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  Apparatus and method for recording and reproducing informationUSPTO Application #: 20070086749Title: Apparatus and method for recording and reproducing information Abstract: When recording operation is stopped due to, for example, unexpected interruption of electric power supply in the course of the recording operation on a real time basis, a technique of repairing a moving picture and sound data recorded on a recording medium until the recording is stopped, to thereby restore management information data which enables random access and special reproduction is provided. A video/audio/management information multiplexing means is so implemented as to generate data required for generating management information data for allowing random access to the recording medium and effectuating special reproduction of the recording medium, for thereby multiplexing the data required for generating the management information data, encoded video data outputted from a video encoding means and encoded audio data outputted from an audio encoding means. (end of abstract)
Agent: Townsend And Townsend And Crew, LLP - San Francisco, CA, US Inventors: Yukio Isobe, Susumu Yoshida, Tsutomu Imai, Toshihiro Kato USPTO Applicaton #: 20070086749 - Class: 386095000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Television Signal Processing For Dynamic Recording Or Reproducing, Processing Of Television Signal For Dynamic Recording Or Reproducing, Having Another Signal The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070086749. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a technique for recording information on a recording medium or a technique for reproducing information from a recording medium. [0002] As to the techniques concerning the recording medium and the recording apparatus for recording pictures and voices or sounds on a real time basis as well as reproducing apparatus and editors, description can be found, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 187354/1999 (JP-A-11-187354). [0003] More specifically, described in the publication mentioned above are a technique for recording on a recording medium video and/or audio data on a real time basis and recording management information data on the recording medium equally on a real time basis for making it possible to realize random access and special reproduction. However, when electric power supply to the apparatus is, for example, unexpectedly broken with the recording operation being thereby interrupted, the video and/or audio data and additionally the management information data will incorrectly be recorded on the recording medium without meeting predetermined format-related requirements. [0004] By way of example, suppose that a battery has come off suddenly or unexpectedly in the course of taking picture or photographing with a camera in the field out of door and thereafter power supply is again turned on. In that case, processing for repairing or remedying the management information data is executed in order to enable the random access to the video/audio data and the special reproduction, which involves consumption of lots of time as well as power consumption of the battery, making thus it impossible to perform the video/audio recording as the user desires. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a technique of repairing or remedying video and audio data having been recorded on a recording medium until stoppage of recording operation takes place due to, for example, unexpected breakage of electric power supply to thereby repair or restore the management information data which are used for enabling the random access and the special reproducing or playback operation. [0006] Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which is so arranged that when electric power supply is unexpectedly shut down in the course of recording operation performed on a real time basis and when the power supply is subsequently restarted, repair processing of the video/audio data and the management information data for enabling the random access and the special reproduction is omitted to thereby avoid wasteful time and power consumption while allowing the real-time based recording operation to be restarted immediately and thus ensuring significantly enhanced user-friendliness of the apparatus. [0007] An information recording/reproducing apparatus which present invention concerns comprises a recording data multiplexing means for multiplexing at least encoded video data and encoded audio data, a record data storing means for storing data outputted from the above-mentioned recording data multiplexing means, a management-information-generation-destined data generating means for generating data required for generating management information for reproducing data recorded on the above-mentioned recording medium on the basis of data obtained from the above-mentioned recording data multiplexing means, a management information storing means for storing the above-mentioned management information, a management information generating means for generating the above-mentioned management information on the basis of the output of the above-mentioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means for writing or reading the above-mentioned management information in or from the management information storing means, a recording medium drive processing means for recording or reading on or from the recording medium at least information outputted from the above-mentioned recording data storing means or information outputted from the above-mentioned management information generating means, a recording status storing means for storing status information indicative of status of the recording processing, and a consolidative management means for managing the above-mentioned recording data multiplexing means, the recording data storing means, the above-mentioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means, the above-mentioned management information generating means, the above-mentioned management information storing means, the above-mentioned recording medium drive processing means and the above-mentioned recording status storing means, wherein the above-mentioned consolidative management means is arranged to write or read out the above-mentioned status information onto or from the above-mentioned recording status storing means. [0008] Alternatively, an information recording/reproducing apparatus which the present invention concerns is an information recording/reproducing apparatus arranged for recording video and audio data on a recording medium which comprises a video encoding means for encoding an analog video signal, an audio encoding means for encoding an analog audio signal, a video/audio/management information multiplexing means (which may include the aforementioned recording data multiplexing means and the aforementioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means) for generating data required for generating management information data for making random access to the recording medium and effectuating special reproduction of the recording medium for thereby multiplexing the data required for generating the management information data, the encoded video data outputted from the video encoding means and encoded audio data outputted from the audio encoding means, a stream buffer (which may be constituted by the aforementioned recording data storing means) for storing multiplexed data outputted from the video/audio/management information multiplexing means by a predetermined amount for writing the above-mentioned multiplexed data onto the recording medium as a bit stream file, a volatile management information expansion memory (which may be constituted by the aforementioned management information storing means) for storing the above-mentioned management information data, a management information generating means for generating management information data from the data required for generation