Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-12
2004-07-20
Nguyen, Huy (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766101
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to optical disc playback apparatus and, more particularly, to optical disc playback apparatus which realize a scan search operation having a rate proportional to a playback rate of an arbitrary playback unit program, when playback unit programs are respectively played back with an optical disc which has multimedia data including digital moving picture data and digital audio data recorded thereon and which disc has playback data transfer bit rates varying with the playback unit programs.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc)-Videos which have greatly increased storage capacities are coming into wide use in place of conventional laser discs and video CDs, and many movies are put on the market. These DVD-Video standard discs are standardized attaching importance to playback of video without attaching importance to playback of various types of audio. Therefore, DVD-Video standard cannot realize playback in conditions of linear PCM, 192-KHz sampling frequency, 24 bit/sec, 2 channels, and more than 74 minutes, or playback in conditions of linear PCM, 96-KHz sampling frequency, 24 bit/sec, 6 channels, and more than 74 minutes.
Accordingly, DVD-Audio standard attaching importance to the playback of various types of audio is established as one of DVD standards. As shown in FIG.
9
(
a
), the physical layer structure and file layer structure of DVD-Audio standard are the same as those of DVD-Video standard and only its application layer structure is different from that of DVD-Video standard. However, as shown in FIG.
9
(
b
), DVD-Video standard and DVD-Audio standard have a common part in the application layer structure.
FIG. 12
shows the comparison of contents between DVD-Video standard and DVD-Audio standard.
FIG. 10
shows a data structure of a file in the DVD-Audio standard disc having both of an Audio zone and a Video zone. The data structure according to DVD-Audio standard is divided broadly into a Volume zone and a File zone. Information of files in the File zone is recorded in the Volume zone. Video data files, audio data files, and files of data other than audio/video data (for example, computer data) are recorded in the File zone. The video data files, the audio data files, and the files of data other than audio/video data correspond to a DVD-Video zone, a DVD-Audio zone and a DVD-others zone, respectively.
In
FIG. 10
, four zones, i.e., a DVD-Volume zone
91
, a DVD-Audio zone
92
, a DVD-Video zone
93
and a DVD-Others zone
94
are defined. Among those, the DVD-Audio zone
92
comprises one piece of audio disc management information (i.e., Audio Manager, hereinafter referred to as “AMG”)
95
and one or more Audio Title Sets (hereinafter referred to as “ATS”)
96
. The DVD Video zone
93
comprises one piece of video disc management information (i.e., Video Manager, hereinafter referred to as “VMG”)
97
and one or more Video Title Sets (hereinafter referred to as “VTS”)
98
. That is, according to DVD-Audio standard, one disc can simultaneously include the DVD-Audio zone
92
and the DVD-Video zone
93
. When a title in the DVD-Audio zone
92
is to be selected, the ATS
96
is selected and when a title in the DVD-Video zone
93
is to be selected, the VTS
98
is selected. Although the DVD-Video zone
93
includes the VMG
97
, when the whole disc is to be managed as a DVD-Audio standard disc, it is managed using the AMG
95
instead of the VMG
97
.
ATS Information includes object position information indicating the position of audio data on the optical disc, sequence information indicating the playback order of the audio data, and object playback information indicating playback information of the audio data, as Program Chain Information (hereinafter referred to as “PGCI”). When playback is performed, a program which is specified by the PGCI is played back.
The DVD-Audio standard disc enables to play back various audio signals as shown by a diagram showing combinations of audio signals of a DVD-Audio standard disc of
FIG. 13
, for each program. It is possible that the number of channels, the sampling frequency and the number of quantization bits are defined for each of channel groups
1
and
2
, and then combined. According to this combination, the data transfer bit rates are decided so as not to exceed the maximum data transfer bit rate (9.6 Mbit/sec).
In addition, according to a diagram of
FIG. 14
for selecting conditions for each channel group of the DVD-Audio standard disc, the number of bits Q and the sampling frequency fs can be independently selected for each channel group in a range which does not exceed the maximum transfer rate (9.6 Mbit/sec). The minimum data transfer bit rate is obtained in a case where the number of channels=1, the sampling frequency=44.1 KHz and the number of quantization bits=16. The data transfer bit rate in this case is about 0.7 Mbit/sec. On the other hand, the maximum data transfer bit rate is obtained in a case where the number of channels=2, the sampling frequency=192 KHz and the number of quantization bits=24. The data transfer bit rate in this case is about 9.2 Mbit/sec. Therefore, the ratio of the minimum data transfer bit rate to the maximum data transfer bit rate is about 13 times.
There is a scan search operation of moving an optical pickup by a predetermined amount of address in a jumping operation while repeating the playback operation and the jumping operation, to search an arbitrary playback point.
In the case of DVD-Video standard disc, since video signals have compressed formats (MPEG), signals recorded on the disc have variable data transfer bit rates. Therefore, the relationship of the playback data amount to the time required for playback (hereinafter, referred to as playback time) is not uniform. Accordingly, in performing the scan search, when the jumping is performed by the predetermined amount of address, the playback time for each jumping is not fixed. As a result, even when a user executes the scan search operation to search an arbitrary playback point, the playback times do not vary in proportion to the time required for the scan search (hereinafter referred to as scan search time). Therefore, it is very hard to use the DVD-Video standard disc. Accordingly, in the case of DVD-Video standard disc, information of scan search addresses which realize the linear changes in plural playback times of a program at addresses which are previous and subsequent to the present address required for the scan search is recorded on the disc together with video signals. When the scan search is performed, the jumping operation can be performed on the basis of the scan search address information.
In the case of DVD-Audio standard disc, an audio signal necessitates a linear PCM format. Since signals recorded on the disc in the linear PCM format are not in compressed formats, the signals do not have variable data transfer bit rates but have a fixed data transfer bit rate. Therefore, the relationship of the playback data amount to the playback time is uniform. Accordingly, in performing the scan search, when the optical pickup is jumped by the predetermined amounts of address, the playback time for each jumping has a fixed value. Therefore, the scan search address information is not recorded on the DVD-Audio standard disc together with the playback signals, although this information is recorded on the DVD-Video standard disc together with the playback signals.
In the case of DVD-Audio standard disc, while the signals recorded on the disc have a fixed data transfer bit rate, the combinations of the number of channels, the sampling frequency and the number of quantization bits for each of the channel groups
1
and
2
as shown in
FIG. 13
can vary by the playback program units. Accordingly, the data transfer bit rates vary by the playback program units. Therefore, in performing the scan search, when the optical pickup is jumped by the predetermined amounts of address, the playback time for each ju
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Nguyen Huy
Parkhurst & Wendel L.L.P.
LandOfFree
Optical disc playback apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Optical disc playback apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Optical disc playback apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3242496