Dynamic information storage or retrieval – Information location or remote operator actuated control – Selective addressing of storage medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-29
2001-11-20
Psitos, Aristotelis M. (Department: 2651)
Dynamic information storage or retrieval
Information location or remote operator actuated control
Selective addressing of storage medium
C386S349000, C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06320827
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc reproducing apparatus which is capable of accommodating a plurality of optical discs, for example, DVDs (Digital Versatile Disc), CDs (Compact Disc) and the like, and selecting a specified optical disc from among the accommodated plurality of optical discs to reproduce it.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, optical disc reproducing apparatus which are capable of accommodating a plurality of two kinds of optical discs, DVDs and CDs, have become increasingly popular.
FIG. 4
is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus.
As shown in the figure, the conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus comprises: a mechanical unit
1
′ having an optical pickup unit; a signal processing unit
2
′ for demodulating signals detected by the optical pickup unit; an application block unit
3
′ for decoding video signals, sub video signals and audio signals from the data output by the signal processing unit
2
′; an output unit
4
′ for outputting the decoded video picture signals, sub video signals and audio signals to external devices; a user interface block unit
6
′ for receiving operation instruction from an operator and displaying the operating contents to the operator; a system controller
5
′ for controlling the general operation of the optical disc reproducing apparatus; a roulette block unit
7
′ for accommodating a plurality of optical discs, and for selecting an optical disc which is specified from among the accommodated optical discs and transferring it to the mechanical unit
1
′.
Next the reproducing procedure of the above-described conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus will be explained.
FIG. 5
is a flowchart which explains the reproducing procedure of the conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus.
First, a power source of the optical disc reproducing apparatus is turned ON (ST
101
), and when reproduction of the optical disc is instructed by pressing the control buttons provided on the user interface block unit
6
′ (ST
102
), operation changes to the optical disc reproduction mode.
As long as operation is not in the optical disc reproduction mode, or in other words, unless reproduction of the optical disc is instructed, the optical disc reproducing apparatus will be in the disc reproduction stop mode (ST
107
).
After operation changes to the optical disc reproduction mode, the roulette block unit
7
′ conveys the optical disc, which is specified for reproduction, to the mechanical unit
1
′. Then, the signal processing unit
2
′, according to a signal detected by the optical pickup unit, detects whether the target optical disc to be reproduced is a CD or a DVD (ST
103
).
In this case, detecting whether the optical disc is a CD or a DVD is performed by reading the disc information recorded on the optical disc. It is also possible to detect whether the optical disc is a CD or a DVD without reading the disc information. One example of this technology is disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. H10-275407. The explanation of this technology is omitted here.
Next, after detection of the type of optical disc by the signal processing unit
2
′ is finished, the system controller
5
′ switches all of the units of the optical disc reproducing apparatus to a signal-processing circuit which corresponds to the detected optical disc type, then, starts reproducing the optical disc (ST
104
).
After the reproduction of the optical disc under reproduction ends (ST
105
), the system controller
5
′ controls the roulette block unit
7
′ and rotates the roulette to convey the optical disc to be reproduced next to the mechanical unit
1
(ST
106
). Then steps ST
102
to ST
105
are repeated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Of this kind of optical disc reproducing apparatus, there are some having a so-called random reproduction function for continuously reproducing the accommodated optical discs at random, and there are some having a so-called programmed reproduction function for selectively reproducing some of the accommodated optical discs in a pre-determined order.
By the way, DVD differs from CD-DA (Compact Disc-Digital Audio) in that there is an interactive function in which the operator and optical disc reproducing apparatus correspond interactively for reproducing the optical disc. Therefore, disc reproduction may not advance if the operator does not press a control button on the user-interface block unit
6
. Accordingly, when the optical disc having the interactive function is left in the reproduction state for a while, the reproduction of the optical disc may be stopped temporarily in the pause state.
There are also some CDs, such as CD-I (Compact Disc-Interactive media), which have an interactive function. Similar to DVD, when a CD-I is left in the reproduction state, reproduction of the CD-I may be stopped temporarily in the pause state when the CD-I is reproduced.
The physical format of a CD-I is a format conforming to mode
2
of a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-only Memory) and differs from the physical format of a CD-DA. Accordingly, in order to reproduce a CD-I, it is necessary to have a CD-I decoder or a CD-ROM decoder instead of a CD-DA decoder.
As described above, when performing random reproduction or programmed reproduction with a conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus, the optical disc reproducing apparatus stops in the pause state when the operator forgets to remove the interactive optical disc such as DVD or CD-I from the roulette, and random reproduction or programmed reproduction may be interrupted even though random reproduction or programmed reproduction is specified.
Therefore, when performing random reproduction or programmed reproduction with a conventional optical disc reproducing apparatus, it is troublesome that the operator has to remove the DVD or CD-I having the interactive function from the roulette.
In consideration of the conditions mentioned above, the object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform random reproduction or programmed reproduction without interrupting reproduction, even though the operator does not remove the interactive optical disc such as a DVD or CD-I.
To accomplish the above described object, a first embodiment of the present invention provides an optical disc reproducing apparatus capable of accommodating a plurality of different kinds of optical discs, comprising:
disc detection means for detecting the kind of optical disc;
disc selection means for selecting an optical disc to be reproduced from among the accommodated optical discs; and
mode receiving means for receiving a reproduction instruction including at least one of a random-reproduction mode for continuously reproducing the accommodated optical discs at random and a programmed-reproduction mode for selectively reproducing the accommodated optical discs in a predetermined order, wherein:
the disc selection means only selects optical discs from among the accommodated optical discs which are detected by the disc detection means to be a CD-DA (Compact Disc-Digital Audio), when a reproduction instruction in the aforementioned random-reproduction mode or programmed-reproduction mode is received by the mode receiving means from the operator.
With this embodiment of the invention, when optical discs having an interactive function such as a DVD or a CD-I are accommodated, these optical discs are not selected as a target optical disc to be reproduced in the random-reproduction mode or programmed-reproduction mode. Therefore, it is possible to perform random reproduction or programmed reproduction without interrupting reproduction, even though the operator does not remove optical discs having an interactive function from the present optical disc reproducing apparatus.
In order to accomplish the above described object, a second embodiment of the invention provides an optical disc reproducing
Dickstein , Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, LLP
Nippon Columbia Co. Ltd.
Psitos Aristotelis M.
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