Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing – Local trick play processing – With randomly accessible medium
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-02
2003-10-14
Nguyen, Huy (Department: 2615)
Motion video signal processing for recording or reproducing
Local trick play processing
With randomly accessible medium
C386S349000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06633723
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and reproducing system for recording and reproducing image information onto and from a recording medium such as a DVD or the like, and relates, more particularly, to a recording and reproducing system equipped with a copy protection function of restricting copying of image information such as picture or the like and a recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus suitable for use in this recording and reproducing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A DVD is a recording medium having a large recording capacity, and can record, for example, digital video information equivalent to one volume of moving picture film. Because of this large capacity, a DVD has come to be distributed as an image recording medium for replacing a video cassette of VHS system. A DVD exists in two types; a DVD onto which a recording or a rewriting cannot be done (It is referred to as a “read-only DVD”, hereinafter.), and a DVD onto which a recording or a rewriting can be done (It is referred to as a “recordable DVD”, hereinafter.). When a recordable DVD is used, it is possible to digitally copy the whole content of a moving picture recorded on the DVD.
Along with the distribution of the recordable DVD, there has been developed a system for digitally transmitting a moving picture or the like from a broadcasting station to general subscribers. When this system has been achieved, it becomes possible for subscribers to not only enjoy watching a high-definition moving picture at home but also digitally record the moving picture transmitted from the broadcasting station onto a DVD and prepare a replica disk in an easy manner.
On the other hand, the act of copying a moving picture or the like without permission is restricted by the copyright law, etc. Particularly, when a moving picture or the like is copied digitally, there occurs no quality degradation in the moving picture copied. Accordingly, it is necessary to severely restrict the copying of digital video information using a DVD in order to promote the distribution of DVD as well.
In order to restrict the recording or copying of digital video information, various methods have been proposed. For example, there is proposed a method of embedding identification information for restricting the copying into digital video information at the time of recording the digital video information onto a DVD. Such a system is generally called a CGMS (Copy Generation Management System). This identification information represents one of the following: (1) prohibiting the copying (hereinafter to be referred to as “Never Copy”), (2) permitting the copying only once (hereinafter to be referred to as “One Copy”), and (3) permitting the copying without restriction (hereinafter to be referred to as “Copy Free”). When digital video information embedded with this kind of identification information is copied onto other DVD, a recording apparatus reads out the identification information from within the digital video information, and if this identification information shows Never Copy, the recording apparatus does not record this digital video information.
Further, there is also proposed a method of restricting the copying of a picture or a video image by embedding identification information having a function similar to the above into the display range of the image or the video image as a watermark.
Further, a method of scrambling a picture or a video image at the time of recording or reproducing this image or video image also contributes to restricting the recording or reproducing digital video information.
In order to restrict the copying of digital video information by using the above-described identification information, it is necessary to prepare a recording apparatus or a reproducing apparatus equipped with a function of recognizing the identification information based on a predetermined rule prescribing a disposition of the identification information, a decision method, etc. (hereinafter to be referred to as a compliant recording apparatus and a compliant reproducing apparatus respectively).
When other recording apparatus or reproducing apparatus not equipped with the function of recognizing the identification information (hereinafter to be referred to as a non-compliant recording apparatus and a non-compliant reproducing apparatus respectively) is used, there is a case where the identification information is disregarded and digital video information is copied although the information is Never Copy digital video information. If the compliant reproducing apparatus has allowed a reproduction of digital video information copied by the non-compliant recording apparatus, the copying of the Never Copy digital video information is implicitly permitted. In other words, a person who has copied the Never Copy digital video information by the non-compliant recording apparatus is not punished and does not feel any inconvenience at all despite the fact that he or she has copied the Never Copy digital video information. If this situation is left untouched, it is not possible to promote the distribution of the compliant recording apparatus and compliant reproducing apparatus, and has a problem that it is not possible to restrict the copying of digital video information.
Further, in the case of One Copy digital video information, this information can be recorded only once by a compliant recording apparatus. When digital video information recorded by this compliant recording apparatus is reproduced by a non-compliant reproducing apparatus, unlimited copying of the digital video information is allowed based on this non-compliant reproducing apparatus.
Further, in general, a reproducing apparatus can convert digital video information recorded on a DVD into analog information and outputs the information to the outside. Some recording apparatuses can convert analog video information such as a picture or a video image into digital information and record it in a DVD. Accordingly, in order to effectively restrict the copying of digital video information, it is not sufficient to restrict only the copying of digital video information achieved by digitally transmitting the digital video information from a reproducing apparatus to a recording apparatus, that is, the copying by digital transmission. In other words, it is also necessary to restrict the copying of digital video information achieved by converting the digital video information into analog video information by a reproducing apparatus and sending this analog video information to a recording apparatus by analog transmission, that is, the copying by analog transmission.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a recording/reproducing system, a recording apparatus and a reproducing apparatus which can reduce unlimited copying of recorded/reproduced information carried out by other recording apparatus or reproducing apparatus not equipped with a function of restricting the copy of recorded/reproduced information, and which can effectively restrict the copying of recorded/reproduced information.
The system in accordance with the present invention comprises a recording apparatus for recording record information onto a recording medium as digital data and a reproducing apparatus for reading the record information from the recording medium and outputting the read record information in order to reproduce the record information recorded on the recording medium.
The record information includes: image information which represents an image or a picture; a first identification information which represents any one of never copy, one copy and copy free; and a second identification information which represents any one of at least the never copy and the one copy.
The never copy indicates that copying of the information is prohibited. The one copy indicates that the copying of the information is permitted only once. The copy free indicates that the copying of the information is permitted.
The recording apparatus comprises
Kuroda Kazuo
Moriyama Yoshiaki
Sugaya Kazumi
Suzuki Toshio
Nguyen Huy
Pioneer Electric Corporation
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
Recording and reproducing system, recording apparatus and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Recording and reproducing system, recording apparatus and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Recording and reproducing system, recording apparatus and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3146594