JPH08221954A - Multimedia reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To shorten an average time up to reproduction/display by transiently storing a part of data groups, stored in a first storage means, in a second storage means the access speed of which is faster than that of the first storage means. CONSTITUTION: Data after being subjected to processing are transiently stored in a memory device 2 by the instruction of a control data processor 3. The data after being processed and stored in the memory device 2 are read out by a digital data reproducing device 5, reproduce thereby and displayed in an output device 6 such as a display monitor. Raw data, processed data and control data, etc., read out of a data storage device 1 have a function for displaying next reproducible items by a menu in order to make an operator select, data to be reproduced next. Thus, the menu is displayed on the display monitor 6 and the item to be reproduced next is selected by an input device 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multimedia reproducing apparatus for reproducing a plurality of media having different forms such as images, sounds and characters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a multimedia reproducing apparatus which handles digital data such as images, voices, characters, etc., when reproducing a digital image or the like, a digital image corresponding to the selected item is selected by selecting an item from a menu. There are many methods adopted such as the reproduction of the etc.

Digital image data are often related to each other, and the menus may have a nested structure such as a menu below the menu, or may have a plurality of continuous structures. In other words, there are various ways to select the data to be reproduced, which is also an advantage of multimedia, but it is not known what is selected until it is selected.

On the other hand, as a digital data storage device for storing and holding data such as images, sounds and characters, a hard disk device (HDD), a magneto-optical disk device (MO), an optical disk device (CDP) used in a personal computer or the like. , LDP) etc. are often adopted.
The reason is that these storage devices are magnetic tape devices (V
This is because, unlike CR), random access is possible and the access speed is high.

However, when image data is handled by a personal computer, the amount of data to be handled becomes enormous as compared with the conventional case where only character and number data is handled. Therefore, it takes time to reproduce and display the image data even if the digital data storage device such as the hard disk device is randomly accessed.

[0006]

When reproducing data in a plurality of media formats such as images, sounds, characters, etc.,
The data such as the image to be reproduced next is not decided to one,
When there are many selectors of the data to be reproduced next, there are the following problems. That is, after selecting the next one to be reproduced, it is necessary to read the selected data from the digital data storage device having a relatively slow access speed such as a hard disk device. There was a problem that it took a long time to display. For this reason, there is a problem in that the operator and the viewer of the multimedia device feel poor operability.

An object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia device capable of shortening the average time from selection of data to be reproduced to reproduction thereof.

[0008]

In a multimedia reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, a first storage means in which data for realizing a plurality of types of reproduction scenes is stored, and an access speed is faster than that of the first storage means. And second storage means for temporarily storing a part of the data group stored in the first storage means, reproduction means for reproducing the data stored in the second storage means, and next reproduction means. Selection means for selecting a scene to be reproduced from among the scenes that may be reproduced, and the data corresponding to the scene that may be selected by the selection means before being selected by the selection means. It is characterized in that it is provided with a pre-reading means for reading from the first storage means in advance and storing it in the second storage means.

As the selecting means, for example, a means for selecting a scene to be reproduced next based on the scene reproduced this time is used.

Priorities are given to the scenes that may be selected by the selecting means, and the prefetching means
It is preferable that, within the allowable capacity range of the second storage means, the data corresponding to the scenes with higher priorities are sequentially read from the first storage means and stored in the second storage means. In this case, it is preferable that the priority order be updated based on the actual selection history by the selection means.

A hard disk is a typical example of the first storage means. A typical example of the second storage means is a main memory including a RAM.

The data corresponding to each scene that may be selected by the selection means is, for example, image data,
It is one material data arbitrarily selected from voice data, character data, and composite data composed of any combination thereof. The data corresponding to each scene that may be selected by the selection means may include material data as well as processing data thereof.

[0013]

The first storage means stores data for realizing a plurality of types of reproduction scenes. The second storage means having an access speed faster than that of the first storage means has a first
Part of the data group stored in the storage means is temporarily stored. The data stored in the second storage means is reproduced by the reproducing means.

