JP4264562B2 - Image recording apparatus, image recording method, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and an image recording method, in particular, recording reservation.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Processes for increasing the capacity and price of recording media such as hard disks, increasing the recording / reproducing access speed to the recording medium, increasing the recording / reproducing transmission speed, and compressing and encoding image signals and audio signals including moving images. As the speed increases, an image recording apparatus capable of compressing and recording a video signal and audio signal of a television program and decoding and reproducing the image signal using these technologies will be developed. It has become.
[0003]
According to such an image recording apparatus, it is possible to record image signals and audio signals of a plurality of television programs on a large-capacity recording medium represented by a hard disk. It is desirable to provide a function for setting a program to be recorded and a recording control function for recording the set program on a recording medium.
[0004]
For example, an image recording apparatus having a function capable of reserving and recording a program sets a recording reservation by setting a program input route such as a start date and time, an end date and time, a channel, and the like of a program to be reserved and recorded. A list that shows the situation can be displayed.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in this case, as a recording reservation mode, an overwrite recording mode that can be referred to as an update recording reservation is conceivable, and the use capacity of a recording medium that is newly used for recording a program reserved for recording is However, this is not necessarily the sum of the used capacity of recording media used for recording programs reserved for recording. Therefore, whether or not a program reserved for recording with the remaining capacity of the recording medium can be recorded cannot be determined by simply looking at the list of recording reservations.
[0006]
Therefore, the present invention can accurately display and warn the user whether or not a program reserved for recording with the remaining capacity of the recording medium can be recorded.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The image recording apparatus of the present invention comprises:
Image recording means for recording an image signal on a recording medium;
Information capture that captures and stores the recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of the program for which scheduled recording is performed, information for specifying the program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying the presence or absence of update recording as recording reservation setting information Storage means;
Based on the recording reservation setting information, and used capacity calculating means for calculating the capacity of the recording medium used by the execution of the reserved recording,
Unused capacity calculation means for calculating the unused capacity of the recording medium ;
Determination of said the used capacity calculated by using capacity calculating means compares the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means, determines whether it is possible to record the recording reservation program on the recording medium to the end Means,
A warning means for warning that when a recording reservation program cannot be recorded to the end in the recording medium ,
When calculating the recording medium usage capacity of the program for which the update recording is set in the recording reservation setting, the used capacity calculation means newly calculates the recording medium capacity generated by deleting the program at the time of the update recording, and newly by the update recording. The difference from the recording medium capacity to be used is the recording medium usage capacity of the program for which update recording is set .
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[System configuration of recording / reproducing apparatus]
FIGS. 1 and 2 show an example of the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention. A video signal and an audio signal are compressed and encoded by a moving picture experts group (MPEG) system, multiplexed, and transported (TS) of an MPEG system. : Transport Stream) is recorded on a hard disk in a hard disk drive (HDD: Hard Disk Drive) and reproduced from the hard disk.
[0013]
In the following, analog video signals and analog audio signals are referred to as video signals and audio signals, and digital video signals and digital audio signals are referred to as digital video data and digital audio data, or simply video data and audio data.
[0014]
In this example, the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 is connected to an antenna 1 for receiving an analog television broadcast, and has analog input terminals 11V, 11A, 11S, analog output terminals 12V, 12A, 12S, a digital input / output terminal 15, and a digital interface 17. , Input processing unit 20, output processing unit 30, multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, buffer controller 50, hard disk drive 60, synchronization control circuit 70, system controller 80, input / output interface 90, operation input unit 110, and driver 120.
[0015]
In this example, the hard disk drive 60 includes three hard disks 61, 62, and 63, and is configured so that a transport stream is recorded on one of the hard disks and a transport stream is reproduced from any one of them.
[0016]
The system controller 80 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 81, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 83 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 84 are connected to the host bus 82.
[0017]
The ROM 83 stores a program to be executed by the CPU 81 in advance, and the CPU 81 reads the program and controls each unit of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10. In the RAM 84, other programs and data necessary for the CPU 81 to control each unit of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 are appropriately written.
