JP2000295560A - Multiplex information recording and reproducing device and method for generating its index information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily retrieve and reproduce desired information from multiplex information even when the multiplex information including a plurality of moving picture information sets are recorded in an information storage section. SOLUTION: The multiplex information recording and reproducing device is provided with an information storage section 11 that stores a plurality of sets of information including video information and audio information, an information management section 12 that manages management information including a recording position and the data size of each of a plurality of sets of the information, an index information generating section 13 that generates index information from each information stored in the information storage section by using the management information, an information display section 14 that displays and reproduces each information stored in the information storage section 11, and a display information changeover section 15 that instructs selection of the displayed information. When the information storage section 11 stores moving picture information, the index information generating section 13 generates index information so that a picture for a prescribed time is displayed and reproduced on the information display section an moving picture menu information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing digital multiplex information on and from a recording medium, and a method for creating index information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in the field of digital information, it has become common to process multiplexed information obtained by multiplexing a plurality of information such as character information, video information, and audio information.
Devices that perform such processing include CDs (Compact Disks).
A multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing multiplexed information on a recording medium such as a DVD or a digital versatile disk (DVD) is known.

Hereinafter, a conventional multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 11, the conventional multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus is configured to include a recording medium, and the information storage unit 1 stores multiplex information including a plurality of pieces of information in the recording medium.
11, an information management unit 112 for managing each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 111, and an information display unit 11 for displaying and reproducing each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 111
3, and a display information switching unit 114 for instructing the information display unit 113 to switch information displayed and reproduced. The information storage unit 111 records video information and audio information including still image information and moving image information as multiplexed information. Each piece of information included in the multiplexed information is configured by, for example, a bit stream of data in a packet format.

The information management unit 112 manages information indicating the recording position and data size of each information stored in the information storage unit 111. The information display unit 113, based on an instruction signal from the information management unit 112,
Is reproduced and displayed. The display information switching unit 114 instructs the information management unit 112 to switch information displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 113 in response to a user request. With the above configuration, the conventional multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus switches the information to be displayed / reproduced on the information display unit 113 as needed, thereby retrieving and reproducing the information desired by the user from the multiplexed information in the information storage unit 111. Was.

[0005]

In the conventional multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus as described above, when moving image information is stored in the information storage section, all information in the information storage section is identified and confirmed. Therefore, it was necessary to reproduce and display all such information. For this reason, the conventional multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus has a problem that it takes a long time for a user to search, reproduce, and view desired information. Further, in this conventional multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus,
Based on the management information managed by the information management unit, it was possible to display and reproduce each image of the first frame of a plurality of pieces of moving image information as a still image. However, in some cases, moving image information cannot be identified only by the image of the first frame, and it is not easy for the conventional multiple information recording / reproducing apparatus to search for and identify a plurality of pieces of moving image information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem. Even when multiplexed information including a plurality of pieces of moving image information is stored in an information storage unit, the multiplexed information can be used. It is an object of the present invention to provide a multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus capable of easily searching for and reproducing desired information, and a method of creating index information thereof.

[0007]

A multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes an information storage section storing a plurality of information including video information and audio information, and a recording position and a data size of each of the plurality of information. An information management unit that manages management information; an index information creation unit that creates index information from each piece of information stored in the information storage unit using the management information; and each piece of information stored in the information storage unit An information display unit that performs display reproduction of the display information, and a display information switching unit that instructs switching of the displayed information, when the information storage unit stores moving image information, the index information creation unit is the Index information is created so that an image for a predetermined time among the images of the moving image information is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit as moving image menu information. With this configuration, even when multiplexed information including a plurality of pieces of moving image information is stored in the information storage unit, desired information can be easily searched for and reproduced from the multiplexed information.

