Record information reproducing method with content identifiers

Abstract: A playback method. The method includes steps of: starting reading a read-in area of a disk, the read-in area containing formatting information about a plurality of program information recorded on the disk; and judging whether reading the formatting information is possible or not. The program information is reproduced without completion of the reading of the formatting information when it is judged that reading the formatting information is not possible.

Description: The present invention relates to a reproducing method for recorded information. It can be used in a reproducing method for recorded information by which each of a plurality of pieces of program information recorded in a recording medium is allocated in advance to have its address information stored in a memory so that the pieces of program information may be reproduced in the order of storage in response to the operation of a memory play key. There is known from JP-A-59 101 079 a method for reproducing a recording medium, which is recorded with a plurality of pieces of program information, such as a digital audio disk. According to the known method, arbitrary program information is allocated in advance to have its address information stored in a memory so that the pieces of program information are reproduced in the order of storage. In this reproducing method, according to the prior art, the reproduction is not started from other than the program information corresponding to the address information stored first in the memory, when that memory play mode is selected. As a result, the same program information is started every time the memory play mode is selected so that reproduction of the same program information is always repeated. In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a playback method comprising the steps of: starting reading a read-in area of a disk, the read-in area containing formatting information about a plurality of program information recorded on the disk; judging whether reading the formatting information is possible or not; and reproducing the program information without completion of the reading of the formatting information when it is judged that reading the formatting information is not possible. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a disk player comprising: reading means for reading formatting information and program information recorded on a disk; judging means for judging whether reading the formatting information is possible or not; and control means for controlling the reading means to read the program information without completion of the reading of the formatting information when it is judged by the judging means that reading the formatting information is not possible. In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the control system; and Figs. 2 to 6 are flow charts for explaining the operations of the control system shown in Fig. 1. The present invention will now be described in connection with an auto-loading disk player with reference to the accompanying drawings. Upon commencement of playing a disk, as shown in Fig. 2, it is finely judged at step 1 on the basis of the output of the detecting switch 110 whether or not the pickup 117 (as shown in Fig. 1) is in its home position. If YES, the pickup 117 is focused (at step 2) to start its reading operation. At step 3, moreover, an information recording start position or the read-in area of the disk 5, i.e., the TOC (which is the abbreviation of "Table of Contents") position is calculated on the basis of address information obtained by the pickup 117. The TOC is recorded with pieces of formatting information such as the number or total absolute time of pieces of music stored in the disk or the play time of each piece of music. It is preferable to read out the recorded information of the TOC at the start of the play. For the method for calculating the TOC position (or a target address) from the present address, an exemplary method has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 58 - 202994 by one of the present applicants. This method repeatedly calculates the distance to a target address to move the pickup 117 until the distance to the target address comes to a constant value, by making use of the fact that the distance to the target address can be more accurately obtained as the target address is more closely approached. If the TOC position is calculated at step 3, the pickup 117 is moved (at step 4) to the TOC position, and a timer' built in to the control circuit 111 and having a constant time T a (e.g., 15 seconds) is subsequently set (at step 5). At step 6, it is judged whether or not the aforementioned constant time T a has elapsed. If NO, the contents of the TOC are read out (at step 7). Subsequently, it is judged (at step 8) whether or not the read-out of the TOC contents has been completed. If YES, the program area is searched (at step 9), and the operation is advanced to the playing operation. In case it is judged at step 8 that the read-out of the TOC contents has not yet been completed, the aforementioned operations are repeated by returning to step 6. In case it is judged at step 6 in those repeated operations that the aforementioned constant time T a has elapsed, the operation skips to step 9 to come into the playing operation by assuming that there is an error in the read-in area, for example, to cause the "hang-up". As a result, the operation can be prevented from causing the hang-up to enter an endless loop by the error in the read-in area. Even if the TOC contents are not wholly searched, the sequence ends with lapse of the constant time T a so that the system can be smoothly operated. In the digital audio disk player, incidentally, each program information can be searched even if the TOC contents can not be read out. In case it is judged step 1 that the pickup 117 is not in its home position, the pickup 117 is brought (at step 10) to the home position by the carriage mechanism 13. The digital audio disk is recorded with a plurality of separate pieces of program information (such as music passages) so that the player is given a memory play function to store the addresses of arbitrary pieces of music in the memory while allocating it in advance to thereby play the addressed pieces of music sequentially in the order their addresses are stored in that memory. The