Recording medium, reproduction device, program, reproduction method

• US 8,391,677 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2005
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Okada, Tomoyuki, Ikeda, Wataru, Uesaka, Yasushi
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUNN, MISHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US10/584,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20090034939A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,979 Days
• Field of Search: 386/46, 386/95, 386124-126, 386/239, 386/261, 386/262, 386/234, 386/334, 705/67, 725/28, 369/47.13, 369/53.21, 369/275.3
• US Class Current: 386/261
• 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 2020/1288 Formatting by padding empty spaces with dummy data, e.g. writing zeroes or random data when de-icing optical discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/213 Read-only discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2541 Blu-ray discs; Blue laser DVR discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2220/2562 DVDs [digital versatile discs]; Digital video discs; MMCDs; HDCDs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42646 for reading from or writing on a non-volatile solid state storage medium, e.g. DVD, CD-ROM
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

The present invention is a BD-ROM having AVClips and PlayList information pieces, which are playback paths for the AVClips, recorded thereon. In addition, the BD-ROM also has multiple playback paths and dynamic scenarios recorded thereon. The dynamic scenarios instruct a playback device to play a digital stream using the playback paths. The dynamic scenarios include selection procedures (IF-statement blocks) which cause the playback device to compare a constant and a register-stored value indicating a user'"'"'s age set on the playback device, (PSR(13)), and to select a playback path from among the multiple playback paths according to the result of the comparison.

Claims

1. A non-transitory recording medium, comprising:

a digital stream;

a plurality of pieces of playback path information, each indicating a playback path for the digital stream;

an operation mode object; and

a control program instructing a playback device to play the digital stream using the playback path information,

wherein the control program is a Java application controlled by the operation mode object, and

when instructing the playback device to play the digital stream using at least one of the pieces of playback path information, the control program causes the playback device to acquire a value indicating an age of a user stored in a status register by calling a state acquisition function to use the acquired value as a parameter for parental control,

the control program instructs the playback device to check a register-stored value indicating one of a region, and

the control program causes the playback device to play the digital stream using the at least one of the pieces of playback path information only if the register-stored value is a predetermined value.

2. A playback device, comprising:

an execution unit operable to execute a control program recorded on a recording medium;

a playback unit operable to play a digital stream recorded on the recording medium; and

a plurality of status registers,

wherein the recording medium has a plurality of pieces of playback path information and an operation mode object recorded thereon,

one of the status registers stores therein a value indicating an age of a user,

the control program is a Java application controlled by the operation mode object, and

when executing the control program to cause the playback unit to play back the digital stream using at least one of the pieces of playback path information, the execution unit acquires a value indicating an age of a user stored in one of the status registers by calling a state acquisition function to use the acquired value as a parameter for parental control,

the control program instructs the playback device to check a register-stored value indicating one of a region, and

the control program causes the playback device to play the digital stream using the at least one of the pieces of playback path information only if the register-stored value is a predetermined value.

3. The playback device of claim 2, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and the playback device, further comprising:

a conversion unit operable to convert a numeric indicating an age into a playback level when the second recording medium is loaded; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to, when the second recording medium is loaded, select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having the playback level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece.

4. The playback device of claim 3, wherein

the second recording medium has one or more country specific tables recorded thereon,

each of the region specific tables describes mapping information in which rating levels of a rating system for a region are associated with level IDs, and

the conversion into the playback level includes

converting the age-indicating numeric into a rating level of a rating system for a country to which the playback device belongs, obtaining, from among level IDs in mapping information described in a region specific table for the region, a level ID associated with the rating level, and designating the obtained level ID as the playback level.

5. The playback device of claim 4, comprising:

a receiving unit operable to display a setup menu and receive an input of the age, and

a conversion table associating a plurality-of ages with a plurality of rating levels in a one-to-one fashion,

wherein the conversion into the rating level is performed by referring to the conversion table.

6. The playback device of claim 2, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and

the playback device, further comprising:

a receiving unit operable to display a setup menu and receive an input of a rating level on the setup menu;

a conversion unit operable to convert the input rating level into a numeric indicating an age; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to, when the second recording medium is loaded, select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having the input rating level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece.

7. The playback device of claim 2, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and

the playback device, further comprising:

a receiving unit operable to display a menu showing combinations between ages and playback levels, and receive a specification for one of an age and a rating level;

a conversion table operable to perform interconversion between an age and a rating level based on the specification; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to, when the second recording medium is loaded, select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having a rating level matching the specified rating level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece.

8. The playback device of claim 2, wherein

one of the status registers stores therein a numeric indicating an age of a user,

another one of the status registers stores therein a date of birth of the user, and

the age-indicating numeric is calculated from the date of birth and a current date.

9. The playback device of claim 8, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and

the playback device, further comprising:

a conversion unit operable to convert, when the second recording medium is loaded and determined as the second recording medium, the age-indicating numeric into a playback level; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having a playback level matching the playback level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece,

wherein the execution of the control program is performed only when the first recording medium is loaded.

10. A recording method for recording a digital stream and a plurality of pieces of playback path information each indicating a playback path for the digital stream, the recording method comprising the step of:

recording the digital stream and a control program instructing a playback device to play the digital stream using the playback path information, wherein

the control program is a Java application controlled by the operation mode object, and

when instructing the playback device to play the digital stream using at least one of the pieces of playback path information, the control program causes the playback device to acquire a value indicating an age of a user stored in a status register by calling a state acquisition function to use the acquired value as a parameter for parental control,

the control program instructs the playback device to check a register-stored value indicating one of a region, and

the control program causes the playback device to play the digital stream using the at least one of the pieces of playback path information only if the register-stored value is a predetermined value.

11. A playback device, comprising:

an execution unit operable to execute a control program recorded on a recording medium;

a playback unit operable to play a digital stream recorded on the recording medium; and

a plurality of status registers,

wherein the recording medium has a plurality of pieces of playback path information and an operation mode object recorded thereon,

one of the status registers stores therein a value indicating an age of a user,

the control program is a Java application controlled by the operation mode object, and

when executing the control program to cause the playback unit to play back the digital stream using at least one of the pieces of playback path information, the execution unit acquires a value indicating an age of a user stored in one of the status registers by calling a state acquisition function to use the acquired value as a parameter for parental control, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and

the playback device further comprising;

a conversion unit operable to convert a numeric indicating an age into a playback level when the second recording medium is loaded; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to, when the second recording medium is loaded, select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having the playback level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece.

12. A playback device, comprising:

an execution unit operable to execute a control program recorded on a recording medium;

a playback unit operable to play a digital stream recorded on the recording medium; and

a plurality of status registers,

wherein the recording medium has a plurality of pieces of playback path information and an operation mode object recorded thereon,

one of the status registers stores therein a value indicating an age of a user,

the control program is a Java application controlled by the operation mode object, and

when executing the control program to cause the playback unit to play back the digital stream using at least one of the pieces of playback path information, the execution unit acquires a value indicating an age of a user stored in one of the status registers by calling a state acquisition function to use the acquired value as a parameter for parental control, wherein

the recording medium is a first recording medium, and

one of the first recording medium and a second recording medium is loaded on the playback device, and

the playback device further comprising;

a receiving unit operable to display a menu showing combinations between ages and playback levels, and receive a specification for one of an age and a rating level;

a conversion table operable to perform interconversion between an age and a rating level based on the specification; and

an auxiliary playback unit operable to, when the second recording medium is loaded, select from among a plurality of pieces of playback path information recorded on the second recording medium, a piece having a rating level matching the specified rating level, and play a digital stream recorded on the second recording medium according to the selected piece.