[0008] A method for creating index information according to the present invention comprises:
A method for creating index information of a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus which records multiplexed information including a plurality of pieces of information, wherein an image for a predetermined time is included in the moving image information included in the multiplexed information. The index information is created so as to be displayed and reproduced. With this configuration, even when multiplexed information including a plurality of pieces of moving image information is stored in the information storage unit, desired information can be easily searched for and reproduced from the multiplexed information.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment showing a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and a method for creating index information thereof will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<< First Embodiment >> FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an information storage unit 11 and the information storage unit 1.
1, an information management unit 12, an information storage unit 11, and an index information creation unit 13 connected to the information management unit 12,
An information display unit 14 connected to the information storage unit 11 and the information management unit 12 and a display information switching unit 15 connected to the information management unit 12 are provided. The information storage unit 11 stores a CD and a DV.
D is configured by a data recording device including a recording medium exemplified by D, and records multiplexed information including a plurality of information including video information and audio information. Each piece of information included in the multiplexed information is configured by, for example, a bit stream of data in a packet format. The video information includes still image information and moving image information. Information management unit 12
Manages multiplexed information stored in the information storage unit 11, and manages management information of each information included in the multiplexed information. Specific examples of the management information include the information storage unit 1
Recording position information (address information) indicating the recording position at 1;
There is information indicating the data size and the number of data. When these pieces of management information are recorded in the information storage unit 11,
The information is extracted or generated from the recorded information by the information management unit 12 and is recorded at a predetermined recording position in the information storage unit 11.

The index information creating unit 13 creates index information for displaying a list from the information stored in the information storage unit 11 by using the management information of each information managed by the information management unit 12. . The index information creation unit 13 stores the created index information in the information storage unit 11. The index information is used as search menu information when the user searches for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11, and is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 in response to a request from the user. When the moving image information is stored in the information storage unit 11, the index information creating unit 13 selects an image for a predetermined time (for example, several seconds) from among the images of the moving image information, preferably for a predetermined time from the first frame. Index information is created so that the image is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 as moving image menu information. More specifically, the index information creation unit 13
Creates index information including at least one of the recording position information of the image for the predetermined time and the image data for the predetermined time. Thus, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, when the user searches for information in the information storage unit 11, an image for a predetermined time of moving image information is displayed and reproduced, and the moving image information is identified. Can be.

The information display unit 14 includes a playback device such as a display or a speaker, and performs display and playback of information stored in the information storage unit 11 based on an instruction signal from the information management unit 12. The display information switching unit 15 instructs the information management unit 12 to switch information displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 in response to a user request input from the outside. When the DVD-Video standard is supported, the multiplex information stored in the information storage unit 11 is:
The management information managed by the information management unit 12 is stream information recorded in the DVD-Video standard format, and is a navigation pack (hereinafter, also referred to as “navigation information”) that is control information defined in the standard. It is.

The operation of the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described below. In the following description, in order to clarify the function of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, the moving image menu information in the case where a plurality of moving image information are stored in the information storage unit 11 will be described. An operation of creating index information including “” is mainly described. In the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment, first, the index information creating unit 13 acquires management information of a plurality of pieces of moving image information stored in the information storage unit 11 from the information management unit 12. Then, the index information creating unit 13 creates index information using the acquired management information so that each image for a predetermined time is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 as moving image menu information. Subsequently, the index information creating unit 13 stores the created index information in the information storage unit 11 as new information. Thereafter, when a search request is externally input to the display information switching unit 15, the display information switching unit 15 instructs the information management unit 12 to display and reproduce the index information. As a result, the index information is reproduced from the information storage unit 11 and displayed on the information display unit 14. When a request to reproduce one piece of information is input from outside to the display information switching unit 15, the display information switching unit 15 instructs the information management unit 12 to display and reproduce the requested information. Thus, the requested information is reproduced from the information storage unit 11 and displayed on the information display unit 14.

As described above, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information, the index information creating unit 13 determines the predetermined number of the moving image information images stored in the information storage unit 11. The index information is created so that the images for the time are displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 as the moving image menu information. Accordingly, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information thereof, even when a plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored in the information storage unit 11, the plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored for a predetermined time. Can be displayed and reproduced. as a result,
In the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus and the method of creating the index information according to the present embodiment, the user visually recognizes the displayed and reproduced index information, and the information storage unit 11
Discriminate the information stored in the
And it can search and reproduce efficiently.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a DVD-Video
An example of the configuration of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment corresponding to the o standard will be specifically described. FIG. 2 shows a DVD-V
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 configured in accordance with the video standard. As shown in FIG. 2, this multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus
A DVD image storage unit 21 for storing stream information in a Video standard format; and a DVD control information management unit 22 for managing navigation information of the stream information stored in the DVD image storage unit 21. The multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus has the stream information stored in the DVD image storage unit 21 and the D information.
A video menu creation unit 23 that creates video menu information using navigation information managed by the VD control information management unit 22, and a video / audio that plays back stream information stored in the DVD image storage unit 21. Display 2
4, and a menu switching unit 25 for switching displayed information. In this multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus, the moving image menu creating section 23 corresponds to the above-described index information creating section 11 (FIG. 1). An image for a predetermined time included in the information is displayed.

