Broadcast receiver, program recording method and program product

• US 7,444,064 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2004
• Issued: 10/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takahashi, Satoshi, Ono, Atsuhiro, Yamashita, Tomochika
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wendmagegn; Girumsew
• Application Number:
  US10/996,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20050123278A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,434 Days
• Field of Search: 386/94, 360/60, 380/201, 710/200
• US Class Current: 386/252
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 15/026 by using processor, e.g. microcomputer
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 19/04 Arrangements for preventing, inhibiting, or warning against double recording on the same blank or against other recording or reproducing malfunctions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00086 Circuits for prevention of unauthorised reproduction or copying, e.g. piracy indicating unauthorised use of record carriers in general G11B23/28; scrambling for television signal recording H04N5/913; network architectures or network protocols for network security H04L63/00; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00231 wherein the key is obtained from a local external medium, e.g. a card
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00688 said measures preventing that a usable copy of recorded data can be made on another medium
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00753 wherein the usage restriction limits the number of copies that can be made, e.g. CGMS, SCMS, or CCI flags
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/00768 wherein copy control information is used, e.g. for indicating whether a content may be copied freely, no more, once, or never, by setting CGMS, SCMS, or CCI flags
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2516 Hard disks
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/455 said record carriers being in one device and being used as primary and secondary/backup media, e.g. HDD-DVD combo device, or as source and target media, e.g. PC and portable player
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2005/91328 the copy protection signal being a copy management signal, e.g. a copy generation management signal [CGMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43622 Interfacing an external recording device
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43632 involving a wired protocol, e.g. IEEE 1394 high-speed IEEE 1394 serial bus H04L12/40052
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4367 Establishing a secure communication between the client and a peripheral device or smart card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 : on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/7921 : for more than one processing mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction

Abstract

The broadcast receiver that incorporates an HDD as a recording medium and records programs on the recording medium, when recording a program on the recording medium, determines whether the program content is prohibited from being copied afterward. If it is determined that the program content is prohibited from being copied afterward, the receiver divides the program content into segments of data size falling, for example, within the range between 45 sec. and 60 sec., as time taken to play back the data at 1× speed, and stores the segments into a plurality of files, respectively. Even in case of accidental disconnection of the device power or network interface, it becomes possible to positively move content that was once recorded on a recording medium to another external device and recording medium under the conditions prescribed for copyright protection.

Claims

1. A recording apparatus comprising:

an input terminal which receives data representing a program with information indicative of copy limitation;

a recorder which records the received data on a recoding media; and

a processor which detects the information indicative of copy limitation from the data, and controls the recorder;

wherein if the processor detects the information which prohibits another copy, the processor controls the recorder to record the data representing the program as a plurality of divided files, and if the processor does not detect the information which prohibits another copy, the processor controls the recorder to record all of the data representing the program as a program file.

2. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each divided file includes an amount of the data corresponding to video data in the range of 45 to 60 seconds.

3. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each divided file includes data whose data quantity is in the range of 72 Mbytes to 1440 Mbytes.

4. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of divided files are arranged in a file which is generated by every program.

5. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an output terminal which outputs the recorded divided files to second recording media;

wherein when each divided file is recorded in the second media, the divided file recorded in the recorder is deleted.

6. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information indicating to limit another copy is indicated as ‘

copy one generation’

.

7. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the recorder records and reads the data to/from a file at the same time, the recorder uses the same pointer for reading and recording data to/from the media.

8. A recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein if the output of the files is interrupted while outputting a divided file, the processor keeps files which have not been output yet in the recording media.

9. A recording method comprising:

receiving data representing a program with information indicative of copy limitation;

detecting the information indicative of copy limitation; and

recording the data representing the program as a plurality of divided files if the information prohibits another copy and recording all of the data representing the program as a file if the information does not prohibit another copy.

10. A recording method according to claim 9, wherein each divided file includes an amount of the data corresponding to video data in the range of 45 to 60 seconds.

11. A recording method according to claim 9, wherein each divided file includes data whose data quantity is in the range of 72 Mbytes to 1440 Mbytes.

12. A recording method according to claim 9, further comprising:

outputting each recorded file; and

deleting each file which has been output.

13. A recording method according to claim 9, wherein the information indicative of copy limitation is indicated as ‘

copy one generation’

.

14. A recording method according to claim 12 further comprising,

keeping files which have not been output yet without deleting, if the output of the files is interrupted.

15. A recording and reproducing method:

recording data representing the program as a plurality of divided files by using a recording pointer which specifies the location in the file; and

reproducing the recorded data from the files by using a reading pointer which specifies the location in the file;

wherein when data which is being recorded and data which is being reproduced are in the same file, the recording pointer and the reading pointer are combined as one pointer.

16. A recording and reproducing method according to claim 15, wherein the one pointer is moving through the file and selected as a write pointer or a read pointer depending on the location in the file.

17. A recording method according to claim 15, wherein each divided file includes the data corresponding to video data in the range of 45 to 60 seconds.