HK1019261B - Reproducing apparatus for automatically designating the speech corresponding with the user and the method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Reproducing apparatus and method for automatically designating language corresponding to user

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a reproduction apparatus of a recording medium (such as a digital audio compact disc) on which a sub code and main data such as audio data and visual data are recorded.

Background

In a CD reproducing apparatus on which audio information has been recorded, various kinds of reproduction information are displayed for reference by a user. Examples of such reproduction information are a track number and time information corresponding thereto. The reproduction information is recorded as pattern 1 of the Q channel of the subcode.

Recently, a reproducing apparatus has been introduced that records character information (such as an album title corresponding to a disc) using sub-codes R to W channels recorded in a lead-in area. Such discs are referred to as CD-TEXT discs. The lead-in information (mode 4) and the program area information (mode 2) have been specified as the format of the CD-TEXT disc. When the TOC of a CD-TEXT disc is read out, the lead-in information is stored in a memory (RAM) of a reproducing apparatus. The user can see the imported information by performing an appropriate operation on the apparatus. On the other hand, program area information is displayed at a timing designated by an operator of the CD-TEXT disk without using a memory. In the following description, mode 4 of the CD-TEXT disk is mainly described.

When a CD-TEXT disc is mounted on the apparatus, the CD TEXT information is read out. The CD text information is decoded and stored in a memory of the reproduction apparatus. When necessary, the decoded character information is displayed. Thus, since the title, singer, etc. of the album of the CD-TEXT disc are displayed, the customer can know the contents thereof at a glance.

In the CD-TEXT disc format, information of up to 6500 characters can be recorded. Since information such as a title of a album of most CD-TEXT discs is 800 characters or less, character information can be recorded in up to 8 languages. As will be described later, in the CD-TEXT disc format, the TEXT group includes blocks 0 to 7 corresponding to up to 8 languages. In each block, one character code is exercised. In the format, block 0 should be present. When the memory capacity of the playback device is insufficient, only block 0 is selected and read out with priority. Thus, the main languages are successively assigned to blocks having lower numbers in order.

As described above, since information in only one specific language (for example, block 0) is automatically read out of the memory, information in other languages (other blocks) recorded on the CD cannot be used. Further, when reading out text information in a plurality of languages from the memory, since the priority language has been designated, if the priority language does not match the language desired by the user, the user should designate the desired language. However, the language determination operation of the user becomes complicated.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of designating a preferred language and automatically reading TEXT information of the designated language from a disc (such as a CD-TEXT disc) on which TEXT information is recorded in a plurality of languages.

A first aspect of the present invention is a reproducing apparatus for reproducing at least one program, text information corresponding thereto, and a language code for determining a language corresponding to the text information from a recording medium having a program area on which the program is recorded and a management area on which the text information and the language code are recorded, the reproducing apparatus comprising: a specifying means for specifying a language code corresponding to an operation by a user; a storage device for storing language codes; comparing means for comparing the language code stored in the storing means with the language code reproduced from the recording medium; and reproducing means for reproducing the text information written in the language specified by the specifying means from the recording medium when the comparison results match.

A second object of the present invention is a reproducing method for reproducing at least one program, text information corresponding thereto, and a language code for determining a language corresponding to the text information from a recording medium having a program area on which the program is recorded and a management area on which the text information and the language code are recorded, the reproducing method comprising: (a) specifying a language code corresponding to an operation by a user; (b) storing the language code; (c) comparing the language code stored in the storage means with the language code reproduced from the recording medium; and (d) reproducing the text information written in the language specified by step (a) from the recording medium when the comparison results match.

Drawings

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an optical disc according to the present invention;

fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of one frame recorded on an optical disc;

fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a sub-code frame according to the present invention;

fig. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of all channels of a sub-code signal according to the present invention;

fig. 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a data area recorded on an optical disc;

fig. 5B is a diagram illustrating a data structure of directory data recorded in a lead-in area;

fig. 6 is a table illustrating directory data recorded in a lead-in area according to the present invention;

fig. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of R to W channels of a sub-code;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a data structure in which block textgroups, one block into one textgroup, and a plurality of data groups (packs) into one block;

