WO2006027715A1

WO2006027715A1 - Method and apparatus for optical disc playback

Info

Publication number: WO2006027715A1
Application number: PCT/IB2005/052823
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gongming Wei; Bei Wang
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2004-09-10
Filing date: 2005-08-29
Publication date: 2006-03-16
Also published as: EP1792316A1; KR20070101840A; JP2008512811A; TW200710832A

Abstract

A method and device for enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular optical disc format. With the object of solving the problem of compatibility in playing optical discs caused by the difference between optical disc formats, the method acquires the meta-data of the content to be played and the navigation information in the optical disc, and converts the obtained meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to the particular format. Subsequently, the navigation information corresponding to the particular optical disc format requirement is generated on the basis of the acquired navigation information and the meta-data corresponding to the particular format acquired by conversion, so that the optical disc playing device can play the optical disc in accordance with the particular optical disc format.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTICAL DISC PLAYBACK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to the field of optical storage, and in particular to a method of enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular logic format. The invention also relates to a device for performing said method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the rapidly developing field of optical storage, many physical optical disc formats, such as CD, VCD, DVD, Blu-ray format, etc. and logical optical disc formats, such as CD-audio, picture CD, VCD, SVCD, and DVD format, etc. have come forth. Each optical disc format corresponds to a set of corresponding and complicated criteria.

Due to the difference in physical or logical format, an optical disc player may be unable to play an optical disc. With the endless emergence of new optical disc formats, the problem of format compatibility caused thereby becomes more and more serious. In order to keep up with the trend of developments in new optical disc formats, the manufacturers of optical discs and optical disc players, the providers of optical disc contents and consumers have to renew devices frequently, but the new investments result in a waste of sources.

A conventional method of solving the problem of optical disc format compatibility is to superimpose the application modules corresponding to different optical disc formats and then install them in an optical disc playing device, so that the requirement of playing each corresponding optical disc format can be met. This method of superimposing the modules mechanically makes the playing system bulky and complex in structure, while the application modules do not combine with each other advantageously but simply scrabble up (are confusing?). When playing an optical disc with a particular format, the unused rate of the application module is comparatively high.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a method and device which enable optical discs to be played in a particular logic format, and which are also suitable for playing optical discs without a particular logic format.

OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a device which enable an optical disc to be played in a particular logic format, so as to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the method of enabling an optical disc to be played in a particular logic format comprises the steps of: a) acquiring the information on said optical disc, which includes the meta-data of the content to be played; b) converting the acquired meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to said particular format; and c) generating the navigation information corresponding to the particular format on the basis of the meta-data corresponding to the particular format, so that said optical disc can be played in accordance with said particular format. The information acquired from the optical disc in step a) may also include navigation information; in this case, said navigation information corresponding to the particular format in step c) is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and said navigation information acquired from the optical disc. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a device for enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular logic format includes an acquisition means for acquiring the information on said optical disc, which includes the meta-data of the content to be played, a conversion means for converting the obtained meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to said particular format, and a generation means for generating the navigation information corresponding to the particular format on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to said particular format, so as to enable said optical disc to be played in accordance with said particular format. The information acquired by said acquisition means may further include navigation information on said optical disc, and said navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and the navigation information acquired from the optical disc.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an optical disc playing device is further provided. The optical disc playing device includes an optical disc reading device for reading some information on an optical disc and a device for enabling the optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular logic format. The device for enabling the optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular format includes an acquisition means, which is used for acquiring some corresponding information from the information read from said optical disc by said reading device, in which the information includes the meta-data of the content to be played, a conversion means for converting the acquired meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to said particular format, and a generation means for generating the navigation information corresponding to said particular format on the basis of the meta-data corresponding to the particular format, so that the optical disc can be played in accordance with said particular format. The information acquired by said acquisition means may further include the navigation information on said optical disc, and the navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and said navigation information acquired from the optical disc. Through the device and method of enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular logic format provided by the present invention, the navigation information and the meta-data of playing content on an optical disc are converted into the navigation information corresponding to a particular format, so that an optical disc without the particular format can be played in accordance with the particular format. Further objects and achievements of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention with reference to the attached drawings and claims, and an overall comprehension of the invention will be gained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the present invention will be further explained in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method of enabling an optical disc to be played in a particular logic format according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an optical disc playing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a format conversion device according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing how a generic logic format (GD) optical disc playing device plays an optical disc with SVCD (Super VCD) format. In all drawings, the same reference numerals have the same, similar or corresponding characteristics or functions.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS The concept of the invention is as follows: different optical disc formats have different modes of describing the meta-data of the contents to be played and the navigation information. In order to ensure that an optical disc without a particular format can be played in the particular format, it is necessary to convert the meta-data of the contents to be played and the navigation information in the optical disc into the corresponding meta-data and the navigation information corresponding to the particular format. Based on the meta¬ data and the navigation information corresponding to the particular format, the optical disc can be played in the particular format.

