JP2005182855A - Reproducing apparatus and recording / reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

[PROBLEMS] To increase the capacity of a recording medium, the number of data files such as audio, still images, and videos recorded on the recording medium increases at a stretch, and the number of playlist files increases accordingly. However, the operation of selecting a playlist file to be played back is becoming inconvenient.
Information management of data files and playlist files read by a file reading means is performed in accordance with user operation input using a menu display, and the playlist file designated for each data file is confirmed. By creating a playlist reverse lookup table, which is list information that can be reproduced, it is possible to easily search for a playlist file containing content to be reproduced.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a playback device and a recording / playback device that select a playlist file using a menu screen when playing back audio, still image, and video data files.

  Conventionally, in personal computers, users want audio data files that record music, audio, sound effects, still image data files that record photos, pictures, graphics, etc., and video data files that record movies, videos, animations, etc. Thus, these can be selected and reproduced from the stored recording medium. These data are managed by a predetermined file system corresponding to the recording medium, and the personal computer can recognize the location as a file existing in a directory having a hierarchical structure.

  Of these data files, a file defining a procedure for continuously reproducing a plurality of files in a specific order is generally called a playlist file. A playlist file (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1) in which a character string in which a directory path name is added in front of a file name is simply arranged, or XML (extensible) in which a file name and other information are described together. Markup Language) format playlist files (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2) and systems that define data files with ID numbers and manage not only playlist files but also metadata of menus and data files. (For example, refer nonpatent literature 3).

  When these playlist files are recorded together with data files on a recording medium such as a CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable), the user can play the playlist when playing the data on a player corresponding to each playlist file. A desired data file can be reproduced in a certain order simply by selecting the file.

  In addition, there is a recording / playback apparatus that automatically creates a playlist file by a simpler operation using auxiliary information such as an artist name attached to an audio data file (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

By using the playlist file in this way, the user can select and reproduce the data files collected in a specific chest from the data files stored in large quantities on the recording medium.
CD → WAV → MP3 page author, “About playlist”, [online], June 12, 2003, [Search June 12, 2003], Internet <URL: http: // www. cdwavmp3. com / player / playlist. html> Optical Storage Technology Association, Inc. "MPV Core Specification Revision 1.01," [online], March 11, 2003, [June 12, 2003 search], Internet <URL: http: // www. osta. org / mpv / public / specs. htm> Atsushi Asakura, “Serial Something Comes the Way Vol.3”, HiVi Corporation Stereo Sound June 2003, pages 164-167 JP 2002-313070 A

  The problem to be solved is that the capacity of the recording medium has increased, the number of data files such as audio, still images, and video recorded on it has increased at a stretch, and the number of playlist files has increased accordingly. The operation of selecting the playlist file that the user wants to reproduce from among them is becoming inconvenient.

  The present invention performs information management of data files and playlist files read by the file reading means in accordance with user operation input using a menu display, and confirms the playlist file designated for each data file. The main feature is to create a playlist reverse lookup table, which is list information that can be recorded.

  The playback device and recording / playback device of the present invention, for example, when a user vaguely wants to listen to some music, what kind of music they want to listen to, such as artist name, album name, genre, year, playback frequency, etc. Select a search item, enter a keyword that matches it, select an audio data file that matches it, and if there is a song that you want to listen to, a list of playlist files containing that song is displayed next. By selecting the desired playlist file from the above, there is an advantage that it becomes easy to listen to a plurality of songs grouped in the same classification with reference to one vaguely imagined song.

  Create playlist reverse lookup table using data file and playlist file read out from the recording medium for the purpose of making it easy for users to select a playlist file that they want to play from a lot of playlist files This is realized by the playlist reverse lookup table creation means.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a removable recording medium, 2 is an audio, still image, and video data file held on the recording medium 1, 3 is a playlist file that is held on the recording medium 1 and indicates the playback procedure of the data file 2, and 4 is a recording Play list reverse lookup table recorded on the medium 1, 5 is a recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, 6 is a control means for managing and creating file information and controlling other blocks in the recording / reproducing apparatus 5, and 7 is a control means 6. The file management means for managing all the file information and the menu information to be displayed, 8 is the playlist file creation means for creating a new playlist file in the control means 6, and 9 is the file management means 7 in the control means 6. Using the information to be managed, it is possible to find a playlist file in which the data file 2 is designated Playlist reverse lookup table creation means for creating a playlist reverse lookup table as browsing information, 10 an internal storage means for holding the table information created by the playlist reverse lookup table creation means inside the recording / reproducing apparatus 5, and 11 The playlist reverse lookup table 12 held in the internal storage means 10 is an operation input that allows the user to input the keyword of the data file to be searched one by one by operating the menu to instruct the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus 5 Means 13, file recording means for recording the playlist reverse lookup table 11 created by the playlist reverse lookup table creation means 9 on the recording medium 1, and 14 for reading the data file 2 and playlist file 3 from the recording medium 1. File reading means to be executed, 15 is a file reading means Data file playback means for performing a decoding process of the data file read in, 16 and the operation conditions of the recording and reproducing apparatus 5 to the user, constitutes a menu display means for indicating various menus for selecting a playlist.

