PROGRAM SELECTION FOR A DIGITAL AUDIO DISK

Abstract: A digital audio player in which the pieces of music are played according to a program. The program is selected so that the total playing time does not exceed a set period of time. The selection is performed by reading playing times from a disk on which are recorded both the pieces of music and their separate playing times.

Description: The present invention relates to a digital audio disk reproducing apparatus and method, and, in particular, to an apparatus and method for reproducing recorded information from digital audio disks generally referred to as compact disks. The recording area of a digital audio disk (also called a compact disk) is shown in Figure 1 and consists of three portions arranged, from the centre outward, in the order of a lead-in area E1, a program area E2 and a lead-out area E3. A data group called TOC (table of contents) is recorded in the lead-in area E1 and the TOC contains data specifying various factors including addresses (positions on the disks) for the number of pieces of music recorded thereon and the intermediate portions, as well as the playing time required to reproduce each piece of music, and the total playing time. The program area E2 adjacent the lead-in area E1 contains audio information which will be replayed. The lead-out area E3 contains repeated signals for indicating the ending of the audio information of the program area E2. Information recorded on a digital audio disk is reproduced with a digital audio disk player (hereinafter referred to simply as a player) either sequentially (i.e. all pieces of music recorded are reproduced in the order they have been recorded) or in a selective fashion (only designated pieces of music are reproduced). A player having a capability for random memory music selection or program music selection has already been developed for use as an apparatus for reproducing the pieces of music recorded in the digital disk. This player is so designed that it automatically reproduces successive pieces of music in response to the addressing of their music numbers by manual operation on an input device such as a keyboard. There sometimes occurs the need to reproduce with this player the pieces of music recorded in a digital audio disk and to dub (or copy) them onto magnetic tape. The time required to reproduce all of the recorded pieces of music is not necessarily equal to the time over which recording is possible with the tape. Therefore, it is possible that the piece of music being replayed after dubbing will be interrupted or a prolonged blank period will occur at the end of the tape to cause discomfort to the listener. In order to ensure that none of the pieces of music dubbed onto magnetic tape will be interrupted during replay, the user who is dubbing must first check the recordability of pieces of music in consideration of the tape length and the total playing time of the pieces of music to the dubbed and then to make use of the random memory music selection capability of the player to designate the pieces of music that can be dubbed and properly reproduced from the tape. However, complicated procedures are necessary to attain this object with the conventional player. JP-A-58-161189 discloses a dubbing system in which the duration of each piece of program information is compared, immediately in advance of being played, with the time remaining on the recording medium in order to determine whether or not it is recordable within the remaining available time, and the recording is controlled accordingly. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital audio disk reproducing apparatus and method that automatically achieves desired dubbing without complicated procedures. According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a disk player for a digital audio disk having recorded thereon a plurality of information sections, and having recorded thereon the time duration for playback of each of said information sections, said player including dubbing means for facilitating the recording of said information sections on another recording medium on which information may be recorded for a predetermined period of time, said dubbing means comprising: means for storing the predetermined recordable time of said recording medium: means for reading and storing the duration of each information section of a disk; means for successively summing the time durations of a first and successive information sections to be recorded until the total time duration of the successively summed time durations first exceeds said predetermined recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose time duration caused said summed time duration to first exceed said first predetermined recordable time being termed the first overflow information section; means for storing an indication of said first and each successive information section up to but not including said first overflow information section to designate a program for recording onto said recording medium; and means, responsive to said stored program, for causing playback of the information sections constituting the program for recording. The invention also includes a method of recording information from a digital audio disk onto another recording medium having a predetermined recordable period of time in which information may be recorded thereon, the disk having recorded thereon a plurality of information sections and the duration of playback of each of said information sections, the method comprising the steps of: storing the predetermined recordable period of time of said recording medium: reading and storing the duration of each information section of the disk; successively summing the durations of a first and each successive information section to be recorded until the total duration of the successively summed durations first exceeds said predetermined recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose duration caused said sum to first exceed said predetermined recordable time being termed the first overflow information section; storing an indication of said first and each successive information