An example of how an optical disc without Generic Disc format can be played in the Generic Disc format will be described hereinafter. Generic Disc is an optical disc format presented by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. in a Chinese application entitled "Optical disc with generic logic format", filed on Dec. 12^th, 2002, filing number 02156141.9, publication number 1506949. This optical disc logic format is independent of the physical format, in which the Generic Disc format files (such as index documents) include the corresponding meta-data of the contents to be played on an optical disc, so as to explain the optical disc content to be played to the optical disc playing device, which enables the optical disc player to play it in accordance with the requirement of each content to be played, but not in dependence upon the physical format of the optical disc. The optical disc playing device with generic logic format can support playing application files with the generic logic format and provides a playing platform supporting the operation of the Java visual machine, so that it can be used to play the optical disc with the generic logic format.

Fig.1 is a flow chart of a method of enabling an optical disc to be played in a particular logic format according to an embodiment of the present invention. The playing device supporting a particular format (such as the generic logic format) will first judge whether the format of an optical disc is a particular logic format (step Sl 10). In general, in accordance with the format criterion of an optical disc, there is always corresponding information describing the disc format. For example, in a CDROM, the playing device determines the category of a disc by reading the relative information stored in the file system of the lead-in area. By judging the optical disc format, the optical disc playing device may determine whether the optical disc contents can be played directly in a particular format. If the format of the optical disc is not a particular format (such as Generic Disc), i.e. the playing device cannot play the contents of the optical disc with a conventional playing method, then the playing device will retrieve the information stored on the optical disc (step S 120). By retrieving, the playing device may get the meta-data of the content to be played and the navigation information and the like stored on the optical disc, such as a storage directory of the information on the optical disc, a list of the contents to be played in the optical disc, and some meta-data, etc.

The playing device subsequently acquires the navigation information and the meta¬ data of the contents to be played from the retrieved information (step S 130). The navigation information on the optical disc includes a directory file, an optical disc playing sequence file, an optical disc searching file, etc. This information has an important navigation function for playing the optical disc. Furthermore, during manufacture of an optical disc, there is usually some meta-data for reflecting the information about the storage characteristics and playing requirements and the like of the contents to be played. These meta-data include encoding format, resolution, playing start time, playing stop time, average bit rate, synchronization information, playing sequence and the like, and further include decoding information (such as the decoding mode, the application program for decoding, and the category of the application program, etc.).

In step S 130, this information to be acquired includes the information needed for playing an optical disc in a particular format, such as encoding format, synchronization information, playing sequence, and the like.

Subsequently, in accordance with the criterion requirements of a particular optical disc format (such as the generic logic format), a playing device converts the obtained meta¬ data of the contents to be played into the meta-data corresponding to the particular format (step S 140). In different optical disc formats, the meta-data of the programs to be played has different modes, and, consequently, the meta-data which do not correspond to the particular format should be converted into the meta-data which correspond to the particular format, so that an optical disc without the particular format can be played in the particular format. The conversion of the meta-data may be a conversion of the modes of the characteristic information or playing requirements of the programs to be played. For example, in an optical disc of the SVCD (Super VCD) format, the meta-data of the content to be played is described in a manner conforming to the SVCD format. If this optical disc is to be played in the generic logic format, all the meta-data in the optical disc should be converted in such a way that it is described in accordance with the mode required by the playing control files (XML file, i.e. Extensible Markup Language file) with generic logic format.

Subsequently, based on the meta-data corresponding to the particular format acquired by conversion and the navigation information acquired from the optical disc, the navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated (step S 150). The navigation information controls the playing course of the programs and controls the playing time, position relationship and the like of the respective programs. In the process of program playing, the playing control file needs to call the corresponding program in accordance with the meta-data of programs. As the different optical disc format has different descriptions of playing control information, in order to enable an optical disc to be played in a particular format, it is necessary that the optical disc format correspondingly meets the navigation information corresponding to the particular format. The navigation information generally includes a playing control file. For example, under the circumstances of a generic logic format, the navigation information comprises an XML file conforming to the generic logic format.

