Recording and playback system for variable speed playback wherein more a.c. coefficients are allotted to the macroblocks in the central part of an image frame

• US 5,692,092 A
• Filed: 11/14/1995
• Issued: 11/25/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Akimoto, Saori, Aoki, Kazuya, Kawaguchi, Koichi, Shiraishi, Kenichi, Katayama, Hironobu, Nogami, Hiroaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Tommy P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): VINCENT, DAVID ROBERT
• Application Number:
  US08/557,498
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 358/310, 358/335, 358/312, 358/342, 360/10.1, 360/9.1, 360/10.3, 360/8, 386/6, 386/33, 386/68, 386/111, 386/81, 364/514, 348/408, 348/411
• US Class Current: 386/343
• 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 9/8042 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 the additional signal being at least another television signal

Abstract

A digital VTR which is able to record a band-compressed signal having a bit-rate of 17 to 60 Mbps of a program while creating a low-bit-rate signal (1.5 to 5 Mbps) having the same program content as well as utilizing the low-bit-rate signal as a signal for the special playback. Variable speed playback data for a certain speed, which is recorded in the limited recording areas for variable-speed playback mode, is adapted to be used for playback at another speed in the variable-speed playback mode. The data structure of variable-speed playback data is adapted to change depending on the image areas on the image frame. Either of these embodiments or the combination of them, improves the quality of a reproduced picture during variable-speed playback mode in which a less amount of data is available than that of data read out at the time of a normal playback mode.

Claims

1. A digital recording and reproducing apparatus which records a desired video signal onto a recording medium by compressing the band range of the desired video signal using a high-efficiency coding technique, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

means for recording part of video data for variable-speed playback onto different recording tracks from those on which video data for normal playback is recorded; and

means for forming the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded by extracting part of the video data for variable-speed playback from the desired video signal in such a manner that more a.c. components are allotted to a central part of an image frame than a peripheral part of the image frame such that the quality of a picture reproduced during a variable-speed playback mode is improved from the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture toward the central part thereof.

2. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for allotting, in a case where a discrete cosine transform is used to compress the band range of the desired video signal, only a d.c. component or part of the d.c. component to data for the peripheral part of the image frame of a reproduced picture during the variable-speed playback mode and for allotting the a.c. components to data for the central part of the image frame of the reproduced picture, in such a manner that an amount of the a.c. components is increased toward the central part of the image frame.

3. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for extracting, in a case where the variable speed playback mode is effected at multiple steps of speed, part of the video data and for increasing an amount of the extracted part as a speed of variable-speed playback decreases, to form the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded.

4. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for forming, in a case where the variable-speed playback mode is effected at multiple steps of speed, the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

5. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, the amount of a.c. components of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture is reduced if the reproduced picture changes fast and the amount of the a.c. components is increased as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow, the a.c. components being high-frequency components.

6. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, least significant bits of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture are abandoned if the reproduced picture changes fast and the least significant bits are added one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

7. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to any of claims 1 and 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for allotting only a d.c. component or part of the d.c. component to data for the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture during the variable-speed playback mode from the three color signals and for allotting the a.c. components to data for the central part of the image frame of the reproduced picture from the three color signals, in such a manner that the amount of the a.c. components is increased toward the central part of the image frame.

8. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for forming, in a case where the variable-speed playback mode is effected at multiple steps of speed, the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

9. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising means for forming, in a case where the variable-speed playback mode is effected at multiple steps of speed, the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

10. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, the amount of a.c. components of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture is reduced if the reproduced picture changes fast and the amount of the a.c. components is increased as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow, the a.c. components being high-frequency components.

11. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, least significant bits of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture are abandoned if the reproduced picture changes fast and the least significant bits are added one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

12. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, least significant bits of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture are abandoned if the reproduced picture changes fast and the least significant bits are added one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

13. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to any of claims 1 and 2, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for extracting part of the video data from the three color signals and for increasing an amount of the extracted part as a speed of variable-speed playback decreases, to form the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded.

14. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to any of claims 1, 2 and 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for forming the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded from the three color signals, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

15. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to any of claims 1 and 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for reducing the amount of a.c. components of data from the three color signals on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for increasing the amount of the a.c. components as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow, the a.c. components being high frequency components.

16. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to any of claims 1, 2 and 3, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for abandoning least significant bits of data on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for adding the least significant bits one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

17. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein in a case where a first image for variable-speed playback consisting of one frame is displayed for a duration of some or several frames and a second image for variable-speed playback of a next frame is displayed, successively and repeatedly, in order to display the two frames that are made from each field of one frame, repeatedly in a specified displaying duration, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus forms two frames from one frame selected depending on a position of the image and a moving amount of images, from

a first scheme of which two fields are converted into two frames by converting field data by every DCT block of an image or by every macro block consisting of a plurality of DCT blocks, into frame data;

and

a second scheme of which one frame is converted into two frames by merely repeating the frame by itself.

18. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4 or 9, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for allotting only a d.c. component or part of the d.c. component to data for the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture during the variable-speed playback mode from the three color signals and for allotting the a.c. components to data for the central part of the image frame of the reproduced picture from the three color signals, in such a manner that the amount of the a.c. components is increased toward the central part of the image frame.

19. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein in a case where a first image for variable-speed playback consisting of one frame is displayed for a duration of some or several frames and a second image for variable-speed playback of a next frame is displayed, successively and repeatedly, in order to display the two frames that are made from each field of one frame, repeatedly in a specified displaying duration, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus forms two frames from one frame selected depending on a position of the image and a moving amount of images, from

a first scheme of which two fields are converted into two frames by converting field data by every DCT block of an image or by every macro block consisting of a plurality of DCT blocks, into frame data;

and

a second scheme of which one frame is converted into two frames by merely repeating the frame by itself.

20. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4 or 8, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for extracting part of the video data from the three color signals and for increasing the amount of the extracted part as the speed of variable-speed playback decreases, to form the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded.

21. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4 or 9, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for reducing the amount of a.c. components of data from the three color signals on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for increasing the amount of the a.c. components as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow, the a.c. components being high-frequency components.

22. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 4, 8 or 9, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video data including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for abandoning least significant bits of data from the three color signals on the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for adding the least significant bits of data from the three color signals one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

23. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for extracting part of the video data from the three color signals and for increasing an amount of the extracted part as the speed of variable-speed playback decreases, to form the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded.

24. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 23, wherein in a case where a first image for variable-speed playback consisting of one frame is displayed for a duration of some or several frames and a second image for variable-speed playback of a next frame is displayed, successively and repeatedly, in order to display the two frames that are made from each field of one frame, repeatedly in a specified displaying duration, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus forms two frames from one frame selected depending on a position of the image and the moving amount of images, from

a first scheme of which two fields are converted into two frames by converting field data by every DCT block of an image or by every macro block consisting of a plurality of DCT blocks, into frame data;

and

a second scheme of which one frame is converted into two frames by merely repeating the frame by itself.

25. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 5 or 10, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for forming the video data from the three color signals for variable-speed playback to be recorded, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

26. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 5 or 10, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for abandoning least significant bits of data of the three color signals on the outermost part of the frame of a reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for adding the least significant bits of data of the three color signals one by one to increase gradations as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow.

27. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6 or 12, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for allotting only a d.c. component or part of the d.c. component to data for the peripheral part of the image frame of the reproduced picture during the variable-speed playback mode and for allotting the a.c. components to data for the central part of the image frame of the reproduced picture, in such a manner that the amount of the a.c. components is increased toward the central part of the image frame.

28. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 27, wherein in a case where a first image for variable-speed playback consisting of one frame is displayed for a duration of some or several frames and a second image for variable-speed playback of a next frame is displayed, successively and repeatedly, in order to display the two frames that are made from each field of one frame, repeatedly in a specified displaying duration, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus forms two frames from one frame selected depending on a position of the image and a moving amount of images, from

a first scheme of which two fields are converted into two frames by converting field data by every DCT block of an image or by every macro block consisting of a plurality of DCT blocks, into frame data;

and

a second scheme of which one frame is converted into two frames by merely repeating the frame by itself.

29. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6 or 11, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for extracting part of the video data of the three color signals and for increasing an amount of the extracted part as the speed of variable-speed playback decreases, to form the video data for variable-speed playback to be recorded.

30. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, 11 or 12, wherein when part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminance signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for forming the video data from the three color signals for variable-speed playback to be recorded, such that part of the video data recorded on the recording medium can be shared between different playback speed modes.

31. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6 or 12, wherein part of the video signal whose necessary band range has been compressed is recorded as data for variable-speed playback, different conditions are separately set up for three color signals of the video signal including a luminace signal and two kinds of chrominance signals, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus further comprising:

means for reducing the amount of a.c. components of data from the three color signals on the outermost part of the image frame of the reproduced picture if the reproduced picture changes fast and for increasing the amount of the a.c. components as change of the reproduced picture becomes slow, the a.c. components being high-frequency components.

32. The digital recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein in a case where a first image for variable-speed playback consisting of one frame is displayed for a duration of some or several frames and a second image for variable-speed playback of a next frame is displayed, successively and repeatedly, in order to display the two frames that are made from each field of one frame, repeatedly in a specified displaying duration, the digital recording and reproducing apparatus forms two frames from one frame selected depending on a position of the image and a moving amount of images, from

a first scheme of which two fields are converted into two frames by converting field data by every DCT block of an image or by every macro block consisting of a plurality of DCT blocks, into frame data;

and

a second scheme of which one frame is converted into two frames by merely repeating the frame by itself.