FIG. 9A is a diagram showing a data structure of a data group;

fig. 9B is a schematic diagram of a data structure of an ID signal of a data group;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a data format according to the present invention;

fig. 11 is a diagram showing an ID1 representing an identifier of character data displayed as text and the type of the identifier;

fig. 12 is a diagram showing an ID2 representing a program number;

fig. 13 is a diagram showing ID3 of the sequence numbers of data groups connected in a block;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an ID4 representing an identifier of a DBCC/SBCC, a DBCC block number, and a character portion of a current data group;

fig. 15 is a diagram showing a data structure of a data group in the case where the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is 00 h;

fig. 16 is a diagram showing a data structure of a data group in the case where the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is 01 h;

fig. 17 is a diagram showing a data structure of a data group in the case where the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is 02 h;

fig. 18 is a table showing the relationship between language codes and language names used in europe;

fig. 19 is a table showing the relationship between language codes and language names used in other countries;

fig. 20 is a block diagram showing the construction of an optical disc reproducing apparatus for a CD-TEXT disc according to the present invention;

fig. 21 is a block diagram showing the structure of the storage section 76 shown in fig. 20;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing a process of storing one language from among a plurality of languages as a specified language;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing a process of displaying multiple languages;

fig. 24 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of the size data group processing in step S14 as shown in fig. 23; and

fig. 25 is a flowchart showing a determination process for referring to the specified language reproduced from the disc and the language table stored in the memory and initially reading out the specified language.

Detailed Description

Next, with reference to the drawings, embodiments of the present invention are described. In the examples, a CD-TEXT disk was used as the disc-shaped recording medium. However, the present invention can also be applied to other recording media such as another optical disk (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), a magnetic disk, an optical tape, and a semiconductor memory. Further, the digital main information recorded on the recording medium is not limited to audio data. Instead, the digital main data may be video data or the like.

To facilitate understanding of the present invention, the data structure of the audio CD-TEXT disc 101 is described. Referring to fig. 1, there is a hole 102 in the center of the CD-TEXT. The CD-TEXT disc 101 has a lead-in area 103, a program area 104, and a lead-out area 105, which are formed from the inner circumference to the outer circumference. The lead-in area 103 is a program management area in which TOC (table of contents) information is recorded. The program area 104 is an area in which program data is recorded. The lead-out area 105 is a program end area. In the audio CD-TEXT disc 101, audio data is recorded in the program area 104. Time information for audio data and the like are managed in the lead-in area 103. When the CD reproducing apparatus has read out the audio data in the program area 104 and the pick-up (pickup) has reached the lead-out area 105, the CD reproducing apparatus completes the reproduction operation of the CD-TEXT disc.

On a compact disc, a sub code is recorded together with audio data as main data. Next, P and Q channels of the sub-code are described. The audio signal of the compact disc is sampled at a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz. In the sampled data, a sample or a word of 16 bits is divided into two symbols of upper 8 bits and lower 8 bits. Error correction coding processing and alternation processing are performed for each symbol. One frame is equal to 6 samples for each left and right stereo channel.

Each symbol is converted from 8 bits to 14 bits by EFM (8 to 14) modulation. Fig. 2 shows a data structure of one frame that has undergone EFM modulation. One frame 135 includes a synchronization pattern data area 131, a sub-code area 132, a program data area 133, and a parity data area 134. The synchronization pattern data region 131 includes 24 channel bits. The sub-code region 132 includes 14 channel bits. The program data area 133 includes 12 symbols of the program data D1 through D12. The parity data area 134 includes four symbols of parity data P1 through P4. Following the program data area 133 and the parity data area 134 is a pair of other program data 133 and other parity data area 134. Each zone or each data is connected to three channel bits. One frame 135 includes all 588 channel bits.

Fig. 3 shows a data structure in which the areas and data portions of 98 frames 135 are arranged in series in the vertical direction. The interval of 98 frames is equal to one subcode. This interval is called a subcode frame. The subcode frame includes a frame synchronization pattern portion 136, a subcode portion 137, and a data and parity portion 138. One subcode frame is equivalent to 1/75 seconds of the reproduction time of the CD.

Subcode data containing data of P and Q channels is recorded in a subcode section 137 as shown in fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows a data structure of a subcode frame of the subcode section 137. The first frame F01 and the second frame F02 are the synchronization patterns S0 and S1 of the sub-code frame, respectively. Like the frame synchronization pattern, the synchronization pattern of the subcode frame is an irregular (out-of-rule) pattern of the EFM modulation system. The 8 bits of one symbol comprise the P to W channels of the subcode. For example, the P channel includes portions of synchronization patterns S0 and S1 and P01 to P96.

