Apparatus for the recording of digital video signals

Abstract: When a video signal is recorded on a magnetic tape (14), a high frequency signal component of data converted by a DCT (discrete cosine transform) converter 3 in a DCT fashion or an outer code is recorded on a recording track at its beginning portion in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when a reproducing head (15) starts to reproduce the recording track. Also, a low frequency signal component of data converted by the DCT converter (3) in a DCT fashion is recorded on the recording track at its succeeding portion in which the reproducing head (15) can stably reproduce the recording track by a recording head (13). The high frequency signal component or outer code is recorded on the area corresponding to the track at its beginning portion in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head starts to reproduce the same upon playback and the low frequency signal component of data is recorded on the track at its succeeding portion in which the tracing of the reproducing head is stabilized relatively so that, even if a reproducing error occurs and increases because a waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head starts to trace the recording track, then an amount that a picture quality of a reproduced signal is deteriorated by such error can be reduced considerably.

Description: The present invention relates to recording apparatus, for example to apparatus for recording a digital signal on a magnetic tape medium. In conventional digital video tape recorders, as described in US-A-4,882,732 and US-A-4,799,113, an input analog video signal is converted into digital data and outer code data for error correction is added to the digital data. Then, the digital data added with the outer code data is shuffled, the shuffled digital data is multiplexed with sync and identification data, inner code data for error correction is added to the digital data thus multiplexed and the digital data added to the inner code data is processed in a channel-coding fashion. Further, the digital data that was processed in a channel-coding fashion is amplified and then supplied to a recording rotary head such that the digital data is recorded by the recording rotary head so as to form oblique video tracks. According to US-A-4,882,732, the redundancy symbols of the outer error correction code are recorded at the beginning of each track, followed by the information data so that even if the data reproduced from the beginning portion of the tape contains error, the information data is not much influenced by that error. IEEE 1991 International Conference on Consumer Electronics, Digest of Technical Papers, June 1991, New York, USA, pages 190-191 XP289000 YONEDA et al "An experimental digital VCR with new DCT-based bit-rate reduction system" discloses a digital VTR in which a digital video signal is DCT transform encoded. The transform encoded signal is subject to error correction encoding and recorded. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a digital video tape recorder (DVTR) tape format utilized when digital data is recorded by the digital VTR. As shown in FIG.1, in the above digital VTR, video data of one field is recorded by six video tracks. When video data recorded on a magnetic tape is reproduced, the magnetic tape is transported in the direction shown by an open arrow in FIG. 1 and a reproducing head is rotated in the direction shown by a solid arrow in FIG. 1. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a magnetic tape 14 is transported from an entrance tape guide dl to an exit tape guide d3 and a rotary drum d2 having a reproducing head 15 mounted thereon is rotated as shown by an arrow R1 in FIG. 2. The magnetic head 15 sequentially scans video tracks T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6 to reproduce recorded video data. Then, the reproduced data or signal is equalized and amplified. The reproduced signal thus amplified is decoded, de-shuffled and the reproduced signal thus de-shuffled is error-corrected. The reproduced signal thus error-corrected is subjected to error-concealing and the reproduced signal thus error-concealed is output as a digital or analog video signal. In the digital VTR, if data recorded on the narrow tracks on the magnetic tape 14 is reproduced by the reproducing head 15 mounted on the rotary drum d2, when the reproducing head 15 starts to trace the magnetic tape 14, the waveform of a reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude by a spacing loss caused by a so-called air film or a so-called impact error of the reproducing head 15 relative to the magnetic tape 14, etc. FIG. 3 shows an example of such phenomenon that the waveform of a reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude. Because the waveform of the reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude as shown in FIG. 3, a reproducing error tends to occur and increase at the beginning (portion at which the reproducing head 15 starts to scan) of the video track. There is then the disadvantage that a picture quality of a reproduced picture will be deteriorated. When the magnetic tape 14 is reproduced by a DT (dynamic tracking head) formed of a bimorph plate bm and the reproducing head 15 mounted on the bimorph plate bm in a so-called dynamic tracking fashion as shown in FIG. 4, the DT head effects the tracking from the beginning of the video track by some suitable methods such as a wobbling or the like. However, until the tracking of the DT head is stabilized from the beginning of the video track, as shown in FIG. 5, the waveform of a reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude similarly as described above. As a consequence, a reproducing error tends to occur and increase. There is then the disadvantage that the picture quality of a reproduced picture will be deteriorated. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided recording apparatus for recording a digital signal on oblique tracks on a magnetic tape medium, said apparatus comprising means for transform coding said digital signal into a transform-coded signal comprising high frequency components and low frequency components; means for generating outer code data for enabling error correction of said transform-coded data after reproduction from said tape medium and for combining said transform-coded data with said outer code data; means for recording the thus combined data on tracks on a magnetic tape medium, each track having a first area where a scanning head starts to scan said track and a second area subsequent to said first area; and means for rearranging said transform-coded data and said outer code data prior to recording, such that said outer code data or said high frequency components are recorded in the said first area and such that said low frequency components are recorded in the said second area. In an embodiment of the said first aspect, the high frequency components are recorded in the said first area. In another embodiment of the said first aspect, the outer code data are recorded in the first area and the low frequency components are recorded in the said second area. Preferably the high frequency components are recorded in the said second area. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided reproducing apparatus for reproducing a digital signal recorded by apparatus of said first aspect, and comprising means for reproducing from the oblique tracks on the tape the digital transform coded signal and the outer code data; means for arranging the reproduced transform coded signal and outer code data inversely to the rearranging means; outer code correcting means for correcting errors in the transform-coded signal based on the outer code data, and inverse transform coding means for inverse transforming the corrected transform coded signal. In an embodiment the digital signal includes inner code data and said reproducing means comprises means for equalising the digital signal reproduced from the tape; means for reproducing a clock signal on the basis of the equalised digital signal; means for converting the equalised digital signal in the form of one-bit serial data to 8-bit parallel data, and means responsive to the inner code data for correcting random errors in said 8-bit parallel data. The invention also provides a combination of a recording apparatus according to the first aspect and a reproducing apparatus according to the second aspect. In embodiments of the present invention, where information is recorded on a recording medium while the influence of playback error and the contact condition of the rotary head with the recording medium are taken into consideration, even if a playback error occurs in the first half portion of the track when a waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head starts the reproduction upon playback, an amount that the picture quality of the reproduced picture is deteriorated due to the occurrence of the reproducing error can be reduced considerably. The invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to identify the same or similar parts in the several views: FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a tape format of a digital video tape recorder (DVTR); FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a tape and a rotary head assembly of the digital video tape recorder, and to which references will be made in explaining the condition that recorded video data is reproduced by a reproducing head from a magnetic tape FIG. 3 is a diagram used to explain a phenomenon that a waveform of a reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude when a reproducing head just starts to trace a track; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a tape and a rotary head assembly of the digital video tape recorder, and to which references will be made in explaining a so-called dynamic tracking playback; FIG. 5 is a diagram used to explain a phenomenon that a waveform of a reproduced signal is deteriorated in amplitude when a dynamic tracking reproducing head just starts to trace the track; FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an information data recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIGS. 7A through 7D are respectively diagrams showing a discrete cosine transform, and to which references will be made in explaining operation of the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 8 is a diagram used to explain the condition that quantized data is written on the magnetic tape; and FIG. 9 is a diagram used to explain an arrangement of an error correction code block. An information data recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, there is provided an input terminal 1 to which a digital video signal is input. The digital video signal applied to the input terminal 1 is stored in a buffer memory 2 and then read out therefrom by a DCT (discrete cosine transform) circuit 3 at the block unit of 4 rows x 4 columns, for example, thereby converted into spatial frequency data. The spatial frequency data, i.e., transform coefficients, is supplied to a quantizer 4 and quantized by the quantizer 4. The discrete cosine transform and the quantization obtained by the discrete cosine transform will be described. The discrete cosine transform is one of band compression systems that are very useful for a video signal. The discrete cosine transform makes effective use of a correlation of video signal, in which an amount of recording information is reduced by the band compression and a recording time of a magnetic tape can be extended. As shown in FIG. 7A, the digital video signal, temporarily stored in the buffer memory 2 is read out therefrom at the unit of block b composed of block data bd of 4 rows x 4 columns and the block b is processed in a cosine transform fashion. As shown in FIG. 7B, a cosine wave whose frequency is increased at an interval of 0.5 cycle from zero cycle is sampled at a plurality of sampling points to thereby sequentially calculate a discrete cosine transform matrix in the horizontal and vertical directions. Thus, there is obtained two-dimensional spatial frequency