A selection means is provided for selecting a scene to be reproduced from among scenes that may be reproduced next. Data corresponding to a scene that may be selected by the selection unit is read from the first storage unit and stored in the second storage unit before being selected by the selection unit.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a multimedia reproducing apparatus. The digital data storage device 1 has an image,
Material data such as voice, characters, and composite data including an arbitrary combination thereof are stored. As the digital data storage device 1, for example, a hard disk is used.

In the case where the image data and the like are reproduced in a composite form, such as when the images are combined with each other by various kinds of processing such as superimposing the two images and reproduced, the combining method and the processing are combined. The processed data indicating the method of the combining process is also stored in the digital data storage device 1. Further, the control data of the multimedia reproducing device is also stored in the digital data storage device 1.

When the power is turned on, first, the control data processing device 3 reads the control data from the digital data storage device 1, and the control data processing device 3 sends a control instruction to the digital data storage device 1 and the like.

As a result, the material data and the processing data are read out and temporarily stored in the memory device 2 (main memory). As the memory device 2, for example,
RAM is used.

Next, the control data processing device 3 reads the processed data from the memory device 2, and controls the digital data processing device 4 based on the read processed data.
By this control, the material data is read out from the memory device 2 to the digital data processing device 4 and processed there.
Various processes including arithmetic processes such as composition are performed.

Then, the processed data is temporarily stored in the memory device 2 according to an instruction from the control data processing device 3. The processed data stored in the memory device 2 is read by the digital data reproducing device 5, reproduced there, and reproduced and displayed on the output device 6 such as a display monitor.

By the way, the material data, processing data, control data, etc. read from the digital data storage device 1 can be reproduced next in a menu format so that the operator can select the data to be reproduced next. It has a function to display various items. That is, according to the process described above, the menu is displayed on the output device 6 such as a display monitor,
An item corresponding to the data to be reproduced next is selected by the input device 7 from the selection items in the menu.

FIG. 2 conceptually shows the transition of reproduced scenes. It is assumed that scenes S2, S3, S4, ... Can be reproduced next from the scene S1. Events e2, e3, e4, etc. are generated by the input device 7 such as a mouse.
When any one of ... Is executed, events e2, e3, e
The scenes S2, S3, S4, ... According to 4, ... Are reproduced. Each scene is composed of, for example, a still image and a character, a still image and a character and a sound, a moving image and a character, a moving image and a character and a sound, and the like.

If, for example, the event e3 is executed based on the scene S1, the scene S3 is reproduced.
The scene S1 is the next reproducible scene after the scene S3.
, S12, S13, ..., And one of the scenes is reproduced by the same operation again.

Conventionally, a reproduced scene (menu)
When an item is selected based on the item, the control data processing device sends to the digital data storage device an instruction to transfer the data (material data, processing data, control data) corresponding to the selected item to the memory device. The selected material data or its processed data is reproduced and displayed by the same process as described above.

However, in this case, when data including image data having a large amount of data is selected, it also takes time to transfer the image data from the digital data storage device 1 to the memory device 2 and the processing thereof. There was a long waiting time from the selection input until the image was reproduced and displayed along with the voice and characters, and the operability was poor.

Therefore, in the multimedia reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1, for each scene, the selection items are prioritized in order from the scene having the highest possibility of being selected next. The data indicating this priority is stored in the digital data storage device 1
It is stored in.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the priority order is stored for each scene in association with an event that may be executed next. It is preferable that this priority order be automatically updated according to the actual selection history. In this case, for example, the priority order may be updated so that the priority order becomes higher in the order of the actual selection frequency. Also, to give the most recently selected event the highest priority,
The priority order may be updated and designated.

When the reproduced scene is displayed,
Priority data regarding a scene that may be reproduced next to the scene is read. Then, under the control of the control data processing device 3, within the allowable capacity range of the memory device 2, the data for realizing the scene specified by the event is read from the digital data storage device 1 in the order of the event with the highest priority. And stored in the memory device 2. This operation is called prefetch.