of the management information data to thereby write the management information data in the volatile management information expansion memory while writing the management information data onto the recording medium in the form of a management information file, a management information expanding means for reading out the management information file from the recording medium to thereby expand the management information file on the volatile management information expansion memory, a recording medium drive means (which may be constituted by the recording medium drive processing means) for directly reading or writing data from or onto the recording medium, a nonvolatile recording status memory (which may be constituted by the recording status storing means) which is a nonvolatile memory for storing process of recording processing, and a consolidative management means for managing consolidatively the above-mentioned video encoding means, the above-mentioned audio encoding means, the above-mentioned video/audio/management information multiplexing means, the above-mentioned stream buffer, the above-mentioned management information generating means, the above-mentioned management information expanding means, the above-mentioned volatile management information expansion memory and the above-mentioned recording medium drive means, to thereby write or read the status of processings thereof in or from the nonvolatile recording status memory. With the structure described above, it is contemplated that when the electric power supply is unexpectedly broken in the course of real-time-based recording, the status of recording in which the electric power supply was broken in the course of recording on the real time basis is stored in the nonvolatile memory. [0009] Parenthetically, it should be added that the aforementioned video/audio/management information multiplexing means may be so designed that the data required for generating the management information data are not necessarily be multiplexed with the encoded video data and the encoded audio data. However, the aforementioned video/audio/management information multiplexing means should be so designed as to generate at least the data required for generation of the management information data which is to be outputted or supplied to the management information generating means. [0010] Further, the data which are used upon generation of the data required for generating the management information data are not restricted to the encoded video data and the encoded audio data but may be such data which can be used for generating the management information data required for enabling the random access to the recorded bit stream file and the reproduce processing such as the special reproduction. [0011] Further, an information recording/reproducing apparatus which the present invention concerns is so arranged that in the aforementioned information recording/reproducing apparatuses, it comprises a recording medium drive processing means for recording or reading out information on or from a recording medium, a record data demultiplexing means for demultiplexing the encoded video data and the encoded audio data from the information read out from the recording medium, a management-information-generation-destined data generating means for generating data required for generating management information for reproducing data recorded on the aforementioned recording medium on the basis of the data obtained from the above-mentioned record data demultiplexing means, the aforementioned management information storing means for storing the aforementioned management information, the aforementioned management information generating means for generating the management information on the basis of output of the above-mentioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means for writing or reading out the management information in or from the above-mentioned management information storing means, a management information reading means for reading out the management information from information read out from the aforementioned recording medium for outputting the management information to the above-mentioned management information storing means, and a consolidative management means for managing the above-mentioned record data demultiplexing means, the above-mentioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means, the above-mentioned management information generating means, the above-mentioned management information storing means, the above-mentioned recording medium drive processing means, the above-mentioned management information reading means and the above-mentioned recording status storing means, wherein the aforementioned recording medium drive processing means is designed to record the information outputted from the above-mentioned management information generating means on the above-mentioned recording medium, and wherein the above-mentioned consolidative management means is designed to write or read out the aforementioned status information onto or from the above-mentioned recording status storing means. [0012] Alternatively, an information recording/reproducing apparatus which the present invention concerns comprises a video/audio/management information demultiplexing means (which may include the aforementioned recording data demultiplexing means and the aforementioned management-information-generation-destined data generating means) for reading out the aforementioned bit stream file recorded on a recording medium to thereby demultiplex encoded video data, encoded audio data and data required for generating management information data, a volatile management information expansion memory for storing the management information data, a management information generating means for generating management information data from data required for generation of the management information data to thereby write the management information data in the volatile management information expansion memory while writing the management information data onto the recording medium in the form of a management information file, a management information expanding means (which may be constituted by the aforementioned management information reading means) for reading out the management information file from the recording medium to thereby expand the management information file on the volatile management information expansion memory, a recording medium drive means for directly reading or writing data from or onto the recording medium, a nonvolatile recording status memory which is a nonvolatile memory for storing process of recording processing, and a consolidative management means for managing consolidatively the above-mentioned video/audio/management information demultiplexing means, the above-mentioned management information generating means, the above-mentioned management information expanding means, the above-mentioned volatile management information expansion memory and the above-mentioned recording medium drive means, to thereby write or read the status of processings thereof in or from data of the nonvolatile recording status memory. With this arrangement, it is contemplated that when the power supply is unexpectedly broken in the course of recording on a real time basis and when the power supply is subsequently restarted, the status of the real time recording in which the power supply was broken is acquired from the nonvolatile memory for remedying correspondingly the data written on the recording medium. [0013] At this juncture, it should be added that although it has been described that the above-mentioned video/audio/management information demultiplexing means is designed to read out the aforementioned bit stream file recorded on the recording medium for demultiplexing or separating the data required for generating the management information data, it is not always necessary to perform the processing for demultiplexing or separating the data required for generating the management