The P channel of the sub-code has information indicating whether a program is present. The Q channel has absolute time information of a CD, time information of each program, a program number (also called a track number), an index number, and the like. Accordingly, with the information of the Q channel, a reproduction operation (such as a program selection operation) can be controlled. In addition, by using the information of the Q channel, the user can visually know the serial number of the program currently on the optical disc, the playing time of the program, the absolute time of the program, and the like.

In addition, data of 6 channels of R to W channels of the sub-code may be used to display still images and text of, for example, a program. A reproducing apparatus using such R to W channels for still images and text of programs is called a CD image player. Recently, a CD-TEXT disc has been introduced in which additional character information is recorded using R to W channels of a lead-in area. In the case of a CD-TEXT disc, up to 6500 characters can be recorded with the lead-in area. In other words, the additional character information of the CD-TEXT disk can be limited to about 800 characters, so that 8 languages can be processed. Thus, a CD-TEXT disc can have titles in 8 languages, such as english, japanese, french, german, chinese, and the like.

Fig. 5A illustrates data recorded on a compact disc. As shown in fig. 1, TOC data in the lead-in area 103, program nos. 1 to n in the program area 104, and data in the lead-out area 105 are recorded on the outer circumference.

TOC data of a conventional compact disc is recorded in the Q channel of the subcode as shown in fig. 5B. The data structure of the subcode is composed of 98 bits for one frame. 72 bits of the 98 bits are data. The TOC data has the format shown in FIG. 5B.

Fig. 6 shows a data structure of the TOC in the case where the number of programs is 6. In the case where POINT ranges from 00 to 99, PMIN, PSEC, and PFRAME represent the starting address (absolute time) of each program. In the case where POINT is a0, PMIN indicates the program number of the first program of the disc. In this case, PSEC and PFRAME are 00. In the case where POINT is a1, PMIN indicates the program number of the last program. In this case, PSEC and PFRAME are 00. In the case where POINT is a2, PMIN, PSEC, and PFRAME represent the starting address of the lead-out area. These data portions are repeated three times as shown in fig. 6. Further, the data is repeatedly recorded in the lead-in area. When a CD is loaded, a facsimile apparatus reads TOC data. The TOC data is stored in a memory of the device.

Fig. 7 shows a data structure of TOC of a CD-TEXT disc (mode 4) according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the conventional CD, as described above, the program number and the recording position of each program are managed with 72 bits of one frame of the Q channel in the subcode. In practice, a program number ranging from 00 to 99, the start address (absolute time) of each program, the first program number, the last program number, and the start address of the lead-out area are recorded. Data including R to W channels as shown in fig. 7 is recorded as TOC data in addition to the Q channel of the sub-code.

The first two frames of data composed of R to W channels are synchronization patterns S0 and S1, respectively. The remaining 96 frames include 96 symbols (one symbol includes 6 bits). The 96 symbols are divided into 4 parts (one part includes 24 symbols). The 24 symbols are referred to as a data set. The 4 data groups are referred to as one packet.

Each data group starts with an ID zone 1, and is composed of a total of 24-bit pattern information and ID codes (ID1, ID2, ID3, and ID 4). The mode information indicates a recording mode of information recorded on the data group. The ID indicates the type of text information. The other IDs 2, ID3, and ID4 represent other identification information. Following the ID area 1 is a text area 2 having text information related to the main data. The text information is recorded as blocks (one block includes 8 bits). Each data group has a CRC (cyclic redundancy code) area 3 including 16 bits. The cyclic code is used to detect errors.

Fig. 8 schematically shows a CD-TEXT disc format. All character information is recorded in the text group. In the lead-in area, the same text group is repeatedly recorded. A text group consists of up to 8 blocks. Fig. 8 shows that one text group includes two blocks (block 0 and block 1).

Block 0 has english character information corresponding to character code 8859-1. Block 1 has Japanese character information corresponding to the character code MS-FIS (Microsoft * -Japanese Industrial Standard). Each block includes data group 0 through data group n.

Fig. 9A is a diagram showing the data format shown in fig. 7 as serial data. As shown in fig. 9A, 32 bits are divided by 8 (one byte) and assigned to ID1, ID2, ID3, and ID4 as ID (header) zone 1. Following the ID field 1 is a text field 2. The text area 2 is divided into byte data. The text area 2 has a length of 12 bytes. Following the text field 2 is a CRC field 3. The CRC area 3 has a length of two bytes. All 18 bytes of the ID region 1, the text region 2, and the CRC region 2 are referred to as a data group. Accordingly, since data of the CD-TEXT disk can be handled as byte data, the same method as that of the Q channel signal can be used. Therefore, the processing circuit of the CD-TEXT disk becomes simple.

