JP2003263857A - Information recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible for an information recorder to recognize intermediate management information in any form after end terminating. <P>SOLUTION: The information recorder is configured so that the intermediate management information is sequentially updated and additionally written in a predetermined area on a recording medium, and AV data are additionally written in another predetermined area. The information recorder is configured so as to create the final management information file in a predetermined form from the intermediate management information at the time of terminating, and also forms a file for the intermediate management information recognizable as another data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording technology for recording management information of image / sound data together with image / sound data on a recording medium, and more particularly to a recording technology of the management information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the increase in capacity of recording media such as optical disks and magneto-optical disks, and the progress of information compression technology,
Development of a method and apparatus for digitally compressing information amount of data such as image and sound (AV) and recording / reproducing the data is active.
Especially for DVD, which is a large-capacity optical disc, a write-once DV
A recording medium capable of recording data in real time, such as a D-R or a rewritable DVD-RAM, has been widespread, and a recording device (recorder) using these recording media has been developed.

In the above recorder, by using a disk-shaped recording medium, it is generally characterized by its large capacity and the immediateness of access to desired data. On the recording medium, management information including attributes and position information of the AV data is recorded together with the AV data.

[0004]

In the recorder using the DVD-R, recorded data is recorded in the existing DV.
In order to be viewable by the D player, finally the recorded data needs to be in the form of the DVD video format used for general cell video or the like. In the DVD video format, not only the logical structure of each recorded data as a file is specified, but also the physical arrangement on the disk is specified. On the other hand, in the recording operation of the recorder, it is difficult to record the data in the DVD video format in real time, and even when the additional recording operation is repeated, the recorded data, especially the management information is in the DVD video format. Since it does not need to be performed, the management information is recorded in an arbitrary data format until a predetermined end process (hereinafter referred to as finalization) is performed.

The management information in such an arbitrary data format (hereinafter referred to as intermediate management information for distinguishing from the management information file after finalization) is recorded on the DVD-R at the end of the recording operation in the recorder or at every predetermined timing. As described above, when finalizing, the intermediate management information is used to generate a management information file in a format conforming to the DVD video format described above, and is not filed as the original intermediate management information. Therefore, a finalized DVD-R, for example, a PC
The intermediate management information cannot be recognized even if it is inserted into the drive device connected to the.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to convert intermediate management information recorded on a recording medium in an arbitrary data format into a form that can be recognized after finalization. It is to provide possible information recording technology.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the control means for controlling the overall operation at the time of recording and the above-mentioned intermediate management information are appropriately updated so as to be stored at a predetermined position on the recording medium. Management information processing means for recording, and a management information file having a directory structure satisfying a predetermined format based on the latest intermediate management information in accordance with an instruction from the control means. And a termination processing unit that performs termination processing for generating a plurality of files.

In addition to the termination processing, the termination processing means generates record data in a format in which the latest intermediate management information updated by the management information processing means can be recognized as a file. In the processed recording medium, the intermediate management information can be recognized as one file.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information recording apparatus according to the present invention, and shows an information recording apparatus capable of recording AV data in real time using an optical disc as a recording medium. 1 is an image data input terminal, 2 is an audio data input terminal, 3 is an image data encoding unit, 4 is an audio data encoding unit, 5 is a multiplexing unit, 6 is a buffer memory, 7 is a management information expanding memory,
Reference numeral 8 is a management information processing unit, 9 is an end processing unit, 10 is a drive processing unit, 11 is a control unit, and 12 is an optical disk.

The operation during recording will be described. The image data input from the image data input terminal 1 is compressed in information amount by a predetermined encoding method in the image data encoding unit 3, and the audio data input from the audio data input terminal 2 is audio data encoded. The information amount is also compressed in the unit 4 by a predetermined encoding method, and sequentially multiplexed in the multiplexing unit 5. The encoded data after multiplexing (hereinafter referred to as stream data) is temporarily stored in the buffer memory 6
The data is recorded in the optical disk 12 via the drive processing unit 10 in an appropriate unit, together with data search information and the like required as stream data.

