming to ATAPI and other standards. Under the control of the system control unit 115, the data storage unit 106 stores data to be recorded on the HD10 or data from the HD10. It switches input and output of the data to be read and controls the recording and playback of the HD10 accordingly.

[0040] Content management information is input to the information extraction unit 107 via the bus 117, and the information extraction unit 107 determines the time zone of the content data in which the input content management information is to be recorded. The time zone information is extracted, and the extracted time zone information is output to the recording rate determination unit 110.

For example, when extracting the time zone information in the content data received by the BS digital broadcast, the information extraction unit 107 extracts the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time of the content data from the metadata, The extracted information at each time is output to the recording rate determining unit 110 as time zone information.

[0042] The recording rate information recording unit 109 is configured to record recording rate information associated with a recording rate for recording content data for each time slot. The unit 109 is referred to by the recording rate determination unit 110 when determining the recording rate of the content data to be recorded under the control of the system control unit 115.

[0043] Specifically, the recording rate information recording unit 109 of the present embodiment records recording rate information in which a recording rate is associated with each time. For example, content data is recorded at a high frequency. During the time between 19:00 and 23:00 when it is expected to be recorded, it is possible to record at a very high recording rate (10 Mbps (bit per second)), which is not as frequent as recording at the high recording rate. Expected high recording rate (5 Mbps) from 18:00 to 19:00 and from 23:00 to 24:00, medium recording rate (2.5 Mbps) at midnight, and low recording rate (1 Mbps) at other times . 7 Mbps) is recorded with the recording rate information associated with each recording rate.

The extracted time zone information is input to the recording rate determining unit 110. The recording rate determining unit 110 controls the input time zone under the control of the system control unit 115. The recording rate is determined by searching the recording rate information recording unit 109 based on the information and determining the recording rate of the content data to be recorded. Then, the recording rate determining unit 110 outputs the determined recording rate to the system control unit 115 via the bus 117 as determined recording rate information.

[0045] Specifically, the recording rate determination unit 110 is configured to receive information on the broadcast start time and the broadcast end time extracted by the metadata, and the recording rate determination unit 110 At the time of the recording rate information setting processing for setting the recording rate, which will be described later, the time period indicated by each input time is specified, and the recording rate information recording unit 109 is set based on the specified time period. After searching, the recording rate corresponding to the time zone is determined as the recording rate!

When the content data is recorded over a plurality of time zones, the recording rate determination unit 110 sets the recording rate set in the first time zone of the recording time, for example. Has become.

The operation unit 111 is configured by a remote control device including various keys such as various confirmation buttons, selection buttons, and numeric keys or various key buttons. In particular, in the present embodiment, the operation unit 111 Along with the section 112, the content data provided by the broadcast wave, for example, is used in a recording rate setting process described later such as a setting operation of a program reservation such as a setting of a recording time when performing a reservation recording of a program. It has become.

[0048] The display unit 112 is constituted by, for example, a liquid crystal display element or an EL (Electric luminescence) element. According to the control of the system control unit 115, a notification that the recording rate information is to be reselected and a selection should be made. A notification about the recording rate information, a display of each information of the determined recording rate, and a notification about the reservation recording are made.

The output processing unit 113 receives a program stream read from the HD 10 or the DVD 20 when reproducing the content data recorded on the HD 10 or the DVD 20. Separates the input program stream into audio data and video data, and performs a predetermined process such as a predetermined decoding process and an analog conversion process on each of the data, thereby obtaining an image in the content data. An image signal and an audio signal are generated, and the generated video signal and video signal are output to the outside via output terminals.

[0050] For example, a monitor having a function of loudspeaking audio is connected to the outside, and the video signal or the audio signal output from the output processing unit 113 is output by the loudspeaker. It is made to be displayed.

[0051] The program reservation management unit 114 receives recording reservation information of a program operated by the operation unit 111 (hereinafter, referred to as reservation information). The input reservation information is stored therein.

[0052] Further, the program reservation management unit 114 has a timer, controls the TV reception unit 101 via the system control unit 115 based on the input reservation information and the timer, and sets the timer to the set time. Content data from the specified channel is recorded on the HD10 or DVD20 until the set time!

[0053] When a program reservation is made in the broadcasted content data and the recording rate information is determined, the program reservation management unit 114 stores the determined recording rate information together with the reservation information inside. The content data is output to the system control unit 115 when the content data is recorded by the program reservation.

The system control unit 115 controls the overall functions of recording content data on the HD 10 or DVD 20 and reading out content data from the HD 10 or DVD 20 as a whole.

In particular, the system control unit 115 controls the setting processing of the recording rate information for determining the recording rate when recording the content data, has a timer inside, and performs processing based on the recording determining processing. When recording content data, the timer is used to perform recording control based on the recording rate (hereinafter simply referred to as recording processing).

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the system control unit 115 changes the recording rate based on the time zone of the content data provided by controlling each unit, and converts the provided content data. I started to record on HD10.

FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between each content data recorded on HD 10 in data storage section 106 and a recording rate, and each content data is recorded on HD 10. Indicates a state in which The operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process of the system control unit 115 in the present embodiment will be described later.

Next, the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process in this embodiment. This operation will be described assuming that the setting process of the recording rate information is performed as a pre-process of the recording process.

First, when the user inputs, via the operation unit 111, a command to start the setting of reservation recording of content data to be broadcast at a predetermined date and time, the system control unit 115 causes the program reservation management unit 114 to display Using the unit 112 and the operation unit 111, the user is caused to set reservation information necessary for various reservation records such as the broadcast date and time and the channel to be broadcast (step S11).

Next, the system control unit 115 causes the TV receiving unit 101 to receive the metadata of the reserved content data based on the reservation information (step S12), and the program information extracting unit 107 The data capability also extracts the broadcast start time and broadcast end time information of the content data, and outputs the information to the recording rate determination unit 110 as time zone information (step S13).

Next, the system control unit 115 refers to the recording rate information recording unit 109 based on the time zone information input to the recording rate determining unit 110 and determines the recording rate when recording the content data. (Step S14).

Specifically, the system control unit 115 records the time period for recording the content data based on the start time and the end time of the content data in the recording rate information recording unit 109 in the recording rate determination unit 110. Which time zone it belongs to, and obtains information on the determined recording rate. If the recording rate determining unit 110 determines that the time zone for recording the content data belongs to a plurality of time zones, for example, the information of the recording rate in which the time zone of the first time zone is set is obtained. I do.

Next, the system control unit 115 causes the program recording management unit 114 to output the determined recording rate as determined recording rate information, and stores it together with other reservation information therein. Wait for the execution of the processing (step S15).

Next, when the time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S16), the program reservation management unit 114 outputs the reservation information to the system control unit 115, and the system control unit 115 By controlling 101 and encoder 104, recording of content data is started based on the reservation information (step S17).

At this time, the system control unit 115 causes the TV receiving unit 101 to receive the content data of the channel indicated by the reservation information while recording the inputted reservation information in the ROMZRAM 116, and performs recording when recording the content data in the encoder 104. The recording rate of the content data is started by setting the rate to the recording rate indicated by the determined recording rate information of the reservation information.

Next, when the recording end time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S 18), the system control unit 115 ends the recording process and ends the operation.

In this operation, the processing from step S11 to step S15 is each processing of the recording rate information determination processing which is the pre-processing of the recording processing, and the processing from step S16 to step S19 is Each processing of the recording processing.

As described above, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 that records content data provided in a predetermined time zone by broadcast waves in the data storage unit 106 In addition, a TV receiving unit 101, an input processing unit 103, and a DVD drive 102 for acquiring moving image information provided by broadcast waves, and an information extracting unit 107 for acquiring characteristic information indicating characteristics of the provided moving image information A recording rate determining unit 110 that sets a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when moving image information is recorded in the data storage unit 106 based on the acquired characteristic information. And a system control unit 115 that records the moving image information acquired based on the recording rate in the data storage unit 106.

With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing device 100 of the present embodiment should record per unit image information when recording moving image information in the data storage unit 106 based on the acquired characteristic information. A recording rate indicating the amount of information is set, and the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate is recorded in the data storage unit 106. [0071] Therefore, the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided or the characteristic information such as the genre of the content data. Then, the recording rate can be set without setting the recording rate of the content data. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. .

Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, when the characteristic information is time zone information indicating a time zone in which the content data is provided, the information extracting unit 107 At the time of recording in the storage unit 106, specific information that specifies the moving image information to be recorded is obtained, and the time zone in which the moving image information is provided is detected based on the obtained specific information, so that the characteristic information is obtained. And has a configuration for acquiring simplified zone information.

