CN101303876A - Recording device, recording medium, playback device, program and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A recording device, recording medium, playback device, program and method are disclosed. The recording device 100 is used for a DVD on which a TS-VOB and a plurality of pieces of playback path information each showing a playback path of the TS-VOB are recorded. When extended control of various contents can be performed by an apparatus at the time of playback, an extended attribute area in which the extended control is valid can be designated according to the contents of the extended control. When the extended attribute area is collectively designated for a plurality of playback paths of the TS-VOB, an area marker for designating the position of the extended attribute area of the TS-VOB is generated in the VOB information. When the extended attribute area is individually designated for a playback path, an area tag designating the position of the extended attribute area of the playback path is generated in the PGC information. The generated VOB information and PGC information are written to DVD.

Description

Recording device, recording medium, playback device, program and method

This application is a divisional application of the Chinese patent application entitled "Recording Device, Recording Medium, Playback Device, Program and Method" and application number 028093038 filed on October 30, 2003.

technical field

The present invention relates to a recording device for recording a digital stream on a recording medium such as DVD, CD, HD, and semiconductor memory card, and a playback device and recording medium.

Background technique

In the course of commercialization of the recording devices described above, maintaining compatibility with digital streams recorded on recording media is an important duty for manufacturers of these recording devices. In order to ensure this compatibility, each manufacturer is actively working on the standardization of the recording format adopted by the recording medium. As a result thereof, various unified standards including the DVD-Video recording standard have been established.

While manufacturers keep pace with each other, each manufacturer tries to differentiate their product from that of the other manufacturer. In these attempts, each manufacturer tends to commercialize recording devices featuring "extended control". "Extended control" which is characteristic of a recording device means playback control whose content can be arbitrarily determined by the manufacturer of the recording device. The format defined by the DVD-Video recording standard or the like has universal values, and therefore any manufacturer is not allowed to define content that does not conform to the playback control of the format. On the other hand, no common value is required for the extended control, so the manufacturer can commercially define the content of the enterprise policy, the popular content, etc. as the content of the extended control unique to the manufacturer.

However, with the widespread spread of multi-user compatible discs, although the difference from other products can be achieved by expanding control, expanding control alone may not really satisfy users. A multi-user compatible disc is a disc shared by multiple users. Large-capacity optical discs having a capacity of 40 Gbytes or more are generally designed as multi-user compatible optical discs. For such a multi-user compatible disc, it is not desirable to provide uniform playback control to all users. In today's era of personalization, the preferences and comfort of each individual user should be highly respected. For playback of multi-user compatible optical discs, there is also a need for such an extended control that can satisfy each individual user's preference and comfort. However, providing individual extended control for each of a plurality of users sharing one recording medium will inevitably complicate the data format of the recording medium and processing on the device side. The larger the number of users, the more complex they will become, placing a huge burden on the maker.

Contents of the invention

An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that can realize extended control that can satisfy preference and comfort on the part of the user while reducing the burden on the part of the manufacturer.

Here, the following describes how to achieve the above objects. For a multi-user compatible recording medium, a typical extended control provided individually for each user is to access the start position of an unviewed portion. The unwatched portion is different on a per-user basis, so it makes sense to start playback from a different location on a per-user basis. On the other hand, a typical extended control provided uniformly to multiple users is to skip commercial (CM) areas. All users sharing a recording medium often desire to skip playback of the CM area in unison. Whether extended controls are provided collectively for multiple users or individually for each user depends on the content of the extended controls. Likewise, when the digital stream is played back, the start point at which the extended control will start and the end point at which the extended control will end also depend on the content of the extended control.

Conventionally, information referred to as "entry point information" is used to designate a "position", that is, a "point" representing a "position" on a digital stream at which extended control is to be performed. However, such a conventional method of specifying the expression "point" has a limitation in determining the content of the expansion control in detail. By combining a plurality of pieces of location information, it is possible to specify an area in which expansion control is to be performed. However, such a conventional method of specifying a zone cannot indicate whether the extended control is provided collectively for a plurality of users or individually for a user, thereby failing to respond to the diversification of extended controls accompanying multi-user compatibility.

In order to respond to the diversification of extended control accompanied by multi-user compatibility, and to achieve the above object, the recording device of the present invention includes: a designation unit that can be used for (1) if the content of extended control is only for multiple playback paths If one of the playback paths is valid, an area in which the extended control is to be performed is individually designated for this one playback path; and (2) if the content of the extended control is valid for multiple playback paths, unified for the multiple playback paths specifying an area in which the extended control is to be performed; and, a writing unit operable to write one of first type marker information and second type marker information to a recording medium, the first type marker information being displayed on said The position of the zone specified individually on a playback path, the second type marker information shows the position of the zone specified collectively on the digital stream.

When a piece of playback path information is assigned to a specific user, by individually specifying for each playback path an area in which extended control is to be performed, such an area can be assigned for each user. By this, it is possible to set the unwatched area individually for each user. And, by individually designating a zone for each playback path, such extended control that can satisfy each individual user's preference, comfort, etc. can be performed.

Also, by collectively designating one area for a plurality of playback paths, extended control of skipping a sexual or violent scene, extended control of skipping a CM area, etc. can be collectively performed at the time of playback for multiple users. By this, the recording apparatus does not need to separately store the area where expansion control is to be performed for each user, and thus, its processing can be simplified. By appropriately using extended control performed individually for one user and extended control performed collectively for multiple users, manufacturers of recording apparatuses can manufacture and commercialize recording apparatuses that can meet higher user needs.

Here, a playback device for playing a recording medium may be constructed, the playback device comprising: a reading unit operable to read the first type of marker information and the second type of marker information from the recording medium; and, a control unit, Available for (1) performing extended control unique to a playback path in an area on a playback path shown by a piece of playback path information (the location of which is shown by first type marker information) , and (2) instead of performing extended control unique to said one playback path, or in addition to performing extended control unique to said one playback path, in an area indicated by the first type marker information at the position In a portion overlapping with another area whose position is indicated by the second type marker information, expansion control specific to the digital stream is performed. Assume a case where there are n types of digital streams and m pieces of playback path information for users. In this case, the control unit can perform expansion control unique to each of n types of digital streams, and expansion control unique to each of m pieces of playback path information. By this, the number of changes in extended control that can be performed by the playback apparatus becomes "n x m". In other words, by performing "nxm" expansion controls, a maximum of "nxm" variations can be realized.

Description of drawings

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments of the invention. In the attached picture:

Figure 1 shows a DVD 1 and a recording device 100 relating to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows the structure (file structure) of DVD 1 on the file system layer indicated by the dotted arrow;

Fig. 3 shows the detailed structure of the TS-VOB stored in an AV file to the level (level);

Figure 4 shows how a PES packet is stored as a TS packet;

Figure 5 shows the internal structure of the management file;

Figure 6 schematically shows indirect reference using playback path information;

Figure 7 shows the data structure of a DVD for multi-user compatibility;

Fig. 8 has shown the region marker set in the VOB information and in the PGC information;

Fig. 9 shows the extended attribute area existing in the playback path of user A;

FIG. 10 shows a zone marker specifying an extended attribute zone having the attribute "not viewed" existing in the playback path of user B;

Fig. 11 shows the VOB information in which the area marker is set;

Figure 12 shows the augmented control performed on User A's playback path and the augmented control performed on User B's playback path;

FIG. 13 shows the internal structure of a recording apparatus 100 related to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a program constituting the functional characteristics of the recording apparatus 100;

15 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a program constituting the functional characteristics of the recording apparatus 100;

FIG. 16A shows an example in which the start and end points of the extended attribute area are respectively included in two consecutive units (unit #1 and unit #2);

FIG. 16B shows an example in which the start and end points of the extended attribute area are included in the first and last units (unit #1 and unit #5) of three or more consecutive units, respectively;

FIG. 17 shows the internal structure of the playback control unit 17 related to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 shows the case where the unviewed area has a part overlapping with the extended attribute area (a CM area) having the attribute "CM";

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the extended control adjustment unit 21 related to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the extended control adjustment unit 21 related to the fourth embodiment;

Fig. 21 shows the internal structure of PGC information and VOB information related to the fourth embodiment;

Figure 22 shows the content of category information;

FIG. 23 shows the internal structure of a recording apparatus 100 related to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 shows the internal structure of the extended attribute area detection unit 12 related to the sixth embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 25A shows an example of PMT;

Figure 25B shows an example of PAT;

Fig. 26A has shown the area in which the program sequence information is changed (program sequence change area) and the non-viewed area overlap each other, and the expansion control unique to the non-viewed area and the expansion control unique to the program sequence change area conflict with each other Condition;

Fig. 26B has shown that the area (the carousel area) in which data is transmitted with the data carousel format and the unviewed area overlap each other, and the expansion control unique to the unviewed area and the expansion control unique to the cyclic area overlap each other conflict situation;

FIG. 27 shows the internal structure of a recording apparatus 100 related to an eighth embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 28 has shown the zone marker that the channel number is set by the extended attribute zone detecting unit 12;

FIG. 29 shows the internal structure of a recording apparatus 100 related to a tenth embodiment of the present invention;

30A and 30B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 1;

30C and 30D show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 2;

31A and 31B show the state of TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after partial deletion is performed in case 3;

32A and 32B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 4;

33A and 33B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 5-1;

34A and 34B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 5-2;

35A and 35B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 5-3;

36A and 36B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 6-1;

37A and 37B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 6-2;

38A and 38B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 6-3;

39A and 39B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after middle part deletion is performed in Case 7;

40A and 40B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in case 7-1;

41A and 41B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 7-2;

42A and 42B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 7-3;

43A and 43B show the state of TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deletion is performed in Case 8;

44A and 44B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 9-1;

45A and 45B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 9-2;

46A and 46B show the state of the TS-VOB and the cell before and after deleting the middle part of the TS-VOB in Case 10;

47A and 47B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 10-1;

48A and 48B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 10-2;

49A and 49B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after partial deletion is performed in Case 10-3;

FIG. 50 shows the internal structure of the recording apparatus 100 related to the tenth embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 51A and 51B schematically show a move edit for moving Unit #1 of the four Units #1 to Unit #4 constituting the playback path to a position immediately after Unit #3;

Figures 51C and 51D have shown the process of moving a unit including the starting point of the extended attribute area;

Figure 52 A and 52B have shown the process of updating a region marker when the unit comprising the starting point of the extended attribute region is moved;

Figures 53A and 53B show the process of moving a unit that includes the end point of the extended attribute area; and

54A and 54B show the process of updating the area marker when the unit including the end point of the extended attribute area is moved.

Detailed ways

(first embodiment)

Next, a first embodiment of the recording medium related to the present invention will be described. The recording medium related to this embodiment is a rewritable DVD (hereinafter referred to as "DVD") on which moving image data can be recorded in accordance with the DVD-Video recording standard. FIG. 1 shows a DVD 1 and a recording device 100 related to this embodiment. The recording device 100 encodes broadcast content of broadcast signals received through the terrestrial antenna 101 and the parabolic antenna 102, and writes the encoded broadcast content to the DVD 1. DVD 1 is a multi-user compatible DVD shared by the two users shown in the figure (User A and User B).

The DVD 1 has a layer structure including a physical layer, a file system layer, an application layer, etc., and data in the form of a digital stream is recorded thereon by the recording device 100.

Fig. 2 shows the structure (file structure) of the DVD 1 on the file system layer indicated by the dotted arrows. In the file structure shown in Figure 2, the DVD_RTAV (Real Time Recording Audio Video) directory is located at the next level under the root directory, while several TS-VOB AV files are stored and management files that store various types of management information Located in the DVD_RTAV directory. TS-VOB (Transport Stream-Video Object) is data recorded in transport stream form, which is different from VOB in program stream form. The digital stream mentioned in the "claims" and "summary of the invention" of this application refers to this TS-VOB.

Fig. 3 shows a detailed level-to-level structure of TS-VOB stored in an AV file. In the figure, the AV file shown in FIG. 2 is displayed on the seventh level which is the lowest level. TS-VOBs stored in the AV file are displayed on the sixth level in FIG. 3 . As shown in the figure, TS-VOB is obtained by multiplexing a video stream and an audio stream displayed on the first stage. The video stream on the first level is a sequence of pieces of picture data ("pi1", "pi2", "pi3", . . . ). Each of these pieces of image data is displayed in one display period (also referred to as "video frame"). In the case of display in NTSC format, one video frame has approximately 33 milliseconds (1/29.97 second to be precise). In the case of displaying in the PAL format, one video frame has 40 milliseconds. These pieces of image data are compressed by encoding based on correlation between frames. Accordingly, pieces of picture data constituting a video stream can be classified into 3 types of pictures, that is, using a picture to be played back in the past direction and a picture to be played back in the future direction using A "B (bidirectional predictive) picture" compressed using the correlation of the pictures, a "P (predictive) picture" compressed using the correlation with a picture to be played back in the past direction, and a "P (predictive) picture" compressed without using the correlation An "I (intra) picture" that is compressed but uses the spatial frequency characteristics in the picture corresponding to one frame.

In a video stream, the minimum unit of decoding is called "GOP (Group of Pictures)". One GOP includes at least one I picture, and is a collection of pieces of picture data having a playback time period of approximately 1.0 second. In FIG. 3, the video stream shown on the first level is divided into a plurality of GOPs on the second level. The encoding format used for image data is a variable-length encoding format, so the data length differs for each GOP. When data is recorded on a DVD, a GOP sequence is divided into multiple parts regardless of the size of each GOP. The divided parts are stored in the sequence of PES packets shown in the third level. On the other hand, the audio stream located on the right side of the first level is also divided into a plurality of parts, and the divided parts are stored in the sequence of PES packets displayed on the third level. As shown at the third level in the figure, the PES packets store separate parts of the video stream and separate parts of the audio stream. At the head of each PES packet, "DTS" showing the timing at which the divided part will be decoded and "PTS" showing the timing at which the decoding result of the divided part will be displayed are attached.

The sequence of PES packets storing the GOP sequence is multiplexed with the sequence of PES packets storing the audio stream ("tj1" in the figure), thereby constituting the sequence of TS packets shown in the fourth stage. Audio data multiplexed with at least one GOP and with pieces of image data forms a VOBU (Video Object Unit) as shown in the fifth stage. A VOBU is the smallest unit for accessing a TS-VOB, which is formed by arranging video packs and audio packs defined by the MPEG standard. The TS-VOB shown in the sixth level has a structure in which a plurality of VOBUs are arranged in time series. The description on the internal structure of TS-VOB has been given so far.

