Education and demonstration – Cathode ray screen display and audio means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-31
2001-09-04
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Cathode ray screen display and audio means
C434S30700R, C434S318000, C084S609000, C084S610000, C369S032010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283764
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage medium having a plurality of storage areas distinguished by stored data such as a format, etc., and to a technique for playing back data stored in the storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, remarkable progress in information compression technology and in semiconductor technology has been made. For example, the international standards such as MPEG 1 and 2 have been made, so that standards for storage media for storing information are frequently revised. Recently, the standardization of DVDs (Digital Video Discs) has been completed. For CDs (Compact Discs), multimedia-conscious standards are frequently proposed. A CD which is conscious of multimedia is called being an enhanced CD.
The enhanced CD includes two storage areas distinguished by data format. One area is for storing the same CD-DA (Digital Audio) data as that of a conventional music CD, while the other is an area for storing CD-ROM data. Image data (including data encoded with the MPEG encoding method) such as a promotional video, record jacket, etc., can be stored as the CD-ROM data. Therefore, the enhanced CD attracts public attention as a tool for providing entertainment over and above the conventional music CD.
As is known, enhanced CDs are classified into three major types depending on their format. The first of these types is called mixed mode, the second is called multi-session, and the third is called CD-ROM ready. The multi-session type can store CD-DA data in tracks
1
through
99
in a similar manner as in a music CD, unlike the other types. It allows a conventional music CD player to play back music. This is the reason why the multi-session type is of the greatest interest to the general public. The multi-session type is normally called a CD-EXTRA.
In the meantime, the number of personal computers (hereinafter abbreviated to PCs) has been remarkably increasing in recent years, and PCs have been equipped with a CD-ROM device as standard. The PCs equipped with the CD-ROM device can only use a CD-EXTRA (enhanced CD) by adding the MPEG decoding capability. The number of PCs equipped with the MPEG decoding capability as standard has also been growing in recent years. Therefore, the number of CD-EXTRAs (enhanced CDs) sold for PCs is expected to significantly increase.
Because PCs are equipped with a CD-ROM device as standard, a device for accessing a DVD is expected to be included in PCs, by adding a capability for accessing a DVD in addition to a capability for playing back a CD-ROM (including an enhanced CD), etc.
The enhanced CD such as the above described CD-EXTRA, etc. allows high quality sound and a variety of videos to be enjoyed in a similar manner as with a music CD. Conventionally, sound and video are played back by basically reproducing data sequentially read from a CD. In other words, data of various representation media such as video (still pictures, moving pictures, photos, etc.), music, etc. can be recorded, but those data are not fully utilized. The same thing is said about storage medium other than the enhanced CD.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to allow data stored in a storage medium to be fully utilized, and to be reproduced in various forms.
A storage medium according to the present invention includes first and second storage areas distinguished by stored data, and stores reproduction management information for synchronizing and reproducing data respectively stored in the first and second storage areas, in one of the first and second storage areas, and a program storing a capability for reproducing data stored in one of the first and second storage areas in synchronization with the data stored in the other of the first and second storage areas, in another storage medium, in one of the first and second storage areas.
It is desirable that the above described program should include the capability for storing the data stored, from the storage medium including the first and second storage areas distinguished by stored data, in another storage medium. However, since this capability may sometimes be implemented by another program (such as an operating system, etc.), it is not essential.
A storage medium playback system according to the present invention comprises a first reading unit for reading data stored in one of the first and second storage areas from a storage medium including the first and second storage areas distinguished by stored data, and storing the data in another storage medium; a first reproducing unit for reproducing data which is stored in the other of the first and second storage areas read by the first reading unit; a second reading unit for reading data stored in another storage medium; a second reproducing unit for reproducing the data read by the second reading unit; and a controlling unit for synchronizing the reproduction of the data by the first reproducing unit with the reproduction of the data by the second reproducing unit, based on reproduction management information, which is prepared in advance, for synchronizing and reproducing the data respectively stored in the first and second storage areas.
The data respectively stored in the first and second storage areas can simultaneously be reproduced in parallel by storing the data stored in one of the first and second storage areas in another storage medium. The controlling unit synchronizes and reproduces those data based on the reproduction management information. With these operations, the data respectively stored in the first and second storage areas can arbitrarily be combined, and the proceeding status of the reproduction of combined data can be managed.
To synchronize and reproduce a plurality of data such as CD-DA data, there arises the demand for obtaining a reproduction point in a data stream (including a relationship of relative reproduction points in combined data in this case), depending on the data. The above described reproduction management information is intended to obtain the reproduction point. With the reproduction management information, the reproduction point in a data stream can be obtained. Therefore, reproduction can be started from an arbitrary point in the data, or data to be reproduced can be switched depending on a reproduction point. In other words, the number of options for data reproduction is increased, and data can be reproduced in a variety of forms.
The above described feature can also be applied to the storage medium playback method, according to the present invention.
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Kajiyama Ryo
Mukai Haruo
Okada Hidemi
Yamazaki Tomihiro
Cheng Joe H.
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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