JPH06259883A - Digital recording device for animation and sound, and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] When recording a group of moving image data, the time delay of the start of recording due to the delay of human judgment is corrected by using the digital data compression / recording system of the moving image. To prevent head cuts. [Structure] Moving image / sound data input from a video device 101 to a personal computer or a workstation 102 is always compressed by an image / sound compression / expansion mechanism 104, and is wrapped around a buffer memory 105 for a certain period of time. Will be recorded. When the recording command is input to the personal computer or the workstation, the data in the buffer memory is written in the storage device 106 in order from a certain time before.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for digitally processing moving image and audio data (personal computer,
The present invention relates to a workstation and the like) and a method thereof, and more particularly to a digital image recording apparatus and method suitable for compensating for a delay in recording start timing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional image digital recording method, for example, a method described in JP-A-04-23073 is known. This method first records on microfilm, which is a high-speed still image recording medium,
Then, the data is compressed and recorded on a medium such as an optical disk.

[0003]

The above-mentioned prior art is directed to still images and does not support moving images. When it is necessary to record suddenly in a program that is not usually recorded, such as news on TV, it may be delayed to issue a recording command and the head may be cut off. There is a nature. In the conventional VTR, when a recording command is input, it is generally known that the recording is performed by tracing back the time for correcting the mechanical operation delay, but it is difficult to compensate for the delay in human judgment. An object of the present invention is to improve such problems, prevent a head cutoff due to a delay in a recording start command due to a delay in human judgment, and reliably record video data deemed important by a user. Another object of the present invention is to provide a moving image / sound digital recording apparatus and method.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a moving image / audio digital recording apparatus and method of the present invention comprises means for compressing input moving image data in a personal computer or a workstation (see FIG. 1 image / audio compression / expansion mechanism 104) and data recording means (buffer memory 105, storage device 106 in FIG. 1)
In addition, while the recording command is not issued, the latest fixed time data is always recorded in the buffer memory, and after the recording command is issued, the recorded fixed time data and command The feature is that the real-time moving image data after reception is also recorded in the storage device. Further, it is characterized in that the predetermined time is set by software.

[0005]

According to the present invention, when an apparatus capable of digitally processing a moving image is used, even if the user delays issuing a recording start command, recording can be performed retroactively for a certain period of time. Therefore, it is possible to compensate for the delay in the timing of recording start, which is caused by the delay in human judgment. As a result, the desired video information for the user can be recorded more completely.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital recording system according to an embodiment of the present invention. This system provides real-time image information without reproducibility with a personal computer (hereinafter abbreviated as PC) or workstation (hereinafter W).
A video device 101 for outputting to a terminal device such as S)
Terminal device body 102, display device 103, PC
Alternatively, a compression / decompression mechanism 10 for image / sound inside the WS main body
4. A buffer memory 105 for accumulating image / sound data for a certain period of time, and a storage device 106 for recording recording data. This buffer memory 105 is
With one frame of the moving image as a unit, an area for recording a required number of areas is prepared. Audio data having a sampling time shorter than that of an image frame (the image has a maximum of 30 frames / second, but the audio is usually 8 kHz to 32 kHz.
The sampling frequency is used), and the data is stored for the time of the image frame interval and recorded together with the image frame data. In addition, the image / sound compression / decompression mechanism 104
In order to be able to handle image / sound data within the range of the amount of data that can be processed, which is limited by the capacity of the main memory or memory of PC or WS, or the transfer speed between the internal bus or the main unit and memory. The example is MP
EG (Motion Picture Experts)
There is an LSI that complies with a decoding (data expansion) algorithm defined by Group. Therefore, the compression / decompression mechanism 104 is not particularly necessary when the hardware has sufficient performance to process images and audio without compression. The buffer memory 105 and the storage device 106
May use any of the main memory, the built-in storage device, and the external storage device as long as the processing is not delayed. Also,
The data to be recorded in the storage device is recorded in the frame unit of the moving image as in the buffer memory.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the buffer memory 105
A method of recording data in the memory will be described. In the present embodiment, the buffer memory 105 is composed of frames 1 to n.
It has a recording area up to. The value of n depends on the length of time going back. This time is software configurable. The PC or WS main body records the input data in the buffer memory in frame units while inputting the image / audio data from the video device. Data starts from frame 1 and is sequentially recorded as frame 2 and frame 3, and when it reaches frame n, it is recorded again from frame 1 (a so-called ring buffer method is used).