With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment performs recording per unit image information when recording moving image information in the data storage unit 106 based on the acquired time zone information. The recording rate indicating the amount of information to be set is set, and the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate is recorded in the data storage unit 106.

[0074] Therefore, the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided. Therefore, when setting the recording reservation of the content data or the like, it is not necessary to set the recording rate of the content data. The recording rate can be set. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. .

Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, a recording rate information recording unit in which recording rate information in which a recording rate is associated with each time zone for recording moving image information is recorded in advance. Based on the time zone indicated by the acquired time zone information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109, the recording rate for recording in the data storage unit 106 for each moving image information is set. And a recording rate determining unit 110 to be set. With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can calculate the time zone indicated by the acquired time zone information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109. The recording rate for recording in the data storage unit 106 for each moving image information is set.

[0077] Therefore, since the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided, it is not necessary to set the recording rate of the content data when setting the recording reservation of the content data or the like. The recording rate can be set. As a result, user operability can be improved.

In the present embodiment, the time zone of the content data to be recorded is detected based on the metadata. However, when the operation unit 111 performs the reservation recording of the content data, The recording rate may be set based on the recording start time and the recording end time of the content data set when the reservation recording is performed.

In this case, the program reservation management unit 114 outputs a recording start time and a recording end time to the recording rate determination unit 110 when each information in the reservation recording is set.

In the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording unit 109 records recording rate information indicating a recording rate associated with each time, and determines a recording rate using the recording rate information. The recording rate is determined based on the recording rate information associated with the recording rate for recording the content data for each day of the week, not just for each hour, or for each month. Anyway.

In this case, when the recording rate of the content data is specified by the metadata, the TV receiving unit 101 or the input processing unit 103 sets the recording rate for each day of the week. When the recording rate is set monthly for the day of the week information set at the time of performing the reservation recording, the information of the date is output to the recording rate determining unit 110. On the other hand, in this case, when the recording rate of the content data is specified based on the reservation information set by the operation of the operation unit 111, the reservation management unit sets the recording rate for each day of the week. When setting the recording rate for each month, the day of the week information set at the time of performing the reservation recording is output to the recording rate determining unit 110. You will be empowered.

Further, in the present embodiment, a recording rate for receiving metadata provided by broadcast waves together with the content data and setting the recording rate when the content data is recorded on the HD 10 is set. A recording rate for recording the content data on the HD10 by receiving the data by broadcast waves and receiving the metadata of the content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet. May be set.

In the present embodiment, when the TV receiver 101 records content data provided by broadcast waves, recording rate information setting processing for setting a recording rate is performed. May be provided with a data receiving unit connected to the communication line, and perform setting processing of recording rate information when recording content data provided by the communication line.

In the present embodiment, the operation of the recording rate information setting processing or the recording processing is performed by the recording rate determining unit 110 and the system control unit 115. A recording medium on which a program that defines the operations of the setting process and the recording process is recorded, and a computer that reads the program. The computer reads the program to execute the same setting process of the recording rate information as described above. The operation of the recording process may be performed.

[Second Embodiment]

Next, a second embodiment of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Note that, in the present embodiment, the genre of the content data is indicated instead of determining the recording rate based on the recording start time and the recording end time of the content data in the first embodiment. The feature is that the recording rate is determined based on the genre information, and the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment. Therefore, the same members are assigned the same numbers and the description is omitted. I do.

[0087] Specifically, the information extraction unit 107 of the present embodiment extracts genre information from the content management data, and associates the recording rate information recording unit 109 with each genre. The recorded recording rate information is recorded. In addition, the recording rate determining unit 110 determines the recording rate of the content data to be recorded based on the extracted genre information with reference to the recording rate information recording unit 109!

Next, the information extracting unit 107, the recording rate information recording unit 109, and the recording rate determining unit 110 in the present embodiment will be described.

The information extracting unit 107 of the present embodiment extracts genre information of content data to be recorded from the input content management information, and outputs the extracted genre information to the recording rate determining unit 110. Become.

For example, when extracting the genre information in the content data received by the BS digital broadcast, the information extracting unit 107 extracts the drama, the news, and the drama described in a predetermined place of the content data from the metadata. Then, genre information indicating a genre such as a movie, news, or sports is extracted, and the extracted genre information is output to the recording rate determination unit 110.

[0091] The recording rate information recording unit 109 is configured to record recording rate information in which a recording rate for recording content data for each genre is associated with the recording rate information recording unit 109. The control unit 109 is referred to by the recording rate determining unit 110 when determining the recording rate of the content data to be recorded under the control of the system control unit 115.

[0092] For example, the recording rate information recording unit 109 of the present embodiment has an ultra-high recording rate (10 Mbps (bit per second)) for drama or movie genre, and a high recording rate (5 Mbps) for variety or sports. , And-Youth (2.5 Mbps) and other genres are recorded with recording rate information associated with each recording rate of low recording rate (1.7 Mbps).

[0093] The extracted genre information is input to the recording rate determination unit 110. The recording rate determination unit 110 controls the system control unit 115 when setting the recording rate information. The recording rate is determined by searching the recording rate information recording unit 109 based on the input genre information to determine the recording rate of the content data to be recorded. Then, the recording rate determination section 110 determines the determined recording rate. Is output to the system control unit 115 via the bus 117 as determined recording rate information.

Next, the operation of the recording rate information setting processing and the recording processing according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process in the present embodiment. In this operation, the setting processing of the recording rate information is performed as a pre-processing of the recording processing!

First, when the user inputs, via the operation unit 111, a command to start setting the reservation recording of the content data to be broadcast at a predetermined date and time, the system control unit 115 sends the program reservation management unit 114 Using the unit 112 and the operation unit 111, the user sets the reservation information necessary for various reservation recordings such as the broadcast date and time and the channel to be broadcast (step S

twenty one).

[0097] Next, the system control unit 115 causes the TV reception unit 101 to receive the metadata of the reserved content data based on the reservation information (step S22), and the program information extraction unit 107 Power also extracts the genre information of the content data, and causes the recording rate determination unit 110 to output the extracted genre information (step S23).

[0098] Next, system control section 115 refers to recording rate information recording section 109 based on genre information input to recording rate determining section 110, and determines a recording rate when content data is recorded. (Step S24).

[0099] Specifically, the system control unit 115 determines whether the genre of the content data belongs to any genre recorded in the recording rate recording unit based on the genre information of the content data. And obtain information on the determined recording rate.

[0100] Next, the system control unit 115 causes the program reservation management unit 114 to output the determined recording rate as determined recording rate information, stores it together with other reservation information, and waits for execution of recording processing. (Step S25).

[0101] Next, when the time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S26), the program reservation management unit 114 outputs the reservation information to the system control unit 115, and the system control unit 115 The V receiver 101 and encoder 104 are controlled to start recording the content data based on the reservation information (step S27).

[0103] Next, when the recording end time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S28), the system control unit 115 ends the recording process and ends the operation.

[0104] In this operation, the processing from step S21 to step S25 is each processing of the setting processing of the recording rate information which is the pre-processing of the recording processing, and the processing from step S26 to step S29 is the recording processing. Of each process.

With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment should record per unit image information when recording moving image information in the data storage unit 106 based on the acquired characteristic information. A recording rate indicating the amount of information is set, and the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate is recorded in the data storage unit 106.

[0107] Therefore, the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided or the characteristic information such as the genre of the content data. The content data recording rate The recording rate can be set without any need. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. .

According to information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, when characteristic information is genre information indicating a genre of content data, information extracting section 107 records the genre information in data storage section 106. At this time, genre information, which is characteristic information, is obtained by obtaining specific information for specifying the moving image information to be recorded and detecting genre information to which the moving image information is provided based on the obtained specific information. It has a configuration to acquire.

With this configuration, information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment should record per unit image information when recording moving image information in data storage unit 106 based on the acquired genre information. The recording rate indicating the amount of information is set, and the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate is recorded in the data storage unit 106.

[0110] Therefore, the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided. Therefore, when setting the recording reservation of the content data or the like, it is not necessary to set the recording rate of the content data. The recording rate can be set. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. .

[0111] Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording unit in which recording rate information in which the recording rate is associated with each time zone for recording moving image information is recorded in advance. Based on the time zone indicated by the acquired time zone information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109, the recording rate for recording in the data storage unit 106 for each moving image information is set. And a recording rate determining unit 110 to be set.

[0112] With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment can generate a moving image based on the time zone indicated by the acquired genre information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109. Set the recording rate for recording in the data storage unit 106 for each image information. Set.

[0113] Therefore, since the recording rate can be determined based on the genre information to which the content data is provided, it is not necessary to set the recording rate of the content data when setting the recording reservation of the content data. The recording rate can be set. As a result, user operability can be improved.