In the data format of a CD-TEXT disc, errors are detected using a CRC error detection code. When an error is detected, the same data is read in. Thus, the same data is written four times for each data group. Further, a data sequence is repeatedly recorded in each data group. In other words, one packet synchronized with the sync subcode every 1/75 seconds includes four data groups. With this redundant recording method, a complicated error correction circuit can be omitted.

With the redundant recording method, the number of times of recording is not limited to four times. In addition, the redundant recording method may be performed packet by packet, or every plurality of packets instead of one data group by one data group.

As shown in fig. 9B, the ID1 of ID zone 1 is processed into 8 bits, two bits larger than one symbol. Further, in the case of mounting the CD-TEXT disc on a CD reproducing apparatus having the function of decoding R to W channels of the sub-code to prevent the apparatus from malfunctioning, the pattern recognition data is written on the upper 3 bits from the MSB. In the case of recording the CD-TEXT format in the lead-in area, the undefined pattern 4 "100" is assigned as a pattern represented by 3 bits. However, even if a CD-TEXT disc is mounted on a conventional reproducing apparatus, only unrecognizable patterns can be detected. Therefore, the reproducing apparatus stops only the operation without a failure. Alternatively, pattern 5 or pattern 6, which is not defined, may be employed instead of pattern 4.

As shown in fig. 10, in the example where ID1 represents pattern 4, one data group has ID1, ID2, ID3, ID4, text bytes text 1 to text 12, and a CRC code, and is composed of 8 bits (one byte) except that the CRC code is composed of 12 bits.

ID1 has a length of 8 bits. Fig. 11 shows the contents of ID 1. As described above, to represent Pattern 4 with the high bits, ID1 is represented as (8xh) (where h represents a hexadecimal number; and x represents a low 4-bit value).

ID1 indicates the contents of character strings contained in text 1 to text 12. (80h) Express album name/program name, (81h) express artist name/conductor name/orchestra name. (82h) The name of the person who made the word is shown, and (83h) the name of the person who made the song. (84h) Representing the name of the organizer. (85h) Representing a message. (86h) Indicating the disc ID. (87h) Representing a search key. (88h) Indicating the TOC. (89h) Representing the second TOC. (8ah), (8bh), and (8ch) were retained. (8dh) indicates the shutdown information. (8eh) represents the UPC/EAN (POS code) for the album and the ISRC for each track. (8fh) indicates the size. "reserved" means an area that is not currently defined. Thus, the "reserved" area is defined by the future.

ID2 has a 1-bit extension flag and a 7-bit track number or 7-bit cell number. The track number indicates the track number of the first character of the text data of the current data group. As shown in fig. 12, ID2 indicates track numbers from 1 to 99. Thus, other values of ID2 (such as "0 h" and "100 h" or higher) have particular meaning. When ID2 is "00", it indicates the entire disc. The MSB of ID2 is typically "0". When the MSB of ID2 is "1", it indicates an extension flag. The data group unit number depends on the type of data group represented by ID 1.

ID3 indicates the sequence number of the block. As shown in fig. 13, the sequence numbers of the blocks range from "00" to "255" (0h to FFh). When ID3 is "0", it means ID1 is 80 h.

As shown in fig. 14, ID4 has a length of 8 bits. The first bit is a DBCC (double byte character code) identification bit (MSB). The lower three bits represent the block number. The last four bits represent the character position of the current data set. If the block includes a DBCC string, then the DBCC identification bit is a "1". If the block includes an SBCC string, the DBCC identification bit is "0". The block number indicates the block number of the current data set. The last 4 bits represent the character position of text 1 of the current data set. "0000" represents the first character. And "0001" indicates the second character. "0010" denotes a third character. "0011", "0100", and the like denote a fourth character, a fifth character, and the like, respectively.

As described above, the text data contains 12 bytes containing character strings or binary information related to the type of data group represented by ID 1. In a data group other than (ID1 ═ 88h), (ID1 ═ 89h), and (ID1 ═ 8fh), text data is composed of character strings. The character string contains a null code as a delimiter. In the case of DBCC, two null codes are employed. The null code is represented by (00 h). The size of the character string is preferably 160 bytes or less.

Fig. 15, 16, and 17 show the structure of a data set (ID1 ═ 8fh) according to the present invention, which indicates block size information. Fig. 15 shows the data structure of the data group in the case where the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is (00 h). Fig. 16 shows the data structure of the data group when the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is (01 h). Fig. 17 shows the data structure of the data group when the data group unit number indicated by ID2 is (02 h).

