Apparatus for recording and reproducing variable length codes

• US 5,668,677 A
• Filed: 03/30/1994
• Issued: 09/16/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kubota, Yukio, Seki, Takahito
• Primary Examiner(s): Psitos, Aristotelis
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOLDER, REGINA NEAL
• Application Number:
  US08/220,172
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• Field of Search: 360/19.1, 360/32, 360/48, 358/325, 358/343, 386/33, 386/39, 386/40, 386/96, 386/101, 386/104, 386/109, 386/111, 386/112, 386/124
• US Class Current: 360/48
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/1208 for continuous data, e.g. digitised analog information signals, pulse code modulated [PCM] data
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/90 Tape-like record carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3063 Subcodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/78263 for recording on tracks inclined relative to the direction of movement of the tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/784 on a sheet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9264 using transform coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9268 with insertion of the PCM audio signals in the vertical blanking interval of the PCM video signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/54 the signals being synchronous H04N21/23602, H04N21/23614, H04N21/2365, H04N21/2368, H04N21/4341, H04N21/4342, H04N21/4347, H04N21/4348 take precedence

Abstract

A digital signal recording and reproducing apparatus are disclosed which can record digital data of the advanced television (ATV) system or some other digital data onto a recording medium without the necessity of displacing recording areas for sub codes of the recording medium and can thus make effective use of the recording capacity of the recording medium. When an ordinary television signal is to be recorded, the length of the Inter Block Gap IBG and amble areas between an audio signal recording area and a video signal recording area is set to an integral number of times the length of a synchronizing block of a digital audio signal and a digital video signal. When data of the ATV system or like data are to be recorded, the data are recorded continuously from the audio signal recording area to the video signal recording area.

Claims

1. A digital magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus which converts an input digital image signal into high efficiency codes and further into variable length codes and then records the thus obtained variable length codes, comprising:

means for reducing the amount of data representing a predetermined period shorter than one frame period, which data is a variable length coding output, to an amount smaller than a predetermined amount;

means for quantizing the image data converted into high efficiency codes with a particular quantization step;

synchronizing block conversion means for converting the variable length coding output representing the predetermined period into a construction of synchronizing blocks defining the data area length of the synchronizing blocks so that the variable length coding output for the predetermined period whose data amount has been controlled is included in an integral number of synchronizing blocks;

information addition means for adding information of the quantization step for each of the synchronizing blocks; and

means for recording an integral number of units of the quantized image data onto a track of a recording medium and recording or reproducing a plurality of different digital signals, including video, audio, or advanced television system data in a spaced relationship from each other by a distance equal to an integral number times the synchronizing block length on the track of the recording medium, said plurality of different digital signals having a same synchronizing block length.

2. A digital magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the synchronizing blocks are provided between the audio signal and the video signal.

3. A digital magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the synchronizing blocks are provided at each of the beginnings and the ends of the audio signal and the video signal.

4. A digital magnetic recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein sub codes are recorded at the end of the video signal and the synchronizing blocks are provided at the end of the sub codes.