Video signal digital recording/reproducing apparatus

• US 5,481,412 A
• Filed: 04/28/1994
• Issued: 01/02/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ohtsu, Masamitsu, Okamoto, Hiroshi, Bannai, Tatsushi, Shibata, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Westin, Edward P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): SANTAMAURO, JON P
• Application Number:
  US08/234,379
• Time in Patent Office: 614 Days
• Field of Search: 360/18, 360/33.1, 360/64, 358/343
• US Class Current: 360/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/78266 using more than one track for the recording of one television field or frame, i.e. segmented recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9264 using transform coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/93 Regeneration of the television signal or of selected parts thereof

Abstract

In a video signal recording/reproducing apparatus, a video signal is subjected to bit rate reduction including a variable length processing to obtain a coded data. The coded data is separated into basic data which shows a basic construction of a video image and has a fixed data length and additional data which shows detailed information of the video image and has a variable data length. In recording the coded data containing basic data and additional data on a recording medium, the basic data is recorded in one region on the recording medium and the additional data is recorded continuously in a region other than the basic data recording region, by which both data are recorded in separated regions on the recording medium.

Claims

1. A video signal digital recording/reproducing apparatus comprising:

a block forming circuit, said circuit dividing an input video signal into a plurality of blocks each composed of a plurality of picture elements;

an encoder, said encoder subjecting each of said plurality of blocks to a bit rate reduction encoding processing including a variable length coding processing to obtain a plurality of blocks of coded data, each block of said plurality of blocks of coded data being composed of basic data which represents rough basis construction of an image of said block and which comprises data of a fixed data length and additional data which represents details of the image of said block and which comprises data of a variable data length;

a data separating circuit, said circuit extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said basic data to obtain a collection of said basic data and for extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said additional data to obtain a collection of said additional data; and

a recorder, said recorder recording said collection of said basic data and said collection of said additional data on a recording medium such that an entire area of the recording medium is divided into a first continuous region in which only said collection of said basic data is continuously and collectively recorded and a second continuous region in which only said collection of said additional data is continuously and collectively recorded.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a searching and reproducing circuit, said circuit searching and reproducing only the recorded basic data in a searching mode, and a decoder, said decoder decoding the reproduced basic data to reproduce a rough basic construction of a whole image.

3. A video signal digital recording/reproducing apparatus comprising:

a block forming circuit, said circuit dividing an input video signal into a plurality of blocks each composed of a plurality of picture elements;

an encoder, said encoder subjecting each of said plurality of blocks to a bit rate reduction encoding processing including a variable length coding processing to obtain a plurality of blocks of coded data, each block of said plurality of blocks of coded data being composed of basic data which represents rough basic construction of an image of said block and which comprises data of a fixed data length and additional data which represents details of the image of said block and which comprises data of a variable data length;

a data separating circuit, said circuit extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said basic data to obtain a collection of said basic data and for extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said additional data to obtain a collection of said additional data; and

a recorder, said recorder recording said collection of said basic data and said collection of said additional data on a recording tape wound on a rotary cylinder over a specific angle such that an entire area of the recording tape is divided into a first continuous region in which only said collection of said basic data is continuously and collectively recorded and a second continuous region in which only said collection of said additional data is continuously and collectively recorded, said recorder comprising a rotary head mounted on said rotary cylinder for scanning the recording tape to record said collection of said basic data and said collection of said additional data on the recording tape in the form of parallel tracks each being formed by one scan of the rotary head such that said collection of said basic data are recorded on a part of each track by a part of each scan and said collection of said additional data are recorded on the remaining part of each track by the remaining part of each scan.

4. A video signal digital recording/reproducing apparatus comprising:

a block forming circuit, said circuit dividing an input video signal into a plurality of blocks each composed of a plurality of picture elements;

an encoder, said encoder subjecting each of said plurality of blocks to a bit rate reduction encoding processing including a variable length coding processing to obtain a plurality of blocks of coded data, each block of said plurality of blocks of coded data being composed of basic data which represents rough basic construction of an image of said block and which comprises data of a fixed data length and additional data which represents details of the image of said block and which comprises data of a variable data length;

a data separating circuit, said circuit extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said basic data to obtain a collection of said basic data and for extracting and separating, from said plurality of blocks of coded data, all of said additional data to obtain a collection of said additional data; and

a recorder, said recorder recording said collection of said basic data and said collection of said additional data on a recording tape wound on a rotary cylinder over a specific angle such that an entire area of the recording tape is divided into a first continuous region in which only said collection of said basic data is continuously and collectively recorded and a second continuous region in which only said collection of said additional data is continuously and collectively recorded, said recorder comprising a rotary head mounted on the rotary cylinder for scanning the recording tape to record said collection of said basic data and said collection of said additional data on the recording tape in the form of parallel tracks each being formed by one scan of the rotary head such that said collection of said basic data are recorded on a part of each track by a part of each scan and said collection of said additional data are recorded on the remaining part of each track by the remaining part of each scan;

a reproducer, said reproducer being operative in a searching mode for searching and reproducing only the recorded basic data; and

a decoder, said decoder decoding the reproduced basic data to reproduce a rough basic construction of a whole image.