In the data group (ID2 ═ 00h) (see fig. 15), ID3 represents a serial number. ID4 indicates a block number. Text 1 represents the character code of the block. The character code is used in a character string of a data group (ID 1-80 h to 85 h). The character code of the other data group is (00 h). The character code of block 0 is (00 h). For example, the character code is defined as follows.

00h ISO (International organization for standardization) 8859-1

01h＝ISO 646，ASCII

02h to 7F ═ Retention

80h＝MS-JIS

81h as Korean character code

82 h-Chinese character code

83h to FFh ═ Retention

For example, in ISO 8859-1, each of numeric characters, arabic characters, symbols, and the like is represented by one byte. ISO 8859-1 is used as the standard character code.

Text 2 represents the first track number. Text 3 indicates the last track number. Text 4 indicates mode 2 and copy protection flag. The 1 bit of text 4 indicates whether the CD text packet of mode 2 has been encoded in the program area. The remaining 7 bits represent the copy protection flag. The texts 5 to 12 each represent the numbers of the data groups (ID1 ═ 80h) to (ID1 ═ 87h), respectively.

As with the data set shown in fig. 15, in the data set (ID1 ═ 8fh and ID2 ═ 01h), ID3 and ID4 denote a sequence number and a block number, respectively. Texts 1 to 8 represent numbers of data groups (ID1 ═ 88h) to (ID1 ═ 8fh), respectively. Text 9 and text 12 represent the last sequence numbers of block 0 through block 3, respectively.

As with the data sets shown in fig. 15 and 16, in the data set (ID1 ═ 8fh and ID 02h) (see fig. 17), ID3 and ID4 denote a sequence number and a block number, respectively. Text 1 to text 4 represent the last sequence number. When the last sequence number is (00h), it indicates that the relevant block does not exist. Non-existing blocks are referred to as non-data blocks. The texts 5 to 12 represent the language codes of the blocks 1 to 7, respectively. The character code indicates the type of data format. On the other hand, the language code indicates the language in which character information of each block is written.

The tables of fig. 18 and 19 show an example of the relationship between language code (one byte) and language name. Fig. 18 shows a table indicating language codes used in europe. These language codes are examples only. Therefore, language codes corresponding to other definitions may be used.

Fig. 20 shows an example of the structure of a reproducing apparatus that reproduces a program from a CD-TEXT disc having the format of character (additional) information recorded in its lead-in area. Referring to fig. 20, reference numeral 61 is a CD-TEXT disc from which a program is reproduced. The spindle motor 63 rotates and drives the CD-TEXT disk 61. The optical pickup 62 reads out a program recorded on the CD-TEXT disk.

The output signal of the optical pick-up 62 is provided to an RF amplifier 64. The RF amplifier 64 has an RF signal processing circuit which digitizes the RF signal and generates a tracking error signal TE and a focus error signal FE. The error signals TE and FE are supplied to the servo signal processing circuit 65. The servo signal processing circuit 65 performs focus expansion processing and tracking control processing. The focus driver and the tracking driver in the optical pickup 62 are driven in correspondence with signals received from the driving circuits 66 and 67, respectively. A unit (not shown) for moving the reading head 62 in the radial direction of the disk is controlled by the servo signal processing circuit 65. The servo signal processing circuit 65 has an interface that receives a control command from the controller 70.

The digitized reproduced signal received from the RF amplifier 64 is supplied to a PLL (phase locked loop) 68, an EFM demodulation circuit 69, and a timing generation circuit 71. The PLL68 generates a clock signal synchronized with the reproduction signal. The EFM demodulation circuit 69 performs digital signal processing such as EFM demodulation processing and error correction processing. The digital audio signal received from the EFM demodulation circuit 69 is supplied to the D/a converter 72. The D/a converter 72 converts the digitized audio signal into an analog audio signal. The analog audio signal is supplied to the volume control portion 78. The volume control section 78 is controlled in response to a control signal received from the controller 70. A speaker 80 is connected to the volume control section 78 through an audio output amplifier 79.

The output signal of the RF amplifier 64 is supplied to the timing generation circuit 71. The timing generation circuit 71 generates a timing signal synchronized with the reproduction signal. The output signal of the timing generation circuit 71 is supplied to a CLV (constant linear rate) processor 73. The CLV processor 73 drives the spindle motor 63 at CLV.