The division and multiplexing shown in the third to fifth levels are characteristics peculiar to TS-VOB and cannot be seen in conventional DVDs. A VOB to be recorded on a conventional DVD, that is, a VOB in program stream form, is composed of a plurality of packs, and one PES pack is directly stored as each pack. On the other hand, with a TS-VOB in the form of a transport stream, PES packets are stored as TS packets after being divided into a plurality of parts. Figure 4 shows how PES packets are stored as TS packets.

As shown in the third level in Fig. 4, a TS packet is composed of a TS packet header, an application field and a payload. The size of the TS packet is 188 bytes. The data size of 188 bytes is the same as the size of an ATM packet transmitted on the ATM transmission path. The size of the TS packet is determined such that the TS packet can be directly recorded together with the packet transferred through the ATM transmission path.

The payload stores divided parts obtained by dividing PES packets. When the PES packets are part of a video stream, this payload corresponds to the video layer. In Fig. 4, the PES packet shown at the first level is divided into a plurality of parts shown at the second level, and each divided part is stored in the payload of the TS packet shown at the third level, as shown by the arrow "ct1 ", "ct2" and "ct3".

The structure of the TS packet header is indicated by a dotted arrow "hg1". As shown by the arrow "hg1", the TS packet header stores the "PID (Packet Identifier)" used to identify the video stream to which the TS packet belongs or the audio stream to which the TS packet belongs, and is used to indicate that the PES in the payload The "payload unit start indicator" of the start position of the packet, and the "application field control" used to indicate whether the application field follows the header of the TS packet in the TS packet.

The "application field" stores information about the system layer of the video stream when a separate part of the video stream is stored in the payload. Such information on the system layer includes "PCR (Program Clock Reference)" and "Random Access Pointer" as indicated by the dotted arrow "hg2". The PCR is a reference value of a reference clock "STC (System Time Clock)" of a device that decodes the stream. This reference value is used for (1) processing of demultiplexing one transport stream, and (2) processing of reconstructing various PES streams (such as video streams) using the transport stream. "Random Access Indicator" indicates whether the PES packet in the payload includes the first frame of the access point of the video stream. An access point exists in one stream and is a unit that can be independently decoded, and a random access indicator indicates whether or not the first frame (I picture) of a GOP exists.

The description has been given so far about the difference between the TS-VOB and the VOB in the program stream format. Next, how TS-VOB is recorded on DVD will be explained. One DVD includes a plurality of ECC blocks, which are recording areas where errors can be corrected. A plurality of TS packets constituting one transport stream are converted into a unit called "capsule" and recorded as an ECC block. A capsule is formed by arranging a plurality of TS packets each having an ATS attached thereto. ATS (Arrival Time Stamp) is information on the timing at which TS packets enter the device.

The internal structure of the management file is described below. Figure 5 shows the internal structure of the management file. As indicated by the dotted arrow "fs0" in the figure, the management file consists of multiple pieces of VOB information (VOB#1 information, VOB#2 information, VOB#3 information, ...) and multiple pieces of PGC information (PGC#1 information, PGC#2 information, PGC#3 information, ...).

VOB information (#1, #2, #3, ...) is information showing details of each TS-VOB recorded on the DVD. In this figure, the VOB#1 information corresponding to VOB#1 is specified by a dotted arrow "hs1".

As indicated by the arrow "hs1", the VOB#1 information includes a "TS-VOB Identifier" for uniquely identifying the corresponding TS-VOB, a "TS-VOB Record" indicating the date and time the TS-VOB was recorded. Date and time", "Video encoding mode" indicating the format in which the video stream to be multiplexed into TS-VOB is encoded, "Video encoding mode" indicating the format in which the audio stream to be multiplexed into TS-VOB is encoded Audio coding mode", "access map" (access map) and "region marker" for this TS-VOB.

The "Access Map" is a reference table that indirectly refers to addresses of a plurality of start locations that can be accessed in the TS-VOB using time information. The access map is further detailed by following the dashed arrows "hs2" and "hs3". As indicated by the arrow "hs2", the access map is composed of pieces of entry information, each corresponding to a VOBU. As indicated by the arrow "hs3", the entry information associates "VOBU playback time period" showing the time period required to play back the corresponding VOBU with "VOBU data size" showing the data size of the VOBU. With the variable length coding format employed, each VOBU comprising a GOP can have a different size and a different playback time period. However, by referring to "entry information", a freely selected playback time can be converted into the address of the start of a piece of image data in the VOBU corresponding to the selected playback time, so that the address of the start of the piece of image data can be accessed. start.

The internal structure of the PGC information is described below. As indicated by the dotted arrow "hs4", the PGC information includes "playback path information" and "precinct marker" showing the playback path for one TS-VOB via the access map. The playback path information is characterized by its description manner. More specifically, since the management information includes an access map, playback path information is described in the form of indirect reference using the access map as a reference table. The playback path information is described in the form of indirect reference for the purpose of eliminating the burden of updating the playback path information when editing the TS-VOB. This playback path information is described in detail below. As indicated by the dotted arrow "hs5", the playback path information is composed of a sequence of pieces of unit information (unit information #1, unit information #2, unit information #3 . . . ). As indicated by the dotted arrow "hs6", the cell information includes "TS-VOB identifier" for identifying the corresponding TS-VOB, "start point information" as time information showing the playback start position in the TS-VOB , and "end point information" as time information showing the playback end position in the TS-VOB. An area whose start point and end point are determined by the start point information and the end point information is called a "cell". The sequence of pieces of cell information in the playback path information indicates the order in which cells corresponding to these pieces of cell information are to be played back. The playback path information described in such a manner can be classified into two types, one is automatically generated by the recording apparatus 100 when recording a TS-VOB, and the other is recorded according to user's editing operation. The playback path indicated by such playback path information is intended to play back TS-VOBs on various paths.

Fig. 6 schematically shows indirect reference using playback path information. In the figure, TS-VOB#1 and TS-VOB#2 are composed of a plurality of VOBUs, respectively. Each VOBU includes a GOP. As indicated by arrows "ay1", "ay2", "ay3" and "ay4", the access map included in each of the two pieces of VOBU information specifies the sector addresses of the above-mentioned plurality of GOPs. These sector addresses are indirectly referenced via the access map. Arrows "jy1", "jy2", "jy3", and "jy4" in the figure schematically show designation of GOP in the form of time information. More specifically, designation of GOPs in the form of time information (indicated by arrows "jy1", "jy2", "jy3", and "jy4") is by designating GOPs included in TS-VOBs via an access map. address to achieve. The playback path information in the figure represents one playback path by a combination of pieces of time information indicated by arrows "jy1", "jy2", "jy3", and "jy4".

An example case where the above-mentioned various types of information are applied to a multi-user compatible DVD is described below. Fig. 7 shows the data structure of a DVD for multi-user compatibility. In FIG. 7, two TS-VOBs, namely TS-VOB#1 and TS-VOB#2, are recorded on the DVD, and VOB#1 information and VOB#2 information are assigned to the above-mentioned TS-VOBs, respectively. The recorded playback path information #1 (PGC information #1) and playback path information #2 (PGC information #2) included in the VOB#1 information and VOB#2 information define the paths assigned to the channels shown in FIG. 1, respectively. The playback path of two users (user A and user B) of . The playback path required by user A is to play back part ① and part ② of TS-VOB#1 and part ③ of TS-VOB#2 in the stated order. The reproduction path required by user B is to reproduce part ④ of TS-VOB#1 and part ⑤ of TS-VOB#2 in the above order. PGC information #1 assigned to user A includes cell information #1, cell information #2, and cell information #3, and PGC information #2 assigned to user B includes cell information #4 and cell information #5.

These pieces of unit information #1 to #5 designate the start and end points of sections ① to ⑤, respectively, by indirect reference. Parts ① to ⑤ can be handled as a unit by specifying with a plurality of pieces of unit information.

In the figure, arrows "rf1" and "rf2" indicate indirectly referenced symbols. As can be understood from the arrows "rf1" and "rf2", the starting points "st1", "st2" and "st3" and the ending points "ed1", " ed2" and "ed3" are specified by indirect references via the corresponding access graphs.

Explanation on VOB information and PGC information has been given so far. The present embodiment is characterized in that a region marker is set in the VOB information in the hierarchical structure and a region marker is set in the PGC information as described above. Fig. 8 shows a region marker set in VOB information and a region marker set in PGC information.

Each of these region markers occupies a part of the playback path shown by the playback path information. Specifically, the zone marker is information for marking a zone recognized by the recording apparatus 100 as having an extended attribute. The "extended attribute" is an attribute enabling the extended control. Upon playback via a playback path, extended control will be performed in an area of the playback path specified by the area tag according to the extended attribute. The internal structure of the section marker set in the VOB information is indicated by the dotted arrow "hs7" in FIG. This area marker includes "attribute type" indicating the type of extended attribute of an extended attribute area whose position is specified by the area marker, time as indicating the start point of the extended attribute area in a plurality of playback paths referring to the TS-VOB "Start point information" of information, "end point information" which is time information indicating the end point of an extended attribute area in a plurality of playback paths referring to a TS-VOB, and display of extended control to be performed in the extended attribute area and for "Details" identifying the details of the benchmarks of the extended attribute area.

The internal structure of the region marker set in the PGC information is indicated by the dotted arrow "hs8". The precinct marker includes "attribute type" indicating the type of extended attribute of the precinct marker whose position is specified by the precinct marker, identifying a plurality of units included in the playback path corresponding to the playback path information, including the extended "Start unit ID" of a unit of the start point of the attribute area, "start point information" as time information indicating the start point of the extended attribute area within the unit, identification of the playback path included in the corresponding playback path information Among the plurality of units, "end unit ID" of a unit including the end point of the extended attribute area, "end point information" as time information indicating the end point of the extended attribute area within the unit, and display to be executed in the extended attribute area The "details" of the extension control and the details of the benchmark used to identify the extension attribute area.

Such area markers set in VOB information and PGC information have the following meanings. The area marker set in the VOB information is used in the following cases. When a TS-VOB corresponding to VOB information is referred to by a plurality of playback paths, the area identifier in the VOB information is used to collectively designate an extended attribute area for the plurality of playback paths.

On the other hand, the area marker set in the PGC information is used in the following cases. When the TS-VOB corresponding to the VOB information is referred to by a plurality of playback paths, the area marker in the PGC information is used to individually designate an extended attribute area for a specific one of the plurality of playback paths.

The following explains how such playback paths for two users can be specified for playback paths for two users when there is an extended attribute area having the attribute "not watched" in each of the playback paths for two users as shown in FIG. Expand the attribute area. FIG. 9 shows the extended attribute area existing in the playback path for user A. In FIG. In the figure, it is assumed that an intermediate position "ty1" in the middle of part ① and an end position "yn1" of part ③ correspond to the start and end points of a non-viewing area that user A has not viewed, respectively. The area marker set in PGC information #1 designates the intermediate positions "ty1" and End position "yn1" in part ③. As described above, each piece of cell information itself indirectly references a location on the corresponding TS-VOB via the access map, therefore, it can be said that the area marker designates a location with the attribute "not The start and end points of the extended attribute area of "Watch". As indicated by arrows "sr1" and "sr2", "start unit ID" and "end unit ID" included in the precinct marker in FIG. 9 identify unit information #1 and unit information #3, respectively. As can be seen from the figure, the start and end points of the extended attribute area are "indirect references to indirect references" by using the unit information identified by the start unit ID and the unit information identified by the end unit ID and the access map. to specify. The arrows "rr1" and "rr2" in the figure represent "indirect reference to indirect reference" in symbols. More specifically, as can be seen from the drawing, the start point "ty1" and end point "yn1" of the extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed" are designated by the area marker by "indirect reference to indirect reference".

FIG. 10 shows a region marker designating an extended attribute region having the attribute "not viewed" existing in the user B's playback path. In the figure, it is assumed that an intermediate position "ty2" in the middle of part ④ and an end position "yn2" of part ⑤ correspond to the start and end points of a non-viewing area that user B has not viewed, respectively. The section marker set in the PGC information #2 specifies the start and end points of the extended attribute section that the user B has not viewed by "indirect reference to indirect reference". As indicated by the arrows "sr3" and "sr4", "start unit ID" and "end unit ID" included in the precinct identifier in FIG. 10 identify unit information #4 and unit included in the PGC information, respectively. Message #5. As can be seen from the figure, with the cell information #4 and cell information #5 included in the PGC information and the access map in the VOB information, the start point of the extended attribute area can be specified by "indirect reference to indirect reference". and end point. The arrows "rr3" and "rr4" in the figure represent "indirect reference to indirect reference" in symbols.

By providing a zone tag in the PGC information, such an extended attribute zone satisfying each individual user's personality, preference and comfort can be set in the playback path for each user. Explanation has been given so far about the application of providing the region marker in the PGC information. It should be noted here that, for the area marker in the PGC information, the end point information showing the end point of the extended attribute area and the end cell ID identifying the cell including the end point of the extended attribute area are not necessarily used. The end point information and the end unit ID may be omitted, or other parameters (equivalent parameters such as the number of VOBUs and the number of pieces of image data) may be used to indicate the end point of the extended attribute area. This is due to the following reasons. When a section that has not been viewed by the user is to be identified as an extended attribute section, it is preferable to precisely specify the start point of the section that has not been played back, that is, the point at which the user stops viewing. On the other hand, the end point of the extended attribute area can often be specified automatically because it matches the end point of the playback path defined by the user.

