Patent ID: 8106947
Filing Date: 2012-01-31
Classification: G08B,G11B,H04N

Abstract:
1. An image recording and reproducing apparatus for recording input images of a plurality of channels in such a way as to switch among the plurality of channels during recording and for, every time a single image is recorded in a storage device, storing, in the storage device, index information including the channel of the image, the time when the image is recorded and the address at which the image is stored, the apparatus comprising: a group management information file creation circuit for, in recording, grouping recorded images at predetermined time intervals and creating, for each group, a group management information file storing group management information including a start time indicating the time when a first recorded image in a group is recorded, an end time indicating the time when a last recorded image in the group is recorded, an address at which index information about the first recorded image in the group is stored, and channel distance information indicating, for each channel, a group interval from a group including a last recorded image of a channel to the current group; a first retrieval circuit for, in retrieval by specifying a recording time and a channel, performing a primary retrieval process for retrieving a group management information file corresponding to a group including a recorded image of the specified channel and also being closest to the specified time, on the basis of the start times, the end times and the channel distance information corresponding to the specified channel in the respective group management information files; and a second retrieval circuit for performing a secondary retrieval process for retrieving a recorded image of the specified channel, the recorded image having a recording time closest to the specified time, on the basis of the index information of the recorded images in the group corresponding to the group management information file found through the primary retrieval process.