As described above, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus conforming to the DVD-Video standard, the moving image menu creation unit 23 stores the stream information stored in the DVD image storage unit 21 and the stream information stored in the DVD control information management unit 22, respectively. And moving image menu information using the navigation information. As a result, even when a plurality of pieces of stream information are stored in the DVD image storage unit 21, it is possible to display and reproduce an image for a predetermined time of each piece of the stream information. As a result, in the multiple information recording / reproducing apparatus and the method of creating the index information,
By visually recognizing the displayed and reproduced moving image menu information, the user can determine the information stored in the DVD image storage unit 21 and easily retrieve and reproduce desired information.

Further, in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus,
Index information can also be created by using a multi-angle function defined in the DVD-Video standard. A specific method of creating index information using the multi-angle function will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following description, it is assumed that the data of the moving image information is compressed based on a high-efficiency compression encoding technique, for example, the MPEG standard. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, three MPEG moving images A31, B32, and C33 are different moving image information, and are stored in the information storage unit 11 (FIG. 1).
The angles a 34, b 35, and c 36 are information display units 14 that can be switched and displayed by the display information switching unit 15.
FIG. 1 is a display screen displayed in FIG.
It corresponds to the multi-angle function defined in the deo standard. The above-described MPEG moving images A31, B32,
When C33 is stored in the information storage unit 11, the index information creation unit 13 (FIG. 1) converts the MPEG moving images A31, B32, and C33 into angles a34, b3, for example.
5, c36, respectively, and index information is created so that the image for a predetermined time is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 14 at the assigned angle. Thus, when performing an information search in the information storage unit 11, the user selects any one of the angles a34 to c36 to select the angle M assigned to the selected angle.
The PEG moving image can be visually recognized on the information display unit 14. Therefore, the user can use the MPEG moving images A31 to C
33 can be easily identified and searched.

<< Second Embodiment >> FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating section in a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in the configuration of the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus, the display size and format of each information stored in the information storage unit are converted to create index information corresponding to a plurality of pieces of moving image information. Other parts are
Since they are the same as those of the first embodiment, their duplicate description will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, the index information creating unit 40
A management information determination unit 41 that determines data necessary as moving image menu information based on management information of the information management unit 12, and each of the information stored in the information storage unit 11 based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 41. An information conversion unit 42 for converting the display size and format of information is provided. Further, the index information creation unit 40 includes an information conversion unit 42
Converted information storage section 4 for storing converted information converted by
And a menu connection information creation unit 4 for creating menu connection information for connecting to information stored in the information storage unit 11 based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 41
4 are provided. Index information creation unit 40
Is an information synthesizing unit 4 for synthesizing a plurality of pieces of converted information on a frame basis to create synthesized information associated with menu connection information.
5, and a moving image menu information creating unit 46 for combining the combined information for a plurality of frames created by the information combining unit 45 into one moving image menu information.

The operation of the index information creating section 40 in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. The management information determination unit 41 determines data necessary as moving image menu information included in the index information based on the management information of the information management unit 12.
More specifically, the management information determination unit 41 determines the number of all pieces of information stored in the information storage unit 11 from the above management information, and determines the number of pieces of moving image information to be included in the index information as moving image menu information. I do. The management information determination unit 41
The management information indicating the recording position and data size of each piece of the determined moving image information is acquired from the information management unit 12 and is notified to the information conversion unit 42 and the menu connection information creation unit 44 as the necessary data described above. Subsequently, the information conversion unit 42 performs, for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11, the information display unit 1 based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 41.
4 (FIG. 1), and converts the display size and format, and outputs and stores the converted information to the converted information storage unit 43.