[0018]
The operation input unit 110 includes a keyboard, a mouse, a button, a switch, a remote commander, and the like, and is connected to the host bus 82 via the input / output interface 90.
[0019]
The driver 120 is also connected to the host bus 82 via the input / output interface 90. The driver 120 is configured to be mounted with a magnetic disk 131, an optical disk 132, a magneto-optical disk 133, a semiconductor memory 134, and the like, and installs a program recorded in the RAM 84 in the RAM 84 as will be described later. .
[0020]
(Analog input processing and recording)
The analog television broadcast signal received by the antenna 1 is selected by the tuner 21 in accordance with an instruction from the system controller 80 based on the operation of the operation input unit 110, and the composite video signal of the selected channel is selected from the tuner 21. And the audio signal is obtained, and the composite video signal and the audio signal are supplied to one input terminal of the input switching circuit 22.
[0021]
A composite video signal is supplied from the external device to the input terminal 11V, an audio signal is supplied from the external device to the input terminal 11A, and a separate video signal is supplied from the external device to the input terminal 11S.
[0022]
The composite video signal from the input terminal 11V and the audio signal from the input terminal 11A are supplied to the other input terminal of the input switching circuit 22, and the input switching circuit 22 is switched by the system controller 80. Any composite video signal and audio signal are selected and extracted.
[0023]
The composite video signal from the input switching circuit 22 is separated into a luminance signal and a color difference signal by the YC separation circuit 23 and supplied to one input terminal of another input switching circuit 24. Separate video signals (luminance signal and color difference signal) from the input terminal 11S are supplied to the other input terminal of the input switching circuit 24, and the input switching circuit 24 is switched by the system controller 80. Any one of the luminance signal and the color difference signal is selected and extracted.
[0024]
The luminance signal and the color difference signal from the input switching circuit 24 are each A / D (Analog to Digital) converted by an NTSC (National Television System Committee) decoder 25, further subjected to chroma encoding processing, and component video data from the NTSC decoder 25. Is obtained.
[0025]
In the NTSC decoder 25, the vertical synchronization signal and the horizontal synchronization signal are separated from the luminance signal from the input switching circuit 24, and a clock and a field determination signal are generated based on the separated synchronization signal. The clock and field discrimination signal are supplied to the synchronization control circuit 70. In the synchronization control circuit 70, clocks and timing signals necessary for each part of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 are generated based on these signals and supplied to each part of the recording / reproducing apparatus 10.
[0026]
Video data from the NTSC decoder 25 is subjected to processing such as pre-filtering processing by the pre-video processing circuit 26 and then supplied to the MPEG video encoder 27 and the post video processing circuit 32 of the output processing unit 30.
[0027]
In the MPEG video encoder 27, the video data from the pre-video processing circuit 26 is subjected to an encoding process such as a block DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) to generate a video elementary stream (ES: Elementary Stream). The video elementary stream is supplied to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40.
[0028]
On the other hand, the audio signal from the input switching circuit 22 is converted into digital audio data by the A / D converter 28 and then supplied to the MPEG audio encoder 29 and the output switching circuit 35 of the output processing unit 30.
[0029]
In the MPEG audio encoder 29, the audio data from the A / D converter 28 is compression-encoded by the MPEG system, an audio elementary stream is generated, and the audio elementary stream is supplied to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40.
[0030]
In the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, the video elementary stream from the MPEG video encoder 27, the audio elementary stream from the MPEG audio encoder 29, and various control signals are multiplexed in the multiplexer, and the transport stream of the MPEG system is generated. The transport stream is generated and sent to the buffer controller 50.
[0031]
The buffer controller 50 intermittently sends the transport stream continuously input from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 to the hard disk drive 60. That is, since writing cannot be performed when the hard disk drive 60 is performing a seek operation, the input transport stream is temporarily stored in a buffer, and when the hard disk drive 60 is writable, the transport stream is higher than the input rate. Read from buffer at rate and send to hard disk drive 60. As a result, the transport stream continuously input to the buffer controller 50 is recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63 without interruption.