The following describes the application of the case where the area marker is set in the VOB information. Fig. 11 shows VOB information in which the area marker is set. In the drawing, shaded portions "ht1" and "ht2" are respectively parts of TS-VOBs identified as extended attribute areas having attribute "CM". Each of these parts may be identified as having the attribute "CM" by its audio attributes or user-specified content, or using any other means. When users A and B both uniformly want to skip identified extended attribute areas, these extended attribute areas with attribute "CM" will be specified in the playback path for both users A and B. The arrows in the figure indicate the positions of the CM areas in the playback paths for users A and B. In the playback path for user A, the area from position "yf1" to position "yf2" and the area from position "yf3" to position "yf4" are CM areas. In the playback path for user B, the area from position "yf5" to position "yf6" and the area from position "yf7" to position "yf8" are CM areas. The area marker set in the VOB information realizes the uniform designation of an extended attribute area for all users referring to TS-VOB#1. In the drawing, arrows "dr1" and "dr2" pointing directly to the TS-VOB symbolically show the unified designation by the region label set in the VOB information. More specifically, these directly pointing arrows "dr1" and "dr2" show both the designation of the extended attribute area in the playback path for user A and the specification of the extended attribute area in the playback path for user B. The specification of the extended attribute area. Arrows "yf1", "yf2", "yf3" and "yf4" show designation of extended attribute areas in the playback path for user A, while arrows "yf5", "yf6", "yf7" and " yf8" shows designation of the extended attribute area in the playback path for user B. Designation of unity symbolized by arrows "dr1" and "dr2" has the same meaning as designation of a set of extended attribute areas for multiple playback paths. By implementing such a unified designation for playback paths for multiple users, zone markers can be simplified and can be more easily understood.

Next, the following will examine a portion specified to be included in an extended attribute area by the area marker set in the VOB information, but not limited to be included in the playback path indicated by the playback path information. In the example of FIG. 11, the parts indicated by the dotted lines "hh1" and "hh2" are designated to be included in the extended attribute area designated by the area markers set in the VOB#1 information and in the VOB#2 information, but It is not limited to be included in the playback path indicated by the VOB#1 information and the VOB#2 information. The designation of these areas by the area markers set in the VOB#1 information and the VOB#2 information does not cover the portions indicated by the dotted lines "hh1" and "hh2". This means that the playback path indicated by the playback path information takes precedence over the precinct flag set in the VOB information. More specifically, even if a part is specified to be included in an extended attribute area by the area marker set in the VOB information, if it is not limited to be included in the playback path shown by the playback path information, then in this Neither playback control nor expansion control is performed in a section.

The following describes playback control performed on two playback paths in which extended attribute areas are collectively designated. FIG. 12 shows the extended control performed on the playback path for User A and the extended control performed on the playback path for User B. FIG. In the figure, straight arrows "yc1", "yc2" and "yc3" symbolically show the normal playback process performed according to the playback path. Curved arrows "cv1", "cv2" and "cv3" symbolically show the process of skipping playback performed at the time of playback for users A and B. FIG. During playback for users A and B, a skip playback process is performed in the CM area. By designating an extended attribute area having an attribute "CM" using an area tag, skipping of the CM area is performed uniformly at the time of playback for users A and B. As in the case of the PGC information, it should be noted here that for the area marker set in the VOB information, end information showing the end of the extended attribute area is not necessarily used. End point information may be omitted, or other parameters (equivalent parameters such as the number of VOBUs and the number of pieces of image data) may be used to indicate the end point of the extended attribute area.

The following describes how the start point of the extended attribute area is represented by the start point information included in the area tag. The start point information included in the zone marker set in the VOB information adopts the same or more accurate time precision as that of one video frame of the image data in the TS-VOB corresponding to the zone marker, showing the extended The location of the starting point of the attribute area. Therefore, the position where the extended control is to be performed is indicated in detail by the area flag set in the VOB information.

Similarly, the starting point information included in the area marker set in the PGC information adopts the same or more accurate time accuracy as the time accuracy of one video frame of the image data in the corresponding TS-VOB, showing the extended attribute area. The location of the origin. This TS-VOB corresponds to the cell identified by the start cell ID in the area tag. Therefore, the position where expansion control is to be performed is indicated in detail by the area flag set in the PGC information.

In order to achieve a time precision equal to or better than that of a video frame, it is preferable to combine a time precision of 1/27,000,000 second with a time precision of 1/90,000 (=300/27,000,000) second. Considering the common multiple of the frame frequency of NTSC signal, PAL signal, DolbyAC-3 and MPEG audio, the time precision of 1/90.000 second is adopted here. Considering that the clock frequency on the playback device side is 27 MHz, a time frequency of 1/27,000,000 second is used here.

Although the present embodiment has described the case where the extended attribute area designated by the area identifier set in the VOB information is the CM area in which the extended control of skipping the area is to be performed uniformly for each user, the extended An attribute zone may also be a zone containing sexual or violent scenes, in which case an extended control to skip the zone is implemented. For example, suppose a parent finds sexual and violent scenes when replaying a TS-VOB, which they do not want the rest of the family to watch. In such a case, these scenes can be set as an extended attribute area by setting area markers in the VOB information. Thereby, these scenes can be skipped when playing back uniformly for all users. Equally, although this embodiment has described the expansion control to be carried out in the CM area is the situation that skips this area, but expansion control also can be to display on this CM area the URL of the sponsoring company relevant to this CM area, or can is a thumbnail image displayed with the logo of the sponsoring company.

Also, the present embodiment describes the case where the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier set in the PGC information is an unviewed area in which extended control to access the beginning of the area is to be performed. Alternatively, an area in which fast-forward playback or fast-reverse playback was previously performed by the user A or B may be designated as an extended attribute area. Thereby, in those extended attribute areas in which such special playback has been performed before, extended control that performs the same processing as before can be easily realized.

Furthermore, although this embodiment describes the case where one area marker is set in one piece of PGC information, a plurality of area markers may be set in one piece of PGC information. Extended attribute areas specified by a plurality of area markers may overwrite each other. Also, although this embodiment has described the case where one precinct marker is set in one piece of VOB information, a plurality of precinct markers may be set in one piece of VOB information. Extended attribute areas specified by a plurality of area markers may overwrite each other.

(second embodiment)

The present embodiment relates to the recording apparatus 100 for recording the TS-VOB related to the first embodiment. The recording apparatus 100 mainly executes the recording process of TS-VOB, but may also execute the playback process of TS-VOB. In this way, the recording device 100 is a hybrid type having both the functions of a recording device and the functions of a playback device. FIG. 13 shows the internal structure of the recording device 100 . The components shown in the figure can be classified according to their functions into (i) components used in both the recording process and the playback process; (ii) components used only in the recording process; and (iii) components used only in the playback process parts.

First, components used in both the recording process and the playback process will be described below. Such components include a user interface unit 2 , a drive device 3 , a resident memory 4 and a track buffer 5 .

The user interface unit 2 receives user operations through a remote controller or panel buttons to record a broadcast program, select playback path information recorded on a DVD, perform normal playback, and perform special playback such as fast-forward playback and fast-reverse playback. put wait.

The drive device 3 includes a base on which a DVD is set, a spindle motor for clamping the set DVD and driving and rotating the DVD, an optical pickup for reading a signal recorded on the DVD, and an optical pickup for the optical pickup. The actuator of the pickup. The drive device 3 is responsible for accessing the DVD. Access to a DVD involves writing VOBUs to the DVD when a program is recorded and reading VOBUs when the program is played back.

The resident memory 4 is a memory for residing therein VOB information and PGC information. VOB information and PGC information reside in this memory to avoid conflicts between (a) disk access for recording VOBUs and (b) disk access for updating management files. When VOBU recording ends, the VOB information and PGC information stored in the resident memory 4 are written back to the DVD.

The track buffer 5 is a buffer for temporarily storing VOBUs to be written to DVD and VOBUs to be read from DVD. VOBUs to be written to the DVD and VOBUs read from the DVD are temporarily stored in the track buffer 5 in order to absorb the difference between the decoding speed of the decoder 16 and the reading speed at which the drive device 3 reads data from the DVD. , also to absorb the difference between the encoding speed of the encoder 7 and the writing speed at which the drive device 3 writes data to the DVD.

Explanations have been given so far about components used in both the recording process and the playback process. The components used for the recording process are described below. Such components include an analog tuner 6, an encoder 7, a digital tuner 8, an extraction unit 9, an analysis unit 10, a map generation unit 11, an extended attribute area detection unit 12, a CM area detection unit 13, and a playback path information generation unit 14 and recording control unit 15.

The analog tuner 6 modulates a broadcast wave sent from a broadcast base station, and selects a channel to obtain an analog broadcast signal corresponding to a single program.

The encoder 7 encodes a single signal area of the analog broadcast signal corresponding to the single program output from the analog tuner to obtain a VOBU. The encoder 7 comprises a video encoder (1), an audio encoder (2) and a multiplexing unit (3). A video encoder (1) encodes a video signal in an analog broadcast signal to obtain a GOP. The audio encoder (2) encodes the audio signal in the analog broadcast signal to obtain an audio data sequence. A multiplexing unit (3) multiplexes GOP and audio data to obtain a VOBU. The encoder 7 outputs to the picture generating unit 11 a playback time period and data length of the corresponding VOBU every time a GOP is generated.

The digital tuner 8 modulates a broadcast wave broadcast from a broadcast base station, and selects a channel to obtain a digital broadcast signal corresponding to a single program. In this embodiment, the recording device 100 is equipped with a digital tuner 8 inside, enabling acquisition of digital broadcast signals. Alternatively, a digital broadcast signal may be obtained from a digital tuner 8 incorporated in another device such as a STB (Set Top Box). In this case, a digital interface for receiving digital broadcast signals from the STB needs to be provided in the recording apparatus 100 .

The extraction unit 9 extracts a sequence of TS packets from the signal area of the digital broadcast signal, and adds an ATS to each TS packet to obtain a VOBU.

The analyzing unit 10 is located in the extracting unit 9, and judges which TS packet includes the start of an access point by referring to the random access pointer in the application field of each TS packet. Further, the analysis unit 10 detects an access point in the TS packet by referring to the payload unit start indicator in the TS packet. By repeatedly performing the above judgment process and detection process on a plurality of TS packets, the size and playback time period of the corresponding VOBU can be calculated. The size of the VOBU can be obtained by calculating the difference between the start position of the current access point and the start position of one access point after the current access point. The playback time period of the VOBU can be obtained by calculating the difference between the PTS attached to the start position of the current access point and the PTS attached to the start position of the subsequent access point. The size of the VOBU and the playback time period calculated in this way are output to the map generation unit 11 .

The map generation unit 11 associates the size of the VOBU output from the decoder 7 and the analysis unit 10 and the playback time period with the identifier of the VOBU, obtains the entry information of the VOBU, and writes it into the resident memory 4 . An access map can be obtained by repeatedly performing the process of generating entry information for each VOBU included in the TS-VOB.

When the content of the extended control to be executed during playback is to skip a CM area, and the extended control is uniformly valid for a plurality of playback paths, the extended attribute area detection unit 12 uniformly specifies one in which to be skipped by such as A plurality of playback paths shown in the pieces of playback path information shown in FIG. 11 perform extended control areas. In order to realize this unified designation, the extended attribute area detecting unit 12 generates an area marker designating the position of the collectively designated extended attribute area in the TS-VOB, and sets the area marker in the VOB information. Here, the area marker is generated in the following manner. The extended attribute area detection unit 12 monitors the attributes of the signal areas constituting the digital broadcast signal and the analog broadcast signal. When an attribute change is found, the extended attribute area detecting unit 12 detects a position corresponding to this change on the TS-VOB. It is conceivable that such a change is at the point where the extended control is to start, ie at the starting point of an extended attribute area. Therefore, an area marker designating an extended attribute area can be generated with this detected change position as a starting point, and the area marker is set in the VOB information. To generate a zone marker, the extended attribute zone detection unit 12 uses the PTS attached to the PES packet input to the encoder 7 and extraction unit 10 when the attribute change is detected, or the PTS attached to the PES packet from the encoder 7 when the attribute change is detected. and the PTS on the PES packet output by the extraction unit 10 to indicate the change position.

In the extended attribute area detection unit 12 there is a CM area detection unit 13 . When a signal region having a stereo audio attribute is inserted into a broadcast signal having a monaural audio attribute, the CM region detection unit 13 detects a position on the digital stream corresponding to a change from analog audio to stereo audio. It is conceivable that the detected change position is where the extended control of skipping the CM area will start, ie, the start of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM". Therefore, an area marker designating an extended attribute area with this changed position as a starting point is generated, and the area marker is set in the VOB information.

When the writing of the TS-VOB to the DVD is completed, the playback path information generation unit 14 selects one of the TS packets constituting the TS-VOB as a start point of a unit, and selects the other one of the TS packets constituting the TS-VOB as a unit. The end point of the unit. Then, the playback path information generation unit 14 generates a piece of cell information with a PTS attached at the start point and a PTS attached at the end point as the start point information and end point information units, respectively. The playback path information generation unit 14 obtains playback path information by generating pieces of unit information and arranging the generated pieces of unit information in a memory, and then generates PGC information including the obtained playback path information. It should be noted here that for a user-defined playback path, the start and end points of cells are selected according to user operations received by the user interface unit 2 .

The recording control unit 15 realizes write control on the premise of buffering by the track buffer 5 . The write control is to wait for the track buffer 5 to be filled with TS packets output from the decoder 7 or the extracting unit 9, and when the track buffer 5 is filled with TS packets, write some TS packets in the track buffer 5 to Write to one ECC block of DVD. When a user operation to stop recording is given, TS packets accumulated in the track buffer 5 are written into the ECC blocks of the DVD, and VOB information and PGC information stored in the resident memory 4 are written to the DVD. Then, the recording process ends.

Explanation has been given so far about components for realizing the recording process in the recording apparatus 100 . The components used for the playback process in the recording apparatus 100 are described below. Such components include a decoder 16 , a playback control unit 17 , an extended attribute area setting unit 18 and an unviewed area detection unit 19 .

The decoder 16 includes a demultiplexing unit (1), a video decoder (2) and an audio decoder (3). A demultiplexing unit (1) demultiplexes a VOBU read out from a DVD by the drive device 3 into a video data sequence and an audio data sequence. A video decoder (2) decodes video data. Audio decoder (3) decodes audio data. The decoder 16 outputs the AV signal, which is a multiplexed signal of video and audio, to a TV.