section up to but not including said first overflow information section to designate a program for recording onto said recording medium; and playing back, in response to said stored program, the information sections constituting the program for recording. The digital audio disk reproducing apparatus and method of the present invention is so designed that, in response to a programming command (a reproduction instruction for reproducing), each of the combinations of pieces of information that can be reproduced within a designated period of time is determined on the basis of the time information recorded on the disk and is then written into a memory. In the accompanying drawings:- Figure 1 shows the recording areas of a digital audio disk; Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a digital audio disk reproducing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a sketch of the operating panel incorporated in the apparatus of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a flowchart showing a sequence for operating the system shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a flowchart showing another sequence for operating the system shown in Figure 1; Figure 6 is a block diagram of another apparatus that can be used to reproduce information from a digital audio disk by the method of the present invention; and, Figure 7 is a flow chart showing the sequence of operating the apparatus of Figure 6. Figure 2 shows how the information recorded in a digital audio disk 2, that is driven to rotate with a spindle motor 3, is read out of the disk with an optical pickup 4. The pickup 4 contains in its interior a laser diode, an objective lens, a focus actuator, a tracking actuator, a photodetector, etc. The output of the pickup 4 is supplied to the inputs of a focus servo circuit 5, a tracking servo circuit 6, and a phase comparator circuit 9 including a RF amplifier. A focus error is produced by the focus servo circuit 5 and the focus actuator in the pickup 4 is driven in accordance with the amount of this error. A tracking error is produced in the tracking servo circuit 6 and this error component is sent to both the tracking actuator in the pickup 4 and a pickup move servo circuit 7. In response to the output of this pickup move servo circuit 7, the pickup 4 is moved in the radial direction of the disk 2. The phase comparator circuit 9 produces a reproduction clock signal. The phase difference between the reproduction clock signal and a reference clock signal from a clock generator circuit 13 is detected by a spindle servo circuit 8, which controls the spindle motor 3 to be driven in such a way that the linear speed of the tracks on the recording disk 2 will held constant. The output of the phase comparator circuit 9 is also supplied to an EFM (eight to fourteen modulation) demodulator circuit 10 including a frame synchronizing circuit. The demodulation output is processed in a data processing circuit 11 which performs various operations on the demodulated data signal, such as de-interleaving, error detection, correction, and various other modifications. The processed data is temporarily stored in a data memory 12 before it is read out in response to a clock signal that is issued at a predetermined period from the clock generator circuit 13. The read data is converted into an analog signal in a D/A (digital/analog) converter 14. The output of the D/A converter 14 is passed through LPFs (low-pass filters) 16 to produce left- and right-channel audio signals that are supplied at respective output terminals. The data from the EFM demodulator circuit 10 contains a control signal that is supplied to a system controller 17 which reads the TOC from the lead-in area and other audio information from the program area. Examples of the audio information also include (i) the result of checking as to whether the reproduced signal remains at a low level longer than a predetermined period, (ii) music number, (iii) the playing time of the music being reproduced, and (iv) audio mute. The system controller 17 is composed of one of more units of microcomputers. In response to keying-in on an operating panel 19 and to instruction codes written in the program area of a RAM (random access memory) 18, the system controller 17 supplies data to a display 20 and provides various commands to the pickup move servo circuit 7, the spindle servo circuit 8 and the D/A converter 14. As shown in Figure 3, the operating panel 19 is provided with an edit key K1 for issuing a programming command and a ten-key pad K2 for designating the duration of reproduction mode and the piece of music to be reproduced. The processor in the microcomputer(s) of which the system controller 17 is composed is operated in accordance with the program stored in a ROM (read-only memory) and performs the following sequence of processing. If an interrupt request signal is generated by a timer or the like during the execution of a main routine, the processor determines whether the TOC has been read from the lead-in area of the disk 2 to be written into RAM 18 (step S1 in Figure 4). If it is found that the writing of TOC into RAM has not been completed, the processor resumes the execution of the main routine. If the writing of the TOC into RAM 18 has been completed, the processor determines whether the duration of the reproduction mode has been designated and whether a program command has been issued (step S2). If the failure to perform one or both of these jobs is found, the processor resumes the execution of the main routine. If it is found that one or both of these jobs have been carried out, the processor determines whether the number of the first piece of music to be reproduced has been designated by the operation on the ten-pad key K2 at a time subsequent, for example, to the designation of the duration of reproduction mode (step S3). If the result is negative, the processor allocates a designation number i = 1 to the first piece of music recorded on the disk 2 (S4 in Figure 3) and writes the number i into the program area of RAM 18 as a code for an instruction that commands the reproduction of the piece of music assigned