[0032]
The hard disk drive 60 is controlled by the system controller 80 and writes a transport stream to the hard disks 61 to 63. As a protocol (interface) between the buffer controller 50 and the hard disk drive 60, IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) or the like is used.
[0033]
(Reproduction and analog output processing)
At the time of reproduction, the hard disk drive 60 is controlled by the system controller 80 to read the transport stream from the hard disks 61 to 63 and send it to the buffer controller 50. In contrast to recording, the buffer controller 50 converts the transport stream intermittently input from the hard disk drive 60 into a continuous transport stream, and supplies it to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40.
[0034]
In the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, the header of the continuous transport stream is analyzed in the demultiplexer, whereby PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) is separated from the transport stream, and the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 receives the PES. Supplied.
[0035]
In the MPEG video / audio decoder 31, the PES from the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 is separated into a video elementary stream and an audio elementary stream, and the video elementary stream is decoded by the MPEG video decoder into baseband video data. The audio elementary stream is converted by the MPEG audio decoder and converted into baseband audio data. The converted video data is supplied to the post video processing circuit 32, and the audio data is supplied to the output switching circuit 35.
[0036]
In the post video processing circuit 32, according to an instruction from the system controller 80, the video data from the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 and the video data from the pre video processing circuit 26 are switched or combined or post filtering processing is performed. Processing is performed.
[0037]
In the post video processing circuit 32, a representative screen is generated for GUI (Graphical User Interface), a plurality of representative screens are reduced and pasted on a window, and the processed video data is converted into OSD ( (On Screen Display) processing circuit 33.
[0038]
The OSD processing circuit 33 performs processing for generating image data corresponding to text information or the like according to an instruction from the system controller 80 and superimposing the video data from the post video processing circuit 32 on the video data in the window portion. Then, the processed video data is supplied to the NTSC encoder 34.
[0039]
In the NTSC encoder 34, the video data (component video data) from the OSD processing circuit 33 is converted into luminance data and color difference data, or without being converted, respectively, as D / A (Digital to Analog). After the conversion, separate analog video signals and composite video signals are generated. The separate video signal is led to the output terminal 12S, and the composite video signal is led to the output terminal 12V.
[0040]
On the other hand, in the output switching circuit 35, either the audio data from the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 or the audio data from the A / D converter 28 is selected and extracted by the system controller 80. The selected audio data is converted into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 36 and led to the output terminal 12A.
[0041]
The separate video signal derived to the output terminal 12S, the composite video signal derived to the output terminal 12V, and the audio signal derived to the output terminal 12A are output to the monitor device 2 such as an external television receiver. Thus, an image is displayed and sound is output on the monitor device 2.
[0042]
(Recording and playback of audiovisual data from external devices)
In this example, the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 is configured such that the digital interface 17 is connected between the digital input / output terminal 15 and the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40, and the external apparatus 5 is connected to the digital input / output terminal 15. 5 is recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63 and the transport stream reproduced from the hard disks 61 to 63 can be output to the external device 5.
[0043]
As the external device 5, devices such as an IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) and a personal computer can be connected. As the digital interface 17, an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 1394 digital interface is used. As the serial bus 6 that connects the external device 5 and the digital input / output terminal 15, an IEEE 1394 serial bus is used.
[0044]
The transport stream input from the external device 5 to the digital input / output terminal 15 via the serial bus 6 is interface-processed by the digital interface 17 and sent to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40. And recorded on the hard disks 61 to 63 by the hard disk drive 60.
[0045]
At the same time, the PES is separated from the transport stream to be recorded by the demultiplexer of the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 and supplied to the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 so that the analog video is output to the output terminals 12V, 12S and 12A. Signals and analog audio signals can be obtained.
[0046]
At the time of reproduction, a transport stream is read from the hard disks 61 to 63 by the hard disk drive 60, and the reproduced transport stream is sent to the buffer controller 50 and sent from the buffer controller 50 to the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40. In the monitor device 7 connected to the external device 5 after being interfaced by the digital interface 17 and outputted to the digital input / output terminal 15 and sent from the digital input / output terminal 15 to the external device 5 via the serial bus 6. An image is displayed and sound is output.