procedure for storing those allocated pieces of music in the memory will be described in accordance with the flow chart of Fig. 3. A scan mode is initiated by momentarily depressing (or turning on) a scan key (which is one of the grouped control buttons 6 of Fig. 1, although not shown by itself). In this scan mode, the head or beginning of each piece of music is played for a constant time (e.g., 10 seconds). If the lapse of 10 seconds is determined at step 11, a next piece of music is searched (at step 12). These operations are conducted for all the pieces of music recorded. In case, in this scan mode, it is judged at step 11 that the time of 10 seconds has not yet elapsed and at step 13 that the scan key has once again been depressed (or turned on), the operation is advanced to step 14 so as to store the address of that piece of music in the memory. Otherwise, the operation is returned again to step 11. If the number of pieces of music that can be stored in the memory is denoted as N, it is judged at step 14 whether or not the memory has stored a number (N - 1) of addresses for pieces of music. If NO, it is subsequently judged at step 15 whether or not the memory has stored a number N (i.e., the storable number) of pieces of music. If NO at step 15, the address information (e.g., a track number) of that music is stored (at step 16) in the memory, and a next piece of music is then searched (at step 17), until the operation is returned to step 11. In case it is judged at step 14 that the number of addresses of the pieces of music stored in the memory has reached the value (N - 1), it is displayed (at step 18) on the display 116 that the number of pieces of music to be stored in the memory is going to reach its limit value, and the operation is then returned to step 16 so that the address information of that musical piece is stored in the memory. In case it is judged at step 15 that the number of addresses for musical pieces stored in the memory has reached the value N, on the other hand, the address information of the oldest piece of music is erased (at step 19), and the operation is then returned to step 16 so that the address information of the latest piece of music is stored in the memory. In these ways, the allocated information on the music is stored in the memory. According to this method, the contents of the pieces of music to be stored in the memory can be confirmed, and the scan key can also be used for storing an address for a piece of music in the memory. Incidentally, this method should not be limited to the application to the digital audio disk but can be applied to a digital audio tape or further to a conventional audio tape if the count value between two pieces of music is used as the address information or if that tape has stored thereon the address information. Next, the operations in a memory play mode for sequentially playing the pieces of music whose addresses stored in the memory will be described in the following in accordance with the flow chart of Fig. 4. When in the memory play mode, it is first judged at step 20 whether or not an allocated piece of music is stored in the memory. That is, whether the memory contains addresses of pieces of music that have effectively been allocated. If YES, the data (e.g., the address information) which is pointed to at present by a pointer for selecting one of the plural allocated pieces of music in the memory is read (at step 21). Then, the pointer is advanced (at step 22) to the one immediately preceding data, and the allocated music having the read address is then searched (at step 23) and thus played. Subsequently, if it is judged at step 24 that the play of the allocated music has been ended and (at step 25) that the memory play mode is not yet released at that time, the operation is returned to step 21 at which time the next allocated music pointed to by the pointer is played. These operations are subsequently repeated until it is judged at step 25 that the memory play mode is released. In case it is judged at step 20 that there is no allocated music having addresses stored in the memory, the operation is advanced to step 26. At this step 26, allocated pieces of music are randomly allocated by having a random number stored in the memory as an address up to the capacity of the memory. Then, the first allocated music having an address stored in the memory is searched (at step 23-), and operation returns to step 21. Steps 24 and 25 are subsequently repeated until it is judged at step 25 that the memory play mode has been released. Thus, by producing the addresses for the newly allocated pieces of music by a random number and by playing them in the order of allocation in case no allocated music has its address stored in the memory, it is unnecessary to display whether or not the memory is stored with addresses of allocated music, and the play can be made in any case if the memory play mode is selected. As a result, the usability can be improved. If the memory play mode is once released but restored, the operations from step 20 are repeated, as described above. Since, by this time, the pointer in the memory has advanced to the data next to that called previously, the play is started from the allocated music next to that played previously. As a result, even if the selection and release of the memory play mode are repeated, the music to be called is sequentially changed so that identical allocated music is not called each time of selection of the memory play mode. The use of this system should not limited to the digital audio disk but can be applied to the digital audio tape and so on. Although the description thus far made is directed to the case in which the allocated pieces of music having addresses stored in the memory are played, the track search for searching the music of a track number (which is abbreviated into "TNO") by changing the track number or the address information of the music up or down by operating a track (+/-) key will be described in the following with reference to the flow chart of Fig. 5. The track (+/-) key has two active positions for incrementing in the positive and negative directions as well as an inactive position indicating no incrementing. When the track search is entered by turning on the track (+/-) key, it is first judged (at step 27) whether or not the aforementioned memory play mode is selected. If NO, the allocated track number is sequentially