In this embodiment, the genre information of the content data to be recorded is detected based on the metadata. However, when the operation unit 111 performs the reservation recording of the content data, The recording rate may be set based on the genre of the content data set when the reservation recording is performed.

[0115] In this case, the program reservation management section 114 outputs the set genre to the recording rate determination section 110 as genre information when each information in the reservation recording is set.

[0116] Further, in the present embodiment, a content rate is set such that metadata provided by a broadcast wave is received together with the content data and a recording rate for recording the content data on the HD 10 is set. Set the recording rate for recording the content data on HD10 by receiving the data via broadcast waves and receiving the metadata of the content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet. May be.

[0117] Further, in the present embodiment, when content data provided by broadcast waves is recorded by the TV receiving unit 101, recording rate information setting processing for setting a recording rate is performed. May be provided with a data receiving unit connected to the communication line, and perform setting processing of recording rate information when recording content data provided by the communication line.

[Third Embodiment]

Next, a third embodiment of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0120] Note that the present embodiment is characterized in that the recording rate is changed over time and the content data is recorded. In particular, in the setting processing of the recording rate information of the first embodiment, When the recording rate is determined, it is characterized in that the recording rate is determined at every preset time. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

First, an overall configuration and an outline operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present application, and FIGS. 6 to 9 show examples of recording rate information recorded in a recording rate information recording section. FIG. 10 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between each content data recorded in HD in the data storage unit and a recording rate.

[0122] As shown in FIG. 5, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment includes a TV receiving unit 101, a DVD drive 102, an input processing unit 103, an encoder 201, a multiplexer 105, a data A storage unit 106, an information extraction unit 202 that extracts information on the total time of the content data to be recorded also including the input content management information (hereinafter referred to as total content time information), and content data in the HD 10 in the data storage unit 106 An unrecorded capacity detection unit 203 that detects the recordable capacity of the data, a recording rate information recording unit 204 in which a plurality of patterned recording rate information that are switched with time advance are recorded in advance, and content data is recorded. It has a recording rate determining unit 205 for performing a recording process of content data for determining a recording rate at the time of recording, an operation unit 111, and a display unit 112.

Further, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 controls the output processing section 113, the program reservation management section 114, and each section, and controls and records the setting of the recording rate when the content data is recorded. It has a system control unit 206 for performing control and a ROMZRAM 116.

[0124] Note that the components are connected to each other by a nos 117, and particularly in the case described below. Otherwise, each information or content data is input / output to / from each unit via the bus 117.

Further, for example, the information extracting unit 202 of the present embodiment constitutes the total time information acquiring unit of the present invention, and the unrecorded capacity detecting unit 203 of the present embodiment constitutes the recognizing unit of the present invention. The recording rate information recording section 204 constitutes a rate information recording unit of the present invention. Further, for example, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment constitutes a setting unit of the present invention, and the system control unit 206 constitutes a recording control unit of the present invention.

[0126] Video data and audio data, which are content data output from the input processing unit 103, are input to the encoder 201, and the encoder 201 performs processing on the input video data. The encoder 201 performs encoding based on the recording rate specified by the system control unit 206, and encodes input audio data in a preset format. The encoder 201 outputs the encoded video data and audio data to the multiplexer 105 via the bus 117, respectively.

[0127] Specifically, as described later, when recording is started or when a recording rate is instructed during recording of content data, the encoder 201 sets information to be recorded per set unit image information. Based on the recording rate, which is the amount, the input video data is encoded, and the encoded content data is output to the multiplexer 105.

[0128] For example, when the encoder 201 encodes by the MPEG method, the encoder 201 sets the recording rate to an average recording rate under the control of the system control unit 206, and does not exceed the set recording rate. Within the range, content data is encoded by changing based on the characteristics of video data.

[0129] The content management information is input to the information extraction unit 202 via the bus 117. The information extraction unit 202 of the present embodiment includes, in addition to the time zone information in the first embodiment, The total content time information of the content data to be recorded is extracted from the input content management information, and the extracted total content time information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 together with the time zone information. . [0130] For example, when extracting the total content time information in the content data received by the BS digital broadcast, the information extracting unit 202 extracts the total content time information of the content data from the metadata. When recording the content data read from the DVD 20, the content management information recorded in the detected control information area also extracts the total content time information.

[0131] The unrecorded capacity detection unit 203 detects the unrecorded capacity of the HD 10 in the data storage unit 106 under system control, and uses the detected unrecorded capacity as unrecorded capacity information on the bus 117. Is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 via the.

[0132] Specifically, in the recording rate information setting process, the unrecorded capacity detection unit 203 determines a recording rate at which the content data is converted with time in order to record the content data in the HD 10 ( Hereinafter, the recording rate information determination processing is performed.) At this time, the HD 10 detects a data amount that can be recorded in an unrecorded area where no data is recorded, and determines the data amount as an unrecorded area. This is output to the recording rate determining unit 205 as recording capacity information.

[0133] The recording rate information recording unit 204 stores recording rate information indicating a recording rate that is switched with time in advance for each of various patterns (hereinafter, referred to as recording patterns), and for each time period. The recording rate information recording unit 204 records each recording rate information under the control of the system control unit 206 when one recording rate information is determined. The data is output to the decision unit 205 via the bus 117.

[0134] Specifically, the recording rate information recording unit 204 stores one section (hereinafter, referred to as a unit) of a predetermined time axis in the entire time based on the entire time when content data is recorded. A recording rate set stepwise is set for each divided section), and a plurality of recording rate information that is patterned is classified for each time zone and recorded for each pattern.

More specifically, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8, the recording rate is set to four levels in the recording rate information recording The recording rate information divided into 5 or 4 areas is recorded for each pattern, and is recorded by being classified into time zones for each recording rate information of each pattern. For example, in the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording unit 204 includes:

(1) When playing back content data, set the recording rate higher for the video at the beginning of the playback, and increase the recording rate for the climax video.

(2) Opening that sets the recording rate higher for the video at the beginning of playback and entrusts the recording rate for the ending video.

(3) A climax-focused pattern that sets a higher recording rate for the video in the latter half of playback,

Recording rate information in which a recording pattern such as a recording pattern is set is recorded, and the recording rate information of each recording pattern is recorded in association with time zone information for each pattern number.

Note that the recording rate information for each recording rate is stored with a pattern number (5) to (20) or (4) to (16) added according to the number of unit blocks to be stored! However, in the case of the Orb Jung Z climax emphasis pattern, it is expected that content data will be recorded with high frequency in the pattern numbers (20) to (17) in order from 19:00 to 23 In the first time period up to the hour, the pattern numbers (16) to (13) are expected to be recorded at a certain frequency, although not as frequently as at the high recording rate. The second time period from hour to 24:00, the pattern numbers (12) to (9) include the third time period in the late night time period, and the pattern numbers (8) to (5) indicate other times. Each information of the fourth time zone of the zone is recorded in association with each other.

In this embodiment, the recording rate information recording section 204 records recording rate information in which the recording rate for each unit time is indicated by a block called a unit block. The horizontal axis shows the time indicating one area (hereinafter referred to as unit time), and the vertical axis shows one block with the unit rate set vertically stacked to provide the recording rate information indicating the recording rate for each unit time. Are recorded for each of a plurality of patterns. However, in the present embodiment, if the content data can always be recorded at a constant recording rate due to the unrecorded capacity of the HD 10, or if the selected pattern cannot be applied, the minimum Recording at the recording rate of! /, Assuming the case, the recording rate information recording unit 2 In 04, for each pattern, recording rate information in which each unit time is set to the highest recording rate and recording rate information in which each unit time is set to the lowest recording rate are recorded.

The recording rate information is used together with other data such as an unrecorded remaining amount in determining a recording rate for recording content data in a recording rate determining unit 205 described later. The entire time of each recording rate information and the time (unit time) of one area are not determined, and are determined by a recording rate determination unit 205 described later.

[0140] The recording rate determination unit 205 includes the pattern information of the recording rate information selected by the operation unit 111, the unrecorded capacity information of the detected HD10, the extracted total content time information and the time zone information. Is input.

[0141] Also, during the setting processing of the recording rate information, the recording rate determining unit 205 controls the recording rate information based on the input pattern information and the total content time information under the control of the system control unit 206. Each recording rate information belonging to the input pattern information recorded in the recording unit 204 is read, and the recording rate information for determining the recording rate when recording the content data based on the read recording rate information is read. Decision processing is performed. Then, the recording rate determining unit 205 outputs the determined recording rate information to the system control unit 206 via the bus 117 as determined recording rate information.

[0142] The configuration of the recording rate determination unit 205 in the present embodiment and the details of the recording rate information determination processing in the recording rate information setting processing will be described later.