Playing control files conforming to the particular format can be generated by means of the following method. A template of the playing control file corresponding to the particular optical disc format may be pre-stored in the playing device. During the process of conversion, the playing control information, which is acquired from the optical disc, and the converted meta-data, which corresponds to a particular format, may be entered into the pre-stored template of the playing control file corresponding to the particular format, by the playing device in accordance with property, characteristic and the like, whereby the playing control file is generated. It is obvious that other ways of conversion may be adopted. For example, based on the criterion and requirements of the particular optical disc format, the criterion requirement of the language used, and the property of the acquired information and the like, the navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated from the information acquired from the optical disc and the converted meta¬ data corresponding to the particular format. In the XML playing control file with the generic logic format, the original navigation information acquired from the optical disc and the meta-data of content to be played are arranged in accordance with the criterion requirement of the generic logic format and the requirement of the course of playing (the relationship between time and position), so that the content to be played can be played in accordance with the particular format and the given relationship between time and position.

Finally, the optical disc is played in accordance with the generated navigation information conforming to the particular format (step S 160). As the content to be played in the optical disc, which does not conform to the particular format, has already been accepted by the optical disc playing device through the conversion of the meta-data and the generation of files conforming to the particular format, it can be played by the optical disc playing device.

If the contents to be played on the disc are comparatively small, such as only a single content to be played, the playing device may generate the playing control file which conforms to the particular format only on the basis of the meta-data of the content to be played, which corresponds to the particular format after conversion. If there are many programs in the optical disc, the optical disc playing control file is generally not only generated on the basis of the meta-data which correspond to a particular format after conversion, but also on the navigation information acquired from the optical disc.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the optical disc playing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment is described with an example of how a playing device supporting a generic logic format optical disc plays an optical disc without the generic logic format. As shown in Fig. 2, the optical disc 210 is an optical disc without the generic logic format, and it may be an optical disc of the CD format, DVD format, or another format, which is currently available on the market.

Just as the other optical discs, the optical disc 210 carries some composite meta¬ data about the stored contents, such as the optical disc format information, the optical disc directory information and the like. It stores the content to be played and the meta-data thereof, such as the encoding format of the content, resolution, playing start time, playing stop time, average bit rate, etc. However, there is no meta-data of the content to be played and no navigation information file, required by the Generic Disc, in the optical disc 210, and, consequently, the optical disc 210 cannot be played by the existing playing device with the generic logic format. Playing device 220 is an optical disc playing device according to the present invention. The device 220 includes a Java visual machine, which can support a playing platform 230 used for playing the optical disc with a general particular format (generic logic format in this example), and can operate on the platform correspondingly. Compared with the existing playing device with a generic logic format, the device 220 further incorporates a device enabling the optical disc to be played in a particular format, which is referred to as format conversion device 240, and which enables the device 220 to play the optical disc 210 in the Generic Disc format. The device 240 is described hereinafter with reference to Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a format conversion device 240 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The device 240 includes an acquisition means 242 for acquiring the information from the optical disc, in which the information includes the navigation information and the meta-data of the content to be played, such as the optical disc format information, the optical disc directory information, playing sequence information of the optical disc and encoding format of the content to be played, resolution, playing start time, playing stop time, average bit rate and the like. The acquisition means 242 may selectively acquire the meta-data required by the particular optical disc format from these meta-data in the conventional way. The device 240 further includes a conversion means 244 for converting the meta¬ data of the content to be played which is acquired by the acquisition means 242 into the meta-data corresponding to the Generic Disc format. For example, in an optical disc of the SVCD (Super VCD) format, the meta-data of the content to be played is described in such a way that it conforms to the SVCD format. If the optical disc is to be played in the Generic Disc format, all the meta-data in the optical disc should be converted in such a way that it is described in accordance with the mode required by an XML file with the generic logic format.

The device 240 further includes a generation means 246 for generating the navigation information corresponding to the particular format on the basis of the navigation information acquired from the optical disc and the conversed meta-data corresponding to the particular format. For example, the generation means 246 may generate an XML playing control file corresponding to the Generic Disc through synthesizing the various meta-data corresponding to the requirement of the XML file generated by the conversion means 244. A template of the playing control file corresponding to the particular optical disc format may be pre-stored in the playing device.

During the conversion process, the playing device may correspondingly enter the navigation information acquired from the optical disc and the converted meta-data corresponding to the particular format into the pre-stored template of the playing control file corresponding to the particular format in accordance with the property, the characteristic and the like, whereby the playing control file is generated.

In the usual optical disc with a generic logic format, there are some playing application files as well, which may explain the description file in accordance with the Generic Disc format and call the corresponding decoding program so as to play the application program in the optical disc smoothly. As the files are not stored in the optical disc without the Generic Disc, in order to play the optical disc without the Generic Disc smoothly, it is necessary for the optical disc playing device 220 to store the playing application files which should generally be stored on the optical disc with the generic logic. The necessary application file should generally be stored in the general playing device with the generic logic format.

The playing device 220 may play the optical disc 210 without the particular format by the device 240.