Next, based on the data determined by the management information determining unit 41, the menu connection information creating unit 44 converts the created moving image menu information to the moving image information stored in the information storage unit 11. Create menu connection information that is connection information. Then, the information synthesizing unit 45 synthesizes the converted information stored in the post-conversion information storage unit 43 on a frame-by-frame basis and generates synthesized information associated with the menu connection information generated by the menu information generating unit 44. I do. Thereafter, the moving image menu information creating unit 46 combines the combined information for a plurality of frames created by the information combining unit 45 as one moving image menu information. As a result, the synthesis information in units of frames is put together as a continuous stream. Then, the moving image menu information creating unit 46 stores the combined moving image menu information in the information storage unit 11 as new information.

Here, a more specific configuration example of the index information creating unit of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a specific example of the index information creating unit shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the index information creation unit 40a determines the data required as moving image menu information based on the management information of the information management unit 12, and the management information determination unit 41a A reduced image creating unit 42a is provided for reducing the display size of each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11 on a frame basis based on the obtained data. Further, the index information creation unit 40a stores the reduced image in the information storage unit 11 based on the reduced image storage unit 43a that stores the reduced image reduced by the reduced image creation unit 42a and the data determined by the management information determination unit 41a. And a menu connection information creation unit 44a for creating menu connection information for connecting to the set information. The index information creating unit 40a includes a reduced image combining unit 45a that combines a plurality of reduced images in frame units to create combined information associated with menu connection information, and a plurality of frames corresponding to the plurality of frames created by the reduced image combining unit 45a. A moving image menu information creating unit 46a that combines the combined information as one moving image menu information is provided.

Hereinafter, the operation of the index information creating section 40a configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in the index information creating unit shown in FIG. 5 and 6, the information storage unit 11 stores 8
MPEG moving images A 51, MPEG moving images B 52,
.., Information including the MPEG moving image H53 is recorded. In this case, the reduced image creating unit 42a creates a reduced image as an index a54 based on management information indicating the recording position and data size of the image for the first few seconds of the MPEG moving image A51. Specifically, the reduced image creation unit 42a creates a reduced image of the MPEG moving image A51 for each frame unit from time T0 to time T1.

Similarly, the reduced image creation unit 42a
Each of the reduced images of the EG moving image B 52,..., And the MPEG moving image H 53 is created. The reduced image synthesizing unit 45 a
EG moving image A 51, MPEG moving image B 52,...
The reduced images of the first frames of the MPEG moving image H53 are combined so as to be displayed in a list in the first frame 57. The reduced image synthesizing unit 45a similarly outputs the second frame 58
And the reduced images of the respective frames at time T1 are combined so as to be displayed in a list in the n-th frame 59 (n is an integer). Thereafter, the moving image menu information creating unit 46a
Converts each synthesized image existing in a frame unit into a continuous stream as moving image menu information.

As described above, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information, the index information creating unit 40a uses the multiple pieces of moving image information stored in the information storage unit 11 Of the images of each of the moving image information, the moving image menu information including the moving image information for a predetermined time is created by being included in the index information. Furthermore, the index information creating unit 40a reduces the plurality of images included in the moving image menu information and combines them so that they can be displayed on one screen (frame). As a result, even when a plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored in the information storage unit 11, it is possible to display and reproduce an image for a predetermined time of each piece of moving image information on one screen. As a result, by visually recognizing the displayed and reproduced index information, the user can determine the information stored in the information storage unit 11 and easily retrieve and reproduce desired information. Further, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus and the method of creating index information according to the present embodiment, the above-described image reduction and synthesis processing is automatically performed based on the management information stored in the information management unit 12. It is possible to create search index information without requiring user operation or work. In the above description, eight MPEs
The case where G moving images are stored has been described, but the number of moving image information is not limited to eight.

