Data storage/playback device and method

• US 6,188,831 B1
• Filed: 01/27/1998
• Issued: 02/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Ichimura, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Wendy
• Assistant Examiner(s): ONUAKU, CHRISTOPHER O
• Application Number:
  US09/014,163
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: 386/6, 386/33, 386/68, 386/69, 386/70, 386/109, 386/111, 386/112, 386/124, 360/72.1, 360/72.2, 360/72.3
• US Class Current: 386/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9261 involving data reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9265 with processing of the sound signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 for more than one processing mode

Abstract

The invention provides a data storage/playback device and method. The data storage/playback device includes at least one time-series data pickup device, a time-series data storage, at least one user input detector and a controller. The controller acts to control the storage and playback of time-series data. The controller further includes a correspondence-relationship storing section, a compression section, a condition-matching section and a playback section. The controller determines important intervals of time-series data and intervals of less important time-series data. Based on this determination, the compression section of the controller compresses the important interval time-series data using a different compression process from that of the less important time-series data. Thus, the important interval time-series data is maintained with high quality and storage space is conserved.

Claims

1. A data storage device comprising;

time-series data input means for inputting time-series data containing at least one of audio data and image data, wherein the time-series data is input during both important intervals and other intervals;

time-series data storing means for storing time-series data input from the time-series data input means;

user input means for inputting user-input data,

user-input data detection means for detecting user-input data input from the user input means, wherein the detected user-input data is used to designate an important interval;

correspondence relationship storing means for storing a correspondence relationship between at least the user-input data and a position in the time-series data storing means where the time-series data corresponding to the important interval is stored;

a condition-matching interval detection means for detecting a condition-matching interval in which the time-series data matches a predetermined condition unique to an event;

compression means for compressing the time-series data which is stored in the time-series data storing means, wherein the time-series data corresponding to an important interval is compressed differently than the time-series data corresponding to the other intervals.

2. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein said correspondence relationship storing means stores the correspondence relationship between an important interval determined based on the user-input data, the condition-matching interval and a position in the time-series data storing means where the time-series data corresponding to the important interval is stored.

3. The data storage device of claim 1, further comprising a sensor data detection means for detecting data from a sensor, and a condition-matching interval detection means for detecting a condition-matching interval in which the sensor data matches a predetermined condition, wherein the correspondence relationship storing means stores the correspondence relationship between an important interval, which is determined based on the user-input data and the condition-matching interval and the position in the time-series data storing means where the time-series data corresponding to the important interval is stored.

4. The data storage device of claim 1, further comprising:

display means for displaying the user-input data, wherein the correspondence relationship storing means stores correspondence relationships between the important interval, a position in the time-series data storing means where the time-series data corresponding to the important interval is stored and a display position of the user-input data being displayed by the display means;

designation means for designating a displayed user-input data; and

playback means for reading and playing-back the time-series data from the time-series data storing means in the important interval.

5. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means compares an audio signal level of the time-series data with a pre-set threshold value and detects one of the starting point and the ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the comparison.

6. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specific speaker of the audio signal and a switching of the originator of the audio signal and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

7. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specific predetermined keyword and a specific predetermined pattern in the time-series data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

8. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specific predetermined character string and a status change in the time-series data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

9. The data storage device of claim 3, wherein the sensor data detection means detects one of sensor data concerning the position where the time-series data is input and sensor data concerning the position where the sensor data is detected, and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the sensor data.

10. The data storage device of claim 3, wherein the sensor data detection means detects a specific person and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the sensor data.

11. The data storage device of claim 3, wherein the sensor data detection means detects one of camera operation signals and a change in camera operation signals and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the sensor data.

12. The data storage device of claim 1, further comprising a time data storing means for storing a time of storing the time-series data in the time-series data storing means, wherein the compression means executes a compression process when the elapsed time from the time of storing exceeds a pre-set time.

13. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the compression means executes a compression process when one of an empty area in the time-series data storing means is determined to be below a predetermined value and the amount of memory used in the time-series data storing means is determined to exceed a predetermined amount.

14. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the time-series data storing means stores the time-series data by frequency band range, and the compression means deletes a high frequency band range of the time-series data stored in the time-series data storing means.

15. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the time-series data storing means stores the time-series data input from the data input means and the important interval and the other intervals are stored with different frequency band divisions.

16. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the time-series data storing means divides and stores the image data input from the image data input means into illumination data and color data, and the compression means deletes the color data of the image data stored in the time-series data storing means.

17. The data storage device of claim 1, further comprising an access status storing means for storing data which differentiates an interval being accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time and intervals not being accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time in the time-series data,

wherein the compression means compresses the time-series data accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time differently from the intervals which are not accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of times.