Fig 4 is a schematic diagram of the optical disc with the SVCD (super VCD) format being played by an optical disc playing device with the generic logic format. The file directory information in the SVCD disc is shown in block 410, in which a root directory includes the navigation information directory of the SVCD, the audio-video file directory stored in the MPEG2 encoding manner, and the segment file directory, etc. The SVCD navigation information directory further includes an information file (INFO. SVD), an entrance list file (ENTRIES. SVD), an offset table file (LOT. SVD), a playing sequence description file (PSD.SVD), a searching file (SEARCH.DAT), an audio-video track file (TRACK. SVD), etc. The audio- video file directory stored in the MPEG2 encoding manner includes the audio-video file code stream information stored in encoding, namely the content to be played in the SVCD disc. The fragment file directory includes some code stream information of the fragment file.

Block 420 shows how the information in block 410 is converted into the information file corresponding to the requirement of the generic logic format. The information converted from the MPEG2 encoding audio-video file 1 in a SVCD optical disc by a demultiplexer is listed in the meta-data file box 430 and the code stream file box 440 of the content to be played, respectively. It includes the audio stream meta-data of the audio-video file 1, the video stream meta-data of audio-video file 1, the audio file of audio- video file 1, and the video file of audio-video file 1. The conversion of the other file contents to be played and of the meta-data may be performed similarly to that of file 1. An optical disc playing device generates an XML control play file 450 from the

SVCD navigation information file and the meta-data of the content to be played, in accordance with the criterion requirement of the Generic Disc. The XML playing control file 450 may be generated by correspondingly adding the meta-data to an XML template file corresponding to the generic logic format in accordance with the information property.

In this playing control file, the course of playing the respective program to be played is determined in accordance with the relationship between the particular time and position.

The optical disc playing device calls the corresponding meta-data of the audio-video file and the audio-video file and the like in a particular time in accordance with the requirement of this file .

After conversion of the information in the SVCD disc, the optical disc playing device supporting the generic logic format may then play this SVCD disc in accordance with the method of playing the Generic Disc. The information file formed in this process, such as an audio-video file and a playing control file and the like, may be stored in the optical disc playing device for future playing of the optical disc.

In the device and method provided in the present invention, an optical disc playing device (especially the playing device with the generic logic format) may play an optical disc with another format smoothly.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the above embodiment, it will be evident to the person skilled in the art that many substitutes, amendments and variants are apparent from the contents described above. All substitutes, amendments and variants are therefore within the spirit and scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular optical disc logic format, the method comprising the steps of: a) acquiring information on said optical disc, said information including a meta-data of content to be played; b) converting the acquired meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to the particular format; and c) generating the navigation information corresponding to the particular format on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format, so as to enable said optical disc to be played in accordance with said particular format.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information acquired in step a) further includes the navigation information on the optical disc, and the navigation information corresponding to the particular format in step c) is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and said navigation information acquired from the optical disc.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the navigation information stored on said optical disc includes at least one of the following: directory file information, playing sequence file information or searching file information.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said meta-data includes at least one of the following: encoding format, playing time, bit rate or synchronization information.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said particular format includes a Generic Disc.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said navigation information corresponding to the particular format in step c) includes an XML playing control file.

7. An apparatus for enabling an optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular optical disc logic format, the apparatus comprising: an acquisition means for acquiring the information on said optical disc, said information including the meta-data of the content to be played; a conversion means for converting the acquired meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to said particular format; and a generation means for generating the navigation information corresponding to said particular format on the basis of meta-data corresponding to said particular format, so as to enable the optical disc to be played in accordance with said particular format.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the information acquired by said acquisition means further includes the navigation information on said optical disc, and said navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and said navigation information acquired from the optical disc.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said navigation information stored on the optical disc includes at least one of the following: directory file information, playing sequence file information and searching file information.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said meta-data includes at least one of the following: encoding format, playing time, bit rate and synchronization information.

11. The apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said particular optical disc logic format includes a Generic Disc.

12. An optical disc playing device, comprising: an optical disc reading device for reading the information from an optical disc, and a device for enabling the optical disc to be played in accordance with a particular logic format, the device including: an acquisition means for acquiring the corresponding information on the basis of information read from said optical disc by said reading device, the information including the meta-data of the content to be played, a conversion means for converting the acquired meta-data into the meta-data corresponding to said particular format, and a generation means for generating the navigation information corresponding to said particular format on the basis of the meta-data corresponding to said particular format, so as to enable the optical disc to be played in accordance with said particular format.

13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the information acquired by said acquisition means further includes the navigation information on said optical disc, and said navigation information corresponding to the particular format is generated on the basis of said meta-data corresponding to the particular format and said navigation information acquired from the optical disc.

14. The device according to claiml2 or 13, wherein said navigation information corresponding to the particular format includes an XML playing control file.

15. The device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein said particular format includes a Generic Disc.