<< Third Embodiment >> FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating section in a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in the configuration of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus, the compressed data is used for the data of the moving image menu information corresponding to a plurality of moving image information. The other parts are the same as those of the first embodiment, and the duplicated description thereof will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 7, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, the index information creating unit 60 determines the data required as the moving image menu information based on the management information of the information management unit 12. 61 includes an information compression unit 63 that changes the display size of each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11 and performs data compression conversion based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 61. Further, the index information creating unit 60 indicates a compressed information storage unit 64 for storing information compressed and converted by the information compressing unit 63, and indicates recording position information of the compressed and converted information and its data compression ratio and data size. A compression information management unit 62 for managing compression information is provided. The index information creation unit 60 includes a menu connection information creation unit 65 that creates menu connection information for connecting to information stored in the information storage unit 11 based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 61; A compression information synthesizing unit 66 for synthesizing a plurality of pieces of compression-converted information on a frame basis to create synthesized information associated with menu connection information, and combining the synthesized information for a plurality of frames created by the compression information synthesizing unit 66 into one. A moving image menu information creating unit 67 for compiling as one moving image menu information.

The operation of the index information creating section 60 in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. The management information determination unit 61 determines data necessary as moving image menu information included in the index information based on the management information of the information management unit 12.
More specifically, the management information determination unit 61 determines the number of all pieces of information stored in the information storage unit 11 from the above management information, and determines the number of pieces of moving image information to be included in the index information as moving image menu information. I do. The management information determination unit 61
The management information indicating the recording position and data size of each piece of the determined moving image information is acquired from the information management unit 12 and is notified to the information compression unit 63 and the menu connection information creation unit 65 as the necessary data described above. Subsequently, the information compression unit 63 displays the data of the image for the first few seconds in each frame unit based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 61, for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11. Part 14 (FIG. 1)
Then, the display size is changed and data compression conversion is performed, and the information is output to the compression information storage unit 64 as compression-converted information and stored. The determination of the data compression ratio and the compressed image size (data size) in this data compression conversion follows the instruction of the compression information management unit 62. The management of the data compression ratio and the compressed image size in the compression information management unit 62 means, for example, in the case of MPEG compression, the image size is set to several macroblocks, and the data compression ratio assigned to the macroblock is managed. Corresponding to

Next, based on the data determined by the management information determining unit 61, the menu connection information creating unit 65 converts the created moving image menu information to the moving image information stored in the information storage unit 11. Create menu connection information that is connection information. Then, the compression information synthesizing unit 66 converts the information of each frame after compression conversion stored in the compression information storage unit 64 based on the recording position information and the compression information managed by the compression information management unit 62. A plurality of pieces of compression-converted information are combined so as to be displayed in a list on one screen, and combined information associated with the menu connection information created by the menu connection information creating unit 65 is created. Thereafter, the moving image menu information creating unit 67 combines the combined information for a plurality of frames created by the compression information combining unit 66 as one moving image menu information. As a result, the synthesis information in units of frames is put together as a continuous stream. Then, the moving image menu information creating unit 67 stores the combined moving image menu information in the information storage unit 11 as new information.

As described above, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information, the index information creating unit 60 controls the moving image information of the moving image information stored in the information storage unit 11. Data (images) of moving image information for a predetermined time is compressed, and index information including the compressed image is created. This allows
According to the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus and the method of creating the index information of the present embodiment, the data amount of the created index information can be reduced. Further, the index information creating unit 60 combines a plurality of images included in the moving image menu information so that the images can be reduced and displayed on one screen (frame). As a result, even when a plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored in the information storage unit 11, it is possible to display and reproduce an image for a predetermined time of each piece of moving image information on one screen. As a result, by visually recognizing the displayed and reproduced index information, the user can determine the information stored in the information storage unit 11 and easily retrieve and reproduce desired information.

<< Fourth Embodiment >> FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating section in a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, in the configuration of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus, a compression information determination unit for determining a data compression ratio and a data size of compressed information among information in the information storage unit is included in the information storage unit and the information compression unit. And provided between them. The other parts are the same as those of the third embodiment, and the duplicated description thereof will be omitted. As shown in FIG. 8, in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, the index information creating unit 70
Has a compression information determination unit 71 connected between the information storage unit 11 and the information compression unit 72. The compression information determination unit 71 determines the data compression ratio and data size of the information stored in the information storage unit 11, and notifies the determined data to the information compression unit 72. The information compression unit 72 performs data compression conversion of information included in the moving image menu information using the data determined by the management information determination unit 61 and the compression information determination unit 71. Thus, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, even when the information stored in the information storage unit 11 is already compressed data, the part of the compressed information is included in the index information for display / reproduction. can do.