  Here, the recording medium 1 is configured to be detachable. However, the recording medium 1 is a recording medium built in the recording / reproducing apparatus, and each of the held files can be taken in from an apparatus connected to the outside of the recording / reproducing apparatus or a communication path. Or the structure which can be read may be sufficient. Specifically, the recording medium 1 has an optical disk such as CD-R / -RW and DVD-RAM / -R / -RW / + R / + RW, a removable HD, a flash memory, a server connected to a network, and the like. doing.

  Specifically, the control means 6 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an embedded microcomputer, and the like. Next, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a menu screen according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a selection screen for selecting a search item and a keyword input screen for searching a data file.

  Next, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention, which includes a list of data files selected as a result of searching with the items set on the menu screen of FIG. 2 and the data files. 4 shows a screen for selecting the total number of playlist files and whether to play the data files directly or display a list of playlist files.

  Next, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention. The playlist file display as a result of instructing to display the list of playlist files on the menu screen of FIG. A screen for selecting whether to play a file is shown.

  Next, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the playlist file 3 in the embodiment of the present invention, and 20 shows the type information of the playlist file, various auxiliary information of the data file included therein, the number of data files, and the like. The header part 21 to be stored constitutes a reproduction order description part in which information for identifying a data file designated for reproduction in a playlist file, such as a file name, and information relating to the reproduction method are described in order. .

  Next, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the playlist reverse lookup table 4 according to the embodiment of the present invention, and 30 is the type information of the playlist reverse lookup table, common information of playlist files included therein, and playlists. A header portion 31 for storing the number of files and the like constitutes a playlist file name description portion in which information for identifying a playlist file is described in a row such as a file name.

  Next, FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of the recording / reproducing apparatus 5 until the target playlist file is selected using the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention.

  Next, an operation when a target playlist file is selected using the menu screen will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a playlist that defines a procedure for continuously playing one or more files in a specific order among audio, still image, and video data files 2 held in a recording medium 1. It is assumed that the file 3 already created by the recording / reproducing apparatus is stored in the recording medium 1. Here, when the user vaguely wants to listen to some music, by selecting a playlist file as a method of reproducing the audio data file, it is possible to continuously view a series of audio data. However, if the number of playlist files stored in the recording medium 1 is relatively large, it becomes difficult to find a song that matches the current mood from the list of all playlists. First, the user comes up with a song that he wants to listen to from his memory. Whether you want to listen to the same artist's song, the same genre as the song, or the same age as the song, or a collection of songs you like, including that song In response to a request such as whether you want to listen, search items such as artist name, album name, genre, year, and playback frequency are selected according to what kind of music you want to listen to. Subsequently, a keyword suitable for the search item is selected, and an audio data file having auxiliary information of the keyword that matches or is similar to the keyword is searched. FIG. 2 shows a menu display at this time. At this time, the file management means 7 displays a necessary menu by the menu display means 16, inputs a user instruction by the operation input means 12, and reads auxiliary information of the data file 2 from the recording medium 1 by the file reading means 14. Then, the target data file is searched from the set search item and keyword and the result is displayed.

  FIG. 3 shows a list of data files selected as a result of the search, the total number of playlist files including the data files, and whether to play the data files directly or display a list of playlist files. This is the screen to select. If there is a song to be listened to and only the song is to be reproduced, the audio data file is immediately decoded and reproduced by the data file reproducing means 15 when the title is selected. However, in order to listen to a plurality of songs including the song, the display of a playlist file list including the title is instructed. At this time, when the file management means 7 holds the playlist reverse lookup table 4 which is list information capable of confirming the playlist file 3 designated for each of the data files 2 on the recording medium 1. This is read by the file reading means 14, and when the playlist reverse lookup table 4 is not held in the recording medium 1, the playlist reverse lookup table creating means 9 creates a similar playlist reverse lookup table 11 and uses it at any time. Since it is held in the internal storage means 10 so as to be able to do so, a playlist file list including the title is displayed by the menu display means 16 using any playlist reverse lookup table.

  FIG. 4 is a screen for displaying a playlist file as a result of instructing to display a list of playlist files and selecting a playlist file in the playlist file. By selecting a playlist file that suits your needs from this list, the target operation is completed, and you can listen to multiple songs that are grouped in the same category as the one you imagined vaguely. FIG. 7 illustrates a series of procedures up to the selection of a target playlist file using this menu screen in the process flow diagram of the recording / reproducing apparatus 5. Processing 41, processing 42, processing 45, processing 46, processing 47, and processing 49 display menus and search result tables at each step, and branch processing 43 and processing 48 according to user operations at each step. Branching. In the branching process 44, the process is branched depending on whether the playlist reverse lookup table exists in the recording medium 1 or the playlist reverse lookup table creation means 9.