data, i.e., transform coefficients F (u, v). A transform coefficient thus obtained by the discrete cosine transform is quantized by the quantizer 4 shown in FIG. 6. This quantizer 4 quantizes a transform coefficient (direct current component) DC and transform coefficients (alternate current components) AC1, AC2, AC3, ..., AC15 from low to high band sequentially in a zigzag-scan fashion as shown by dashed lines in FIG. 7C to thereby convert the same into codes as shown in FIG. 7D. At that time, by making effective use of characteristics of image data, i.e., characteristics that the level of a high frequency signal component of data is small as compared with that of a low frequency signal component of data and that a fluctuation of a high frequency signal component of data cannot be visually confirmed without difficulty, the quantization level is made coarser from low to high band to reduce an information amount, thereby effecting the band compression. Generally, there is determined a quantized coefficient region that is to be coded. Then, only the region of the transform coefficient thus quantized is coded and transmitted to a transmission line or storage system. Referring back to FIG. 6, the quantized data (DCT data) from the quantizer 4 is supplied to an outer code circuit 5. The outer code circuit 5 adds a burst error correction code to the quantized data from the quantizer 4 and writes the quantized data added with the burst error correction code in a field memory 7 on the basis of a write address signal from a write address counter 6. The quantized data written in the field memory 7 is sequentially read out therefrom on the basis of an address signal that is output from a ROM (read only memory) 9 in response to a count value from a read address counter 8. An operation in that the quantized data is written on the magnetic tape 14 on the basis of the address signal from the ROM 9 will be described with reference to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 shows an example of video tracks T1, T2, T3, ..., T6 formed when a signal of one field, for example, is recorded. Of the video tracks T1 to T6, areas which are not shown hatched represent areas (first half portions of video tracks) in which the waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated considerably when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the video tracks upon playback and areas shown hatched represent areas (second half portions of video tracks) in which the tracking of the reproducing head 15 can be stabilized, respectively. In this embodiment, when the video tracks T1 to T6 are sequentially formed by recording the signals, the high frequency signal component of data read out from the field memory 7 is recorded on the video tracks T1 to T6 at their portions, not hatched, (first half portions of tracks) in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated by the reproducing head 15 when the reproducing head 15 just starts the playback). On the other hand, the low frequency signal component of data read out from the field memory 7 is recorded on the video tracks T1 to T6 at their hatched portions (second half portions of video tracks) in which the reproducing head 15 can stably reproduce the tracks. As earlier noted, the high frequency signal component of data is less affected visually and the low frequency signal component of data is considerably affected visually. In concurrence therewith, if the quantized data is processed in an inverse discrete cosine transform fashion and reconverted into the original video signal when an error occurs in the quantized data because the waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated by the mis-tracking of the reproducing head 15 upon playback, then the amount by which the high frequency signal component of data is deteriorated in picture quality by the resultant error is comparatively small and the deteriorated picture quality can be concealed relatively easily. However, when the low frequency signal component of data is considerably deteriorated, the deteriorated picture quality cannot be concealed with ease. Of the quantized data, the high frequency signal component of data is recorded on the video tracks Tl to T6 at their first half portions in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated by the reproducing head 15 when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track and the low frequency signal component of data is recorded on the tracks Tl to T6 at their second portions in which the tracking of the reproducing head 15 is stabilized. Therefore, even if a reproducing error occurs when the waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated by the contact of the reproducing head 15, the reproducing error occurs only in the high frequency signal component of data. Thus, the picture quality of a reproduced picture can be prevented from being affected from a visual sense standpoint. More specifically, in synchronism with the timing at which the video tracks are formed by recording the signal by the recording head 13, as shown in FIG. 8, the ROM 9 outputs an address signal of area in which the high frequency signal component of data of the data stored in the field memory 7 is recorded at the timing in which the first half portion of the track is recorded and outputs an address signal of area in which the low frequency signal component of data of the data stored in the field memory 7 is stored at the timing in which the second half portion of the video track is recorded on the basis of a count value from the read address counter 8. Data are sequentially read out from the field memory 7 in response to the address signal from the ROM 9 from a high frequency signal component of data to the low frequency signal component of data. The quantized data thus read is supplied to a coding circuit 10. The coding circuit 10 processes the quantized data added with the outer code data from the field memory 7 in various code processing fashions in order to correct and detect a playback error upon playback. FIG. 9 shows an example of a format of a