The operation of the index information creating section 70 in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. In the following description, operations different from those of the third embodiment will be mainly described. The compression information determination unit 71 analyzes the information stored in the information storage unit 11 using the data determined from the management information determination unit 61, and determines the compression information including the data compression ratio and the data size. . The information compression unit 72 converts the image data for the first few seconds into each frame based on the data determined by the management information determination unit 61 and the compression information determination unit 71 for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 11. Information display unit 14 in units
The display size is changed in FIG. 1 and the data is compressed and converted, and the compressed information is output to the compressed information storage unit 64 and stored.

As described above, according to the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information, the compression information determination unit 71 determines the data compression ratio and data of the information held in the information storage unit 11. The compression information including the size is determined. Accordingly, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating the index information thereof, even if the information stored in the information storage unit 11 is already compressed data, The image for the time can be included in the moving image menu information and displayed and reproduced as index information.

<< Fifth Embodiment >> FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 9, a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an information storage unit 81, an information management unit 82 connected to the information storage unit 81, and index information generation connected to the information storage unit 81 and the information management unit 82. Unit 83, information display unit 8 connected to information storage unit 81 and information management unit 82
4. a display information switching unit 85 connected to the information management unit 82;
A voice management unit 86 connected to the information storage unit 81 and the information management unit 82 is provided. The information storage unit 81 stores CD and D
It is configured by a data recording device including a recording medium exemplified by VD, and records multiplexed information including a plurality of information including video information and audio information. Each piece of information included in the multiplexed information is configured by, for example, a bit stream of data in a packet format. The video information includes still image information and moving image information. Information management unit 82
Manages multiplexed information stored in the information storage unit 81, and manages management information of each information included in the multiplexed information. Specific examples of the management information include the information storage unit 8
1, there is recording position information indicating the recording position, and information indicating the data size and the number of data. When the information is recorded in the information storage unit 81, the management information is extracted or generated from the recorded information by the information management unit 82, and is recorded in a predetermined recording position of the information storage unit 81.

The index information creating section 83 creates index information for displaying a list from the information stored in the information storage section 81, using the management information of each information managed by the information management section 82. . The index information creation unit 83 stores the created index information in the information storage unit 81. The index information is used as search menu information when the user searches for each piece of information stored in the information storage unit 81, and is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 84 in response to a request from the user. When the moving image information is stored in the information storage unit 81, the index information creating unit 83 outputs an image for a predetermined time (for example, several seconds), preferably for a predetermined time from the first frame, of the images of the moving image information. Index information is created so that the image is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 84 as moving image menu information. At this time, the index information creating unit 83
Associates audio information corresponding to an image for a predetermined time using the acquired management information. More specifically, the index information creating unit 83 includes at least one of the recording position information of the image for the predetermined time and the data of the image for the predetermined time, and associates the audio information corresponding to the image for the predetermined time. Create index information. Accordingly, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment, when the user searches for information in the information storage unit 81, an image for a predetermined time of moving image information is displayed and reproduced with sound, and the moving image information is reproduced. Can be identified.

The information display section 84 includes a playback device such as a display or a speaker, and performs display and playback of information stored in the information storage section 81 based on an instruction signal from the information management section 82. The display information switching unit 85 instructs the information management unit 82 to switch the display information being displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 84 in response to a user request input from the outside. The audio management unit 86 instructs the information storage unit 81 to select and reproduce audio information corresponding to the display information being displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 84. Thereby, when the moving image menu information is displayed and reproduced, the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment can select and reproduce the sound information corresponding to the moving image menu information. Can be played.