In particular, the system control unit 206 controls the recording of the content data on the HD 10 or the DVD 20, sets the recording rate information that is performed as a pre-processing when recording the content data, and performs the setting process. In the setting process, each process of the recording rate information determining process in the recording rate determining unit 205 is controlled. Further, the system control unit 206 has a timer therein, and when recording the content data based on the set recording rate information in the setting processing of the recording rate information, the system control unit 206 uses the timer. Use to control the recording rate setting that changes with time, and record A recording process for executing each process of the recording control based on the rate is performed.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the system control unit changes the recording rate based on the time zone of the content data provided by controlling each unit, and converts the provided content data into HD. I started to record.

FIG. 9 is an example of a diagram showing a relationship between each content data recorded in the HD in the data storage unit and the recording rate, and shows a state in which each content data is recorded in the HD. More specifically, the first content data, the third content data, the fourth content data, and the (N-1) th content data are time zones to which the high recording rate is applied, and the second content data, the The 5th content data and the Nth content data indicate a time zone to which the low recording rate is applied. The operation of the recording process of the system control unit in the present embodiment will be described later.

[0146] The information recording / reproducing device 200 of the present embodiment is configured as described above, and records the input content data on the HD 10! RU

[0147] The operation unit 111 of the present embodiment determines whether to change the recording rate during recording of content data or to always record at a constant recording rate, based on the information displayed on the display unit 112. When the setting of the recording rate is changed, and when the setting for changing the recording rate is performed, it is used for setting various kinds of data and the like related to the setting processing of the recording rate information.

[0148] Specifically, when the setting for changing the recording rate is performed, the operation unit 111 records information of each pattern of the recording rate information, which is recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204, such as an example. For example, an opening Z climax emphasis pattern or a climax emphasis pattern is selected, and information on the selected pattern (hereinafter, referred to as pattern information) is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 via the nos 117. It is supposed to.

Further, in the present embodiment, the display unit 112 displays each recording rate information indicated by a unit block by applying a calculated unit time amount to be described later, as described above.

Next, the configuration of the recording rate determining unit 205 in the present embodiment will be described.

[0151] Under the control of the system control unit 206, the recording rate determination unit 205 of this embodiment From the recording rate information recording unit 204, each recording rate information belonging to the pattern information input from the recording rate information recording unit 204 is read based on the recorded pattern information, unrecorded capacity information, total content time information, and time zone information. It is like that. The recording rate determining unit 205 performs a recording rate information determining process for determining a recording rate when recording content data based on the read recording rate information during the setting processing of the recording rate information. The determined recording rate information is output to the system control unit 206 via the bus 117.

[0152] Specifically, the recording rate determining unit 205 sets the amount of time in the unit division section in the input pattern information, that is, the recording rate information, based on the input pattern information and the total content time information. The unit time amount to which each recording rate is applied is calculated. For example, the recording rate determining unit 205 of the present embodiment divides the total content time indicated by the total content time information by the number of divisions of the input pattern information per unit time to calculate the unit time amount. I'm in love.

The recording rate determining unit 205 sequentially reads out, from the recording rate information recording unit 204, each piece of recording rate information corresponding to the input time zone information of the selected recording pattern, and The calculated unit time amount is applied to each recording rate information, that is, the calculated unit time amount is applied to a unit time of one section of each recording rate information, and the calculated unit time amount is calculated. The recording capacity of each applied recording rate information is calculated. The recording rate determination unit 205 compares the calculated recording capacity and the unrecorded capacity in each of the calculated recording rate information, and as a result of the comparison, one recording rate information at which the recording capacity becomes equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity. Is output to the system control unit 206 as determined recording rate information.

[0154] For example, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment first reads from the high recording rate information (hereinafter, referred to as high recording rate information) in the selected recording pattern, and reduces the calculated unit time amount. The recording capacity at the read high-level recording rate is calculated based on the calculated recording capacity, and if the calculated recording capacity is equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity, the read recording rate information is used as the determined recording rate information by system control. Output to part 206 It has become.

On the other hand, when the calculated recording capacity is larger than the unrecorded capacity information, the recording rate determining unit 205 reads out the recording rate information having the next highest recording rate, and calculates the recording capacity. The process is compared with the recording capacity, and the process is repeated until the calculated recording capacity becomes equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity.

When outputting the determined recording rate information to the system control unit 206, the recording rate determining unit 205 determines the unit of one section in the recording rate information based on the calculated unit time amount. The recording rate information to which the unit time amount calculated for the time is applied is output.

When the content data is recorded at the set recording rate, the content data is not always recorded at the constant recording rate as described above due to the characteristics of each image data. 205 is based on the assumption that each recording rate is constant for the calculation of the recording capacity based on each recording rate in a unit division section in order to facilitate the calculation of the recording capacity and to accurately record the content data. It has to be calculated.

Next, the operation of the recording rate information setting processing and the recording processing according to the present embodiment will be described using FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing operations of the recording rate information setting processing and the recording processing in the present embodiment. In this operation, the setting processing of the recording rate information is performed as a pre-processing of the recording processing!

It is assumed that the user has previously set via the operation unit 111 to change the recording rate of the content data during recording.

[0161] First, when the user inputs from the operation unit 111 that the setting of reservation recording of content data to be broadcast at a predetermined date and time is to be started, the system control unit 206 causes the program reservation management unit 114 to display Using the unit 112 and the operation unit 111, the user is allowed to set the reservation information necessary for various reservation records such as the broadcast date and time and the channel to be broadcasted (step

S31).

[0162] Next, the system control unit 206 provides the user with the content data via the operation unit 111. A recording pattern for changing the recording rate is set, and the reservation information is stored in the program reservation management unit.

At the same time, the information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 (step S32).

For example, in the present embodiment, the system control unit 206 uses the operation unit 111 and the display unit 112 to use the operation unit 111 and the display unit 112 to record the average recording pattern recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204, the orb-Jung Z climax emphasis pattern, and the climax. One of the important patterns is selected, and the set pattern information of the recording pattern is input to the recording rate determining unit 205.

Next, the system control unit 206 causes the TV receiving unit 101 to receive the metadata of the reserved content data based on the reservation information (step S33), and the metadata received by the program information extracting unit 202. The content total time information and the time zone are extracted, and the content total time information is output to the recording rate determining unit 205 (step S34).

[0165] Next, the system control unit 206 divides the total content time into pieces of the input pattern information for each unit time based on the input pattern information and the total content time information. Divide by the number to calculate the unit time amount (step S35).

Next, the system control unit 206 causes the unrecorded capacity detection unit 203 to detect the unrecorded capacity of the HD 10 and outputs the detected unrecorded capacity to the recording rate determination unit 205 as unrecorded capacity information (step S 36).

[0167] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the recording rate determination unit 205 to sequentially read out each recording rate information corresponding to the input time zone information of the selected recording pattern from the recording rate information recording unit 204. At the same time, the calculated unit time amount is applied to the read recording rate information to determine one recording rate information (recording rate information determining process (step S37)).

[0168] In the present embodiment, the system control unit 206 sequentially sends the high recording rate information of the recording pattern to the recording rate determining unit 205.

(1) Highest level corresponding to the extracted time zone information in the selected recording pattern Is read out.

(2) A recording capacity for recording the content data at the read recording rate on the HD 10 is calculated based on the calculated unit time amount.

(3) The unrecorded capacity indicated by the unrecorded capacity information is compared with the calculated recorded capacity.

(4) If the calculated recording capacity is equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity, the read recording rate information is determined as the determined recording rate information.

(5) If the calculated recording capacity is larger than the non-recording capacity indicated by the non-recording capacity information, the next high recording rate information is read out and the determination processing of (2) to (3) is repeated. Let it.

However, if the recording rate determination unit 205 cannot determine the recording rate information because the recording capacity calculated based on the lowest recording rate information is larger than the unrecorded capacity, the system control unit 206 determines the recording rate. The unit 205 does not set one piece of recording rate information, and proceeds to the next process.

[0169] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the recording rate determination unit 205 to determine whether or not the force for determining one piece of recording rate information is present (step S38). If the recording rate information has been determined, the process proceeds to step S39, and if the recording rate determination unit 205 has not determined the recording rate information of If the recording capacity is larger than the unrecorded capacity, the setting process of the recording rate information is stopped and the operation ends.

[0170] If the recording rate determination unit 205 cannot determine the recording rate information, the system control unit 206 controls the display unit 112 and determines the recording rate information on the display unit 112. Otherwise, a warning or the like is displayed, and the operation ends.