that number (step S5). If, as a result of execution of step S3, it is found that the music number of the first piece of music to be played has been input as designation number i , the processor immediately executes step S5. In the next place, the processor determines whether the total duration of the time required to reproduce the piece of music having the designated i that has been written as a code on the disk for the instruction for reproduction is longer than the designated duration of the reproduction mode (S6). If the result is positive, the processor erases the last instruction code containing i that has been written into the programm area of the RAM 18 (S7) and resumes the execution of the main routine. If the result is negative, that is, the total duration of reproduction time is equal or shorter than the designated duration of reproduction mode, the processor determines whether the designated music number i that has been written into the program area of RAM 18 is identical to the music number i LAST of the last music recorded in the disk 2 (step S8). If the result is negative, the processor adds 1 (one) to the designated music number i (step S9) and repeats step S5 and the subsequent sequence. If the testing for the end is positive, the processor resumes the execution of the main routine. As a result of these procedures, a program that provides successive reproduction of the maximum number of pieces of information that can be reproduced within the designated duration of the reproduction mode is automatically written into the program area of RAM 18, to thereby achieve the desired dubbing by a simple operation. Figure 5 is a flow sheet showing another sequence for operating the system shown in Figure 2. Since steps S11 and S12 of this sequence are the same as steps S1 and S2 shown in Figure 4, the following description is directed to step S13 and subsequent steps. If, as a result of execution of step S12, it is found that the duration of reproduction mode has been designated and a program command has been issued, the processor determines whether the program that has already been automatically established by a previous execution of the same sequence is stored in the program area (step S13). If the result is positive, the processor determines whether the last instruction code i PROG, LAST of the stored program is the music number i DISK, LAST of the last piece of music recorded in the disk 2 (step S14). If the result is positive, the processor resumes the main routine. If, the result is negative, the processor writes a pause instruction (i.e. a command for the stop of the reproduction mode) at the next address next after the last instruction code of the stored program (step S15). Then, the processor assigns the value to the designation number i of the music number which is next after the one that has been written as the last instruction code of the stored program and stores this music number i as a program starting number i₁ in a memory device such as a register (step S16). Subsequently, the processor determines whether the setting of the program starting designated number i has been completed (step S17). If, as a result of step S13, it is found that no program has been stored in the program area, the processor immediately goes to step 17. If, as a result of execution of step S17, it is found that the setting of the starting designated number i has not been completed, the processor assigns to the designation number i the value of the music number of the first piece of music recorded in the disk 2 and stores this music number i in a memory device such as a register (step S18). This number i is written into the program area as an instruction code (step S19). If the result of the test of step S17 is positive (i.e. the setting of designated number i has been completed), the processor immediately programs the designated i in step S19. In the next step, the processor determines whether the time required for executing all of the additional instructions written into the program area is longer than the designated duration of the reproduction mode (step S20). If the result is positive, the processor erases the last instruction that was written into the program area so as to cancel the last piece of music from the program (step S21). The processor then determines whether the last additional instruction written into the program area is a pause instruction (step S22). If the result is positive, the processor erases that pause instruction (step S23) and resumes the main routine. If the result if negative (i.e. the last instruction of the program newly stored in the program area is not a pause instruction), the processor immediately resumes the main routine. If the result of the execution of step S20 is negative (i.e. the time required for executing all of the additional instructions written into the program area is equal to or shorter than the designated duration of the reproduction mode), the processor determines whether the music number written into the program area as the last instruction code is the same as the music number of the last piece of music recorded in the disk 2 (step S24). If the result is positive, the processor resume the execution of the main routine. If the result is negative, the processor adds 1 (one) to the designated number i stored in the register (step S25) and performs the execution of step S19 and the subsequent sequence of steps. As a result of these procedures, two programs that permit successive reproduction of the maximum number of pieces of information that can be reproduced within the designated duration of the reproduction mode are formed with a pause instruction being inserted between the two programs. Therefore, information can be dubbed onto each of the two recording areas (surface A and surface B) of a magnetic tape. As described above, the digital audio disk reproducing apparatus of the first embodiment of the present invention is so designed that, in response to a programming command, a reproduction instruction for reproducing, on the basis of the time information recorded in the disk, each of the combinations of pieces of information