The operation of the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described below. In the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment, first, the index information creating unit 83 acquires each piece of management information of the multiplexed information stored in the information storage unit 81 from the information management unit 82. Then, the index information creating unit 83 uses the acquired management information so that each image for a predetermined time is associated with its corresponding audio information, and is displayed and reproduced as moving image menu information on the information display unit 84. Create index information. Subsequently, the index information creating unit 83 stores the created index information in the information storage unit 81 as new information. Thereafter, when a search request is externally input to the display information switching unit 85, the display information switching unit 85 instructs the information management unit 82 to display and reproduce the index information. Thus, the index information is reproduced from the information storage unit 81 and displayed on the information display unit 84. Further, audio information associated with the moving image menu information displayed and reproduced on the information display unit 84 is selected by the audio management unit 86 and reproduced. When a request to reproduce one piece of information is input from the outside to the display information switching unit 85, the display information switching unit 85 instructs the information management unit 82 to display and reproduce the requested information. Thereby, the requested information is reproduced from the information storage unit 81 and displayed on the information display unit 84.

Here, with reference to FIG. 10, the index information with sound in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of this embodiment will be described more specifically. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 10, index information 101 with sound corresponds to moving image menu information 102 in which images (also referred to as “indexes”) of eight pieces of moving image information for a predetermined time are combined into one, and corresponds to each index. Audio information 103 for index a, audio information 104 for index b,... And audio information 1 for index h
05 is associated therewith. Then, the information display unit 84
Has displayed and reproduced the index information 101, eight index a 107, index b 108,... And index h 109 are listed on the display screen 106. Thereafter, when the user selects one index, audio information associated with the index is selected and reproduced by the audio management unit 86. For example, when index a 107 is selected,
The audio information 103 for the index a is selected and reproduced.

As described above, according to the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment and the method of creating index information thereof, even if a plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored in the information An image for a predetermined time of information can be reproduced together with the associated audio information. As a result, the user views and confirms the reproduced index information with sound, and thereby the information storage unit 81
, The desired information can be easily retrieved and reproduced.

It should be noted that the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and the method of creating the index information thereof are not limited to any of the above-described embodiments, and when moving image information is stored in the information storage section, Various modifications are possible based on the gist of the present invention in which index information is created so that an image for a predetermined time of the moving image information is displayed and reproduced as moving image menu information, and they are excluded from the scope of the present invention. It does not do. Further, the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and the method of creating index information thereof can be used in a medium such as an optical disk medium or a tape medium in which a plurality of stored stored information cannot be accessed simultaneously. The present invention is particularly effective as a recording / reproducing apparatus for retrieving and reproducing desired information, and a method for creating index information used therein.

[0039]

As described above, according to the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus and the index information creating method of the present invention, the index information creating section is configured to set the index information creating section for a predetermined time period among the moving image information images stored in the information storage section. Index information is created so that the minute image is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit as moving image menu information. Accordingly, in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention and the method of creating the index information thereof, even when a plurality of pieces of moving image information are stored in the information storage unit, the image for a predetermined time of each piece of moving image information is stored. Can be displayed and reproduced. As a result, in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus and the method of creating index information according to the present invention, the user visually recognizes the displayed and reproduced index information, thereby determining the information stored in the information storage unit, Can be easily and efficiently searched and reproduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific configuration of the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 configured in accordance with the DVD-Video standard.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating unit in the multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a specific example of an index information creating unit shown in FIG. 4;

6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in an index information creating unit shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating unit in a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an index information creating unit in a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of creating index information in the multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 81 Information storage unit 12, 82 Information management unit 13, 40, 40a, 60, 70, 83 Index information creation unit 14, 84 Information display unit 15, 85 Display information switching unit 41, 41a, 61 Management information determination unit 42 Information conversion unit 42a Reduced image creation unit 43 Converted information storage unit 43a Reduced image storage unit 44, 44a, 65 Menu connection information creation unit 45 Information synthesis unit 45a Reduced image synthesis unit 46, 46a, 67 Moving image menu information creation unit 62 Compression information management section 63, 72 information compression section 64 compression information storage section 66 compression information synthesis section 71 compression information determination section 85 voice management section

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kunihiko Sakoda 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Reference) 5C052 AA02 AC08 CC11 DD04 5D077 AA30 BB11 HC50 5D110 AA15 BB02 BB04 BB06 DA02 DA11 DA19 DB08 DC07 DE06 EA08 FA02 FA08