[0171] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the determined recording rate information to be output to the program reservation management unit 114, stores the information together with other reservation information, and waits for execution of the recording process ( Step S39). Specifically, the system control unit 206 causes the recording rate determination unit 205 to output the determined recording rate information to the program reservation management unit 114 in a state where the calculated unit time amount is applied. [0172] Next, when the time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S40), the program reservation management unit 114 outputs the reservation information to the system control unit 206, and the system control unit 206 The controller 201 controls the encoder 201 to start recording content data based on the reservation information (step S41).

At this time, while recording the input reservation information in the ROMZRAM 116, the system control unit 206 causes the TV receiving unit 101 to receive the content data of the channel indicated by the reservation information, and records the data when recording it in the encoder 201. The content data recording process is started by setting the rate to the first recording rate indicated by the recording rate information determined by the reservation information.

Next, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the system control unit 206 determines the current time based on the unit time indicated by the unit time amount of the recording rate information recorded in the ROMZRAM 116 and the internal timer. It is determined whether or not is the timing for switching the recording rate (step S42).

For example, after a lapse of 500 msec, the system control unit 206 determines whether or not the current time is the force at which the recording rate is switched.

When the system control unit 206 determines that the current time is the recording rate switching timing, the system control unit 206 controls the encoder 201 to perform the next recording rate indicated by the recording rate information. And the recording of the content data is continued (step S43), and the process proceeds to step S42.

[0177] On the other hand, if the system control unit 206 determines that the current time is not the timing of switching the recording rate, the system control unit 206 ends the recording of the content data whose current time is indicated in the reservation information. It is determined whether or not the current time is force (step S44). If it is determined that the current time is the recording end time of the content data, the recording process is terminated, and the current time is not the recording end time of the content data. If determined to be, the process proceeds to step S42.

[0178] In this operation, the processing from step S31 to step S39 is each processing of the setting processing of the recording rate information which is the pre-processing of the recording processing, and the processing from step S40 to step S44 is the recording processing. Of each process. As described above, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 for recording the content data provided in the predetermined time zone by the broadcast wave in the data storage unit 106 A TV receiving unit 101, an input processing unit, and a DVD drive that obtain moving image information provided by broadcast waves, an information extracting unit 202 that obtains characteristic information indicating characteristics of provided moving image information, and an obtaining unit A recording rate determining unit 205 for setting a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when recording moving image information in the data storage unit 106 based on the obtained characteristic information! And a system control unit 206 for causing the data storage unit 106 to record the moving image information acquired based on the obtained recording rate.

With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing device 200 of the present embodiment should record per unit image information when recording moving image information in the data storage unit 106 based on the acquired characteristic information. A recording rate indicating the amount of information is set, and the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate is recorded in the data storage unit 106.

[0181] Therefore, since the recording rate can be determined based on the characteristic information such as the time zone in which the content data is provided, the content data recording rate is set when setting the recording reservation of the content data and the like. It is possible to set the recording rate without doing anything. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. be able to.

[0182] Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, the TV receiving unit 101 for receiving the content data, the input processing unit 103 for obtaining the external data and the content data, and the DVD drive for obtaining the DVD 20 power 102, a recording rate determination unit 205 that presets a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information, which is switched with time progress when recording the acquired content data, and a set recording rate And a system control unit 206 for recording the content data acquired based on the content data in the data storage unit 106.The system control unit 206 switches the set recording rate during the recording of the content data and switches the set recording rate. There is a configuration in which moving image information is recorded in the data storage unit 106 by performing recording control in the data storage unit 106. are doing.

[0183] With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment allows the recording indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information, which is switched with time when recording the acquired content data. While the rate is set in advance, the set recording rate is switched and the content data is recorded in the data storage unit 106 during the recording of the content data.

[0184] Therefore, due to the recording capacity of HD10 in data storage unit 106, the recording capacity of HD10 in data storage unit 106 is not enough to always record content data with high image quality! It is also possible to record a part of the content data, such as the climax, in high quality, so that it is possible to efficiently use the storage capacity of the recording medium and satisfy the user's request for high quality image. it can.

Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording unit 109 for recording a plurality of recording rate information in which the recording rate at which the recording rate is changed over with time is set in advance is recorded. An information extraction unit 107 for obtaining total recording time information that is information of a total recording time for recording content data, and an unrecorded capacity detection unit 108 for recognizing a recordable recording capacity in a data storage unit 106. And a recording rate determination unit 110 based on the acquired total recording time information and the recognized recording capacity! In addition, a configuration is provided in which one recording rate information is preset from a plurality of pieces of recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109.

[0186] With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 100 of the present embodiment uses a plurality of pieces of recording rate information recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 109 based on the acquired total recording time information and the recognized recording capacity. One piece of recording rate information is set in advance.

[0187] Therefore, the recording rate for recording the content data is set based on the total time of the content and the unrecorded capacity of the HD 10, so that the user can individually set the recording rate of the content data at each time. The recording rate can be set easily and accurately without having to set it.

[0188] Furthermore, a recording rate information recording unit 204 that records a plurality of recording rate information in which recording rates that change with time advance are set in advance, and the acquired total recording time information and verification information. A recording rate determining unit 205 for detecting recording rate information applicable to the data storage unit 106 based on the content data acquired based on the recognized recording capacity, and detecting when a plurality of pieces of recording rate information are detected. Operating unit 111 used to select one set of recording rate information, and a recording rate determining unit 205 based on the recording rate information selected by the operating unit 111. Alternatively, the recording rate may be set in advance.

[0189] That is, in this case, as described above, in the selected recording pattern, the recording capacity calculated in each recording rate information, specifically, the entirety when the unit time amount is applied. Based on the recording capacity, the recording rate information is determined in the order of the recording capacity, and a plurality of pieces of storage rate information whose entire recording capacity is equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity are detected. The recording rate information is determined by causing the operation unit 111 to select one piece of recording rate information from the recording rate information.

[0190] Also in this case, since the recording rate for recording the content data is set, similarly to the above, the user does not need to individually set the recording rate for each time of the content data, and easily and accurately. , The recording rate can be set.

In the present embodiment, the content total time information is extracted based on the metadata. However, the content total time information is extracted based on the reservation information input to the program reservation management unit 114. May be calculated, and the calculated total time information of the content data may be output to the recording rate determining unit 205.

In the present embodiment, the content data recorded in advance on the DVD 20 is such that the content data in the broadcast wave received by the TV receiver 101 is recorded on the HD 10 while changing the recording rate. To the HD10 while changing the recording rate.

[0193] In this case, the total content time information is recorded together with the content data on the DVD 20, and is recorded in the metadata or the management area of the DVD 20. , The content total time information may be extracted.

Further, in the present embodiment, the unrecorded capacity is compared with the recording capacity when content data to be recorded is recorded at each recording rate information (hereinafter referred to as an estimated recording capacity). The recording rate information is determined, but when setting the reservation information, the recording capacity based on the recording area that can be used when recording the HD 10 specified by the user using the operation unit 111 And the expected recording capacity in each recording rate information to determine one recording rate information.

[0195] In this case, when the reservation information is set, the expected recording information is input to the recording rate determining unit 205, and the recording rate determining unit 205 transmits the calculated content data to be recorded. The recording rate information is determined by comparing the recording capacity with the recording capacity in the set HD10 recording area.

[0196] Also, in the present embodiment, a recording rate for receiving metadata provided by a broadcast wave together with the content data and setting a recording rate when the content data is recorded on the HD 10 is set. Set the recording rate for recording the content data on HD10 by receiving the data via broadcast waves and receiving the metadata of the content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet. May be.

In the present embodiment, the content data provided by the broadcast wave is recorded on the HD10. The content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet is recorded. Yeah.

In the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording means has a capability of recording the recording rate information for each of the opening Z climax emphasis pattern, the opening Z ending emphasis pattern, and the climax emphasis pattern. The recording rate information is recorded for each recording pattern such as the opening emphasis pattern and the mid-field emphasis pattern.

[0199] Also, when determining the recording rate information, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment calculates the unit time amount and applies the same time amount to each unit division section. However, for example, a different amount of time may be applied to each unit division section, for example, a ratio of unit division sections is determined in advance, and a time amount is applied based on the ratio.

[0200] Further, in the present embodiment, the operation of the recording rate information setting process or the recording process is executed by the recording rate determining unit 205 and the system control unit 206. A recording medium on which a program that defines the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process is recorded, and a computer that reads the program, and the computer reads the program to perform the same recording as described above. The operation of rate information setting processing and recording processing may be performed.

[0201] Further, in the present embodiment, one recording rate information of each recording pattern is determined based on the time zone information. However, instead of the time zone information, the second embodiment is different from the second embodiment. Similarly, one recording rate information of the recording pattern may be determined based on the genre information.