Next, referring to FIG. 3, a method of recording data after inputting a command to start recording will be described. In this embodiment,
In the buffer memory 105, a pointer indicating a currently recorded position (hereinafter abbreviated as a current position pointer) and a pointer indicating data traced back from the current position pointer for a predetermined time (hereinafter abbreviated as a recording start position pointer) are provided. Define. When the frame position in the buffer memory is p (pointer name) and the number of frames corresponding to the trace back time is N, the relationship between the current position pointer and the recording start position pointer is as shown in (1) and (2) below. . (1) When N <p (current position pointer) ≦ n, p (recording start position pointer) = p (current position pointer)
-N (2) When 1 <p (current position pointer) ≤ N, p (recording start position pointer) = n + p (current position pointer) -N However, immediately after the start of buffer memory accumulation, p (recording start position pointer) = 1 When a recording start command is input to the PC or WS main body, the main body records one frame at a time in the storage device in order from the portion indicated by the recording start position pointer of the data in the buffer memory. It is assumed that the speed of recording one frame of data from the buffer memory to the storage device is faster than the interval of image data generated by the video equipment (1/30 seconds at most).
In addition, recording of data in the buffer memory is constantly performed regardless of whether or not recording is performed, and the current position pointer and the recording start position pointer are also moved as needed. If the data recording time from the buffer memory to the storage device is shorter than the moving image data generation interval, after a certain amount of time has elapsed after the start of recording, the frame in which data is recorded in the buffer memory and the recording from the buffer memory to the storage device. The frames that are played will be the same. In such a case, 1 is added to the buffer memory thereafter.
Each time the frame is recorded, the data is recorded in the storage device. Note that the data may be directly recorded in the storage device from the data compression / decompression mechanism without using the buffer memory. When a command to end recording is input, the following two processes (1) and (2) are selectively used depending on the recording status of data in the storage device. (1) When data input to the buffer memory is recorded in the storage device without delay, recording in the storage device is immediately terminated. (2) When the data input to the buffer memory is recorded in the storage device with a delay of several frames, the data recording end is recorded at the frame position indicated by the current position pointer when the recording end command is input. When the data to be written in the storage device reaches the position indicated by the mark, the recording is terminated. Since the current position pointer and the recording start position pointer always move in real time, the second and subsequent recordings can be performed without being affected by the previous time.

Next, the processing procedure of the system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In this example,
Input data is always recorded via the buffer area. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a storage process of image / audio data in the embodiment of the present invention. That is, regardless of whether or not recording is performed, a PC or WS
It shows a process that always operates inside. When image data is input from the video device (step 402), the current position pointer in the buffer memory is incremented by 1 (step 403). If the buffer memory has reached the end, the pointer is returned to the initial value (steps 404, 40).
5). Then, after compressing the data (step 406), the compressed data for one frame is recorded in the buffer area. Regardless of the presence or absence of image data, when in a recording state (step 408), the amount of data recorded in the buffer area and not written to the storage device is checked (step 408), and data is present. At this time, one frame worth is written out to the storage device (step 41).
0, 411). The process shown in FIG. 4 is an infinite loop. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing when a recording start command is input according to an embodiment of the present invention. The process when the recording start command is input is interrupt activation, and when the recording start interrupt is applied, the reception of the recording start command is locked (step 502) and the recording frame pointer in the storage device is initialized ( Step 503). After that, the value of the recording start position pointer at that time is set in the recording data output pointer prepared in the buffer area (step 504), and then the interrupt processing is ended.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing when a recording end command is input in the embodiment of the present invention. When the recording end command is input, the process is interrupt activation. When the recording end interrupt is applied, the value of the current position point is set in the recording end position pointer (step 602). next,
When the recording data output pointer has not reached the recording end position pointer (when there is data to be recorded) (step 603), the remaining data is written frame by frame from the buffer area to the storage device (step 60).
4-606). When all the data to be recorded has disappeared, the recording frame pointer is cleared to the initial value (step 607), the recording start command is unlocked (step 608), and the interrupt process is terminated (step 6).
09).

[0010]

According to the present invention, when a recording start command is input, the moving image data is recorded as digital information retroactively for a preset time, so that the recording start timing comes from the delay of human judgment. Can compensate for the delay.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a digital recording system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a data recording method of a buffer memory according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a method of recording data from a buffer memory to a storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a storage process of image / audio data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process when a recording start command is input in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process when a recording end command is input according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 video equipment 102 personal computer (or workstation) 103 display 104 image / audio compression / decompression mechanism 105 buffer memory 106 storage device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for digitally processing moving images and audio, comprising means for inputting images and audio, and a real-time compression means for moving image / audio data, and a compressed moving image if there is no command to start recording. .A means for constantly accumulating audio data and a means for storing the accumulated data from a predetermined time before and the image data after the command input when a recording start command is input And a digital recording device. 2. A means for inputting images and sounds, a moving image,
In a digital recording method of an apparatus including a real-time audio data compression means and a data storage means, if there is no command to start recording, video / audio data is always compressed and accumulated, and a command to start recording is input. If there is, a digital recording method characterized in that the subsequent image data and the accumulated data from a predetermined time before are stored together. 3. The digital recording method according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined time is set by software.