that can be reproduced within a designated period of time is written into a memory. No complicated procedures are necessary to ensure that the copying of recorded pieces of music from a digital audio disk onto a magnetic tape is stopped just when the reproduction of a piece of music of interest is completed before the tape has been completely exhausted. As a result, satisfactory dubbing can be accomplished with no piece of music being interrupted in the midst of playing. Figure 6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the invention. A player 1 reproduces the information recorded in a digital audio disk 2. The player 1 corresponds closely to the player of Figure 2 and like referenced elements not otherwise described perform similar functions and will not be further described. A player controller 17 corresponds to the system controller of Figure 2 but is in turn supplied with commands from an overall system controller 30. The player controller supplies the system controller 30 with data indicating the information recorded on the disk and its state of operation. Like the player controller 17, the system controller 30 is composed of one or more units of microcomputers and supplies commands and other instructions to the player controller 17, the display 20 and a function control 23 in a deck 22 in response to keying-in on the operating panel 19 and output data from the player controller 17. The audio signals are input from the player 1 into the desk 22 and are passed through respective recording amplifiers 24 to be fed to a recording head in a function unit 26 after being biased with an oscillator circuit 25. The processor in the microcomputer(s) of which the system controller 30 is composed is operated in accordance with a program stored in a ROM (read-only memory) and performs the following sequence of processing, as illustrated in the flow chart of Figure 7. If, during execution of a main routine, the processor is supplied with a dubbing start command that the user keys in on the operating panel 19, the processor reads in data that indicates the tape length, or recordable time, T i and which is generated by suitable means such as keying-in on the operation panel 19 subsequent to the issuance of that dubbing start command (step S1). The processor then supplies the player controller 17 with a command for reproducing information from the lead-in area of the disk 2. As a result, the processor reads in both data that indicates playing times t i , t₂ ... which are individually required to reproduce the separate pieces of recorded music and also data that indicates the total playing time T t which is required to reproduce all of the pieces of recorded music (steps S2 and S3). The processor compares T t with T i (step S4) and issues a command for reproducing all of the pieces of music recorded on the disk 2 if the recordable time T i is greater than the total playing time T t (step S5). The processor then subtracts T t from T i (S6 in Figure 2) and writes 1 (one) into a RAM at a predetermined address as data that indicates a number n of pieces of music (S7 in Figure 2). If, as a result of execution of step S4, it is found that T i is equal to or smaller than T t , i.e. there is insufficient recorded time, the processor immediately goes to step S7. In a subsequent step, the processor calculates a partial total playing time T n which is the total of the playing times of the first to n-th pieces of music (t₁,t₂...t n ) for the current value of n . The processor compares the partial total playing time T n to the recordable time T i (step S8). If T n is equal to or smaller then T i , the processor adds 1 (one) to n (the number of pieces of music) and again executes step S8 (step S9). If T n is greater than T i , the processor subtracts 1 (one) from n (step S10). The value of n which is finally determined is the number n of pieces which can be recorded within the recordable time T n . The processor then feeds the controller 17 in the player 1 with data that designates the first to n-th pieces of music (step S11 in Figure 2). The processor then feeds the player controller 17 with a command for starting to reproduce the designated pieces of music and, at the same time, the processor sends a record start command to the control circuit 23 in the desk 22 (step S12 in Figure 2). In the next step, the processor checks to see if the player 1 has reproduced all of the designated pieces of music. If the result if affirmative, the processor sends an operation stop command to the player controller 17 in the player 1 and to the control circuit 23 in the deck 22 (steps S13 and S14). In the embodiment described above, the system controller 30 sends a variety of commands to the control circuit 23 so as to perform control over the deck 22 but this control of the deck 22 by the system controller 30 is not completely necessary. Another feature of the embodiment described above is that a combination of pieces of music to be reproduced is set in such a manner that T n , or the total of the playing times of the first to n-th pieces of music recorded in the disk 2, will not exceed the recordable time T i . Alternatively, the pieces of music to be reproduced may be combined in such a selection that T n for that selection is smaller than T i but also is closer to T i than any other selection. As described above, according to the digital audio disk reproducing method of the second embodiment present invention, time information that indicates the time required to reproduce the pieces of information recorded in a digital audio disk is first read to detect the time required to reproduce each piece of recorded information, then an arithmetic operation is performed on the detected time to detect the pieces of information that can be reproduced within a pre-determined period of time, and the so detected pieces of information are successively reproduced. By employing this operational sequence, the method of the present invention achieves automatic dubbing of recorded information in magnetic tape in a satisfactory manner without causing any interrupted music or prolonged blank period at the end of the tape.