[Fourth Embodiment]

Next, a fourth embodiment of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0203] In the present embodiment, in the third embodiment, a unit time amount is calculated based on a predetermined number of unit time divisions, and a recording rate is set for each calculated unit time amount. Instead, the recording rate is set for each changed time based on an arbitrary division point of the content data, and the recording rate is set for each changed time. Since the third embodiment is the same as the third embodiment, the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

[0204] Specifically, the information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment calculates the unit time amount based on the predetermined number of divisions of the unit time, and separates the unit time amount by the unit time amount (hereinafter, referred to as In the case where the switching time of the division point is arbitrarily delimited in the advertisement information or the like, that is, in the vicinity of the time point which is the delimiter of the content at the time of reproducing the content data (hereinafter referred to as the content division point), In this case, the calculated division point time for each unit time is changed to the content division point time, and the recording rate is set for each unit time in which the amount of time has been changed (hereinafter referred to as the change unit time). Has become.

[0205] However, in the present embodiment, the setting of each recording rate is calculated based on the recording pattern selected by the operation unit 111, the unrecorded capacity, and the recording rate of each division time, as in the first embodiment. One piece of recording rate information is set based on the recording capacity of the content data. First, the information extraction unit 202 according to the present embodiment will be described. Note that, for example, the information extraction unit 202 of the present embodiment constitutes the boundary information acquisition unit of the present invention.

[0207] The information extraction unit 202 of the present embodiment has the content management information power as well as the content total time information and the information of the content division point on the time axis of the content data (hereinafter, the division point information is! /, U). The extracted division point information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 together with the content total time information.

[0208] Specifically, content management information is input to the information extraction unit 202 via the bus 117, and the information extraction unit 202 also records the input content management information. The time information at the content division point where the content data is switched is extracted as the division point information together with the time zone information of the content data to be processed and the total content time information, and the extracted time zone information, content information, and division point information are extracted. Is output to the recording rate determination unit 205.

[0209] For example, when the content division point is an insertion point of advertisement information (hereinafter also referred to as CM: commercial), metadata including various data related to the advertisement information such as BS digital broadcast waves. If the content information is attached to the content data as content management information, the information extracting unit 202 of the present embodiment extracts, from the metadata, the time information to be inserted in the advertisement information together with the total content time information of the content data. The extracted time information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 as division point information.

In the case where the content division point is the insertion point of the advertisement information and the control information recorded in the control area of the DVD 20 is read out together with the content data as the content management information, the present embodiment The information extracting unit 202 extracts the time information to be inserted in the advertisement information together with the total content time information of the content data from the read control information, and divides the extracted time information. The information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 as point information.

[0211] Further, when the content division point is a switching point of each scene of the content data (a scene switching point of the content data), the time information and the management information of each scene in each scene are the content management information. When read as information or the relevant management information If it is detected as the S content management information, the information extraction unit 202 of the present embodiment extracts the time information at the switching point of each scene from the read control information together with the total content time information of the content data. The extracted time information is output to the recording rate determining unit 205 as division point information.

[0212] Next, the recording rate determination unit 205 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to Figs. 11 to 13 are diagrams for explaining the recording rate information determination processing in the recording rate determination unit 205.

[0213] Under the control of the system control unit 206, the recording rate determination unit 205 of this embodiment calculates the unit time amount in the unit division section of the recording rate to be set based on the total content time information, and If the switching time at each time division point (hereinafter simply referred to as switching time) is near the time of an arbitrary content division point such as advertisement information (hereinafter referred to as content division point time), the switching is performed. The time is changed to the content division time, and the recording rate information for each change unit time is determined based on the recording pattern selected by the operation unit 111 and the changed content division time! / RU

[0214] Specifically, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment includes the total content time information, the time zone information, and the division point information output from the information extraction unit 202, and the selection by the operation unit 111. The recorded pattern information, the recording rate information of each recording pattern recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204, and the unrecorded capacity information are input.

[0215] Also, the recording rate determination unit 205 calculates the unit time amount based on the total content time information and the predetermined number of divisions of the unit time, and calculates the time of an arbitrary content division point such as advertisement information. (Hereinafter, it is referred to as a content division point time.) It is determined whether or not the time is near the division point time for each unit time (hereinafter, simply referred to as division point time). When a content division point time that satisfies a predetermined condition at each division point time is detected, the recording rate determination unit 205 changes the corresponding division point time to a content division point time (hereinafter, referred to as a content division point time). (Referred to as a dividing point change process).

[0216] More specifically, the recording rate determination unit 205 determines the insertion point of the advertisement information as shown in FIG. In the case of a content division point, before and after each division point time, it is determined whether or not the content division point time has a force within half the calculated unit time amount. Before and after the time! If the content division point time exists within half the unit time, the division point change process is performed by changing the division point time to the existing content division point time. Become! /

[0217] For example, when the number of divisions is "5", the total content time is "2 hours", and the unit time amount is "24 minutes", the recording rate determination unit 205 Before and after the first division point time, the second division point time, and the fourth division point time, the content division point time exists within half the unit time, so the division point time changes to that time, respectively. Is to be done.

[0218] In this division point change processing, if there are two or more content division point times within half the unit time before and after an arbitrary division point time, the division point time becomes longer. The division point time is changed to the adjacent content division point time!

[0219] Further, after the division point changing process is performed, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment determines a plurality of recording rate patterns based on the recording pattern in which the division point time has been changed and the time zone information. In addition to calculating the recording capacity of the content data to be recorded, the pattern of one recording rate is determined based on the calculated recording capacity and the unrecorded capacity, and the recording rate pattern at the determined position is determined. This is output to the system control unit 206 as the determined rate information.

[0220] Specifically, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment is configured to record the recording pattern recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204 based on the recording pattern and time zone information selected by the operation unit 111. Read the respective recording rate information corresponding to the input time zone information, and apply the changed division point times to the read recording rate information to calculate the amount of time in each unit division section of each recording rate information. That is, the change unit time is set!

[0221] Further, the recording rate determination unit 205 multiplies, for each recording rate, a change unit time corresponding to each recording rate set in the recording rate information, and calculates the data amount for each recording rate. Calculate and calculate the calculated data amount for each recording rate for all content data. The total data amount (hereinafter referred to as the total data amount) is calculated by adding the data in the body, and the total data amount calculated by comparing the total data amount with the unrecorded capacity is equal to or less than the unrecorded capacity. Now comes to determine the recording rate!

[0222] More specifically, the recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment sets the division point time changed for each recording rate corresponding to the input time zone information in the recording pattern, and The change unit time is reflected in the rate information, and the total data amount in the recording rate information corresponding to all the time zone information is calculated based on (Equation 1) and (Equation 2). Then, the recording rate determination unit 205 searches for recording rate information in which the calculated total data amount is equal to or less than the unrecorded area, and when the relevant recording rate information is detected, the change unit time is applied. The recording rate information is output to the system control unit 206 as determined recording rate information.

Total data amount A

= ∑ (Each unit time (minute) X Each recording rate (Mbit / sec)) · · · (Equation 1) Total data amount B (Gbyte)

= Total data amount A X 60 / (TX 103)

In addition, (Equation 2) performs unit conversion of the total data amount において calculated in (Equation 1), and divides T = 8 to calculate the actual data amount.

For example, when the opening / climax emphasis pattern is selected and the recording rate information of the pattern numbers (16) to (13) belonging to the second time zone is selected based on the time zone information, If the change unit time is set to 30 minutes, 12 minutes, 24 minutes, 18 minutes, and 36 minutes from the beginning of the content data in four stages, the recording rate determination unit 205 determines, as shown in FIG. The total data amount of each recording rate information in the determined climax emphasis pattern is calculated. When the unrecorded capacity is 5.5 Gbytes, the pattern number 13 is obtained from (Equation 1) and (Equation 2). Recording rate information is selected. However, in FIG. 12, for convenience, each recording rate information is represented by a unit block as in the first embodiment, but in reality, the scale of the recording rate is different for each recording rate as shown in FIG. It is represented together. FIG. 13 shows the recording rate information of pattern number 14 in the opening Z climax emphasis pattern. As in the first embodiment, each of the recording rate information is recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204 for each recording pattern in a state where a unit time amount is set and V, N, and The recording rate determination unit 205 of the present embodiment reads out from the recording rate information recording unit 204 based on the recording pattern selected by the operation unit 111, and calculates the recording capacity of the content data by applying the change unit time. Become.

Next, the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the operation of the recording rate information setting process and the recording process in the present embodiment. In this operation, the setting processing of the recording rate information is performed as a pre-processing of the recording processing!

[0227] Further, it is assumed that the recording rate of the content data is set to be variable during recording by the user via the operation unit 111 in advance, and the metadata division point information is extracted. When the point information is division point information in the advertising information! , Will be explained.