Further, the latest intermediate management information is expanded in the management information expanding memory 7 by the management information processing unit 8 and updated together with the recording of the stream data, and when the recording of the stream data is completed (or the power is turned off), the optical disc 1 is recorded.
2 is updated and recorded in a predetermined area. When the stream data is recorded on the optical disk 12 for the first time, the intermediate management information is newly generated and expanded in the management information expansion memory 7. However, when additional recording is performed on the optical disk 12 on which the stream data is recorded in the past, The latest intermediate management information is read from the optical disk 12 via the drive processing unit 10 and expanded in the management information expansion memory 7. The control unit 11 performs integrated control of the above-mentioned units, and also controls the end processing unit 9 in the finalizing operation described below.

Then, the operation at the time of finalization will be described subsequently. In this embodiment, the format of the recording data on the recording medium by the finalization is the above-mentioned DVD video format. The end processing unit 9 performs a finalizing operation in response to an end instruction from the control unit 11, and obtains necessary information from the intermediate management information expanded in the management information expansion memory 7,
A management information file and a reproduction menu data file required for the DVD video format are generated and recorded in a predetermined area of the optical disc 12 via the drive processing unit 10. At the same time, the stream data already recorded on the optical disk 12 is converted into a file through the drive processing unit 10. Further, the characteristic of this embodiment is that
In addition to the above operation, the drive processing unit 1 converts the latest intermediate management information recorded on the optical disk 12 (same as that expanded in the management information expansion memory 7) into a file.
It is done through 0. E between each of these files
In some cases, invalid data for alignment may be embedded according to CC block delimiters, etc. Also, the term “file conversion” is used to generate file system information for file management, and set a predetermined value on the disk 12. Equivalent to writing in the area. Finally, in order to close it as a disc, the Lead_i
The n area and the Lead_out area are recorded at the outermost circumference.

Now, the forms of the intermediate management information and stream data recorded on the optical disk 12 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a disk image of the optical disk 12 before finalizing, that is, when performing a normal recording operation, as a continuous volume space. The left direction shows the inner circumference of the disc, and the right direction shows the outer circumference of the disc. In order to record data in real time, the volume space is configured so that three areas, an area 201, an area 202, and an area 203 are secured in advance. As mentioned above, the data file is created at the time of finalization.
During recording before finalization, only the necessary data is sequentially recorded on the optical disc 12. What is recorded in real time is the stream data that is finally filed as the above-mentioned AV data file, and the intermediate management information is expanded in the management information expansion memory 7 as described above and updated appropriately, at an appropriate timing. It is recorded at a predetermined position on the optical disc 12.

In FIG. 2, data 204 to data 2
Reference numeral 06 denotes intermediate management information. In particular, the data 206 is the latest (valid) intermediate management information, and the data 204 and the data 205 are the intermediate management information generated before that. Each data unit corresponds to one recording start to end (or power off), and the optical disc 12
Since is a write-once type, the previous intermediate management information is invalidated and the latest intermediate management information is recorded every time. That is, by arranging the intermediate management information sequentially from the start position of the area 202, it becomes possible to recognize the outermost data unit in the area 202 as valid intermediate management information. It should be noted that the data unit for one time is easy to handle if it has a size of 32 kBytes, which corresponds to one ECC block for error correction, but is not limited to this size. Further, the data 207 is stream data for generating an AV data file at the time of the finalization described above, and unlike the intermediate management information, only additional writing is sequentially performed.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a directory structure of recording data formed on the optical disk 12 when finalizing is performed in the state of FIG. As described above, each data after finalization is in the form of the DVD video format and is treated as a data co-file.

In FIG. 3, the root directory 300
A sub-directory 301 for the DVD video format is arranged under the sub directory, and the management information file and the AV data file generated as the DVD video format are all placed under the sub directory 301. The video manager information 302 is written with integrated management information for reproducing the recorded AV data, and includes, for example, reproduction order information and AV data attribute information. A video manager menu video object set (video manager menu VOBS) 303 is an AV data file for displaying an integrated menu for reproduction, and is stream data in the same format as an AV data file described later. The video manager information backup 304 has the same contents as the video manager information 302 written therein, and is used for backup when the video manager information 302 cannot be read. In detail, the video title set information 305 describes AV data information managed for each of a plurality of units, and the video title set menu VOBS 306 includes AV data for displaying a menu for each of the plurality of units. The AV data file is written as stream data in the same format. Video title Set title VO
The BS 307 is the stream data recorded in real time as described above, and the data search information and the like are also multiplexed as AV data as described above. The video title set information backup 308 has the same contents as the video title set information 305 written therein, and is used for backup when the video title set information 305 cannot be read.

