Recording and reproducing apparatus and method thereof

• US 9,159,368 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2009
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Maxell Limited (Maxell, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Mari
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thai
• Assistant Examiner(s): HASAN, SYED Y
• Application Number:
  US12/430,185
• Publication Number:
  US 20090285546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,360 Days
• Field of Search: 386/241, 386/262, 386/278, 375/E7.024, 382/103, 382/117, 382/118, 713/186, 715/719, 715/721, 348/222.1, 348/239, 348/E5.042
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/73 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/745 the internal structure of a single video sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/40 in video content extracting overlay text G06V20/62; video retrieval G06F16/70; processing of video elementary streams in video servers H04N21/234; processing of video elementary streams in video clients H04N21/44
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/172 Classification, e.g. identification
• 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: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/30 on the same track as the main recording
• 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 21/4347 Demultiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

In a recording and reproducing apparatus and a recording and reproducing method for the recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing image information on a scene obtained through photographing, relative to a predetermined first recording medium and being capable of setting one or more chapters to each scene, a face recognizing process is executed for a photographed image based on the image information, an importance level of each chapter is set in accordance with a result of the face recognizing process for a very important person (VIP) set by a user, and each chapter having a relevant importance level among importance levels of respective chapters is selectively reproduced. A user can therefore find an object chapter and scene quickly and easily.

Claims

1. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:

an imaging module for capturing image data on each scene,

a recording unit for recording said captured image data into a recording medium,

a face recognizing execution unit for executing a face recognizing process on said captured image data before recording into said recording medium,

a reproducing unit for reproducing said image data from said recording medium;

a display unit for displaying a list of face thumbnail images of persons registered beforehand by a user based upon said image data captured by said imaging module and executed by said face recognizing process by said face recognizing unit in a person registering mode in which a person image is captured and registered;

a specific person setting unit for setting as a specific person, a person corresponding to a face thumbnail image selected by a user from said displayed list of face thumbnail images;

an importance level setting unit for setting an importance level of said recorded image data which include said specific person set by the specific person setting unit; and

a control unit for controlling said reproducing unit so as to reproduce said recorded image data which include said specific person by using 1^st mode and 2^nd mode,

wherein said importance level of said recorded image data is set to high level or low level, reproduced time of 1^st mode is shorter than one of 2^nd mode, at 1^st mode said reproducing unit reproduces said recorded image data of high level, and at 2^nd mode said reproducing unit reproduces said recorded image data of both high level and low level.

2. The recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of reproducing modes are provided;

said each reproducing mode is set with a different threshold value; and

said control unit compares said threshold value of said reproducing mode designated by a user with an importance level of recorded image data set in accordance with a result of said face recognizing process, and controls said recording and reproducing unit so as to selectively reproduce said recorded image data having said importance level equal to or higher than said threshold value.

3. The recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls said reproducing unit so as to selectively reproduce said recorded image data having a relevant importance level, among importance levels of respective recorded image data.

4. The recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said importance level setting unit sets said importance level of said recorded image data in accordance with the number of times said specific person appears in said each chapter.

5. The recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said control unit:

manages said importance level of said recorded image data set to said each scene, for said each scene whose image data is recorded in said recording medium; and

presents a user with information on whether said importance level of said recorded image data is set to said each scene, in response to a user request.