Patent ID: 6339673
Filing Date: 2002-01-15
Classification: G11B,H04N

Abstract:
An apparatus for recording a digital information signal in tracks on a record carrier, the digital information signal comprising subsequent transport packets of information, the apparatus comprising:input means for receiving the digital information signal; signal processing means for processing the digital information signal so as to make the digital information signal suitable for recording in said tracks, the signal processing means (a) generating sync blocks of information, each sync block comprising a first block section having a synchronization signal and a second block section having a number of information bytes of the digital information signal, and (b) storing, each time, the information included in x transport packets of the digital information signal in the second block sections of a group of y sync blocks, the second block section of at least the first sync block of the group of y sync blocks comprising a third block section for storing a time stamp; time stamp generator means for generating a time stamp for a packet of the digital information signal, said time stamp generating means comprising counter means for generating subsequent cycles of count values; sync block number generator means for generating sync block numbers for each of the sync blocks; and writing means for writing the sequence of sync blocks in the tracks on the record carrier, at a predetermined recording speed of the record carrier, the writing means comprising a rotatable head drum provided with at least a first and a second writing head, the digital information signal being meant for reproduction in a reproduction apparatus at a trick play speed which equals n1 times said recording speed, where n1 is an integer larger than 1, characterized in that the time stamp generator means generates subsequent time stamps in the form of subsequent cycles of (nâ€²+kâ€²)-bit count values, where nâ€² and kâ€² are integers larger than zero, a cycle of count values coinciding, in time, with the time interval equal to m1 revolutions of the head drum, the signal processing means storing a portion of a transport packet having a specific time stamp in a sync block having a specific sync block number, such that the said specific sync block number satisfies the following relationship, NTPSBâˆ’q12, where ATPSB is the specific sync block number included in said sync block, and NTPSB is a nominal sync block number having the following relationship with said specific time stamp:â€ƒNTPSB=int((k+n/N)Â·q/M),where k is the decimal value corresponding to the binary value of the kâ€² most significant bits of the count value corresponding to said specific time stamp, and n is the decimal value corresponding to the binary value of the nâ€² least significant bits of the count value of the said specific time stamp, N and M being positive integers, and q being an integer for which holds q&gE;q1+q2.