Video signal recording and reproducing apparatus

• US 20020150382A1
• Filed: 06/07/2002
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Sasaki, Seishi, Katou, Yoshikazu
• Granted Patent: US 7,231,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/68
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00007 Time or data compression or expansion audio compression based on psychoacoustics G10L19/00; data processing for reproducing audio data at different playback speeds G10L21/04; video compression H04N19/00; data compression per se H03M7/30
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10527 Audio or video recording; Data buffering arrangements G11B20/12 - G11B20/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10592 specifically adapted for recording or reproducing multichannel signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10916 Seeking data on the record carrier for preparing an access to a specific address
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10953 Concurrent recording or playback of different streams or files
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10962 wherein both recording and playback take place simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/423 characterised by memory arrangements H04N19/433 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/428 Recompression, e.g. by spatial or temporal decimation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/587 involving temporal sub-sampling or interpolation, e.g. decimation or subsequent interpolation of pictures in a video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42204 User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor constructive details of casings for the remote control device H01H9/0235; user interfaces for controlling a tuning device of a television receiver through a remote control H03J9/00; remote control of peripheral devices connected to a television receiver through the remote control device of the television receiver H04B1/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/45 Picture in picture , e.g. displaying simultaneously another television channel in a region of the screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 : between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 : on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 : Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8063 : using time division multiplex of the PCM audio and PCM video signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 : the additional signal being at least another television signal

Abstract

The video signal recording and reproducing apparatus of the invention includes: a receiving section for receiving a television signal; an image compression section for compressing an amount of information per unit time of the received continuous video signal; a writing section for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression section, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head; a reading section for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head; a decoding section for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; a display section for displaying the restored video signal; and a control section for controlling the writing section and the reading section such that writing the video signal onto the hard disk apparatus and reading an arbitrary video signal, which was previously written onto the hard disk apparatus, from the hard disk apparatus are performed apparently simultaneously and continuously.

Claims

1. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for receiving a television signal;

image compression means for compressing an amount of information per unit time of the received continuous video signal;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal;

display means for displaying the restored video signal; and

control means for controlling the writing means and the reading means such that writing the video signal onto the hard disk apparatus and reading an arbitrary video signal, which was previously written onto the hard disk apparatus, from the hard disk apparatus are performed apparently simultaneously and continuously.

2. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a compressed video signal which was recorded at an earliest time is sequentially updated by a newly received and obtained compressed video signal.

3. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an audio signal, as well as a compressed video signal, is recorded onto the hard disk apparatus.

4. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising instruction means for starting and/or finishing recording a compressed video signal onto the hard disk apparatus.

5. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising instruction means for starting and/or finishing reproducing a compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus.

6. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the instruction means for starting recording a compressed video signal onto the hard disk apparatus is instantaneously driven manually.

7. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the instruction means for starting recording a compressed video signal onto the hard disk apparatus is driven by timer means.

8. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the instruction means for finishing recording a compressed video signal onto the hard disk apparatus is driven by timer means.

9. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the instruction means for starting reproducing a compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus is instantaneously driven manually.

10. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays at least a time difference between a time at which a video signal which is being reproduced was recorded and a current time, in addition to a video.

11. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays at least a current time and a time at which a video signal which is being reproduced was recorded, in addition to a video.

12. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising operation means for setting a normal reproduction, a fast forward reproduction, a backward reproduction or a slow reproduction as a reproduction mode.

13. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display means simultaneously displays a received video signal and an output of the decoding means which was previously recorded, reproduced and decoded.

14. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising television signal detection means for determining whether or not the receiving means has received a normal television signal, wherein writing onto the hard disk apparatus is enabled only when the television signal detection means has detected a normal television signal.

18. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein, when a video signal retrieved by an operation of a viewer is saved, search information required for the viewer to search for a desired video signal later is added to the video signal to be saved, and after the video signal which was previously retrieved and saved has been searched for and read out based on the search information, the read compressed video signal is decoded to be displayed on the display means.

19. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 17, comprising at least an output terminal for outputting digital data which has been recorded onto the hard disk apparatus to the outside of the apparatus, wherein a video signal retrieved by a viewer is transferred to another recording apparatus through the output terminal.

15. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

image compression means for digitizing an input continuous video signal and audio signal, thereby compressing an amount of information per unit time;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; and

display means for displaying the restored video signal,

thereby reading out predetermined video and audio signals at a predetermined time.

16. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

image compression means for digitizing an input continuous video signal and audio signal, thereby compressing an amount of information per unit time;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal;

display means for displaying the restored video signal; and

sound recognition means for recognizing an audio signal,

wherein predetermined video and audio signals are read out at a point of time when the sound recognition means recognizes a predetermined sound.

17. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

image compression means for digitizing an input continuous video signal and audio signal, thereby compressing an amount of information per unit time;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; and

display means for displaying the restored video signal,

wherein a video signal at an arbitrary point of time is retrieved for an arbitrary time period by an operation of a viewer from video signals which are being received or video signals which were previously recorded, and information for prohibiting overwriting data of the retrieved video signal is added to the retrieved video signal so as to be stored into the hard disk apparatus.

20. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

image compression means for digitizing an input continuous video signal and audio signal, thereby compressing an amount of information per unit time;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; and

display means for displaying the restored video signal,

wherein, while compressing a video signal which is being received and writing the compressed video signal onto the hard disk apparatus, a video signal which was previously recorded is read out and decoded into an original video signal, and wherein, after an amount of data of the decoded video signal has been reduced, the video signal is subjected to an image compression again and written onto the hard disk apparatus.

21. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for simultaneously receiving television signals from a plurality of channels;

image compression means for compressing an amount of information per unit time of the received continuous video signals from the plurality of channels;

writing means for intermittently writing each compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; and

display means for displaying the restored video signal,

wherein, while compressing video signals from the plurality of channels which are being received and writing the compressed video signals onto the hard disk apparatus, a video signal which was previously recorded from a particular channel is read out.

22. A video signal recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

receiving means for simultaneously receiving television signals from a plurality of channels;

synthesis means for synthesizing the received television signals from the plurality of channels into one screen;

image compression means for compressing an amount of information per unit time of the continuous video signal which has been synthesized by the synthesis means;

writing means for intermittently writing a compressed video signal, obtained as an output of the image compression means, onto a hard disk apparatus via a magnetic head;

reading means for intermittently reading out the written compressed video signal from the hard disk apparatus via the magnetic head;

decoding means for restoring the read compressed video signal into an original video signal; and

display means for displaying the restored video signal,

wherein a plurality of video signals are synthesized into one screen, subjected to an image compression and then written onto the hard disk apparatus.