Claims: A disk player for a digital audio disk (2) having recorded thereon a plurality of information sections, and having recorded thereon the time duration for playback of each of said information sections, said player including dubbing means for facilitating the recording of said information sections on another recording medium on which information may be recorded for a predetermined period of time, said dubbing means comprising: means (18,19) for storing the predetermined recordable time of said recording medium: means (4,9,10,17,18) for reading and storing the duration of each information section of a disk; means (17) for successively summing the time durations of a first and successive information sections to be recorded until the total time duration of the successively summed time durations first exceeds said predetermined recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose time duration caused said summed time duration to first exceed said first predetermined recordable time being termed the first overflow information section; means (17,18) for storing an indication of said first and each successive information section up to but not including said first overflow information section to designate a program for recording onto said recording medium; and means (17), responsive to said stored program, for causing playback of the information sections constituting the program for recording. A disk player according to claim 1 wherein the other recording medium is a magnetic audio tape. A disk player according to claim 2, further comprising a tape deck for dubbing said information sections of the audio disk onto said magnetic audio tape. A disk player according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: means (17) for determining whether said first and each successive information section to be recorded is the last information section recorded on the disk: and means (17) for inhibiting said successive summing means such that the last indicated information section stored in the program is the information section directly preceding said first overflow information section or the last information section recorded on the disk. A disk player according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: means (17) for determining whether or not there remains on the disk an information section not included in the program when the playback of the information sections in the program is completed; and means (17), responsive to a determination that there remains on the disk an information section not included in the program when the playback of the information sections in the program is completed, for storing a pause information section for stopping the playback of information sections, said pause information section being stored after the last information section of the stored program, and being included in the stored program. A disk player according to claim 5, further comprising: means (17) for successively summing the durations of said first overflow and each successive information section to be recorded until the total time duration of the successively summed time durations beginning with said first overflow section first exceeds a second recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose duration caused said sum of durations beginning with said first overflow information section to first exceed said second recordable time being termed the second overflow information section; means (17,18) for storing, after said stored pause information section, an indication of said first overflow and each successive information section up to but not including said second overflow information section, said first overflow and each successive information section up to but not including said second overflow information section being included in the stored program. A disk player according to claim 6, further comprising: means (17) for determining whether said first overflow and each successive information section is the last information section recorded on the disk; and means (17) for inhibiting said means for successively summing the durations of said first overflow and each successive information section to be recorded such that the last indicated information section stored in the program for recording is the information section directly preceding said second overflow information section or the last information section recorded on the disk. A disk player according to claim 6 or claim 7, further comprising: means (17) for deleting said stored pause information section from the program only if the duration of said first overflow information section exceeds said second period of time. A method of recording information from a digital audio disk onto another recording medium having a predetermined recordable period of time in which information may be recorded thereon, the disk having recorded thereon a plurality of information sections and the duration of playback of each of said information sections, the method comprising the steps of: storing the predetermined recordable period of time of said recording medium: reading and storing the duration of each information section of the disk; successively summing the durations of a first and each successive information section to be recorded until the total duration of the successively summed durations first exceeds said predetermined recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose duration caused said sum to first exceed said predetermined recordable time being termed the first overflow information section; storing an indication of said first and each successive information section up to but not including said first overflow information section to designate a program for recording onto said recording medium; and playing back, in response to said stored program, the information sections constituting the program for recording. A method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of: determining whether said first and each successive information section to be recorded is the last information section recorded on the disk: and stopping said step of successively summing such that the last indicated information section stored in the program is the information section directly preceding the overflow information section or the last information section recorded on the disk. A method according to claim 9 or claim 10, further comprising the steps of: determining whether or not there remains on the disk an information section not included in the program when the playback of the information sections in the program is completed; and storing, in response to a determination that there remains on the disk an information section not included in the program when the playback of the information sections in the program is completed, a pause information section for stopping the playback of information sections, said pause information section being stored after the last information section of the stored program, and being included in the stored program for recording. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of: successively summing the time durations of said first overflow and each successive information section to be recorded until the total duration of the successively summed durations beginning with said first overflow section first exceeds a second recordable time of said recording medium, the information section whose duration caused said total duration beginning with said first overflow information section to first exceed said second recordable time being termed the second overflow information section; storing, after said pause information section, an indication of said first overflow and each successive information section up to, but not including said second overflow information section, said first overflow and each successive information section up to but not including said second overflow section being included in the stored program for recording. A method according to claim 12, further comprising the steps of: determining whether said first overflow and each successive information section is the last information section recorded on the disk; and stopping said step of successively summing the durations of said first overflow and each successive information section to be recorded such that the last indicated information section stored in the program for recording is the information section directly preceding said second overflow information section or the last information section recorded on the disk. A method according to claim 12 or claim 13, further comprising the step of: deleting said pause information section from said program for recording if the time duration of said first overflow information section exceeds said second period of time.

Inventors: AMEMIYA,NAOMI, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION, KIKUCHI,TAKASHI, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION, SUZUKI,SHIRO, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION, TANABE, MASASHI, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION, TSUCHIDA,MASAMI, PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION
Applicants: PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION
Application year: 1987
Main classification: G11B27
IPC codes: G11B27