In the reproduction apparatus shown in fig. 20, the sub-code separated by the EFM demodulation circuit 69 is supplied to the sub-code processor 74. The sub-code processor 74 performs a sub-code error detection process and the like, and separates the Q channel and the R to W channels from the sub-code. The Q channel of the sub-code is provided to the controller 70. The R to W channels of the subcodes are provided to a CD-TEXT decoder 75.

The CD text decoder 75 decodes the R to W channels of the subcodes. The CD text decoder 75 has a small capacity RAM. The RAM outputs data corresponding to a request issued from the controller 70. The controller 70 selects desired data from the CD text data. The selected data is stored in the storage section 76. In addition to reproducing and decoding character information from the lead-in area of the CD-TEXT disc, ID information, digest information, storage information, and the like are stored in the storage section 76. The storage section 76 is composed of RAM and ROM.

The CD text decoder 75 detects errors in the CD text data. As described above, the error of the CD text data is detected with the error correction code (cyclic redundancy code: CRC) of each data group. In the redundant recording format, an error flag indicating that the relevant data group has an error is set only when the CRC detection results of the plurality of redundant data groups are erroneous. In addition to the CD text data, an error detection flag is provided to the controller 70. The controller 70 refers to the error detection flag and determines whether character information with CD text data can be displayed. The controller 70 issues a warning when the CD TEXT data cannot be correctly read or decoded due to dust adhering to the CD-TEXT disk or scratches thereon.

The controller 70 issues a command to the servo signal processing circuit 65 to control the servo system and decode processing. Further, the controller 70 controls the operation of the reproducing apparatus. A display section 82 including a display driver is connected to the controller 70. The display portion 82 is, for example, a liquid crystal display unit. The display section 82 may be an external display device such as a TV monitor connected to a reproduction device. The display section 82 displays character information (such as CD text). Further, when the reproduction apparatus cannot read out the CD text, the display section 82 displays a warning. Further, the display section 8 displays the language type of the CD TEXT data recorded on the CD-TEXT disc mounted in the reproduction apparatus.

The operation section 81 transmits an operation signal to the controller 70. The operation section 81 has a disk reproduction key, a program selection key, a program search key, and the like. Further, the operation section 81 has a mouse that allows the user to move a cursor on the screen of the display section 82 and operate the reproduction apparatus.

Fig. 21 is a functional block diagram showing a portion corresponding to the present invention. The CD text information decoded by the CD text decoder 75 is supplied to the storage section 76 under the control of the controller 70. A buffer 91 in the storage section 76 stores a data set of the input CD text information labeled ID1 to text 12. The buffer 91 is connected to a CD text storage area 92, a language code table 93 and a non-data block number storage section 94. The language code table 93 stores the language codes of blocks 0 to 7.

A storage area 95 storing a specified language (language code) corresponding to the language code table 93 is provided. Further, a memory 96 is provided which stores a designated block number into which the CD TEXT information reproduced from the loaded CD-TEXT disc is read. Whenever a CD-TEXT disc is loaded, an initial value of 0 is stored as a designated block number in the storage area 96. Further, a flag storage area 97 is provided which stores a flag indicating whether the language-code determination processing has been completed.

The character information read out from the CD text storage area 92 is output to the controller 70. The controller 70 causes the display portion 82 to display character information. Alternatively, the controller 70 may communicate with another reproducing apparatus so that it displays character information.

Next, referring to flowcharts shown in fig. 22 to 25, a processing procedure of a portion shown in a functional block of fig. 21 is described. Fig. 22 shows a main routine of the processing. First, a CD text reading process is performed (in step S1). As described later, this process includes a process for reproducing the CD text and storing it in the buffer area 91, a CD text storing process, a size data group process, and the like.

When the CD text reading process is completed (in step S1), it is determined whether a block number is input (in step S2). When the result of the determination in step S2 is Yes, since it is not necessary to change the designated language, the processing is completed. The block number is input with a key provided in the operation section. Alternatively, in the CD text reading process (in step S1), a language name may be displayed. In this case, the user specifies the language name used in the reproduction apparatus with reference to the language name displayed on the display section.

When the determination result in step S2 is No, it is determined whether CD text has been stored (in step S3). When the result of the determination in step S3 is Yes, the input block number is stored as the designated block number (in step S4).