information. However, it is preferred that the video/audio/management information demultiplexing means be so designed as to generate at least the data required for generating the management information data which is to be supplied to the management information generation processing. [0014] Furthermore, the data used by the above-mentioned video/audio/management information demultiplexing means for generating the data required for the generation of the management information data are not restricted to the encoded video data and the encoded audio data but may be the data capable of being used for generating the management information data which are required for making random access to the bit stream file recorded in the aforementioned recording medium and for the reproduce processing such as the special reproduction and the like. Incidentally, in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, the aforementioned recording status storing means may be constituted by a storing means which is capable of holding the stored information notwithstanding of breakage of the electric power supply. [0015] Besides, in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, it is preferred that the information recorded on the recording medium be so processed that it can be reproduced on the basis of the status information read out from the recording status storing means mentioned previously. [0016] Further, in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, it is preferred that the information read out from the recording medium be checked on the basis of the aforementioned status information read out from the aforementioned recording status storing means to thereby delete data extending from a record unit or segment containing the unreproducible information up to an end of a file. [0017] Moreover, in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, it is preferred that a group of management units or segments composed of information read out from the aforementioned recording medium be checked on the basis of the aforementioned status information read out from the aforementioned recording status storing means to thereby delete the management unit or segment including the record unit or segment containing the unreproducible information, and that those management units or segments which include a starting one of the management unit or segment group up to the record unit or segment containing the aforementioned unreproducible information be defined as a first management unit or segment group while the management units or segments including the record unit or segment containing the aforementioned unreproducible information up to the end of the above-mentioned management unit or segment group be defined as a second management unit group. [0018] Parenthetically, when the present invention is applied to the case where the stream conforming to the DVD Video Recording Standards (hereinafter simply referred to as the VR standards), the aforementioned record unit or segment may be equivalent to the pack specified in the VR standards, while the management unit or segment may correspond to VOBU (VOB Unit) with the management unit (segment) group corresponding to VOB (Video Object). [0019] Further, an apparatus which the present invention concerns is arranged such that in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, the information outputted from the aforementioned recording data storing means is recorded in the form of a data file on the aforementioned recording medium with the information outputted from the aforementioned management information generating means being recorded as first and second plural sets of management information files, and that the apparatus comprises a file system manage processing means for managing the files so that the file can be written or read on or from the aforementioned recording medium in a predetermined file format or a new file can be generated from two files, a first management information file read processing means for reading out the first set of management information file from the above-mentioned file system manage processing means, a first management information storing means for storing the above-mentioned first set of management information read out from the above-mentioned first management information file read processing means as first management information, a management information file write processing means for reading out the above-mentioned first management information from the above-mentioned first management information storing means to thereby write the above-mentioned first management information in the file system manage processing means as the above-mentioned first set of management information file, a second management information file read processing means for reading out the above-mentioned second set of management information file from the above-mentioned file system manage processing means, a second management information storing means for storing the above-mentioned second set of management information read out from the above-mentioned second management information file read processing means as second management information, a combine processing means for generating new management information from the information stored in the above-mentioned first management information storing means and the information stored in the above-mentioned second management information storing means to thereby write the new management information in the above-mentioned first management information storing means, wherein the above-mentioned data file and the above-mentioned plural sets of management information files are combined in one set. [0020] Furthermore, an information recording/reproducing apparatus which the present invention concerns may be so arranged that in the information recording/reproducing apparatus described above, a first set of the data file and the aforementioned management information file recorded on the aforementioned recording medium are checked on the basis of the aforementioned status information read out from the aforementioned recording status storing means to thereby alter an identifier of the above-mentioned first set to a second identifier in the case where the unreproducible information is included in the first set, wherein a new data file and a new management information file to be recorded on the above-mentioned recording medium is recorded on the above-mentioned recording medium as a first set of the new data file and the new management information file. [0021] In this conjunction, let's consider, for example, a case where the present invention is applied to handling of the stream which conforms to the VR standards. When a file resident in a DVD_RTAV directory is in the state insusceptible of being normally reproduced due to interruption of recording because of the occurrence of unexpected breakage of the power supply in the course of the recording, there may arise such situation that the recording can not be started unless the file is repaired or remedied to the state susceptible of normal reproduction. [0022] Thus, by applying the teachings of the present invention described above, the name of the DVD_RTAV directory containing the file of the state insusceptible of normal reproduction (identifier of the first set) is altered to e.g. a DVD_RTAV_BAK directory (identifier of the second set). As a result of this, when the recording is restarted, information to be renewedly recorded can newly be recorded internally of the new DVD_RTAV directory as the file based on the VR standards. This means that the recording can be started without repairing the file of the state insusceptible of normal reproduction. Continue reading... Full patent description for Apparatus and method for recording and reproducing information Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Apparatus and method for recording and reproducing information patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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