The playback control unit 17 calculates the address of a TS packet serving as a start point of a unit on the DVD by making an indirect reference using the access map as a reference table. Also, the playback control unit 17 calculates the address of a TS packet serving as the end point of one unit on the DVD by the same indirect reference. After calculating the addresses of the TS packets corresponding to the start and end points of the cells on the DVD, the playback control unit 17 instructs the drive device 3 to read the TS packets existing between these addresses, and instructs the decoder 16 to read The output TS packet is decoded. By performing such playback control on pieces of unit information constituting the playback path information, playback control according to the playback path information can be realized. It should be noted here that the playback control described above is a basic control. The recording device 100 can also realize trick playback by reading VOBU irregularly. For example, fast-forward playback can be achieved by reading multiple VOBUs while skipping some VOBUs, instead of replaying all TS packets. Also, fast-rewind playback can be realized by reading a plurality of VOBUs in the reverse order to the order in which TS packets are arranged in the TS-VOB.

When the content of the extended control to be executed at the time of playback is to play back an unviewed area, etc., and the extended control is valid only for the playback path displayed by one piece of playback path information, the extended attribute area setting unit 18 specifies one of them individually. The unwatched region to implement augmented control for the playback path. In order to realize such individual designation, a region tag designating the location of the region can be generated and set in the PGC information. Area markers can be generated in the following manner. The extended attribute area setting unit 18 detects a user operation given during playback control performed based on the playback path. When a user's operation is detected, the position on the digital stream at which the user's operation is detected is regarded as the position at which the extended control is to be started. An area marker designating an extended attribute area having the detected position as a start point is generated and set in the PGC information. To generate the region marker, the extended attribute region setting unit 18 indicates the detected position using the PTS attached to the PES packet input to the decoder 16 when a user operation is detected.

The unviewed area detection unit 19 is located in the extended attribute area setting unit 18 . The unviewed area detection unit 19 detects a user operation during playback control performed based on the playback path. When an operation to stop playback is detected, the point on the digital stream at which the operation is detected is considered to be the point at which extended control is to begin. An area marker designating an extended attribute area starting from the detected position and ending at the end of the playback path is generated and set in the PGC information. The function of the unviewed area detection unit 19 is to detect an unviewed area. Therefore, each time when the playback of the playback path is started or stopped by the user, the unviewed area detection unit 19 detects an extended attribute area, and generates an area marker designating the extended attribute area. In this embodiment, the extended attribute zone detected by the unwatched zone detection unit 19 is not a "not played" zone, but a "not watched" zone, which means to include the zone outside the zone replayed by the user. It is assumed here that a user records a program while watching a broadcast program, and continues recording when he stops watching. In such a case, the region from the position where the user stops watching to the end of the playback path is detected as a non-viewed region. For example, when a user records a program while watching a broadcast program and continues recording when he stops watching, the unwatched area detection unit 19 can detect an operation to stop the user watching, such as an operation to cut off the TV power supply, and can transfer the detected The area from the position where this operation starts to the end of the TS-VOB is detected as an unviewed area.

Explanation about the components of the recording apparatus 100 has been given so far. These components are realized by a program and a computer that decodes and executes the program. 14 and 15 are flowcharts showing the procedure of this program. The processing performed by the recording apparatus 100 will be described in further detail below with reference to these flowcharts. For ease of explanation, it is assumed hereinafter that only the CM area and the unviewed area are detected, and only the CM area and the unviewed area are set as extended attribute areas.

In the flow chart shown in FIG. 14, the loop process consisting of steps S1 to S3 is at the uppermost level of the operation process. This cyclic process is used to assign processing to corresponding components according to user operations. When a user operation to start the recording process is given, the user operation is detected by the user interface unit 2, and the operation process moves from step S3 to step S4. In step S4, the recording control unit 15 detects the audio attribute of the signal area of an analog broadcast signal and stores it as the default audio attribute. In addition, the recording control unit 15 resets a flag to be described later to "0". In step S5, the recording control unit 15 instructs the encoder 7 to encode the input signal areas one by one, and then the operation process moves to a loop process consisting of steps S6 and S7. This cyclic process is for causing the CM area detecting unit 13 to detect a change in the audio property of the signal area during the continuous input of the analog broadcast signal. This loop process ends when the judgment result in step S7 becomes "Yes". In addition, the operation procedures in steps S6 and S7 are repeated after the operation procedures in steps S8 to S14 are performed every time a change in the audio property of the signal area is detected. The operation process in steps S8 to S14 is to make the CM area detection unit 13 set the detected change position as the start point or end point of the extended attribute area. After the start point or end point is set in steps S8 to S14, the operation process returns to the loop process consisting of steps S6 and S7. More specifically, when an analog broadcast signal is continuously input and the recording process is continued, the start or end point of an extended attribute area is set by the CM area detection unit 13 each time a change in audio attributes is detected. In steps S9 and S12, the CM area detection unit 13 detects the PTS attached to the TS packet input to the encoder 7 when the audio property of the analog broadcast signal is changed. The change position of the audio attribute is indicated by this PTS. To set the switch between the start and end points of changing the position can be achieved by using a flag. When the value of the flag is "0", the CM area detecting unit 13 sets the detected PTS as the start point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM" in step S10. Then, the CM area detecting unit 13 sets the flag to "1" in step S11. When the value of this flag is "1", the CM area detecting unit 13 sets the detected PTS as the end point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM" in step S13. Then, the CM area detection unit 13 resets the flag to "0" at step S14.

When a user operation to stop the recording process is given, the operation process moves from step S7 to step S16. In step S16, the recording control unit 15 generates the VOB information in the resident memory 4 in which the area marker designating the position of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM" is set, and includes displaying the default playback in the TS-VOB. PGC information of playback path information of the path. In step S17, the recording control unit 15 writes the VOB information and PGC information to the DVD.

The explanation about the recording process has been given so far. With the recording process described above, TS-VOB, VOB information and PGC information are recorded on the DVD.

When a user operation to execute the playback process is given, the operation process moves from the loop process consisting of steps S1 to S3 to the loop process composed of steps S18 to S22 shown in FIG. 15 . A loop process consisting of steps S18 to S22 is to receive various user operations for user-defined playback path information. When a user operation to perform normal playback is given (step S18: YES), in step S18 the playback control unit 17 instructs the drive device 3 to perform disk access for normal playback. As a result, the playback video of the TS-VOB is displayed on the TV. When a user operation to perform fast-forward playback or fast-reverse playback is given (step S19: Yes), in step S24 the recording control unit 15 instructs the drive device 3 to execute disk access. With the above-described operation procedure, access to the beginning of a section set as a unit can be realized at high speed. When a user operation to designate the starting point of the unit is given (step S20: Yes), in step S25 the playback path information generating unit 14 detects the PTS attached to the TS packet output from the decoder 16, and transfers the detected PTS Set as the starting point for cell information. On the other hand, when an operation to specify the end point of the unit is given (step S21: Yes), in step S26 the playback path information generation unit 14 detects the PTS attached to the TS packet output from the decoder 16, and detects The PTS to be set as the end point of the cell information. By repeating the above-mentioned operation procedure, a plurality of pieces of cell information constituting the playback path information are generated in the resident memory 4 . When an operation to stop the playback process is given, the result of judgment in step S22 becomes "Yes". Then, in step S15, the playback path information generating unit 14 writes the PGC information including the playback path information formed by arranging the generated pieces of unit information onto the DVD.

The playback process of TS-VOB performed based on user-defined playback path information is described below. The playback path information defined by the user is composed of a plurality of pieces of cell information, therefore, the current cell information to go through the operation process in steps S27 to S33 is identified by using the variable "j" (referred to as "j-th cell information") . The loop process consisting of steps S27 to S30 uses the variable "j" as its control variable. The playback control unit 17 obtains the jth cell information (step S28) from the playback path information defined by the user, and instructs the drive device 3 to read the VOBU existing between the start point and the end point of the jth cell information (step S29 ). The decoder 16 decodes the read VOBU to output video. The control variable is incremented in step S31. This loop process ends when it is determined in step S30 that the control variable has reached the total number of cells, or when it is determined that a user operation to stop playback is given.

When a user's operation to stop playback is given, the operation procedure moves from step S30 to step S32. In step S32, the unviewed region detection unit 19 generates a region marker that sets the TS packet in the unit "j" from the position immediately after the last TS packet input to the decoder to the position at the playback position. The area at the end of the last cell information of the path information is designated as an extended attribute area having the attribute "unviewed". Then, the unviewed zone detection unit 19 sets the generated zone marker in the user-defined PGC information in step S33. With the above operation procedure, the extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed" is set for the playback path defined by the user.

According to the present embodiment as described above, the recording apparatus 100 having the configuration described in the present embodiment enables the DVD described in the first embodiment to be produced, and thus can promote the widespread use of the DVD described in the first embodiment. universal.

(third embodiment)

This embodiment describes how to designate the position of the extended attribute area on the DVD when the extended attribute area having the attribute "unviewed" is designated by an area identifier set in the PGC information. The access map included in the VOB information associates the playback time period with the size of each VOBU. Therefore, by calculating the sum of the address written in the access map and the playback time period, a VOBU including the start point of the extended attribute area and a VOBU including the end point of the extended attribute area can be identified. When the start point and the end point of the extended attribute area are included in the same unit, the VOBU including the start point and the VOBU including the end point and the VOBU existing between these two VOBUs can be simply read. Here, when the start point and the end point are included in different units, processing becomes complicated. FIG. 16A shows an example in which the start and end points of an extended attribute area are respectively included in two consecutive cells (cell #1 and cell #2). In this case, for the preceding Cell #1, the VOBU existing between the start "rp1" of the extended attribute area and the end "rp2" of Cell #1 will be read. For the following cell #2, the VOBU existing between the start "rp3" of the cell #2 and the end "rp4" of the extended attribute area will be read. More specifically, when the extended attribute area includes a boundary between two units (the boundary between two units respectively including the end point and the starting point of the extended attribute area), there is a distance from the start point of the extended attribute area to the preceding unit The VOBUs between the end points are read first, and then the VOBUs existing between the start point of the following cell and the end point of the extended attribute area are read. That is, the reading of VOBU is performed twice. FIG. 16B shows an example in which the start and end points of an extended attribute area are respectively included in the first and last cells (cell #1 and cell #5) among three or more consecutive cells. In this case, for the first cell #1, the VOBU existing between the start "rp5" of the extended attribute area and the end "rp6" of the cell #1 will be read. For the last cell #5, the VOBU existing between the start "rp7" of the cell #5 and the end "rp8" of the extended attribute area will be read. For Cell #2 to Cell #4 sandwiched between Cell #1 and Cell #5, all VOBUs existing between the start point and the end point of each cell will be read. By reading Cell #1 to Cell #5 in the above-described manner, VOBUs included in the extended attribute area can be read.

According to the present embodiment as described above, even when the position of an extended attribute area is indicated by "indirect reference to indirect reference", the start and end positions of the TS-VOB to be reproduced can be easily specified.

(fourth embodiment)

This embodiment discloses the processing performed when both the extended control based on the precinct marker set in the PGC information and the extended control based on the precinct marker set in the VOB information are to be performed at the same time. FIG. 17 shows the internal structure of the playback control unit 17 related to this embodiment. The playback control unit 17 in this embodiment includes an extended control execution unit 20 and an extended control adjustment unit 21 .

The extended control execution unit 20 executes the extended control attribute area unique to the extended attribute area in the extended control attribute area specified by the area identifier set in the VOB information, or in the extended control attribute area specified by the area identifier set in the PGC information. extended control.

The extended control adjustment unit 21 performs an adjustment process to resolve conflicts between extended controls that may occur in overlapping portions of two extended attribute fields. The adjustment process performed by the extended control adjustment unit 21 will set a priority for the extended control to be executed in each extended attribute area based on the extended attribute of the extended attribute area, and exceptionally execute the extended control with a high priority without Execute extended control with low priority.

FIG. 18 shows a case where a part of a non-viewing area overlaps with an extended attribute area (a CM area) having the attribute "CM". In this case, the extended control adjustment unit 21 performs adjustment between the extended controls to be performed in these two extended attribute areas in the following manner. When the extended attribute area as the unviewed area and the extended attribute area as the CM area overlap each other, the extended control adjustment unit 21 sets priorities for the extended control to be performed in the unviewed area and the extended control to be performed in the CM area . When the priority set for the extended control "Replay unwatched area" is higher than the priority set for the extended control "Skip CM area", in the overlapping part of these two extended attribute areas, the execution is indicated by the arrow "cy1" The extended control "Skip CM area" instead of the extended control "Replay unwatched area". On the other hand, for the part of the unviewed area that does not overlap with the CM area, as indicated by the arrows "cy2" and "cy3", extended control of playing back the unviewed area is performed. The following describes how to set priority for each extended attribute area. In this embodiment, the priority of the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier in the VOB information is set higher than that of the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier in the PGC information for the following reason. The extended attribute area specified by the area identifier in the PGC information is defined based on user operations, so its content is often user-specific. On the other hand, the extended attribute area designated by the area identifier in the VOB information often has a common value for all users. Such an extended control having a common value for all users is given higher priority than an extended control specific to one user, thereby enabling coordination of the extended controls.

Such adjustment by the extended control adjustment unit 21 in the overlapping portion of the extended attribute areas becomes necessary when the extended controls in the overlapped extended attribute areas conflict with each other. Such adjustment by the extended control adjustment unit 21 is unnecessary when the extended controls in the overlapping extended attribute areas can be executed in parallel. For example, when the extended control to be performed in the CM area does not conflict with the extended control to be performed in other overlapping extended attribute areas, it is as if the content of the extended control in the CM area is to display a URL on the CM area Or when displaying a thumbnail image of a logo, the extended control in the CM area can be executed in parallel with the extended control in other extended attribute areas. By referring to the category information of each zone marker, the expansion control adjustment unit 21 can also judge whether the expansion control can be performed in parallel (ie, whether adjustment is necessary).

The extended control adjustment unit 21 is composed of a program that realizes the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 and a processor that decodes and executes the program. 19 and 20 are flowcharts showing the operation procedure of the extended control adjustment unit 21 related to the present embodiment. According to this flowchart, it is a general rule to perform extended control of replaying unviewed areas. However, when an unviewed area overlaps with a CM area, exception processing of skipping the CM area is performed. For ease of explanation, it is assumed below that only the CM area and the unviewed area are detected and set as extended attribute areas.

In step S40, a cell "i" including the start point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed" and a cell "j" including the end point of the extended attribute area are identified. Then, the operation procedure moves to step S41. In step S41, a judgment is performed as to whether or not the cell "i" and the cell "j" match. Matching of cell "i" and cell "j" means that the unviewed area is included in one cell.