[0047]
At the same time, the demultiplexer of the multiplexer / demultiplexer 40 separates the PES from the reproduced transport stream and supplies it to the MPEG video / audio decoder 31 so that the output analog signals are output to the output terminals 12V, 12S and 12A. A video signal and a reproduced analog audio signal can be obtained.
[0048]
[Embodiment of recording reservation setting process]
In the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 as described above, an example of a recording reservation setting processing method in the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 when a user makes a recording reservation will be described below.
[0049]
FIG. 3 shows an example of a recording reservation setting process routine performed by the system controller 80 in this case.
[0050]
In this recording reservation setting processing routine, the user starts the recording reservation setting process by operating the recording reservation with the operation input unit 110. First, in step S1, the system controller 80 receives the reserved recording from the operation input unit 110. The channel, the start date / time, the end date / time and the recording image quality of the program to be recorded are taken into the RAM 84 as recording reservation setting information.
[0051]
Next, in step S2, the system controller 80 calculates the storage capacity required to record the reserved program to the end from the recording reservation setting information captured in step S1.
[0052]
Next, in step S3, the system controller 80 calculates the free capacity of the recording medium. At this time, if there is a recording reservation earlier than the date and time of the corresponding recording reservation, the system controller 80 determines the capacity consumed up to the time of the corresponding recording reservation from the current recording medium free capacity. The result of subtraction is calculated as the free capacity of the recording medium. Note that when the recording reservation is set to update recording reservation and the program recording area already recorded is overwritten, the new recording area is not consumed even if the recording reservation is set. It is not included in the capacity consumed up to the date of the date.
[0053]
FIG. 4 shows an example of a recording reservation mode in each case.
[0054]
Next, in step S4, the system controller 80 can record the reserved program to the end by comparing the recording capacity necessary for recording the reserved program calculated in step S2 with the free capacity of the hard disks 61 to 63. If it cannot be recorded to the end, the process proceeds from step S4 to step S5.
[0055]
In step S5, the system controller 80 issues a warning indicating that the reserved program cannot be recorded to the end with the free space of the hard disks 61 to 63 and the reserved program setting conditions at the current time point, and proceeds to step S6.
[0056]
If it is determined in step S4 that the reserved program can be recorded to the end, the system controller 80 proceeds directly from step S4 to step S6.
[0057]
In step S6, it is displayed whether or not the reservation recording setting is to be ended, and in step S7, it is determined whether or not the reservation recording setting is to be ended based on the data obtained from the operation input unit 110, and is determined to be ended. If so, the scheduled recording setting is terminated.
[0058]
If it is determined in step S7 that the reservation setting is not completed, the system controller 80 returns to step S1 and repeats the reservation recording setting.
[0059]
The above-described example is a case where the reservation setting process is realized by software. When the reservation setting process is realized by software as described above, the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 configures dedicated hardware for the program constituting the software. In this case, a general-purpose personal computer that can be installed from a recording medium into the system controller 80, which is a computer incorporated therein, and that the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 can execute various functions by installing various programs. When configured as a computer, the personal computer is installed from a recording medium.
[0060]
As shown in FIG. 2, this recording medium is distributed to provide a program to the user separately from the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 (computer), and a magnetic disk (including a floppy disk) 131 on which the program is recorded. , Optical disk (including CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) 132), magneto-optical disk (including MD (Mini Disk) 133), or semiconductor memory 134 The hard disks 61 to 6 included in the ROM 83 and the hard disk drive 60 that are not only configured but also provided to the user in a state of being pre-installed in the recording / reproducing apparatus 10 (computer) and in which programs are stored. It constituted by such.
[0062]
The reservation setting process can also be realized by hardware instead of software.
