Information recording and reproducing apparatus

• US 7,174,503 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2001
• Issued: 02/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Komatsu, Yoshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong; Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vaughn; Gregory J.
• Application Number:
  US09/820,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20010051957A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,140 Days
• Field of Search: 715/500, 715/500.1, 715/515, 715/516, 715/530
• US Class Current: 715/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

An information recording and reproducing apparatus provides users with an easy designation of a playback start position and a playback time. Sound data is sequentially stored in association with time data and information such as a letter and a symbol is inputted with a marker with which a user writes. When the user designates the letter or symbol with the marker, playback of the sound data recorded at an input start time of the letter or symbol is started. When the playback end is indicated using the marker, the playback of the sound data is terminated.

Claims

1. An information recording and reproducing apparatus, comprising:

a sound data storing device that stores sound data in association with time data indicating an input time of the sound data;

a writing information inputting device that includes a position designating portion and that is used for designating positions on an input area using the position designating portion and inputting writing information;

a handheld playback selecting device that includes a switch and a position designating portion and that outputs a playback start signal of the sound data with the switch in a first position and a playback end signal of the sound data with the switch in a second position;

a coordinate data detecting device that detects coordinate data of the positions designated by the position designating portion of the writing information inputting device in association with times when the positions are designated by the position designating portion of the writing information inputting device, and that detects coordinate data of the positions designated by the position designating portion of the playback selecting device;

a writing information unit storing device that stores coordinate data of the positions designated by the writing information inputting device, with the coordinate data divided according to a predetermined condition, as a writing information unit, in association with time data, indicating an input time of the writing information unit; and

a sound data playback device that starts a playback of sound data from the sound data stored in association with the input time of a writing information unit in response to an output of the playback start signal when playback-designated coordinate data of the position designated by the position designating portion of the playback selecting device is determined to correspond with the writing information unit, wherein;

when the playback-designated coordinate data is determined not to correspond to a writing information unit, the sound data playback device selects an area nearby the playback-designated coordinate data, calculates a playback start time from a positional relationship between a writing information unit in the area nearby the playback-designated coordinate data and the playback-designated coordinate data and from the input time of the writing information unit, and starts a playback of the sound data from sound data stored in association with the calculated playback start time,

the sound data playback device continues the playback of the sound data so long as the switch of the playback selecting device is in the first position,

the sound data playback device finds a first area and a second area which are nearest to the playback-designated coordinate data, the first area having coordinate data smaller than the playback-designated coordinate data and the second area having coordinate data larger than the playback-designated coordinate data, on either X-coordinate or Y-coordinate, and retrieves a time between input times of writing information units in the first and second areas, as a playback start time,

the sound data storing device starts storing the sound data in response to a sound data storing instruction, and

when the first area can not be found, the sound data playback device calculates the playback start time by determining a distance ratio between a segment from the playback-designated coordinate data to coordinate data of a nearest position on an edge of the input area included in the first area and a segment from the playback-designated coordinate data to coordinate data of a predetermined position in the writing information unit included in the second area and by calculating a time by dividing a time that is between a time that the sound data storing was instructed and the input time of the writing information unit in the second area based on the distance ratio.

2. An information recording and reproducing apparatus, comprising:

a sound data storing device that stores sound data in association with time data indicating an input time of the sound data;

a writing information inputting device that includes a position designating portion and that is used for designating at least one of a plurality of positions on an input area using the position designating portion and inputting writing information;

a handheld playback selecting device that includes a switch and a position designating portion and that outputs a playback start signal of the sound data with the switch in a first position and a playback end signal of the sound data with the switch in a second position;

a coordinate data detecting device that detects coordinate data of positions designated by the position designating portion of the writing information inputting device in association with times when the positions are designated by the position designating portion of the writing information inputting device, and that detects coordinate data of positions designated by the position designating portion of the playback selecting device;

a writing information unit storing device that stores coordinate data of positions designated by the writing information inputting device, with the coordinate data divided according to a predetermined condition, as a writing information unit, in association with time data indicating an input time of the writing information unit; and

a sound data playback device that plays back sound data stored from the input time of a writing information unit till the input time of a next writing information unit, in response to an output of the playback start signal, when playback-designated coordinate data of a position designated by the position designating portion of the playback selecting device is determined to correspond with the writing information unit, wherein;

the sound data playback device finds a first area and a second area which are nearest to the playback-designated coordinate data, the first area having coordinate data smaller than the playback-designated coordinate data and the second area having coordinate data larger than the playback-designated coordinate data, on either X-coordinate or Y-coordinate, and retrieves a time between input times of writing information units in the first and second areas, as a playback start time,

the sound data storing device starts storing the sound data in response to a sound data storing instruction, and

when the first area cannot be found, the sound data playback device calculates the playback start time by finding the distance ratio between a segment from the playback-designated coordinate data to coordinate data of a nearest position on an edge of the input area included in the first area and a segment from the playback-designated coordinate data to coordinate data of a predetermined position in the writing information unit included in the second area and by calculating a time by dividing a time that is between a time that the sound data storing was instructed and the input time of the writing information unit in the second area based on the distance ratio.