Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Control of storage or retrieval operation by a control... – For copying
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-05
2002-05-14
Edun, Muhammad (Department: 2651)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Control of storage or retrieval operation by a control...
For copying
C369S084000, C369S047100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06388965
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a dubbing apparatus and a dubbing method, which are capable of protecting a copyright by typically execution of a management function for program data to be dubbed.
In recent years, a CD (Compact Disc) player functioning as a playback apparatus capable of playing back data from a CD has been becoming widely popular. In addition, disc media such an MD (mini disc), which audio data is recorded and played back, and a recording/playback apparatus for such disc media have also been becoming very popular as well.
Furthermore, there is also popularized an audio system, which is a combination of, among other components, a CD player and an MD recorder/player serving as a recording/playback apparatus for an MD.
By the way, in a system such as the CD player and the MD recorder/player, audio data is controlled in units each referred to as the so-called program. The technical term program used in this specification means a data group recorded on a disc and controlled as a unit. In the case of audio data, for example, a program corresponds to a piece of music. A program is also referred to hereafter as a track. Thus, in general, a piece of music is also called a track.
Generally, in an audio system like the one described above, audio data played back from a CD by a CD player can be recorded into an MD by an MD recorder/player in a process known as dubbing recording.
There is also a system capable of carrying out the so-called high-speed dubbing in order to shorten the recoding time.
In high-speed dubbing, a disc-rotation driving control system or a playback-signal-processing system employed in the CD player is controlled so as to play back audio data from a CD at a predetermined multiple-time speed, which is higher than the normal playback speed. At the same time, a recording-signal-processing system employed in the MD recorder/player is also controlled so that the system operates at a multiple-time speed corresponding to the multiple playback speed of the CD to receive the audio data played back by the CD player and record it onto an MD.
In an integrated apparatus including a CD player as a playback unit and an MD recorder/player as a recording unit, for example, it is easy to execute control for the high-speed dubbing described above so that the CD player and the MD recorder/player operate at the same time at a predetermined multiple-time speed. Even in a separate-component system with a playback apparatus provided separately from a recording apparatus, the playback apparatus can be connected to the recording apparatus by using typically a control cable to form a configuration in which the playback apparatus is capable of communicating with the recording apparatus. In such a configuration, the high-speed dubbing can be implemented with ease by synchronously controlling the operations of the playback apparatus connected to the recording apparatus.
However, a dubbing operation generates a copy of data of a musical work or the like produced by the author such as a song and thus infringes the right of the author. A dubbing operation should thus be handled as an action to be avoided whenever possible. By carrying out high-speed dubbing, however, the number of tracks that can be dubbed per time unit is greater than that obtained from the normal 1-time-speed dubbing.
Thus, the user is capable of copying a CD or a track recorded on a CD to a number of MDs exceeding a range of private use judged to be normal by a common sense and using the MDs each containing a copy for some purposes.
If the user is allowed to carry out high-speed dubbing, the user is capable of copying a CD or a track recorded on a CD to a number of MDs during a shorter period of time more and in a more efficient way than the normal 1-time-speed dubbing. That is to say, on the other side of the coin, high-speed dubbing promotes infringement upon a copyright.
In order to solve this problem, a standard called an HCMS (High-speed Copy Management System) is proposed.
In accordance with the HCMS standard, when a digital musical source such as a CD is copied to media such as an MD in high-speed dubbing, the next high-speed dubbing of a track completing high-speed dubbing as a piece of music is prohibited during a period of at least 74 minutes following a point of time at which high-speed dubbing of the track was started. The prohibition period of high-speed dubbing is set at 74 minutes because the maximum total nominal playback time of a CD is 74 minutes. Since high-speed dubbing of a track is prohibited during a period of time required to play back a CD, a dubbing efficiency per track is about equal to that of one-time-speed dubbing. If a dubbing apparatus is designed to restrict high-speed dubbing in accordance with the HCMS as described above, the user is allowed to carry out dubbing within a range not infringing the copyright of the author. It should be noted that specifications of an apparatus having a dubbing function can be determined arbitrarily as long as the specifications do not violate the standard.
The following is an example of a generally conceivable operation to restrict high-speed dubbing in accordance with the HCMS standard.
Assume that a disc serving as a source of dubbing has recorded data like that shown in FIG.
1
A. As shown in the figure, the disc contains 5 recorded tracks Tr
1
to Tr
5
. The user has already dubbed only the track Tr
3
at a high speed at a previous predetermined time. Thus, the track Tr
3
is set as an object of HCMS management. That is to say, next high-speed dubbing is prohibited till a period of 74 minutes lapses since the start of the high-speed dubbing carried out at the previous predetermined time. It should be noted that the other 4 tracks Tr
1
, Tr
2
, Tr
4
and Tr
5
are not objects of the HCMS management so that each of them can be dubbed at a high speed at any other time.
Assume that, in an attempt to carry out dubbing of all tracks recorded on the CD shown in
FIG. 1A
under such a circumstance, the user starts high-speed dubbing by commencing a playback operation beginning with the track Tr
1
on the CD as shown in FIG.
1
B. It should be noted that the tracks Tr
1
to Tr
5
on the CD are played back sequentially in a track-number order.
In this case, the tracks Tr
1
and Tr
2
can be dubbed at a high speed sequentially since they are not objects of the HCMS management. At the end of the high-speed dubbing of the track Tr
2
, the operation enters a subsequent stage to dub the track Tr
3
, which is an object of the HCMS management. When a high-speed dubbing operation reaches a time to dub a track serving as an object of the HCMS management during a process of high-speed dubbing according to a track playback order of the CD as described above, however, the high-speed dubbing operation is discontinued to prevent the subsequent dubbing and recording process from being carried out.
By carrying out the operation as described above, the track under control of the HCMS management at the present time is not subjected to high-speed dubbing. That is to say, an operation conforming to the HCMS rule is performed.
With the restrictive specifications of the high-speed dubbing described above, however, the recording operation itself to dub tracks is halted so that the tracks Tr
4
and Tr
5
are not subjected to high-speed dubbing after the track Tr
3
of the above example in accordance with the playback order as shown in
FIG. 1B
in spite of the fact that the tracks Tr
4
and Tr
5
are not objects of the HCMS management.
Such a restriction of the dubbing function is unreasonable for the user and becomes an excessive disturbance of the convenience of the dubbing function. To put it concretely, if a particular piece of music taken as an object of HCMS management is found among a plurality of pieces of music during sequential high-speed dubbing of the pieces of music, control is executed to halt the high-speed dubbing at a point of time an attempt is made to dub the particular piece of music and to discontinue the dubbing operation itsel
Ozawa Hiroyuki
Tabuchi Tatsuhito
Edun Muhammad
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Sony Corporation
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