Claims (9)

[Claims] An information storage unit that stores a plurality of pieces of information including video information and audio information; an information management unit that manages management information including recording positions and data sizes of the plurality of pieces of information; An index information creating unit that creates index information from each piece of information stored in the information storage unit; an information display unit that performs display reproduction of each piece of information stored in the information storage unit; A display information switching unit that instructs switching of information, when the information storage unit stores moving image information, the index information creating unit includes an image corresponding to a predetermined time among images of the moving image information. A multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus, wherein index information is created so as to be displayed and reproduced on the information display unit as moving image menu information. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the index information creating unit is a DVD
2. The multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the index information is created using a multi-angle function defined in a Video standard. 3. A management information determination unit for determining data necessary as moving image menu information based on management information of the information management unit, wherein the index information creation unit determines the data determined by the management information determination unit. An information conversion unit for converting the display size and format of each information stored in the information storage unit, a converted information storage unit for storing the converted information converted by the information conversion unit, and the management information determination A menu connection information creating unit that creates menu connection information for connecting to information stored in the information storage unit, based on the data determined by the unit, and synthesizes a plurality of the converted information in frame units. An information synthesizing unit for generating synthetic information associated with the menu connection information, and synthesizing information for a plurality of frames generated by the information synthesizing unit as one moving image menu information 2. The multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a moving image menu information creating unit. 4. A management information determination unit for determining data necessary as moving image menu information based on management information of the information management unit, wherein the index information creation unit determines the data determined by the management information determination unit. A reduced image creation unit that reduces the display size of each piece of information stored in the information storage unit in frame units based on the reduced information storage unit that stores the reduced image reduced by the reduced image creation unit; Based on the data determined by the determination unit, a menu connection information creation unit that creates menu connection information for connecting to the information stored in the information storage unit, and synthesizes a plurality of the reduced images in frame units. A reduced image combining unit for creating combined information associated with the menu connection information; and combining a plurality of frames of combined information created by the reduced image combining unit into one moving image menu. 2. The multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a moving image menu creating unit that compiles the information as information. 5. A management information determining unit for determining data necessary as moving image menu information based on management information of the information management unit, wherein the index information creating unit determines whether the data determined by the management information determining unit is correct. An information compression unit that changes a display size of each information stored in the information storage unit and performs data compression conversion, a compressed information storage unit that stores information compressed and converted by the information compression unit, A compression information management unit that manages compression information indicating the recording position information of the obtained information and its data compression ratio and data size, based on the data determined by the management information determination unit, and stored in the information storage unit. A menu connection information creating unit for creating menu connection information for connecting to information that is present, and synthesizing a plurality of pieces of the compressed and converted information on a frame basis, and relating the menu connection information to the menu connection information. A compressed information synthesizing unit for generating linked synthetic information; and a moving image menu information generating unit for combining the synthesized information for a plurality of frames generated by the compressed information synthesizing unit into one moving image menu information. 2. The multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 6. A compression information judging unit connected between the information compression unit and the information storage unit and for judging a data compression ratio and a data size of information stored in the information storage unit is provided. The multiplex information recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein 7. An information storage unit that stores a plurality of information including video information and audio information, an information management unit that manages management information including a recording position and a data size of each of the plurality of information, An index information creating unit that creates index information from each piece of information stored in the information storage unit; an information display unit that performs display reproduction of each piece of information stored in the information storage unit; A display information switching unit that instructs switching of display information, and a voice management unit for selecting and reproducing audio information corresponding to the display information, wherein the information storage unit stores moving image information; The index information creating unit creates index information such that an image for a predetermined time among the images of the moving image information is displayed and reproduced on the information display unit as moving image menu information. The voice management unit selects the audio information corresponding to the display reproduced moving picture menu information, it multiplex information recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim. 8. A method for creating index information of a multiplexed information recording / reproducing apparatus that records multiplexed information including a plurality of pieces of information, wherein an image for a predetermined time is included in moving image information images included in the multiplexed information. And generating index information so that is displayed and reproduced as moving image menu information. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein when the moving image menu information is displayed and reproduced, audio information corresponding to the moving image menu information is selected and reproduced.