Next, it is determined whether the designated block number is a non-data block number (in step S5). Since the CD text is stored in ascending order by block number, it is determined whether the CD text data has been recorded to the designated block number by comparing the first non-data block number with the designated block number. When the result of the determination in step S5 is Yes, the flow returns to the step of waiting for a block number since a number designation error has occurred.

When the determination in step S5 is No, the flow advances to step S6. In step S6, the CD text storage area 92 is cleared. Thus, the CD text storage area is restored to the initial state. In step S7, a language is specified. In step S8, the TOC is reread in place of the TOC readout operation in step S1. The TOC is re-read only for the specified block number. The block number is obtained with the ID4 of each data set. Then, the CD text data in the language specified by the user is read to the storage section 76 of the reproduction apparatus.

Next, with reference to fig. 23, the CD text read out process S1 is described. When a new CD-TEXT disc is loaded, CD TEXT reading processing S1 is performed. First, it is determined whether CD text is decoded (in step S11). In practice, when the CD-TEXT disk is mounted on the rotating part, the disk is rotated. The data recorded on the disc is read by the optical pickup. In other words, TOC data is read from the lead-in area. The CD text information is read from the R to W channels of the TOC data. The CD text information is decoded by a CD text decoder 75. In addition, errors in the decoded CD text information are detected with a CRC code applied to each data set. Next, it is determined whether all of the redundant recorded data sets have errors. When all of the redundantly recorded data sets have errors, error detection flags for these data sets are set. A data group of redundant recording without errors is referred to as valid CD text information.

The decoded CD text information is supplied to the storage section 76 under the control of the controller 70. The data of one data group is stored to the buffer 91 (in step S12). It is determined whether one data group is a size data group with ID1 (in step S13). When the result of the determination in step S13 is Yes (ID1 ═ 8fh), since one data group is a size data group, the flow advances to step S14. In step S14, a size data group process is performed. When the determined result in step S13 is No, since one data group is not a size data group, a CD text storing process is performed (in step S15). In other words, data other than the size data group is sent to the CD text storage area 92. The following describes the size data group processing.

In step S16, it is determined whether CD text information is stored (i.e., the required CD text information is stored in the CD text storage area 92). When the result of the determination in step S16 is No, the flow returns to step S11.

Next, with reference to a flowchart shown in fig. 24, the size data group processing (in step S14) is described. In step S21, it is determined whether the ID2 of the data group stored in the buffer 91 is (00 h). When the result of the determination in step S21 is Yes (i.e., ID2 is not (00h)), the flow advances to step S22. In step S22, it is determined whether ID2 is (01 h). Further, when the determination result in step S21 is No, it is determined whether ID2 is (02 h).

When the determined result in step S21 is Yes (i.e., ID2 ═ 00h), the size data group is stored (in step S24). Thus, the processing of the size data group is completed.

As shown in fig. 16, the texts 9 to 12 of the data group (ID2 ═ 01h) have the last order information of the blocks 0 to 3, respectively. Thus, with the data of text 9 to text 12, it can be determined that block 0 to block 3 are not data blocks. Therefore, when the result of the determination in step S22 is Yes (i.e., ID2 ═ 01h), the flow advances to step S25. In step S25, the non-data block (block number) is stored to the memory 94. Thus, the size data group processing is completed.

Further, as described with reference to fig. 17, the texts 1 to 4 of the data group (ID2 ═ 02h) have the last order information of the blocks 4 to 7, respectively. Then, with the data of text 1 to text 4, it is possible to determine whether or not block 4 to block 7 are non-data blocks. The texts 5 to 12 of the data group (ID2 ═ 02h) have the language codes of blocks 0 to 7, respectively.

Then, when the result of the determination at step S23 is Yes (i.e., ID2 — 02h), the flow advances to step S26. In step S26, the non-data block (block number) is stored in the memory 94. In step S27, language codes are detected from the data of the texts 5 to 12 of one data group (ID2 ═ 02 h). The detected language code is stored in the language code table 93.

In step S28, it is determined whether the language code corresponds to the flag stored in the flag memory 97. Thus, when the same CD-TEXT disk is reread, it is possible to prevent the language code determination process from being performed redundantly. When the result of the determination at step S28 is Yes, the flow advances to step S29. In step S29, language code determination processing is performed. When the determination result in step S28 is No, the size data group storage processing is executed without the language-code determination processing.

Next, the language-code determination processing is described with reference to a flow shown in fig. 25. The language code determination process is performed whenever a CD-TEXT disc is mounted. The specified language is data represented by a language code. First, it is determined whether the specified language (stored in the memory 95) matches the initial value (in step S31). The initial value is (00 h). When the result of the determination in step S31 is Yes, since no language is specified, the flow advances to step S32. In step S32, a language is specified.