Here, the data for realizing the scene specified by the event is not limited to material data such as images, sounds and characters, but may include processing data and control data. If the pre-read data includes not only material data but also processing data and control data, the processing and synthesizing process is performed immediately after the pre-reading, and the processed data is stored in the memory device 2. Good. Even if the prefetched data contains not only material data but also processing data and control data,
The processing / combining process may be performed after the scene corresponding to the data is actually selected to be reproduced next.

FIG. 4 shows a reproduction processing procedure of the multimedia reproducing apparatus. Here, for convenience of description, an example in which image data is prefetched will be described. When the multimedia reproducing apparatus is powered on, various initial settings are made (step 1) and the first scene S1 is displayed (step 2).

After this, the priority order data regarding the scene which may be reproduced next is read (step 3).

Then, based on the priority data,
The image data is pre-read in order from the scene corresponding to the scene with the highest priority (step 4). That is, in order from the scenes having the highest priority, the memory device 2
Within the permissible capacity range of, the digital data storage device 1 is sequentially read and stored in the memory device 2.

When the selection input for the next reproduction display object is input as the interrupt input (step 5), it is confirmed whether or not the data corresponding to the scene designated by the selection input exists in the prefetched data. (Step 6).

When the prefetched data contains data corresponding to the scene designated by the selection input, the image data is displayed based on the corresponding data in the memory device 2 (step 7).

When there is no image data corresponding to the scene designated by the selection input in the preread data, the image data corresponding to the scene designated by the selection input is read from the digital data storage device 1 and stored in the memory. After being stored in the device 2 (step 8), the image data is displayed (step 9).

When the material data is displayed in step 7 or 9, the priority data read in step 3 this time is updated based on the selection result this time (step 10).

Then, the same processes as steps 3 to 10 are repeated until the power is turned off (step 1).
1).

The prefetched data may be image data, voice data, character data, or composite data in which these are arbitrarily combined. Also, it is possible to interrupt the selection input after the display of the playback scene is completed, but if there is a selection input interrupt during prefetching and the data being prefetched is the data corresponding to the scene specified by the selection input, After reading all the data being pre-read, the pre-reading of other data may be stopped and the data may be reproduced and displayed immediately.

[0040]

According to the present invention, the average time from selection of data to be reproduced to reproduction and display thereof can be shortened. As a result, the operability of the multimedia playback device can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a multimedia playback device.

FIG. 2 is a state transition diagram showing transition of a reproduction scene.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing priority order data stored in a digital data storage device.

FIG. 4 shows a reproduction processing procedure of the multimedia reproduction device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Digital Data Storage Device 2 Memory Device 3 Control Data Processing Device 4 Digital Data Processing Device 5 Digital Data Reproducing Device 6 Output Device 7 Input Device

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Hagino 2-5-5 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A first storage means storing data for realizing a plurality of types of reproduction scenes, and a data group having an access speed faster than that of the first storage means and stored in the first storage means. Storing means for temporarily storing a part of the, a reproducing means for reproducing the data stored in the second storing means, and an attempt to reproduce from a scene that may be reproduced next. Selecting means for selecting a scene to be selected, and data corresponding to a scene that may be selected by the selecting means are read from the first storage means in advance before being selected by the selecting means. A multimedia playback device comprising a pre-reading means to be stored in a storage means. 2. The multimedia reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selecting means selects a scene to be reproduced next based on the scene reproduced this time. 3. The scenes that may be selected by the selection means are prioritized, and the look-ahead means corresponds to a scene with a high priority within the allowable capacity range of the second storage means. 3. The multimedia playback device according to claim 1, wherein the data is read from the first storage means and stored in the second storage means in order from the data to be stored. 4. The multimedia playback device according to claim 3, wherein the priority order is updated based on an actual selection history by the selection means. 5. The multimedia reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first storage means is a hard disk and the second storage means is a main memory including a RAM. 6. The data corresponding to each scene that may be selected by the selection means is arbitrarily selected from image data, audio data, character data, and composite data composed of any combination thereof. The multimedia reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, wherein the material data is 1. 7. The multimedia reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the data corresponding to each scene that may be selected by the selecting means includes material data and its processed data.