  If the file recording means 13 for recording the playlist reverse lookup table 11 created by the playlist reverse lookup table creation means 9 is recorded on the recording medium 1, the playlist reverse lookup table 4 is recorded on the recording medium 1. By doing so, when the recording medium 1 is subsequently reproduced at another opportunity, or reproduced by another reproducing apparatus or recording / reproducing apparatus, the playlist reverse lookup table 4 recorded here can be read and utilized. .

  Further, when the playlist file creating means 8 for creating a new playlist file for ordering and reproducing the data file 2 managed by the file management means 7 is provided, the new playlist file 3 is stored in the recording medium 1. By recording the updated playlist reverse lookup table 4 including that information, the playlist reverse lookup table 4 having regular information can always be recorded on the recording medium 1.

  In the operation of searching the playlist file 3 using the playlist reverse lookup table 4 or 11, when the operation input means 12 is provided that allows the user to input the keyword of the data file to be searched one by one. It is possible to input a keyword to be set by searching more quickly than selecting a plurality of keywords displayed on the menu.

  Next, FIG. 5 relating to the playlist file 3 will be described. The reproduction order description part 21 describes information for identifying data files to be reproduced in order when the playlist file is selected, for example, a file name. If there is no playlist reverse lookup table 4, the file management means 7 reads the playback order description part 21 of all playlist files when the user wants to search for a playlist file including a certain data file, It is necessary to check whether or not the specified data file exists, and it takes a lot of processing time to obtain the result.

  Next, FIG. 6 relating to the playlist reverse lookup table 4 will be described. The header section 30 describes type information of the playlist reverse lookup table 4, common information of the playlist file 3 included therein, the number of playlist files 3, and the like. The playlist file name description unit 31 describes information for identifying the playlist file 3 such as a file name. Therefore, when the playlist file 3 in which the data file 2 is described is reversely retrieved from the data file 2, it is possible to search only by checking the file name of the playlist reverse lookup table 4, or when the search condition is slightly more complicated, the header portion 30. If the file name indicating the playlist reverse lookup table 4 related to the file is described in the auxiliary information of the data file as a faster method, the file of the playlist reverse lookup table 4 can be retrieved. The playlist reverse lookup table 4 can be directly specified without searching for the name or the header part 30.

  The apparatus of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute the functions of all or a part of the file management means 7, the playlist file creation means 8, and the playlist reverse lookup table creation means 9. It may be a program that operates in cooperation.

  The playback device and recording / playback device according to the present invention, for example, when a user vaguely wants to listen to some music, what kind of music they want to listen to, artist name, album name, genre, year, playback frequency Select a search item, enter a keyword that matches it, select an audio data file that matches it, and if there is a song you want to listen to, a list of playlist files containing that song is displayed next. By selecting a playlist file that suits your needs, you can also apply it to the purpose of making it easy to listen to multiple songs that are grouped in the same category with reference to a vaguely imagined song.

The block diagram of the recording / reproducing apparatus in embodiment of this invention Explanatory drawing of the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the menu screen in the embodiment of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the playlist file in the embodiment of the present invention Explanatory drawing of the playlist reverse lookup table in the embodiment of the present invention The flowchart of the process which selects the target playlist file using the menu screen in embodiment of this invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording medium 2 Data file 3 Playlist file 4 Playlist reverse lookup table 5 Recording / reproducing apparatus 6 Control means 7 File management means 8 Playlist file creation means 9 Playlist reverse lookup table creation means 10 Internal storage means 11 Playlist reverse lookup Table 12 Operation input means 13 File recording means 14 File reading means 15 Data file reproducing means 16 Menu display means

Claims (6)

File reading means for reading out the data file or the playlist file from a recording medium that holds one or more playlist files indicating audio data, moving image, still image data file, content information of the data file, and reproduction order information And using file management means for managing information of the data file and playlist file read by the file reading means according to user operation input using a menu display, and information managed by the file management means, A playlist reverse lookup table creation means for creating a playlist reverse lookup table that is list information capable of confirming a playlist file in which each of the data files is designated, and the playlist reverse lookup table creation means, Created Reproducing apparatus characterized by comprising an internal storage means for holding a broadcast. Audio, video, still image data file, contents information of the data file, playlist file indicating the playback order information, and list information for checking the playlist file designated for each data file. File reading means for reading the data file or the playlist file or the playlist reverse lookup table from a recording medium holding one or more playlist reverse lookup tables, and the file according to a user operation input using a menu display And a file management unit for managing information on the data file, playlist file, and playlist reverse lookup table read by the reading unit. 2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a file recording unit that records the playlist reverse lookup table created by the playlist reverse lookup table creation unit on the recording medium. 4. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising playlist file creating means for creating a new playlist file for reproducing the data files managed by the file managing means in order. 2. An operation input means for allowing a user to input a keyword of a data file to be searched one by one in an operation for searching a playlist file using the playlist reverse lookup table. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 2. 4. An operation input means for allowing a user to input a keyword of a data file to be searched one by one in an operation for searching a playlist file using the playlist reverse lookup table. Recording and playback device.

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