[0228] First, when the user inputs, through the operation unit 111, an instruction to start setting reservation recording of content data to be broadcast at a predetermined date and time, the system control unit 206 causes the program reservation management unit 114 to display Using the unit 112 and the operation unit 111, the user is caused to set reservation information necessary for various reservation recordings such as a broadcast date and time and a channel to be broadcast (step S51).

[0229] Next, the system control unit 206 allows the user to set a recording pattern for changing the recording rate of the content data via the operation unit 111, and outputs the reservation information to the program reservation management unit 114. Then, the information of the recording pattern is output to the recording rate determining unit 205 (step S52).

In the present embodiment, the system control unit 206 uses the operation unit 111 and the display unit 112 to control the average recording pattern recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204, the orbiting Z climax emphasis pattern, The user selects any one of the climax emphasis patterns, and inputs the information of the set recording pattern into the recording rate determination unit 205. [0231] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the TV receiving unit 101 to receive the metadata of the reserved content data based on the reservation information (step S53), and the metadata received by the program information extracting unit 202. The content total time information, the time zone information, and the division point information are extracted, and the content total time information, the time zone information, and the division point information are output to the recording rate determination unit 205 (step S54).

[0232] Next, the system control unit 206 divides the total content time into pieces of the input pattern information for each unit time based on the input pattern information and the total content time information. Divide by the number to calculate the unit time amount (step S55).

[0233] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the unrecorded capacity detection unit 203 to detect the unrecorded capacity of the HD10, and outputs the detected unrecorded capacity to the recording rate determination unit 205 as unrecorded capacity information (step S 56).

Next, the system control unit 206 gives the recording rate determination unit 205 the calculated division point time of the division point for each unit time and the time at which the division point information is inserted in each advertisement information, that is, the content division It is determined whether or not the point time is near each division point time, and a division point change process is performed (step S57).

[0235] In the present embodiment, the recording rate determination unit 205 determines whether there is a content division point time within half the calculated unit time before and after each division point time. When a content division point time that satisfies a predetermined condition at each division point time is detected, the recording rate determination unit 205 performs a division point change process of the corresponding division point time to the content division point time. . However, in this division point change processing, if there are two or more content division point times before and after an arbitrary division point time and within half the unit time, the closer to the division point time Change the division point time to the content division point time.

[0236] Next, the system control unit 206, based on the recording pattern in which the division point time is changed and the input time zone information, causes the recording rate determination unit 205 to perform a plurality of recordings based on the time zone information. The recording capacity of the content data to be recorded in the rate pattern is calculated, and one piece of recording rate information is determined. Decision processing (step S58).

[0237] Specifically, in the present embodiment, as described above, the recording rate determination unit 205 controls the operation unit 111 based on the selected recording pattern and the input time zone information. The recording rate information corresponding to the time zone information in the recording pattern recorded in the recording rate information recording unit 204 is read, and a change unit time is set in the read recording rate information. Then, the recording rate determination unit 205 calculates the total data amount by calculating the data amount for each recording rate, and compares the total data amount with the unrecorded capacity to determine the total data amount as the unrecorded capacity. Determine the recording rate that will be: However, since the recording capacity calculated by the lowest recording rate information is larger than the unrecorded capacity, the recording rate determination unit 205 cannot determine the recording rate information. Then, the recording rate determination unit 205 does not determine one piece of recording rate information, and proceeds to the next processing.

[0238] Next, the system control unit 206 causes the recording rate determination unit 205 to determine whether or not the force determining one piece of recording rate information is present (step S59). If the recording rate information has been determined, the process proceeds to step S60, and if the recording rate determination unit 205 has not determined the recording rate information of If the recording capacity is larger than the unrecorded capacity, the setting process of the recording rate information is stopped and the operation ends.

[0239] If the recording rate determination unit 205 cannot determine the recording rate information, the system control unit controls the display unit 112 and determines the recording rate information on the display unit 112. Is displayed, a message to the effect is displayed.

Next, the system control unit 206 outputs the determined determined recording rate information to the program reservation management unit 114 and stores it together with other reservation information (step S60).

[0241] Next, when the time indicated in the reservation information arrives (step S61), the program reservation management unit 114 outputs the reservation information to the system control unit 206, and the system control unit 206 The controller 201 controls the encoder 201 to start recording the content data based on the reservation information (step S62).

[0242] At this time, the system control unit 206 records the input reservation information in the ROMZRAM 116. At the same time, the TV receiver 101 receives the content data of the channel indicated by the reservation information, and sets the recording rate for recording in the encoder 201 to the first recording rate indicated by the determined recording rate information of the reservation information.

[0243] Next, after the elapse of a predetermined time, the system control unit 206 determines the current time based on the unit time indicated by the unit time amount of the recording rate information recorded in the ROMZRAM 116 and the internal timer. It is determined whether or not is the timing for switching the recording rate (step S63).

[0244] For example, after a lapse of 500 msec, the system control unit 206 determines whether or not the current time is the force at which the recording rate is switched.

[0245] If the system control unit 206 determines that the current time is the recording rate switching timing, the system control unit 206 controls the encoder 201 to perform the next recording rate indicated by the recording rate information. And the recording of the content data is continued (step S64), and the process proceeds to step S63.

[0246] On the other hand, when the system control unit 206 determines that the current time is not the timing of switching the recording rate, the system control unit 206 ends the recording of the content data whose current time is indicated in the reservation information. It is determined whether or not the current time is force (step S65). If it is determined that the current time is the recording end time of the content data, the recording process is terminated, and the current time is not the recording end time of the content data. If determined to be, the process proceeds to step S63.

[0247] In this operation, the processing from step S51 to step S60 is each processing of the setting processing of the recording rate information which is the pre-processing of the recording processing, and the processing from step S61 to step S65 is the recording processing. Of each process.

As described above, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 that records content data provided in a predetermined time zone by broadcast waves in the data storage unit 106 A TV receiving unit 101, an input processing unit, and a DVD drive for acquiring moving image information provided by broadcast waves; an information extracting unit 202 for acquiring characteristic information indicating characteristics of provided moving image information; The information to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the data storage unit 106 based on the obtained characteristic information! A recording rate determination unit 205 for setting a recording rate indicating the amount of information, and a system control unit 206 for recording the moving image information acquired based on the set recording rate in the data storage unit 106. Have.

[0250] Therefore, since the recording rate can be determined based on the time zone in which the content data is provided, it is not necessary to set the recording rate of the content data when setting the recording reservation of the content data. The recording rate can be set. As a result, the operability of the user can be improved, and the content data can be recorded at a recording rate suitable for each content data, so that the storage capacity of the recording medium can be efficiently used. .

According to the information recording / reproducing device 200 of the present embodiment, as in the third embodiment, the information recording / reproducing device 200 records content data in the data storage unit 106, and receives the content data. A unit image that switches as the time elapses when recording the acquired content data, and a TV receiving unit 101, an input processing unit 103 that also acquires externally-capable content data, and a DVD drive 102 that acquires content data from the DVD 20 A recording rate determination unit 205 that presets a recording rate indicating the amount of information to be recorded per information; a system control unit 206 that records content data acquired based on the set recording rate in the data storage unit 106; The system control unit 206 switches the set recording rate during the recording of the content data and switches the set recording rate. By performing the recording control in the data storage unit 106 has a configuration for recording video information in the data storage unit 106! / Ru.

[0252] With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment allows the recording indicating the amount of information to be recorded per unit image information, which is switched as time passes when recording the acquired content data. The recording rate is set in advance, and during recording of the content data, the set recording rate is switched and the content data is recorded in the data storage unit 106. To do.

[0253] Therefore, due to the recording capacity of HD10 in data storage unit 106, the recording capacity of HD10 in data storage unit 106 is not enough to always record content data with high image quality! It is also possible to record a part of the content data, such as the climax, in high quality, so that it is possible to efficiently use the storage capacity of the recording medium and satisfy the user's request for high quality image. it can.

[0254] Further, according to the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment, recording rate information recording in which a plurality of recording rate information in which a recording rate at which the recording rate is switched at predetermined time intervals in accordance with the time progress is recorded. Unit 204, an information extracting unit 202 for acquiring boundary information indicating the content boundary of the acquired content data, and at regular intervals of the recording rate information selected based on the acquired boundary information. A recording rate determining unit 205 that changes each recording rate category indicating the category of the recording rate category, wherein the recording rate determining unit 205 changes the recording rate category in each recording rate information and the recording in each recording rate category. Based on the rate, the recording rate in each recording rate section when recording the acquired content data is set in advance.