incremented by + 1 or decremented by - 1 with a constant period. As long the track (+/-) key is turned on, and the incremented track number is displayed (at step 28) in the display 116. When the track (+/-) key is turned off after a number of increments, the search is directed (at step 29) to the allocated track number displayed finally in the display 116 so that the playing operation is entered. In case it is judged at step 27 that the memory play mode is selected, the aforementioned pointer in the memory is sequentially incremented by + 1 or decremented by - 1 (at step 30). When the track (+/-) key is finally turned off, the search is directed (at step 31) to the track number finally pointed to by the pointer. As a result, the playing operation of that allocated music is entered. The added function having the memory play mode and the track search makes it possible to promptly select and play the desired one of the allocated pieces of music stored in the memory and can be effectively applied especially to an auto changer for suitably selecting and automatically reproducing a plurality of disks. Next will be described high-speed reproducing operations, in which the jumping operation and the reproduction operation are alternately repeated. Examples of two such operations are the fast forward (i.e., FF) operation and the review (i.e., REV) operation. In the jumping operation, the information detecting point (or the spot beam) of the pickup 117 jumps a constant number of recording tracks of the disk 5. The description will be referenced to the flow chart of Fig. 6. Incidentally, the address information of a plurality of pieces of music recorded in the disk is exemplified by not only the track number set to correspond to each musical piece but additionally an index (i.e., IX) corresponding to each musical section in case the music piece is further subdivided, such as movements in the case of music. These pieces of address information are recorded in the Q channel of the sub-code in the so-called "CD format" so that they can be detected from the read-out information of the pickup 117. As shown in Fig. 6, it is first judged (at step 32) whether or not the aforementioned index (IX) has changed on the basis of the read-out information of the pickup 117. If NO, it is subsequently judged (at step 33) whether or not the track number TNO has changed. If NO, a constant number n of tracks are jumped (at step 34) so that the operation is returned to step 32. In case it is judged at this step 32 that the index IX has changed, the operation proceeds to the playing mode. In case it is judged at step 33 that the track number has changed, there also operation is likewise advanced to the playing mode. Thus, in the high-speed reproducing operation, by automatically interrupting this operation at the instant when the index or track number changes and by changing the same operation to a normal reproducing operation, the desired position to be reproduced is not passed over contrary to the desire of the user unless the FF and REV keys are of the non-lock type. This provides effective safety especially in the case of a disk player to be mounted on an automobile. In the special reproducing mode described above, the desired pieces of music are played in an arbitrary order. It is needless to say that the disk is played from its first music in the normal reproducing mode. As has been described hereinbefore the order of the address information to be called from the memory is stored in the memory play mode so that, in case the memory play mode is released and selected again, reproduction is started from the program information which corresponds to the address information next to that last called in the preceding memory play mode. As a result, the program information to be reproduced at first is sequentially changed even if the selection and release of the memory play mode are repeated, so that no identical information is called each time the memory play mode is selected.

Claims: A playback method comprising the steps of: starting reading a read-in area of a disk, the read-in area containing formatting information about a plurality of program information recorded on the disk; characterised by : judging whether reading the formatting information is possible or not; and reproducing the program information without completion of the reading of the formatting information when it is judged that reading the formatting information is not possible. A disk player comprising: reading means for reading formatting information and program information recorded on a disk; characterised by : judging means for judging whether reading the formatting information is possible or not; and control means for controlling the reading means to read the program information without completion of the reading of the formatting information when it is judged by the judging means that reading the formatting information is not possible.

Inventors: ABE HIROYUKI, AOYAGI YOSHIO, HAENO AKIRA, IIJIMA TAKAYUKI, KIMURA TOSHIYUKI, KOBAYASHI KIMITO, MATSUMOTO ISAO, NAGASHITA TSUNEYOSHI, NAMIKI AKIO, NOMURA ISAMU, SHIMOKAWA KAZUTO, WATANABE YOSHIHIKO, ABE, HIROYUKI, AOYAGI, YOSHIO, HAENO, AKIRA, IIJIMA, TAKAYUKI, KIMURA, TOSHIYUKI, KOBAYASHI, KIMITO, MATSUMOTO, ISAO, NAGASHITA, TSUNEYOSHI, NAMIKI, AKIO, NOMURA, ISAMU, SHIMOKAWA, KAZUTO, WATANABE, YOSHIHIKO, Abe, Hiroyuki, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., AOYAGI, YOSHIO, C/O PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP., Haeno, Akira, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., IIJIMA, TAKAYUKI, C/O PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP., KIMURA, TOSHIYUKI, C/O PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP., Kobayashi, Kimito, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., Matsumoto, Isao, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., Nagashita, Tsuneyoshi, c/oPioneer Electronic Corp., NAMIKI, AKIO, C/O PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP., Nomura, Isamu, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., Shimokawa, Kazuto, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp., Watanabe, Yoshihiko, c/o Pioneer Electronic Corp.
Applicants: PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORP, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION
Application year: 1986
Main classification: G11B21
IPC codes: G11B19, G11B27, G11B7, G11B17