18. The data storage device of claim 2, wherein the compression means determines a degree of importance of the time-series data by combining the detection results of the condition-matching interval detection means and compresses the time-series data based on the degree of importance.

19. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the compression means determines a degree of importance of the user-input data based on the detection results of the user-input data detection means and compresses the time-series data stored based on the degree of importance.

20. The data storage device of claim 4, wherein the user-input data detected by the user-input data detection means is displayed, and wherein the display means further displays a compression status of the time-series data.

21. The data storage device of claim 4, wherein the display means displays the user-input data and the compression status of the time-series data in the time-series data storing means when the user-input data is detected by the user-input data detection means on the display position specified by the display position of the detected user-input data.

22. The data storage device of claim 4, wherein the display means displays the compression status of the time-series data corresponding to the designated user-input data.

23. The data storage device of claim 4, further comprising a display means for displaying the user-input data by changing the display style according to the compression status in the time-series data storing means.

24. The data storage device of claim 1, wherein the compression means establishes one of a compression rate and a compression system for an interval determined by the user-input data and for other intervals and compresses the data of the time-series data which is stored in the time-series data storing means so that the amount of the time-series data does not exceed the predetermined memory capacity.

25. A method of storing data comprising the steps of:

receiving time-series data containing at least one of audio data and image data, wherein the time-series data is received during both important intervals and other intervals;

storing the time-series data in a storage;

receiving user-input data from a user;

determining an important interval based on at least the user-input data;

correlating at least the important interval and the time-series data corresponding to the important interval;

detecting a condition-matching interval in which the time-series data matches a predetermined condition unique to an event; and

compressing the time-series data, wherein the time series data corresponding to the important interval is compressed differently than the time-series data corresponding to other intervals.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein determining an important interval further includes:

determining the important interval based on the interval designated by the user-input data and the condition-matching interval.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting one of a specific speaker in the time-series data and a switching of the speaker in the time-series data and detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting one of a specific predetermined keyword and a predetermined pattern and detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting one of a specific predetermined character string and a status change and detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes comparing an audio signal level of the time-series data with a predetermined threshold value and detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the comparison.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of receiving sensor data further includes receiving camera operation data and the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the camera operation data.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of receiving sensor data from a sensor, wherein the step of determining an important interval further includes detecting a condition-matching interval in which the sensor data matches a predetermined condition and determining the important interval based on the interval designated by the user-input data and the condition-matching interval.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of receiving sensor data further includes receiving positional data relating to one of the position where the time-series data is input and the position where the sensor data is input, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting the starting or ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the positional data.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the step of receiving sensor data further includes receiving data designating a specific speaker, wherein the step of detecting a condition-matching interval includes detecting one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the data designating a specific speaker.

35. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of displaying the user-input data at a display position, wherein the step of correlating further includes correlating the user-input data, the time-series data and the display position of the user-input data, designating the displayed user-input data, and playing back the time-series data corresponding to the designated user-input data.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of displaying includes displaying a compression status of the time-series data.

37. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of receiving time data indicating a receipt time when the time-series data is received, wherein the step of compressing is executed on the time-series data when an elapsed time from the receipt time has exceeded a predetermined threshold.

38. The method of claim 25, further including the step of determining an amount of empty space in the storage, wherein the step of compressing is executed when the amount of empty space in the storage is below a predetermined threshold.

39. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of storing the time-series data includes storing the time-series data based on a frequency band range of the time-series data and the step of compressing includes deleting time-series data corresponding to a high frequency band range from the storage.

40. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of storing the time-series data includes storing the time-series data as illumination data and color data separately, and wherein the step of compressing includes deleting the color data from the storage.

41. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of receiving access status data that differentiates intervals being accessed by a user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time and intervals not being accessed by a user more than the predetermined number of times, wherein the step of compressing includes changing the compression process based on the access status data.

42. A data storage and playback apparatus comprising:

a condition-matching interval detection means for detecting a condition-matching interval in which time-series data matches a predetermined condition unique to an event;

at least one time-series data pickup device that detects time-series data containing at least one of audio data and image data during both important intervals and other intervals;

a time-series data storage that stores the time-series data detected by the time-series data pickup device;

at least one user-input detector that detects user-input data, wherein the user-input data designates important intervals of the time-series data; and

a controller that controls storage and playback of the time-series, wherein the controller includes;

a correspondence-relationship storing section that stores a correspondence relationship between an important interval and a location of the time-series data in the time-series data storage corresponding to the important interval, and

a compression section that compresses the time-series data corresponding to the important interval differently from the time-series data corresponding to the other intervals.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the controller further includes a condition-matching detection section that detects a condition-matching interval in which the time-series data matches a predetermined condition, and wherein the important interval is determined based on the user-input data and the condition-matching interval.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the sensor receives positional data relating to one of the position where the time-series data is input and the position where the sensor data is input, and wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the positional data.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the sensor receives data designating a specific speaker, and wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the data designating a specific speaker.

46. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the sensor receives camera operation data, and wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the camera operation data.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising at least one sensor that outputs sensor data, wherein the controller further includes a condition-matching detection section that detects a condition-matching interval in which the sensor data matches a predetermined condition, and wherein the important interval is determined based on the user-input data and the condition-matching interval.

48. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising a display that displays the user-input data at a display position, wherein the correspondence relationship storing section stores correspondence relationships between the important interval, the address of the time-series data in the time-series data storage corresponding to the important interval and the display position of the user-input data being displayed, and wherein the controller further includes a designation section that designates a portion of the user-input data and a playback section that plays back the time-series data in the interval corresponding to the designated portion of the user-input data.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the display further displays a compression status of the time-series data.

50. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the condition-matching interval detection section compares an audio signal level of the time-series data with a predetermined threshold value and detects one of a starting or ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the comparison.

51. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a specific speaker in the time-series data and a switching of the speaker in the time-series data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

52. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a specific predetermined keyword and a predetermined pattern and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

53. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the condition-matching interval detection section detects one of a specific predetermined character string and a status change and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

54. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising a time data storage that stores time data designating a detection time of the time-series data, wherein the compression section executes compression of the time-series data when an elapsed time from the detection time has exceeded a predetermined threshold.

55. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the controller detects the amount of empty space in the time-series data storage and the compression section executes compression on the time-series data when the amount of empty space in the time-series data storage is below a predetermined threshold.

56. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the time-series data is stored in the time-series data storage based on a frequency band range of the time-series data and the compression section deletes the time-series data corresponding to the high frequency band range.

57. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the time-series data is stored based on the time-series data being either illumination data or color data and the compression section deletes the color data from the time-series data storage.

58. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising an access status data storage that stores access status data designating the number of times a particular interval is accessed, wherein the controller differentiates intervals having been accessed more than a predetermined number of times and intervals that have not been accessed more than a predetermined number of times, and wherein the compression section changes the compression process based on the access status data.

59. A data storage device comprising:

time-series data input means for inputting time-series data containing at least one of audio data and image data, wherein the time-series data is input during both condition-matching intervals and other intervals;

time-series data storing means for storing time-series data input from the time-series data input means;

condition-matching interval detection means for detecting a condition-matching interval in which the time-series data matches a predetermined condition unique to an event;

correspondence relationship storing means for storing the correspondence relationship between a condition-matching interval and a position in the time-series data storing means where the time-series data corresponding to the condition-matching interval is stored; and

compression means for compressing the time-series data stored in the time-series data storing means, wherein the time-series data corresponding to a condition-matching interval is compressed differently than the time-series data corresponding to the other intervals.

60. The data storage device of claim 59, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means compares an audio signal level of the time-series data with a pre-set threshold value and detects one of the starting point and the ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the comparison.

61. The data storage device of claim 59, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specified speaker of the audio data and a switching of the originator of the audio data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

62. The data storage device of claim 59, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specific predetermined keyword and a specific predetermined pattern in the time-series data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

63. The data storage device of claim 59, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a specific predetermined character string and a status change in the time-series data and detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

64. The data storage device of claim 59, further comprising time data storing means for storing a time of storing the time-series data in the time-series data storing means, wherein the compression means executes a compression process when the elapsed time from the time of storing exceeds a pre-set time.

65. The data storage device of claim 59, wherein the compression means executes a compression process when one of an empty area in the time-series data storing means is determined to be below a predetermined value and the amount of memory used in the time-series data storing means is determined to exceed a predetermined amount.

66. The data storage device of claim 59, further comprising access status storing means for storing data which differentiates an interval being accessed by a user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time and intervals not being accessed by a user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time in the time-series data,

wherein the compression means compresses the time-series data accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of time differently from the intervals which are not accessed by the user more than a predetermined number of times within a predetermined amount of times.

67. The data storage device of claim 59, further comprising sensor data detection means for detecting data from at least one sensor, wherein the condition-matching interval detection means detects a condition-matching interval in which the sensor data matches a predetermined condition.

68. The data storage device of claim 60, wherein the sensor data detection means detects one of sensor data concerning the position where the time-series data is input and sensor data concerning the position where the sensor data is detected, and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the sensor data.

69. The data storage device of claim 60, wherein the sensor data detection means detects a specific person and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.

70. The data storage device of claim 60, wherein the sensor data detection means detects one of camera operation signals and a change in camera operation signals and the condition-matching interval detection means detects one of a starting point and an ending point of the condition-matching interval based on the detection.