[0255] With this configuration, the information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 of the present embodiment changes the recording rate sections indicating the sections of the recording rate information selected based on the acquired boundary information at regular time intervals, On the basis of the changed recording rate sections and the recording rates in the respective recording rate sections, the recording rate in each recording rate section when recording the acquired content data is set in advance.

[0256] Therefore, the recording rate for recording the content data can be changed to the boundary point between the contents of the content data, so that the discomfort of the image caused by the switching of the recording rate can be eliminated.

In the present embodiment, the information extraction unit 202 also extracts content management information such as metadata and the division point information, but the information extraction unit 202 analyzes the content data. Then, it is also possible to extract the division point information of the content division point on the time axis of the content data, such as the information of the insertion point of the advertisement information.

[0258] In this case, the information extraction unit 202 performs processing predetermined by the input processing unit 103. The content data that has been input is input, and the division point information is extracted by detecting a level change in the audio level or analyzing the video data or the audio data such as a change in the loudspeaker type of the audio data.

For example, when the division point information is advertising information, the information extracting unit 202

(1) whether the level of the input audio data is equal to or higher than a preset audio level,

(2) whether or not the change in the audio level has changed to a level higher than a preset level,

(3) whether the audio type has changed,

By detecting at least one of the above, the insertion time of the head of the content data of the advertisement information is detected, and the insertion time of the detected advertisement information is output to the recording rate determination unit 205 as division point information. Become like

[0260] Normally, the sound level of the part where the advertisement information is inserted is higher than the sound data level of the content data. In addition, since the audio type of the advertisement information and the content data often differ between stereo broadcast and monaural broadcast, in the present embodiment, the insertion point of the advertisement information can be appropriately detected based on these. It has become.

[0262] Also, in the present embodiment, the TV receiver 101 is configured to record the content data of the broadcast wave received on the HD10 while changing the recording rate, and to record the content data in advance on the DVD20. Change the recording rate to record data on the HD10.

[0263] In this case, the content total time information is recorded together with the content data on the DVD 20, and is recorded in the metadata or the management area of the DVD 20. , The content total time information may be extracted.

In the present embodiment, the unrecorded capacity and the recording rate of the content data to be recorded This is used to determine the recording rate information by comparing it with the expected recording capacity when information is recorded.Used when recording HD 10 specified by the user using the operation unit 111 when setting the reservation information. One recording rate information may be determined by comparing the recording capacity based on the recording area where the recording can be performed and the expected recording capacity in each recording rate information.

[0265] In this case, when the reservation information is set, the expected recording information is input to the recording rate determining unit 205, and the recording rate determining unit 205 transmits the calculated content data to be recorded. The recording rate information is determined by comparing the recording capacity with the recording capacity in the set HD10 recording area.

[0266] Also, in the present embodiment, a recording rate for receiving metadata provided by a broadcast wave together with the content data and setting the recording rate when the content data is recorded on the HD 10 is set. Set the recording rate for recording the content data on HD10 by receiving the data via broadcast waves and receiving the metadata of the content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet. May be.

[0267] Further, in the present embodiment, the content data provided by the broadcast wave is recorded on the HD10. The content data provided by a wired or wireless communication line such as the Internet is recorded. Yeah.

In the present embodiment, the recording rate information recording means stores the average pattern, the orbit / climax emphasizing pattern, and the power at which the recording rate information is recorded for each climax emphasizing pattern. Recording rate information may be recorded for each recording pattern such as a middle-oriented pattern.

In the present embodiment, the operation of the recording rate information setting processing or the recording processing is performed by the recording rate determining unit 205 and the system control unit 206. A recording medium on which a program that defines processing and recording processing operations is recorded, and a computer that reads the program. The computer reads the program and sets the same recording rate information setting processing and recording as described above. You may do the processing operation. Further, in the present embodiment, one recording rate information of each recording pattern is determined based on the time zone information. However, similar to the second embodiment, the genre information is replaced with the genre information in place of the time zone information. One recording rate information of a recording pattern may be determined based on the recording rate information.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] A moving image information recording device for recording, on an image information recording means, moving image information provided in a predetermined time zone by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave,

Moving image information acquiring means for acquiring moving image information provided by at least one of the communication line and the broadcast wave;

Characteristic information acquisition means for acquiring characteristic information indicating characteristics of the provided moving image information,

Setting means for setting a recording rate indicating an amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the image information recording means based on the acquired characteristic information;

Recording control means for causing the image information recording means to record the acquired moving image information based on the set recording rate;

A moving picture information recording device comprising:

[2] The moving picture information recording device according to claim 1!

When the characteristic information is time zone information indicating a time zone in which the content data is provided,

When recording on the image information recording means, the apparatus further comprises specific information obtaining means for obtaining specific information for specifying the moving image information to be recorded,

The characteristic information obtaining means obtains the simplified time zone information as the characteristic information by detecting a time zone in which the moving image information is provided based on the obtained specific information. Moving image information recording device.

[3] In the moving picture information recording device according to claim 2,

The setting means,

Recording means in which recording rate information in which a recording rate is associated with each time zone for recording the moving image information is recorded in advance;

Based on the time zone indicated by the obtained time zone information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording means, the recording time information is recorded in the image information recording means for each of the moving image information. Recording rate setting means for setting the recording rate at the time,

A moving image information recording device, comprising:

[4] The moving image information recording device according to claim 3,

The recording means is characterized in that recording rate information in which the recording rate is set for at least one of a time zone of each time, day, day of the week, month or season is recorded in advance. Moving image information recording device.

[5] The moving image information recording device according to claim 1,

When the characteristic information is genre information indicating a genre of the content data,

The moving image information recording device, wherein the characteristic information obtaining means obtains characteristic information that is genre information of the moving image information.

[6] The moving picture information recording apparatus according to claim 5,

The setting means,

Recording means in which recording rate information in which a recording rate is set for each genre for recording the moving image information is recorded in advance;

Based on the genre indicated by the acquired genre information and the recording rate information recorded in the recording means, a recording rate for recording in the image information recording means for each moving image information is set. Recording rate setting means;

A moving image information recording device, comprising:

[7] The moving picture information recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,

When the setting means sets a recording rate based on the acquired characteristic information, a recording rate to be switched in advance with time when recording the acquired moving image information is set in advance,

A moving picture information recording apparatus, wherein the recording control means controls the recording of the moving picture information in the image information recording means by switching the set recording rate during the recording of the moving picture information.

[8] The moving image information recording device according to claim 7,

Recording rate information in which the recording rate that switches with the time progress is set in advance A plurality of rate information recording means recorded for each of the characteristic information,

A total time information obtaining means for obtaining total recording time information which is information of a total recording time to be recorded in the moving image information;

Recognizing means for recognizing the recordable recording capacity in the image information recording means,

Further comprising

The rate information is set based on the characteristic information obtained by the characteristic information obtaining means, the total recording time information obtained by the total time information obtaining means, and the recording capacity recognized by the recognition means. A moving picture information recording apparatus, wherein a plurality of recording rate information recorded in a recording means is set in advance.

[9] The moving image information recording device according to claim 7,

Rate information recording means for recording a plurality of recording rate information in which a recording rate that switches with the progress of the time at predetermined time intervals is recorded in advance;

Boundary information obtaining means for obtaining boundary information indicating a content boundary of the obtained moving image information,

Changing means for changing each recording rate section indicating a section of the recording rate information at regular time intervals based on the acquired boundary information;

Further comprising

The setting unit is configured to obtain the acquired characteristic information based on the characteristic information acquired by the characteristic information acquiring unit, each of the changed recording rate sections in the recording rate information, and the recording rate in the recording rate section. A moving image information recording apparatus, wherein a recording rate in each recording rate section when recording moving image information is set in advance.

[10] A moving image information recording method in which moving image information provided in a predetermined time slot by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave is recorded in image information recording means,

A moving image information acquiring step of acquiring moving image information provided by at least one of the communication line and the broadcast wave; Characteristic information acquisition step of acquiring characteristic information indicating the characteristic of the provided moving image information;

A setting step of setting a recording rate indicating an amount of information to be recorded per unit image information when the moving image information is recorded in the image information recording unit based on the acquired characteristic information;

A recording control step of causing the image information recording unit to record the acquired moving image information based on the set recording rate;

A moving image information recording method.

[11] A moving image information recording program for causing a computer to record moving image information provided in a predetermined time zone by at least one of a communication line and a broadcast wave by a computer,

Said computer,

Characteristic information acquiring means for acquiring characteristic information indicating characteristics of the provided moving image information; recording per unit image information when recording the moving image information in the image information recording means based on the acquired characteristic information; Setting means for setting the recording rate indicating the amount of information to be

A moving image information recording program characterized by functioning as:

[12] An information recording medium in which the moving image information recording program according to claim 11 is recorded so as to be readable by a computer.