[0063]
[Other Embodiments]
In the above-described embodiment, the video data and the audio data are compressed by the MPEG system. However, the video data and the audio data may be compressed by another compression system, or may be simply converted into digital data without being compressed, or the digital data may remain as it is. You can just do that.
[0064]
In the above-described embodiment, a hard disk is used as the recording medium of the recording / reproducing apparatus. However, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like may be used.
[0065]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a recording reservation method for setting a recording reservation for each program broadcast and a recording reservation setting for a program to be broadcast a plurality of times are recorded, and recording of the previous broadcast times is recorded. When making a recording reservation with a recording reservation method of erasing from the medium and recording the latest broadcast times on the recording medium, determine whether or not the program reserved for recording can be recorded to the end when setting the green image reservation. Can be displayed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a part of an example of a recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of an example of the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a recording reservation setting process routine performed by a system controller.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining duplicate recording reservation;
[Explanation of symbols]
Since all the main parts are described in the figure, they are omitted here.

Claims (3)

Image recording means for recording an image signal on a recording medium;
Information capture that captures and stores the recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of the program for which scheduled recording is performed, information for specifying the program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying the presence or absence of update recording as recording reservation setting information Storage means;
Based on the video recording reservation setting information, and used capacity calculating means for calculating the capacity of the recording medium used by the execution of the reserved recording,
Unused capacity calculation means for calculating the unused capacity of the recording medium ;
Determination of said the used capacity calculated by using capacity calculating means compares the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means, determines whether it is possible to record the recording reservation program on the recording medium to the end Means,
A warning means for warning that when a recording reservation program cannot be recorded to the end in the recording medium ,
When calculating the recording medium usage capacity of the program for which the update recording is set in the recording reservation setting, the used capacity calculation means newly calculates the recording medium capacity generated by deleting the program at the time of the update recording, and newly by the update recording. An image recording apparatus that uses a difference from a used recording medium capacity as a recording medium used capacity of a program for which update recording is set. As an image recording method executed by an image recording apparatus for recording an image signal on a recording medium,
Capturing and storing, as recording reservation setting information, recording start date and time and recording end date and time of a program to be reserved recording, information specifying a program input path and recording image quality, and information specifying presence / absence of update recording; ,
Based on the recording reservation setting information, and used capacity calculating step of calculating the capacity of the recording medium used by the execution of the reserved recording,
An unused capacity calculating step for calculating an unused capacity of the recording medium ;
Compares the unused capacity calculated in the unused capacity calculating step the used capacity calculated by the used capacity calculation step, the step of determining whether it is possible to record the recording reservation program on the recording medium to the end When,
A step of warning when the scheduled recording program cannot be recorded to the end of the recording medium ,
In the used capacity calculating step, when calculating the recording medium used capacity of the program for which the update recording is set in the recording reservation setting, the recording medium capacity generated by deleting the program at the time of the update recording, and a new by the update recording An image recording method in which a difference from a used recording medium capacity is a recording medium used capacity of a program for which update recording is set. A computer provided in the image recording apparatus,
Image recording means for recording an image signal on a recording medium;
Information capture that captures and stores the recording start date and time and the recording end date and time of the program for which scheduled recording is performed, information for specifying the program input path and recording image quality, and information for specifying the presence or absence of update recording as recording reservation setting information Storage means,
Based on the recording reservation setting information, used capacity calculating means for calculating the capacity of the recording medium used by the execution of the reserved recording,
Unused capacity calculation means for calculating the unused capacity of the recording medium ;
Determination of said the used capacity calculated by using capacity calculating means compares the unused capacity calculated by the unused capacity calculating means, determines whether it is possible to record the recording reservation program on the recording medium to the end Means and
Warning means for warning that when a recording reservation program cannot be recorded to the end on the recording medium ,
As the used capacity calculating means, when calculating the recording medium used capacity of the program for which the update recording is set in the recording reservation setting, the recording medium capacity generated by deleting the program at the time of the update recording is calculated. the difference between the recording medium capacity that is newly used by the update record, to the recording medium used capacity of the program to update recording is set, the recording medium from which a computer readable program is recorded.

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