Of these files, each file except the video title set title VOBS307 is generated and recorded at the time of finalization based on the above-mentioned intermediate management information (data 206 in FIG. 2). That is, FIG.
In the area 202, after the area in which the intermediate management information is written, the above-mentioned video manager information 302, the video manager menu VOBS 303, the video manager information backup 304, and the video title set information 30.
5. The video title set menu VOBS 306 is generated and written sequentially. Further, the stream data in the area 203 is made into a file as the above-mentioned video title set title VOBS307, and the video title set information backup 308 is recorded in the area after that. Further, as described above, the file system information for physically managing each file structure is written in the area 201, the Lead_in area is arranged in the inner circumference of the area 201, and the Lead_out area is arranged and recorded in the outermost circumference of the area 203. To be done.

Further, in FIG. 3, the root directory 3
A subdirectory 309 for handling the intermediate management information as a file is arranged under 00, and the intermediate management information file 310 is arranged under the subdirectory 309. Specifically, it can be realized by reflecting the data 206 in FIG. 2 in the file system information so that it can be seen as a file at the time of finalization. Since the DVD video format satisfies the form below the sub-directory 301, even if the sub-directory 309 is provided in parallel with the sub-directory 301, it does not affect the reproduction operation in the DVD player. Since the intermediate management information file 310 is managed as an independent file,
If the finalized optical disc 12 is inserted into a drive device connected to a PC or the like, the intermediate management information file 310 can be correctly recognized.

In the above embodiment, the case where the area on the recording medium is divided into three areas in advance has been described.
This is not limited to this, and if the information recording device generates intermediate management information having a format different from that of the management information file after finalization regardless of the number of areas, the intermediate management information is finally recorded. The present invention can be applied by forming a file.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the intermediate management information recorded in an arbitrary format can be stored in another device by converting the intermediate management information into a file at the stage of termination processing. The contents can be recognized as a file.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a disk image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a directory structure of recording data.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Image data input unit, 2 ... Audio data input unit, 3 ... Image data encoding unit, 4 ... Audio data encoding unit, 5 ... Multiplexing unit, 6 ... Buffer memory, 7 ... Management information expansion memory, 8 ... management information processing unit, 9 ... finalization processing unit,
10 ... Drive processing unit, 11 ... Control unit, 12 ... Optical disc, 310 ... Intermediate management information file.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yukio Isobe             292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Ceremony Hitachi Digital Media Development Book             Department F-term (reference) 5B065 BA04 CC03 ZA15                 5D044 AB07 BC04 BC06 CC06 DE29                       DE48 DE57 DE73 EF05 GK12                 5D110 AA17 AA29 BB01 DA01 DA12                       DB03 DB12 DC16 DC27 DC28                       DD13

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An information recording device configured to record management information of the image and audio data together with the image and audio data on a recording medium, and a control means for controlling overall operation during the recording, and the management information. Management information processing means for appropriately updating and recording at a predetermined position on the recording medium, and a plurality of files having a directory structure satisfying a predetermined format on the recording medium according to an instruction from the control means. And an end processing unit for performing an end process for generating, the end processing unit stores the latest management information updated by the management information processing unit in addition to the end processing, and records the record data in a format that can be recognized as a file. An information recording device characterized by generating. 2. An information recording apparatus configured to record management information of the image / audio data together with the image / audio data on a recording medium, the control means controlling the overall operation at the time of recording, and the management information. A management information processing unit that appropriately updates the data according to the first data form and records it at a predetermined position on the recording medium; And an end process for generating a plurality of files including the management information in the second data form so as to form a directory structure on the recording medium that satisfies a predetermined format. And a termination processing unit for performing, wherein the termination processing unit, in addition to the termination processing, provides the latest management information in the first data form updated by the management information processing unit, An information recording device characterized by generating recording data in a format recognizable as a file. 3. The information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the end processing unit is in a directory different from a directory containing a plurality of files including management information in the second data form. An information recording apparatus, wherein recording data is generated in a format in which the management information in the first data form can be recognized as a file.