When the cell "i" and the cell "j" match, the extended attribute area having the attribute "unviewed" is played back from its start point to the end point in the cell "i" in step S43. Here, it should be remembered that this unwatched area may overlap with a CM area. Step S42 is used to determine whether the extended attribute areas overlap. When the start of a CM area is included in the unviewed area, playback of the unviewed area is exceptionally stopped at the start of the CM area and resumed at the end of the CM area. More specifically, in step S44, playback is performed from the position immediately after the start of the extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed" to the position immediately before the start of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM". Then, in step S45, playback is performed from the position immediately after the end point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM" to the end point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed". When the above playback control is completed, the operation procedure in the flowchart ends.

On the other hand, when the unit "i" and the unit "j" do not match, in step S47, from the start point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "unviewed" within the unit "i", to the end point of the unit "i" replay. Then, at step S48, a cell immediately after the current cell in the sequence is set as cell "i". It should be remembered here that steps S47 and S48 also perform exceptional processing when a non-viewed area overlaps with a CM area. Step S46 is used to judge whether to execute this exception processing. In step S46, a start is performed as to whether or not the cell "i" includes an extended attribute area having the attribute "CM". Exception handling is performed when cell "i" includes the start of the CM area. This exceptional processing mainly plays back the parts of the unit "i" before and after the CM area, and also skips the playback of the part of the unit "i" corresponding to the CM area.

More specifically, in step S49, after playback is performed from a position immediately after the start of the unviewed area to a position immediately before the start of the CM area, a cell including the end of the CM area is identified in step S50. Here, the cell including the end point of the CM area is identified because the cell including the end point may not match cell "i". Here, a cell including the end point of the CM area is set as cell "k". In step S51, the cell set as cell "k" is reset as cell "i". By resetting a cell already set as cell "k" here as cell "i", cells existing between cells "i" and "k" can be skipped. Finally, in step S52, playback is performed from the position immediately after the end of the CM area to the end of the unviewed area, and the exception processing ends.

When the processing in steps S48 and S52 is completed, the operation procedure shifts to a loop procedure consisting of steps S53 to S56 shown in FIG. 20 . During this cycle, the variable "i" of cell "i" is used as the control variable. The cell identified by the variable "i" (=cell "i") is played back in step S55. When the judgment result in step S53 becomes "Yes", this loop process ends. In step S53, a judgment is performed as to whether or not the end point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM" is included in the cell "i". When the judgment result in step S53 is "YES", this loop process ends, and the operation proceeds to step S57.

Step S54 is for switching from normal processing to exceptional processing when the start point of the CM area is included in cell "i". When exception processing is performed, instead of incrementing the variable "i" by 1, cells preceding a cell including the end point of the CM area are skipped. More specifically, playback from the start of cell "i" to a position immediately before the start of the CM area is performed in step S61. Then, in step S62, a cell "k" including the end point of the CM area is identified. In step S63, the cell that has been set as cell "k" is reset as cell "i". It may also be the case that cell "i" may include the end of the unviewed area when many cells are skipped. Step S64 is used to judge whether cell "i" is a cell including the end point of the unviewed area. More specifically, in step S64 a termination is performed as to whether or not the cell "i" includes an extended attribute area having the attribute "not viewed". Unit "i" being judged to include this end point means that the above-mentioned loop process will end. Therefore, without waiting until the judgment result in step S53 becomes "Yes", playback is performed from the position immediately after the end of the CM area to the end of the unviewed area in step S66, and then the operation process ends.

When the cell "i" is judged not to include the end point, playback is performed from the position immediately after the end point of the CM area to the end point of the cell "i" in step S65, and then the operation procedure returns to the process consisting of steps S53 to S56. cycle process. By repeating this cyclic process, the cells excluding the end point of the CM area are reproduced one after another in the unviewed area.

When the loop process consisting of steps S53 to S56 ends, the operation proceeds to step S57. Step S57 is used to judge whether the cell including the end point of the unviewed area includes the start point of the extended attribute area having the attribute "CM". When it is judged that the cell including the end point of the unviewed area does not include the start point of the CM area, playback is performed from the start point of the cell "i" to the end point of the unviewed area in step S58.

When it is judged that the cell including the end point of the unviewed area includes the start point of the CM area, playback is performed from the start point of the cell "i" to a position immediately after the end point of the CM area in step S59, and then, in step S60, from Playback is performed from the position immediately after the end of the CM area to the end of the unviewed area.

According to the present embodiment as described above, extended controls that satisfy viewing preferences of each individual user, and extended controls that have common values for a plurality of users can be advantageously combined. Therefore, the variation in playback control can be increased.

(fifth embodiment)

The present embodiment relates to improvements for corresponding to segmentation and elaboration of precinct markers. For playback paths, the criteria for identifying an attribute as an extended attribute vary greatly depending on the considerations and business strategies of each manufacturer of the recording apparatus 100 . It is therefore expected that further subdivision and specification will occur for the zone markers designating zones with such extended attributes. The present embodiment discloses a DVD which can advantageously manage the subdivided and specified region labels.

Fig. 21 shows the internal structure of PGC information and VOB information related to this embodiment. The area marker in the figure is different from that described in the first embodiment in that it also has "category information". The category information newly provided in this embodiment indicates whether the zone marker belongs to a category in which the zone marker is valid for a plurality of manufacturers or a category in which the zone marker is valid for only one maker. Fig. 22 shows the contents of this category information. When the area marker belongs to a category in which the area marker is valid for a plurality of manufacturers, the category information displays "code shared by manufacturers". When the zone marker belongs to a category in which the zone marker is valid only for one manufacturer, the category information displays "a code unique to the manufacturer" and a "manufacturer ID" for identifying the maker.

The fact that an area identifier is valid for a plurality of manufacturers means the following. The reference for identifying the extended attribute area corresponding to the area identifier is approved by manufacturers participating in the disc standard. Also, recording apparatuses 100 manufactured by these manufacturers participating in the disc standard are also authorized, and extended control common to these manufacturers is performed in the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier.

The fact that an area marker is valid only for one manufacturer means the following. The reference for identifying the extended attribute area corresponding to the area identifier is determined individually by a manufacturer participating in the disc standard. It is recognized that the recording apparatus 100 manufactured by other manufacturers participating in the disc standard does not need to perform extended control in the extended attribute area designated by the area identifier. In the latter case, the manufacturer of the recording apparatus 100 for which the zone identifier becomes valid needs to be identified, and therefore, the above-mentioned manufacturer ID is included in the category information.

At the time of playback, the recording apparatus 100 refers to the producer ID included in the VOB information or the zone marker set in the PGC information. When the zone marker is valid only for one maker and the maker ID that is referred to matches the maker ID of the recording apparatus 100, the recording apparatus 100 performs expansion control based on this zone marker. When the zone marker is valid for only one maker and the maker ID looked up does not match the maker ID of the recording apparatus 100, the recording apparatus 100 does not perform expansion control based on this zone marker.

The following describes the internal structure of the recording apparatus 100 related to the present embodiment. FIG. 23 shows the internal structure of the recording apparatus 100 related to this embodiment. The recording apparatus 100 relating to the present embodiment differs from the recording apparatus 100 relating to the previous embodiments in that it also has a maker ID holding unit 23, and the recording control unit 15 and playback control unit 17 can execute deal with.

The maker ID holding unit 23 holds an identifier unique to the maker of the recording apparatus 100 .

The recording control unit 15, when generating the area marker, judges the type of the extended attribute of the extended attribute area designated by the area marker. The recording control unit 15 then generates category information showing the judgment result. More specifically, the recording control unit 15 judges whether the extended attribute area is valid for a plurality of manufacturers or only for one manufacturer. When judging that the extended attribute area is only valid for one maker, the recording control unit 15 sets the maker ID held by the maker ID holding unit 23 in the category information.

In order to perform extended control, the playback control unit 17 refers to an area marker designating an extended attribute area. When the category information located in the zone marker shows that the zone marker is valid for a plurality of manufacturers, the playback control unit 17 performs extended control unique to the extended attribute zone specified by the zone marker. When the category information located in the zone marker shows that the zone marker is valid only for one maker, the playback control unit 17 obtains the maker ID contained in the zone marker, and compares the acquired maker ID with the producer ID determined by the maker ID. The manufacturer ID stored in the storage unit 23 is compared. When the two manufacturer IDs match, the playback control unit 17 performs extended control in the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier. When the manufacturer IDs do not match, the playback control unit 17 does not perform extended control.

According to the present embodiment as described above, for an area marker valid only for one maker, the maker ID of the maker is set in the area marker. Therefore, by referring to the manufacturer ID in the zone marker, it can thus be realized that zone markers uniquely set by other manufacturers are ignored at the time of playback. In this way, erroneous operations caused by processing performed based on the reference uniquely set by other manufacturers can be avoided.

(sixth embodiment)

This embodiment relates to an improvement in the case where recording data is performed for a long time on a DVD having a recording capacity of 27 Gbytes or more on one side. On such a large-capacity DVD, broadcast contents of 13 hours or more can be recorded in the case of NTSC broadcast. With the advent of such DVDs, programs broadcast on a specific channel for half a day or a day can be recorded on a DVD in the form of a TS-VOB. Then, it is hoped that such a DVD can have multi-user compatibility, so that a large number of users including family members and friends can enjoy watching these programs by sharing the DVD. However, in such a case, each user needs to find the program he or she wants to watch among the TS-VOBs corresponding to the programs broadcast in half a day or in one day through special playback such as fast-forward playback. Even considering the recent high-speed processing of fast-forward playback of DVDs, this operation of finding such programs is still very troublesome for each user.

Taking this into consideration, the extended attribute area detection unit 12 relating to the present embodiment detects a part of the TS-VOB corresponding to a program as an extended attribute area, and generates an area specifying the detected extended attribute area within the VOB information marker. FIG. 24 shows the internal structure of the extended attribute area detecting unit 12 related to the sixth embodiment. As shown in the figure, in addition to the CM area detection unit 13 , the extended attribute area detection unit 12 also includes a program sequence change area detection unit 24 and a loop area detection unit 25 .

The program change area detection unit 24 detects an area in the digital broadcast signal in which program information is changed to specific content (such an area is called a "program change area") as an extended attribute area. The detection of the extended attribute area by the program sequence change area detection unit 24 is based on PSI (program specific information: program sequence information defined by the MPEG-2 standard) and SI (service information: program sequence information defined by ARIB-STD B-10 ) to execute. PSI is information for defining a program sequence. Examples of PSI include PAT and PMT. PMT is information for defining a stream structure of a broadcast program. More specifically, the PMT indicates which video stream and audio stream constitute each broadcast program among a plurality of streams multiplexed into a multi-program type transport stream. Figure 25A shows an example of PMT. In this figure, the broadcast program corresponding to PMT#1 is composed of a video stream with PID=001 and an audio stream with PID=002. The PAT indicates which PMT is to be referred to for obtaining each broadcast program transmitted in the form of a multi-program type transport stream. Figure 25B shows an example of PAT. In this figure, the stream structure of broadcast program #1 is defined by PMT#1, and the stream structure of broadcast program #2 is defined by PMT#2. On the broadcast channel received through the tuner, the IDs of these PMTs and PATs are referred to, and an ID matching a predetermined value or an ID different from a previous ID is detected. By this, an area corresponding to a broadcast program in the TS-VOB is recognized as an extended attribute area, an area marker designating this extended attribute area is generated, and the generated area marker is set in the PGC information. By designating an area corresponding to a broadcast program in the TS-VOB as an extended attribute area, extended control of accessing the start of a broadcast program or extended control of skipping a broadcast program can be advantageously performed.

The loop area detection unit 25 detects, as an extended attribute area, an area in the digital broadcast signal in which an interactive broadcast program is transmitted. The detection of the extended attribute area by the cyclic area detecting unit 25 is carried out by detecting an area in which data is transmitted in a data cyclic format. Data looping is a broadcast format that repeatedly sends the same content for interactive broadcasting. The same content that is repeatedly broadcast includes a BML document written in BML (Broadcast Markup Language) and mono media data referenced by the BML document. Data that is sent repeatedly in the data cycle format is divided into multiple parts, stored in blocks called "DDB (Download Data Block)" and sent together with unique control information called "DII (Download Information Indication)" . DII is sent before DBB. And, the data length of DBB is written in DII. Therefore, the loop area detection unit 25 identifies an extended attribute area corresponding to a data loop in the transport stream according to the DII, generates an area marker designating the extended attribute area, and sets the generated area marker in the PGC information. By designating a data block to be transmitted in the data cycle format as an extended attribute area, extended control of accessing the beginning of a data block or extended control of skipping a data block can be advantageously performed.

According to the present embodiment as described above, the program sequence change area detecting unit 24 detects a change in the program sequence information. When a signal area having a specific program sequence attribute is detected in the digital broadcasting signal, the program sequence change area detecting unit 24 generates, in the TS-VOB, an area marker designating an extended attribute area corresponding to the signal area. Due to this, in a TS-VOB having a time length of half a day or a day, the position of each program can be roughly represented. Therefore, the position of each program stored in an AV file can be roughly identified. If the location of a program can be identified, the initiation of the next access to that program can advantageously be performed by generating a playback path comprising the zone corresponding to that program. In this case, it does not take long to access the beginning of the program each user wants to watch, so even when multiple users want to watch content recorded on DVD, each user will not be disappointed .

Although this embodiment has described the situation that the program sequence change area detection unit 24 detects the position of the program by detecting changes in PSI and SI, for copyright protection considerations, the program sequence change area detection unit 24 can also convert a paid program An area having a signal attribute of prohibiting playback or an area having a signal attribute of restricting recording (copying only once, etc.) is regarded as an extended attribute area, and an area marker designating this area is generated.

Also, in a digital broadcast signal and an analog broadcast signal, a signal area including an EPG showing a specific genre type, cast, and title can be regarded as an extended attribute area, and an area specifying such an area can be generated within the VOB information marker. At the time of playback, an extended control to display such a genre type, cast and title can be performed in the extended attribute area.

(seventh embodiment)

The present embodiment discloses extended control to be performed in an extended attribute area when an area in which program sequence information is changed or an area in which data is transmitted in a data loop format is detected as an extended attribute area. In this embodiment, improvements are made to the extended control execution unit 20 and the extended control adjustment unit 21 . The extended control execution unit 20 and the extended control adjustment unit 21 are described below.