The language is specified by inputting a language code. Alternatively, a language name (e.g., english) may be input. The input english name can be converted into the associated english code corresponding to the english name table in the device. Thus, the user needs to specify his or her desired language.

When the result of the determination in step S31 is Yes (i.e., the language has been specified), the flow advances to step S33. In step S33, the designated language is compared with the language code table 93. In step S34, it is determined whether the language code table 93 is a specified language. The language code table 93 stores a language name corresponding to the loaded CD-TEXT disc. When the result of the determination in step S34 is No, the processing is completed.

When the result of the determination in step S34 is Yes, the flow advances to step S35. In step S35, the block number of the matched language code is compared with the specified block number. In step S36, it is determined whether the block number of the matched language code matches the specified block number. When the determination result in step S36 is No, the determination processing is completed because the required block is read out. Then, the language code determination process exits to the CD text reading process.

When the determination result in step S36 is Yes, the block number of the matched language code is written to the memory 96 corresponding to the designated block number (in step S37). After that, the flow advances to step S38. In step S38, it is determined whether the designated block number has data. Since the CD text is continuously recorded from the block number 0, it is possible to determine whether or not a specified block has CD text data by comparing the first non-data block number with the specified block number. When the block number is equal to or greater than the non-data block number, a block number designation error occurs. The flow proceeds to the step of waiting for another block number.

When the designated block number is smaller than the first non-data block number, the CD text storage area 92 is cleared in step S39. The read CD text is then erased. Thus, the CD text storage area 92 is restored to the original state. In step S40, the TOC is reread in place of the CD text reading processing in step S15. The re-read TOC is data of a block of a language code corresponding to a specified language (i.e., a specified block number). After the language-code determination processing is completed, the flag stored in the memory 97 indicates that the processing is completed.

The memory storing the specified language may be a non-volatile memory. In this case, even if the power of the reproducing apparatus is turned off, the specified language can be stored.

Alternatively, the number of designations of each language is detected with a memory storing a plurality of designated languages. Data of a language having the largest designated number can be read out as priority data.

In this case, the designated languages in the memory 76 shown in fig. 21 are made into the following table. The number of times designated for each language is counted. The count of times is incremented whenever the user specifies a language.

Language counter

Japanese 10

English 15

French 3

Chinese 0

As described above, according to the present invention, when TEXT information has been recorded on a CD-TEXT disc in a plurality of languages, it is possible to automatically read the TEXT information in the language specified by the user. In other words, according to the present invention, text information in a language desired by a user can be read into the memory of the reproduction apparatus. Further, the language designation operation performed in correspondence with each recording medium may be omitted.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (2)

1. A reproducing apparatus for reproducing at least one program, text information corresponding thereto, and a recording language code determining a language corresponding to the text information from a recording medium having a program area on which at least one program is recorded and a management area on which the text information and the recording language code are recorded, the reproducing apparatus comprising:

specifying means for specifying a specified language code corresponding to a user operation;

a storage device for storing the specified language code;

comparing means for comparing the specified language code stored in the storing means with the recording language code reproduced from the recording medium; and

reproducing means for reproducing the text information according to the specified language code when the comparison result matches;

a counting and determining means for counting the number of times each language code is designated in the plurality of languages, generating a plurality of designated number count values corresponding to the plurality of language codes, and determining the maximum value among the plurality of designated number count values and the corresponding language code;

wherein the storage means further stores the plurality of count values, and reads out data corresponding to the language code having the count value of the maximum number of times designated as priority data in determining the designated language code.

2. A reproduction method for reproducing at least one program, text information corresponding thereto, and a recording language code determining a language corresponding to the text information from a recording medium having a program area on which at least one program is recorded and a management area on which the text information and the recording language code are recorded, the reproduction method comprising the steps of:

specifying a specified language code corresponding to a user operation;

storing the specified language code into a memory;

comparing the specified language code stored in the memory with the recording language code reproduced from the recording medium; and

reproducing text information according to the designated language code when the comparison result matches;

counting the number of times each language code of a plurality of language codes is assigned, generating a plurality of assigned number count values corresponding to the plurality of language codes, and determining the maximum value of the plurality of assigned number count values and the corresponding language code;

wherein the storing step further stores the plurality of count values, and reads out data corresponding to the language code having the count value of the maximum number of times designated as priority data in determining the designated language code.