When the extended attribute area is an area in which program sequence information is changed (program sequence change area), the extended control execution unit 20 performs extended control to perform playback skipping to the beginning of the extended attribute area specified by the area marker. There may be a case where the program sequence information needs to be read in advance by the playback device side. In this case, playback control that performs playback skipping to the start of the program sequence change area is performed in order to ensure that the playback apparatus side reads such program sequence information in advance. When the extended attribute area is an area (loop area) in which data is repeatedly transmitted in the data loop format, the expanded control execution unit 20 performs expanded control to reproduce only one of the plurality or pieces of data transmitted in the data loop format. The expansion control performed by the expansion control execution unit 20 has been described above. The extended control adjustment unit 21 will be described below.

The expansion control adjustment unit 21 performs an adjustment process to solve when the expansion attribute area which is the program sequence change area or the loop area overlaps with the expansion attribute area having the attribute "not viewed", the expansion to be performed in the overlapping part of the expansion attribute area Conflict between controls. Expansion control to be performed after the expansion control adjustment unit 21 has performed the adjustment process is described below.

FIG. 26A shows a case where a program sequence change area and a non-viewed area overlap each other, and the extended control specific to the non-viewed area and the extended control specific to the program sequence change area conflict with each other. In this case, the start "my1" of the unviewed area is included in the program sequence change area. An extended control specific to the unwatched zone is to start playback from the beginning of the unwatched zone, so playback will normally start from the beginning of the unwatched zone. However, the start point "my1" of the unviewed area is included in the program sequence change area. This means that the unwatched area overlaps with the program sequence change area. Therefore, the extended control specific to the unviewed area and the extended control specific to the program sequence change area conflict with each other. Here, when the priority set for the extended control specific to the unwatched area is higher than the priority set for the extended control specific to the program sequence change area, the extended control specific to the program sequence change area is exceptionally performed instead of the unviewed area. Zone-specific extension controls. As indicated by the arrow "ty1" in FIG. 26A, the playback point is reversed to the start of the program sequence change area, and playback is performed from the start "hc1" of the program sequence change area.

FIG. 26B shows a case where a loop area and a non-viewed area overlap each other, and the expansion control specific to the non-viewed area and the expansion control specific to the loop area conflict with each other. An extended control specific to the unviewed area is to perform playback from the beginning of the unviewed area. If such an extended control is executed, the entire loop area included in this unviewed area will be played back. On the other hand, the extended control specific to the loop area is to replay one of a plurality of data blocks. Therefore, the extension controls specific to these two regions conflict with each other. Here, when the priority set for the expansion control specific to the loop area is higher than the priority set for the expansion control specific to the unviewed area, in the overlapping portion of the two areas, the expansion control specific to the loop area is exceptionally performed , rather than the expanded controls specific to unwatched areas. As indicated by the arrow "sr1", one of the plurality of data blocks is played back without replaying the entire part of the unviewed area, and the remaining data blocks are skipped as indicated by the arrow "sr2".

According to the present embodiment as described above, when the unviewed area set for each user's playback path overlaps with the loop area or program sequence change area, the control based on the loop area or program sequence change area is exceptionally performed. Therefore, processing based on control information transmitted by digital broadcasting can be faithfully performed.

(eighth embodiment)

In the second embodiment, a digital broadcast signal obtained by modulating a broadcast wave and selecting a channel, that is, a digital broadcast signal corresponding to a single program is converted into a TS-VOB. This embodiment relates to an improvement in the case of converting a digital broadcast signal obtained by modulating a broadcast wave without selecting a channel, that is, a digital broadcast signal corresponding to a plurality of programs, into one TS-VOB. Such a TS-VOB corresponding to a plurality of programs is called a "multi-program TS-VOB", and the recording apparatus 100 according to this embodiment has a structure capable of recording and reproducing the multi-program TS-VOB. FIG. 27 shows the internal structure of the recording apparatus 100 related to this embodiment. In the drawing, some components of the recording device 100 are not shown. Instead, the path of the multi-program TS-VOB is indicated by dotted arrows "ZS1" and "ZS2". As indicated by the arrow "ZS1", the multi-program TS-VOB read from the DVD 1 to the track buffer 5 is output to the digital tuner 8, and then, as indicated by the arrow "ZS2", the multi-program TS-VOB Output from the digital tuner 8 to the recording control unit 15 . In order to realize the transmission of multi-program TS-VOBs on these paths, specific improvements are made to the map generation unit 11, playback control unit 17 and extended attribute area detection unit 12 related to this embodiment.

The map generation unit 11 generates an access map without analyzing TS headers and application fields of TS packets. More specifically, map generation unit 11 reads ATS attached to TS packets output from digital tuner 8 to extraction unit 9 every predetermined time interval, and generates entry information associating ATS with the time interval. By repeatedly generating such entry information, the map generation unit generates an access map.

The playback control unit 17 reads the multi-program TS-VOB recorded on the DVD, and outputs the read multi-program TS-VOB to the digital tuner 8, as indicated by arrow "ZS1". When the digital tuner 8 selects a channel and outputs a digital broadcast signal corresponding to a single program, the digital broadcast signal corresponding to the single program is output to the decoder 16 as indicated by arrow "zs2". A single program output to the decoder 16 causes a broadcast program whose channel has been selected by the digital tuner 8 to be output and displayed.

When a user's operation to select a channel is given to the digital tuner 8, the extended attribute area detecting unit 12 obtains from the digital tuner 8 information displaying the channel selected by the user. When a multi-program TS-VOB is output and displayed on a TV, and then a user operation to stop playback is given, a zone marker designating the position of an extended attribute zone as an unviewed zone will be generated in the same manner as described in In the same manner as described in the two embodiments, then, the channel number obtained from the user interface unit 2 is set in the zone marker. As described above, when writing or reading a multiprogram TS-VOB, the TS Header and Application fields of TS packets are not analyzed. This means that the start and end points of the extended attribute area cannot be represented by PTS. Therefore, the extended attribute area detection unit 12 uses an ATS instead of a PTS to indicate the start and end points of the extended attribute area, respectively. In this case, among the ATS attached to a plurality of TS packets, it is preferable to use the ATS closest to the time when the PTS is used to indicate the start and end points of the extended attribute area, respectively. An example of such an ATS is an ATS attached to a TS packet output to the decoder 16 when a user operation for playback is given. FIG. 28 shows a zone marker in which the channel number is set by the extended attribute zone detection unit 12.

With the above processing, a zone marker including a channel number can be generated. Through the process of outputting the channel number included in the zone marker to the digital tuner 8 at the next playback, the user does not need to perform an operation for the digital tuner 8 to select a channel at the next playback.

(ninth embodiment)

The present embodiment relates to editing of deletion of an extended attribute area specified by an area flag set in PGC information. Fig. 29 shows the internal structure of the recording apparatus related to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, attention should be paid to a deletion editing unit 26 which is an additional component added to the recording apparatus relating to the present embodiment. The deletion editing unit 26 performs a deletion process of deleting a part of the extended attribute area, the cell and the VOB. The deletion process performed by the deletion editing unit 26 is realized by updating the area label, cell information and VOB information. The deletion editing unit 26 performs processing of updating cell information, area markers, and VOB information along with the deletion process. As described in the first embodiment, the extended attribute area specified by the area identifier set in the PGC information can be expressed as "indirect reference to indirect reference". The extended attribute area can be partially or entirely deleted not only when the cell or TS-VOB referenced by the extended attribute area is edited but also when the cell or TS-VOB is not changed. In addition, by expressing the range of the extended attribute area in which the extended control is effective not by dots but by an area having a time width, part or the whole of the extended attribute area performed by the deletion editing unit 26 can be performed in the following cases 1 to 10. delete.

<case 1>

Case 1 is a case where an extended attribute area is entirely included in one unit and an edge portion of the extended attribute area is deleted. In case 1, the start point information and end point information in the area marker are updated in such a manner that the start point and end point of the extended attribute area are positions immediately before and after the edge portion to be deleted, respectively. 30A and 30B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 1. FIG. 30A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 30B shows the state after deleting the part. And, in the figure, the top of the arrow "←" pointing to the left symbolically represents the starting point of the extended attribute area, and the top of the arrow "→" pointing to the right symbolically represents the end point of the extended attribute area. In FIG. 30A, when the edge portion "cy11" of the extended attribute area is to be deleted, the starting point information is updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the starting point of the extended attribute area is arrow "cy12" in FIG. 30B The indicated position immediately after the deleted portion.

<case 2>

Case 2 is a case where the extended attribute area is entirely included in one unit and the middle part of the extended attribute area is deleted. In case 2, the extended attribute area is divided. This division is realized by the following two processes performed by the deletion editing unit 26 . The first process is to shorten the extended attribute area to fit a section before the middle section. To realize this process, the end point information in the area marker is updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area is the position immediately before the middle portion. The second process is to generate a new area marker designating a portion following the middle portion as an extended attribute area. The starting point information of the newly generated region marker shows the starting point as a position immediately after the middle part. The end point information of the newly generated area marker shows the end point as the end point of the initial extended attribute area from which the middle portion has not been deleted.

30C and 30D show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 2. In FIG. 30C, when the middle part of the extended attribute area #1 is to be deleted, the extended attribute area #1 in FIG. District #2. The start point information and end point information in the area marker are updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area #1 is the position "yz1" immediately before the portion to be deleted, and the extended attribute area #2 The starting point of is the position "yz2" immediately after the deleted part.

<case 3>

Case 3 is a case where there is an extended attribute area that straddles the boundary of two or more cells, and the edge portion of the extended attribute area is deleted. The processing to be performed in Case 3 is basically the same as that described in Case 1. However, in Case 3, the start and end of the extended attribute area from which the edge portion is deleted may belong to a different unit from the unit including the start and end of the initial extended attribute area from which the edge portion has not been deleted. Therefore, in case 3, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the start unit ID and the end unit ID in the area marker in such a manner that "the unit including the start point of the extended attribute area" and "the unit including the end point of the extended attribute area unit" is changed.

31A and 31B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 3. FIG. 31A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 31B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 31A, when the edge portion "ty31" of the extended attribute area is to be deleted, the starting point information of the area marker is updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the starting point of the extended attribute area is tight as shown in 31B. Position "ty32" next to the edge part.

<case 4>

Case 4 is a case where there is an extended attribute area that straddles the boundary of two or more cells, and the middle part of the extended attribute area is deleted. The processing to be performed in Case 4 is basically the same as that described in Case 2. However, in Case 4, the end point of the extended attribute area from which the middle portion is deleted and the start point of the extended attribute area newly obtained by deleting the middle portion may belong to different units. Therefore, in case 4, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the end unit ID in the area marker specifying the initial extended attribute area from which the middle portion has not been deleted in such a manner that "the unit including the end point of the extended attribute area" was changed to a unit immediately before the middle section.

Also, the deletion editing unit 26 sets the start cell ID specifying the area marker of the extended attribute area to be newly acquired in such a manner that the "unit including the start point of the extended attribute area" is changed to a cell immediately in the middle. after the unit. Then, the deletion editing unit 26 sets the end cell ID specifying the area marker of the extended attribute area to be newly obtained in such a manner that the "unit including the end point of the extended attribute area" is changed to one including The unit at the end of the initial extended property area of the section. 32A and 32B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 4. In FIG. 32A, when the middle part of the extended attribute area is to be deleted, the extended attribute area #1 in FIG. 32A is divided into two extended attribute areas #1 and #2 by the deletion editing unit 26, as shown in FIG. 32B. The end point information and start point information in the area marker are updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area #1 is the position immediately before the deleted part, and the start point of the extended attribute area #2 is immediately before the deleted part. The position next to the deleted part.

The explanation regarding the partial deletion of the extended attribute area itself has been given above. Partial deletion of the extended attribute area accompanying editing performed on the playback path is described below.

<case 5>

Case 5 is a case where one of the units constituting the playback path is entirely deleted. When the unit to be deleted includes the entire part of an extended attribute area (case 5-1), the extended attribute area is also entirely deleted. 33A and 33B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 5-1. FIG. 33A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 33B shows the state after deleting the part. As shown in FIG. 33A, when one of unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted, an extended attribute area entirely included in the unit is also deleted by the deletion editing unit 26 as shown in FIG. 33B.

On the other hand, when the extended attribute area includes the entire part of the unit to be deleted (Case 5-2), the unit to be deleted is regarded as the middle part of the extended attribute area to be deleted. Therefore, the deletion editing unit 26 performs the processing described in Case 4. More specifically, the deletion editing unit 26 shortens the extended attribute area so that it fits in a portion immediately before the cell to be deleted, and sets a portion after the cell to be deleted as a new extended attribute area. In this case, one or more cells corresponding to the middle portion of the extended attribute area are deleted. Therefore, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the end unit ID of the area marker in such a manner that the "unit including the end point of the extended attribute area" is changed to the previous one. 34A and 34B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 5-2. FIG. 34A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 34B shows the state after deleting the part. As shown in FIG. 34A, when unit #2 among unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted, the middle portion of the extended attribute area corresponding to the unit will be deleted. The extended attribute area #1 in FIG. 34A is divided into two extended attribute areas #1 and #2 as shown in FIG. 34B. The end point information and start point information of the area marker are updated by the delete editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area #1 is the position immediately before the middle part indicated by the arrow "ty51", the extended attribute area The starting point of #2 is the position immediately after the middle part indicated by the arrow "ty52".

When the unit to be deleted includes the start and end points of the extended attribute area (case 5-3), the deletion editing unit 26 updates the start unit ID and the end unit ID of the area marker in such a manner that "includes the extended attribute area The unit of the starting point" and the "unit including the end point of the extended attribute area" are the positions immediately before and after the unit to be deleted, respectively. Then, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the end point information of the area marker so that a piece of image data located immediately before the unit to be deleted is designated as the end point of the extended attribute area, and updates the start point information of the area marker so that a piece The image data located immediately after the cell to be deleted is designated as the start of the extended attribute area. 35A and 35B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 5-3. FIG. 35A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 35B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 35A, deleting unit #1 of unit #1 to unit #4 is equivalent to deleting the edge portion "sn1" of the extended attribute area overlapping with unit #1. As shown in FIG. 35B, the starting point of the extended attribute area is the position immediately before the edge portion "sn1". Therefore, the starting point information is updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the starting point of the preceding extended attribute area is the position immediately after the deleted portion as indicated by the arrow "sn2".

<Case 6>

Case 6 is a case where the edge portion of one of the cells constituting the playback path is deleted. In this case, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the start point information and end point information of the cell information in such a manner that the start point and end point of the cell are positions immediately before and after the edge portion, respectively. When the edge portion to be deleted includes the entire part of an extended attribute area (case 6-1), the extended attribute area is entirely deleted by the deletion editing unit 26 . 36A and 36B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 6-1. FIG. 36A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 36B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 36A, when the edge portion "sm1" of the cell #2 in the cell #1 to the cell #4 is to be deleted, the extended attribute area #1 entirely included in the edge portion is also deleted as shown in FIG. 36B. The delete editing unit 26 deletes.

On the other hand, when the extended attribute area includes the entire edge portion of the cell to be deleted (case 6-2), the deletion editing unit 26 performs the same update as in case 5-2, and combines a portion before the edge portion with the edge A section following the section is set as a separate extended attribute area. 37A and 37B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 6-2. FIG. 37A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 37B shows the state after deleting the part. As shown in FIG. 37A, when the edge portion of cell #2 among cell #1 to cell #4 is to be deleted, the middle portion of the extended attribute area corresponding to this cell will be deleted. The extended attribute area #1 is divided into extended attribute areas #1 and #2 as shown in FIG. 37B. The end point information and the start point information are updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area #1 is the position immediately before the middle part as indicated by the arrow "ty61", the start point of the extended attribute area #2 The location immediately after the middle portion is indicated by arrow "ty62".

When the edge portion of the cell to be deleted includes the start and end points of the extended attribute area (case 6-3), deletion editing unit 26 performs the same processing as in case 5-3. 38A and 38B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 6-3. FIG. 38A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 38B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 38A, deleting the edge portion of cell #2 among cells #1 to #4 is equivalent to deleting the edge portion of extended attribute area #1 overlapping with cell #1. The starting point of the extended attribute area #1 in FIG. 38B is the position immediately after the edge portion. Therefore, the starting point information is updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the starting point of the preceding extended attribute area is the position immediately after the deleted portion.

<case 7>

Case 7 is a case where the middle portion of one of the cells constituting the playback path is deleted. In this case, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the end point information of the cell information in such a manner that the cell fits into a section immediately before the middle section. Then new unit information is added immediately after this unit information. The deletion editing unit 26 sets the start point information of the unit information to be newly added in such a manner that the start point of the new unit is a position immediately after the part to be deleted, and sets the unit to be newly added in such a manner Endpoint information for information such that the end point of the new cell is the end point of the original cell from which the portion has not been deleted. 39A and 39B show the states of the TS-VOB, the cell and the extended attribute area before and after deleting the middle portion of the cell. FIG. 39A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 39B shows the state after deleting the part. FIG. 39A shows a case where the middle part of unit #2 among unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted. As shown in FIG. 39B, after the middle portion of cell #2 is deleted, cell #2 is shortened to fit a portion immediately before the middle portion. Then, a new cell #2' is added at the position immediately before the deleted part.

When the middle part to be deleted includes the entire part of the extended attribute area (Case 7-1), the extended attribute area is entirely deleted. 40A and 40B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in Case 7-1. FIG. 40A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 40B shows the state after deleting the part. FIG. 40A shows a case where the middle part of unit #2 among unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted. As shown in FIG. 40B, after the middle portion of the unit #2 is deleted, the extended attribute area entirely included in the middle portion of the unit #2 is also deleted by the deletion editing unit 26.

On the other hand, when the extended attribute area includes the entire middle part to be deleted (case 7-2), the deletion editing unit 26 performs the same update as in case 5-2, and replaces a part before the edge part with the edge A section following the section is set as a separate extended attribute area. 41A and 41B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after the part is deleted in case 7-2. FIG. 41A shows the state before the part is deleted, and FIG. 41B shows the state after the part is deleted. When the middle part of unit #2 among unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted, a middle part of the extended attribute area corresponding to this unit is also deleted by the deletion editing unit 26. The extended attribute area #1 in FIG. 41A is divided into two extended attribute areas #1 and #2 as shown in FIG. 41B. The end point information and start point information are updated by the deletion editing unit 26 in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area #1 is a position immediately before the middle part, and the start point of the extended attribute area #2 is a position immediately after the middle part. Location.

When the intermediate portion to be deleted includes the start and end points of the extended attribute area (case 7-3), the deletion editing unit 26 performs the same processing as in case 5-3. The deletion editing unit 26 updates the start unit ID and the end unit ID of the area marker in such a manner that "a unit including the start point of the extended attribute area" and "a unit including the end point of the extended attribute area" are newly obtained units . Also, the deletion editing unit 26 updates the start point information and end point information of the area marker in such a manner that the start point and end point of the extended attribute area are respectively the first piece of image data and the last piece of image data in the newly obtained unit where you are.

42A and 42B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after the part is deleted in case 7-3. FIG. 42A shows the state before the part is deleted, and FIG. 42B shows the state after the part is deleted. As shown in FIG. 42A, when the middle part of unit #2 among unit #1 to unit #4 is to be deleted, the edge part of extended attribute area #1 included in this unit is deleted by deletion editing unit 26. Since the starting point of the extended attribute area as shown in FIG. 42B is the position immediately after this edge portion, the starting point information is updated by the delete editing unit 26 in such a manner that the starting point of the extended attribute area #1 is immediately after the edge portion. The position after the deleted section.

<Case 8>

Case 8 is a case where all of the TS-VOS stored in the AV file is deleted. Each unit constituting the playback path is entirely included in one of the TS-VOBs. In other words, there are no cells that cross TS-VOB boundaries. This is distinct from extended attribute regions that span the boundaries of multiple cells. This is due to the following reasons. The start and end of a unit are defined by indirect references through an access graph. Therefore, if there is a cell whose start and end points straddle the boundary of the TS-VOB, it is necessary to provide a plurality of access maps, thereby increasing the processing load. Therefore, the case where the TS-VOB is entirely deleted can be regarded as the same as the case where a unit included in the TS-VOB is entirely deleted. When one of the TS-VOBs is entirely deleted, a unit entirely included in the deleted TS-VOB is also entirely deleted by the deletion editing unit 26 . Therefore, in this case, the processing described in Case 5 can be performed. 43A and 43B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deletion is performed in Case 8. FIGS. FIG. 43A shows the state before deletion is performed, and FIG. 43B shows the state after deletion is performed. As shown in FIG. 43A, when VOB#1 among VOB#1 to VOB#4 is deleted, the entire Cell and extended attribute areas included in VOB#1 are also completely deleted as shown in FIG. 43B.

<case 9>

Case 9 is a case where the edge portion of one of the TS-VOBs stored in the AV file is deleted. Edge part deletion requires processing of deleting entry information corresponding to edge parts in the access map. The processing to be performed on the extended attribute area and playback path depends on whether the margin portion to be deleted includes the entire portion of a cell. The case (9-1) where the part to be deleted includes the entire part of a unit can be regarded as the same as the case where a unit is to be deleted entirely. Therefore, the processing described in Case 5 can be performed. 44A and 44B show the states of TS-VOBs, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deletion is performed in Case 9-1. FIG. 44A shows the state before deletion is performed, and FIG. 44B shows the state after deletion is performed. As shown in FIG. 44A, deleting the margin portion of VOB#1 among VOB#1 to VOB#3 is equivalent to deleting the entirety of Cell #1 included in the margin portion and part or all of the extended attribute area included in Cell #1. #1. In FIG. 44B, the cell #1 entirely included in the margin portion of the TS-VOB, and the extended attribute area #1 whose margin portion is included in the cell #1 are deleted by the deletion editing unit 26. The case where the edge portion to be deleted is that of one cell (Case 9-2) can be regarded as the same as Case 6. 45A and 45B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 9-2. FIG. 45A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 45B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 45A, deleting the margin portion of VOB #1 is equivalent to deleting the margin portion of Cell #1 entirely included in the margin portion of VOB #1 and the extended attribute area partially included in Cell #1. In FIG. 45B, the cell #1 whose margin portion is included in the margin portion of the TS-VOB and the extended attribute area #1 whose margin portion is included in the cell #1 are deleted by the deletion editing unit 26.

<Case 10>

Case 10 is a case where the middle part of the TS-VOB stored in the AV file is deleted. In this case, TS-VOB is divided. This separation is achieved by the following two processes. The first procedure is to shorten the TS-VOB in order to fit a section before the middle section. The second process is to add a part after the middle part to the AV file as a new TS-VOB. As the TS-VOB is divided into two TS-VOBs, the VOB information is also divided. More specifically, as a TS-VOB is divided into two TS-VOBs, an access picture is divided into two access pictures. That is, two pieces of VOB information respectively including the two access maps are generated and associated with the two TS-VOBs.

When the middle part of the TS-VOB is deleted, the TS-VOB is divided. Here, VOB information is also divided. The separation of VOB information is described in detail in US Patent No. 6,148,140. Further information can be found in this publication. This publication describes how two TS-VOBs obtained by dividing the TS-VOBs are seamlessly played back. It can be considered that the separation of VOBs in this embodiment is based on the technology disclosed in this publication.

Further, when the edge part or middle part of the TS-VOB is deleted, the access map needs to be updated along with the deletion. The update of the access map is disclosed in detail in International Publication WO99/14754. Further information can be found in this publication. In this publication, the access graph is denoted as a "temporal graph", and the "temporal graph" referred to therein is substantially the same as the access graph.

46A and 46B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after the middle portion of the TS-VOB is deleted. FIG. 46A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 46B shows the state after deleting the part. After the middle part is deleted in Fig. 46A, VOB #1 is shortened together with the cell so as to fit a part immediately before the middle part. And, as shown in Fig. 46B, a new TS-VOB#1' is added at the position immediately after the deleted part.

When the intermediate portion to be deleted includes the entire portion of a unit (case 10-1), the processing described in case 5 will be performed. 47A and 47B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 10-1. FIG. 47A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 46B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 47A, deleting the middle portion of VOB #1 is equivalent to deleting Cell #1 entirely included in the middle portion and the edge portion of the extended attribute area partially or entirely included in Cell #1. In FIG. 47B, the cell #2 which is entirely included in the middle portion of VOB #1, and the extended attribute area whose edge portion is included in the cell #2 are deleted by the deletion editing unit 26.

When the middle portion to be deleted includes the entire edge portion of a cell (case 10-2), the processing described in case 6 will be performed. 48A and 48B show the states of the TS-VOB, cell and extended attribute area before and after deleting the part in case 10-2. FIG. 48A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 48B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 48A, deleting the middle portion of the TS-VOB is equivalent to deleting the edge portion of Cell #1 included in the edge portion and the edge portion of the extended attribute area partially or entirely included in Cell #1. In FIG. 48B, the cell #1 whose margin portion is included in the margin portion of the TS-VOB, and the extended attribute area #1 whose margin portion is included in the cell #1 are deleted by the deletion editing unit 26. When the middle portion to be deleted includes the entire edge portion of a cell (case 10-3), the processing described in case 7 will be performed. 49A and 49B show the states of the TS-VOB, cells and extended attribute areas before and after deleting the part in case 10-3. FIG. 49A shows the state before deleting the part, and FIG. 49B shows the state after deleting the part. In FIG. 49A, deleting the middle portion of VOB #1 is equivalent to deleting the middle portion of Unit #1 and the extended attribute area #1 partially or entirely included in this middle portion. In FIG. 49B, the cell #1 whose middle part is included in the middle part of the TS-VOB, and the extended attribute area #1 whose middle part is included in this middle part are deleted, and the cell #1 is divided into two units #1 and #1', the extended attribute area #1 is divided into two extended attribute areas #1 and #1'.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment, the partial deletion of the extended attribute area can be realized not only by deleting the middle part or the edge part of the extended attribute area, but also can be realized together with the whole or partial deletion of the cell or TS-VOB. Therefore, the extended attribute area can be freely changed according to various edits to be performed in the hierarchical structure of TS-VOB, access map, and playback path described in the first embodiment.

Although this embodiment has described only the case of the precinct marker set in the PGC information, it goes without saying that the same deletion process can be performed on the precinct marker set in the VOB information. That is to say, the extended attribute area can be partially deleted along with the entire deletion or partial deletion of the TS-VOB.

(tenth embodiment)

The present embodiment relates to an improvement in the case where an extended attribute area is edited following editing performed by the recording apparatus 100 involving movement of cells constituting a playback path (referred to as "movement editing"). Fig. 50 shows the internal structure of the recording apparatus related to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, attention should be paid to the movement editing unit 27 which is additionally provided as a component of the recording apparatus relating to the present embodiment. The move editing unit 27 performs a move process of moving the units constituting the playback path. The moving process performed by the moving editing unit 27 is realized by updating the area label, unit information, and the like.

FIGS. 51A and 51B schematically show move editing for moving unit #1 to a position immediately after unit #3 among four units #1 to unit #4 constituting the playback path. As shown in FIG. 51A, the playback path shows a sequence arranged in the order of cell #1, cell #2, cell #3, and cell #4. By moving Cell #1 as indicated by the arrow "mv0", the sequence represented by the playback path becomes the order of Cell #2, Cell #3, Cell #1, and Cell #4. The playback path is composed of a sequence of units, and the location of the extended attribute area is specified by indirect reference via one or more of the units. Because the form an indirect reference to a region marker takes depends on the sequence of cells, when the sequence of cells being dereferenced changes, the extended attribute region appears to be changed. However, region markers only specify the start and end points of extended attribute regions, so such a change in the sequence of cells often requires only a change in the sequence of pieces of cell information.

More specifically, an extended attribute area is defined by designating its start and end points as positions in a specific unit. Therefore, those cells other than the specific cells including the start and end points of the extended attribute area can be freely moved without any influence on the extended attribute area. For example, a cell that includes the entire portion of the extended attribute area can be moved out of the extended attribute area, a cell outside the extended attribute area can be moved into the extended attribute area, or a cell in the extended attribute area can be moved into the extended attribute area. A different location in the attribute area. However, the unit including the start point and the unit including the end point cannot be freely moved when such movement would cause the end point of the extended attribute area to be located before the start point of the extended attribute area. The inversion of the order of the end point and the start point indicates a failure in the correctness of the extended attribute area. Therefore, when a unit is to be moved, a judgment is performed as to whether or not the movement of the unit causes the order of the end point and the start point of the extended attribute area to be reversed. When it is determined that the order of the end point and the start point is reversed, the movement editing unit 27 updates the area marker designating the extended attribute area in order to prevent the above-mentioned failure in the correctness of the extended attribute area.

The procedure for updating the area marker to prevent the above-mentioned failure in the correctness of the extended attribute area is described below. When moving editing of a unit is to be performed, first a judgment is performed as to whether the unit to be moved includes the start point or the end point of the extended attribute area. When the unit to be moved includes the start point, a determination is performed as to whether movement of the unit will cause the unit including the start point to be located after the unit including the end point. When this determination is positive, the move editing unit 27 updates the start unit ID and the start point information of the area marker in such a manner that the start point of the extended attribute area is at the position immediately after the unit to be moved. By doing so, the edge portion of the extended attribute area is shortened, but troubles in the correctness of the extended attribute area whose start point is located after the end point can be avoided.

51C and 51D show the process of moving a cell including the start point of the extended attribute area. Among unit #1 to unit #4 in the figure, unit #1 includes the start point of the extended attribute area, and unit #3 includes the end point of the extended attribute area. It is assumed here that unit #1 including the starting point is to be moved to a position between unit #2 and unit #3 as indicated by the arrow "my1". In this case, since the unit #1 is located before the unit #3 including the end point of the extended attribute area, the movement editing unit 27 does not update the area marker.

52A and 52B show the process of updating the area marker when moving a unit including the start point of the extended attribute area.

It is assumed here that unit #1 including the starting point is to be moved to a position between unit #3 and unit #4 as indicated by the arrow "my2". In this case, since cell #1 is located after cell #3 including the end point of the extended attribute area, it is judged that this movement causes a failure in the correctness of the extended attribute area. In order to avoid this trouble, the movement editing unit 27 updates the area marker in such a way that the start point of the extended attribute area is the start point of the unit #2 immediately after the unit #1.

When the unit to be moved includes the end point, a determination is performed as to whether the movement of the unit will cause the unit including the end point to be located before the unit including the start point. When this determination is positive, the move editing unit 27 updates the entry information and end unit ID in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area is the position immediately before the unit to be moved. By doing so, the entry information of the extended attribute area is shortened, but troubles in the correctness of the extended attribute area whose end point is located before the start point can be avoided.

53A and 53B show the process of moving a cell including the end point of the extended attribute area. Among cells #1 to #4 in FIG. 53A, cell #1 includes the start point of the extended attribute area, and cell #3 includes the end point of the extended attribute area. It is assumed here that cell #3 including the end point is to be moved to a position between cell #1 and cell #2 as indicated by the arrow "my5". In this case, since the unit #3 is located after the unit #1 including the start point of the extended attribute area, the movement editing unit 27 does not update the area marker.

It is assumed here that cell #3 including the end point is to be moved to a position before cell #1 as indicated by the arrow "my5". 54A and 54B show the process of updating the area marker when moving the unit including the end point of the extended attribute area. In this case, since cell #3 is located before cell #1 including the start point of the extended attribute area, this movement causes a failure in the correctness of the extended attribute area. In order to avoid this failure, as shown in FIG. 54B, the movement editing unit 27 updates the area marker in such a manner that the end point of the extended attribute area is the end point of the cell #2 immediately after the cell #1.

According to the present embodiment as described above, even when a unit is freely moved by the user, it is possible to prevent a trouble in correctness of the extended attribute area from occurring.

Although the present embodiment has described only the case of the precinct marker set in the PGC information, it goes without saying that the same move processing can be performed on the precinct marker set in the VOB information.

Also, although the present embodiment only describes the movement of the unit, it goes without saying that the extended attribute area itself can also be moved in addition to the unit.

(eleventh embodiment)

This embodiment realizes the individual designation of the extended attribute area for one playback path and the unified designation of the extended attribute areas for multiple playback paths through user operations. In order to realize individual designation and collective designation via user operations, the user interface unit 2 located in the recording apparatus related to the present embodiment performs the following processing. First, the user interface unit 2 receives a user's selection of one of individual designation and collective designation of the extended attribute area. After receiving the selection of individual designation, the user interface unit 2 performs a log-in operation related to a user who wants to designate an extended attribute area in order to identify the user. When the identification of the user is completed, the user interface unit 2 displays the playback path for the user, and performs an individual specifying process of individually specifying the extended attribute area for the playback path for the user. In this case, a screen schematically showing a playback path for one user as shown in FIG. 9 or 10 is displayed. For the playback path on the screen, the user interface unit 2 receives a user operation to set the start point and end point of the extended attribute area. Here, the user receiving unit 2 displays a cursor on the playback path, and moves the cursor left or right according to the user's operation of the remote controller. Here, it is preferable to display the position of the image data indicated by the cursor by displaying its thumbnail or the like. This will help to expand the precise setting of the attribute area. Then, when the user performs an operation to input the position of the cursor, the position is set as the start point or the end point. When the start point and end point are set, a region marker having start point information and end point information respectively showing the set start point and end point is generated and set in the PGC information stored in the resident memory 4 .

When the unified designation of the extended attribute area is to be performed, a screen schematically showing playback paths for a plurality of users as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed. For the playback path on the screen, the user interface unit 2 receives a user operation to set the start point and end point of the extended attribute area. Here, the user interface unit 2 displays a cursor on the playback path, and moves the cursor left or right according to the user's operation of the remote controller. Then, when the user performs an operation to input the position of the cursor, the position is set as the start point or the end point. When the start point and end point are set, a region marker having start point information and end point information respectively showing the set start point and end point is generated and set in the VOB information stored in the resident memory 4 .

By performing the above processing by the user interface unit 2, an extended attribute area can be freely set by the user.

It should be noted here that the user interface unit 2 may receive designation of a portion to be deleted or a portion to be moved when performing deletion editing or moving editing described in the ninth and tenth embodiments. In this case, a screen schematically showing extended attribute areas, cells, and VOBs as shown in FIGS. 30 to 49 is displayed, and it is possible to , to perform designation of a portion to be deleted or a portion to be moved of an extended attribute area, a cell, or a VOB.

Although the present invention has been described based on the above-described embodiments, the above-described embodiments are merely examples of systems that are expected to produce optimum results under existing circumstances. The present invention can be modified within a range not departing from the technical concept of the present invention. For example, the following modifications (A), (B), (C)... are possible.

(A) Many features of the recording apparatus 100 described in the first to eighth embodiments are realized by modifications in computer-readable programs, as shown in flowcharts in FIGS. 14 , 15 , 19 and 20 . Therefore, programs for realizing these features can be executed apart from the devices described in each of these embodiments. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium. In this case, the program can be executed alone by providing or renting the recording medium. Programs can also be distributed via the Internet. In this case, by transmitting the program via a network, the program can also be executed. Also, for other features of the recording apparatus 100 that are substantially to be realized by improvement in programs, the programs for realizing these other features may be recorded on one recording medium, or may be transmitted via a network.

(B) The first to tenth embodiments are exemplified as a recording medium, a DVD, such as a DVD-RAM, on which moving image data can be recorded according to the DVD-Video recording standard. However, recording media having any physical structure on which moving image data can be recorded can also be used. For example, instead of DVD-RAM, other phase change optical discs such as DVD-RW, PD, DVD+RW and CD-RW can be used. Likewise, other recording media can also be used. Examples of other recording media include (i) write-once optical disks such as CD-R and DVD-R, (ii) magneto-optical disks such as MO (Magnetic Optical Disk), MD-DAT (Mini disc-Data Mini Data Disk) and iD formats, (iii) removable hard drives such as ORB, Jaz, SparQ, SyJet, EZFley and Microdrives, (iv) magnetic recording disks such as Floppy, SuperDisk, Zip and Clik! , and (v) flash memory cards such as SD memory cards, compact flash cards, Smartmedia, memory sticks, multimedia cards and PCM-CIA cards.

(C) The recording apparatus 100 may be a fixed type DVD recorder for home use, such as a Panasonic DVD recorder "DMR-E30", or may be a camcorder.

Similarly, the recording device 100 can also be a personal computer, in which digital video editing programs such as "MotionDV STUDIO (motion DV studio)" and "DVDMovieAlbum (DVD movie album)" are installed, and can be recorded by conforming to SCSI, IDE and IEEE1394 The interface is connected with the drive device 3.

(D) Although the above embodiments have described the case where the TS-VOB includes a video stream and an audio stream multiplexed therein, the TS-VOB may further include The obtained sub-video stream, and other control information multiplexed therein.

(E) The above embodiments have described the case where the display period of one piece of image data corresponds to one video frame. However, as in the case of film material, when using the 3:2 pull down used in compressed 24 fps video, one image can correspond to 1.5 frames instead of one image to one frame.

(F) Although the above embodiments have described the case where moving image data is recorded on the optical disk in a format conforming to the DVD-Video recording standard, moving image data may also be recorded thereon in accordance with other standards.

industrial application

The present invention is suitable for recording moving picture data on the premise that a playback device performs extended control. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to recording media, recording devices, and playback devices on which moving image data is recorded, which are used by consumers worldwide. Therefore, these recording media, recording devices, and playback devices to which the present invention is applied have a high possibility of being applied in the consumer electronics industry and the like.

Claims (5)

1. pen recorder that is used at the enterprising line item of recording medium, record the management information of the playback of a digital stream and the described digital stream of management on the described recording medium, described management information comprises the playback path information of many playback paths representing described digital stream, with the access graph of the address that is used to manage described digital stream, described pen recorder comprises:

Generation unit can be used for

(1) if the content of the expansion control that described digital stream playback duration is carried out in to described a plurality of playback paths specific one effectively, then generate first kind marker information, described first kind marker information is specified district corresponding with described special playback path and that wherein will carry out expansion control, and

(2) if effective in a plurality of described playback paths two or more in the content of the expansion control that described digital stream playback duration is carried out, then generate second type mark symbol information, the described second type mark symbol information is specified corresponding with the access graph of the described digital stream of management address and wherein will be carried out the district that expands control;

Writing unit, can be used for this recording medium execution is write: (i) for first kind marker information, write and comprise this first kind marker information and playback path information and for the distinctive message unit of this playback path, and (ii) for second type mark symbol information, write comprise second type mark symbol information and access graph and for the distinctive message unit of this digital stream; And

Rewriting unit, wherein

By at least one pair of starting point information and endpoint information are set, every playback path information representation playback path, will begin the position of normal playback control on this starting point information representation digital stream, this endpoint information represents will finish on the digital stream position of normal playback control

This identifies at least one path unit that constitutes this playback path to starting point information and endpoint information,

This first kind marker information comprises: the identifier that identifies the path unit that contains this expansion control starting position; And the positional information that should expand the control starting position on the expression digital stream,

This second type mark symbol information comprises: the positional information of this expansion control starting position on the expression digital stream,

This rewriting unit rewrites in the starting point information that comprises in the positional information that comprises in the identifier that comprises in this first kind marker information and positional information, this second type mark symbol information and the playback path information and the endpoint information,

By the rewrite operation that rewriting unit is carried out, upgrade the district of this first kind marker information appointment or the district of this second type mark symbol information appointment.

2. according to the pen recorder of claim 1,

Wherein, by rewriteeing the positional information that comprises in this first kind marker information and this identifier, thereby show different path unit, so that this rewriting unit deletion wherein will be carried out the marginal portion in the district that expands control.

3. according to the pen recorder of claim 1,

Wherein, if many starting point information and endpoint information are represented playback path by being provided with, this rewriting unit is by rewriteeing this right configuration, and a path unit that will constitute playback path moves to the position that is close to before or after the different path unit, and

If the path unit that moves comprises the starting point that wherein will carry out the district that expands control, just edit this district with moving of this path unit.

4. according to the pen recorder of claim 1,

Wherein, if many starting point information and endpoint information are represented playback path by being provided with, this rewriting unit is deleted a path unit that constitutes this playback path by deletion and corresponding a pair of starting point information of path unit and the endpoint information that will delete, and

If the path unit of deletion comprises the starting point that wherein will carry out the district that expands control, just rewrite the identifier that comprises in this first kind marker character, thereby represent different path unit.

5. recording method that is used at the enterprising line item of recording medium, record the management information of the playback of a digital stream and the described digital stream of management on the described recording medium, described management information comprises the playback path information of many playback paths representing described digital stream, with the access graph of the address that is used to manage described digital stream, described recording method comprises:

Produce step,

(1) if the content that expands control in described a plurality of playback paths specific one effectively, then generate first kind marker information, described first kind marker information is specified district corresponding with described special playback path and that wherein will carry out expansion control, and

(2) if the content that expands control for two in described a plurality of playback paths or more effectively, then generate second type mark symbol information, the described second type mark symbol information is specified corresponding with the access graph of the described digital stream of management address and wherein will be carried out the district that expands control, and the address of wherein said digital stream is corresponding to two in described a plurality of playback paths or more a plurality of; And

Write step, can be used for this recording medium execution is write: (i) for first kind marker information, write and comprise this first kind marker information and playback path information and for the distinctive message unit of this playback path, and (ii) for second type mark symbol information, write comprise second type mark symbol information and access graph and for the distinctive message unit of this digital stream; And

Re-writing step, wherein

By at least one pair of starting point information and endpoint information are set, every playback path information representation playback path, will begin the position of normal playback control on this starting point information representation digital stream, this endpoint information represents will finish on the digital stream position of normal playback control

This identifies at least one path unit that constitutes this playback path to starting point information and endpoint information,

This first kind marker information comprises: the identifier that identifies the path unit that contains this expansion control starting position; And the positional information that should expand the control starting position on the expression digital stream,

This second type mark symbol information comprises: the positional information of this expansion control starting position on the expression digital stream,

This re-writing step rewrites in the starting point information that comprises in the positional information that comprises in the identifier that comprises in this first kind marker information and positional information, this second type mark symbol information and the playback path information and the endpoint information,

By the rewrite operation that rewriting unit is carried out, upgrade the district of this first kind marker information appointment or the district of this second type mark symbol information appointment.

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