correction code block that results from the above code processing. Referring to FIG. 9, there is shown one correction code block. As shown in FIG. 9, this one correction code block comprises a sync. (synchronizing) code, an ID (identification) code, video data, an outer code and an inner code. The inner code is a correction code that is used to correct consecutive data within the sync. block and which is continuously recorded on the magnetic tape 14 as data. The inner code is mainly utilized to correct a random error. The outer code is a correction code that is used to correct discrete data of each sync. block. The outer code is recorded on the magnetic tape 14 at its portion distant from the portion where data is recorded and is mainly utilized to correct a burst error. This error correction code is data that is affected a little when an error occurs. More specifically, even when the error correction code is destroyed, if there remains normal video data, then the video signal can be reproduced without trouble. In particular, the outer code shown in FIG. 9 constructs a sync. block different from the video data and can be recorded at a proper position on the video track. According to a second embodiment of the present invention, similarly as described above with reference to FIG. 8, when the respective video tracks T1 to T6 are formed in that order by sequentially recording the signals, the outer code that is affected relatively a little when an error occurs is recorded on the video tracks T1 to T6 at their portions, not shown hatched, (first half portions of the video tracks T1 to T6) in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback. The outer code is affected relatively a little when an error occurs as described above. As shown in FIG. 8, this outer code is recorded on the video tracks T1 to T6 at their first half portions in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback. Thus, even when a reproducing error occurs and the reproducing error is increased, the amount that the picture quality of the reproduced video signal is deteriorated due to the reproducing error can be reduced because the outer code that is relatively less affected by the error occurred is recorded on the track at its portion in which a waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback. As described above, the ROM 9 outputs the address signal of the area in which the outer code in the data stored in the field memory 7 is stored at the timings in which the video tracks T1 and T6 are formed in synchronism with the timing at which the video track is formed by recording the signal by the recording head 13 in response to the count value from the read address counter 8. The outer code is sequentially read out from the field memory 7 in response to the address signal from the ROM 9 and the address signal thus read is supplied to the coding circuit 10. Referring back to FIG. 6, the quantized data and the burst error correction outer code supplied to the coding circuit 10 are combined with the random error correction code, the sync. code, the ID code or the like, converted from an 8-bit parallel signal to a one-bit serial signal having a clock frequency 8 times as high as the frequency of the 8-bit parallel signal and then supplied to a recording circuit 11. The recording circuit 11 supplies a recording current through a rotary transformer 12 to the recording head 13 mounted on the rotary drum (not shown) in response to the signal from the coding circuit 10, thereby recording the recording signal on the magnetic tape 14. An operation according to which the recording signal recorded on the magnetic tape 14 is reproduced will be described below. The recording signal that is recorded on the magnetic tape 14 so as to form the oblique video tracks is sequentially reproduced from the first half portion to the second half portion of the video track by the playback head 15. At that time, the high frequency signal component of video data or outer code is recorded on the first half portions of the video tracks and the low frequency signal component of data is recorded on the second half portions of the video tracks so that, even if the reproducing error occurs because a waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback, the picture quality can be prevented from being destroyed from a visual sense standpoint because the high frequency signal component of data or outer code that is less affected visually is recorded on the track at its first half portion in which the waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback. A reproduced signal that is reproduced by the playback head 15 (the recording head is also used as the reproducing head and vice versa) is supplied through a rotary transformer 16 to a playback equalizer 17. The reproduced signal thus equalized in waveform by the playback equalizer 17 is supplied to a PLL (phase-locked loop) circuit 18. The PLL circuit 18 reproduces a clock on the basis of the reproduced signal from the playback equalizer 17. Then, a reproduced signal from the PLL circuit 18 is supplied to a sync. detector circuit 19. The sync. detector circuit 19 reproduces a block sync. signal to convert one-bit serial data from the PLL circuit 18 into 8-bit parallel data having a 1/8-times clock frequency. The 8-bit parallel data is supplied to an inner code correcting circuit 20. The inner code correcting circuit 20 corrects a random error by using the 8-bit parallel data from the sync. detector circuit 19 and supplies the 8-bit parallel data thus corrected in random error to an ID decoder 21 and a field memory 22. The ID decoder 21 decodes the above ID code and generates an address signal on the basis of the ID code thus decoded. This address signal is supplied to a field memory 22 so that the quantized data and the outer code are written in the field memory 22. As shown in FIG. 6, a video sync. signal is supplied to an input terminal 23. The video sync. signal applied to the input terminal 23 is supplied to a read address counter 24. The read address counter 24 generates a read address signal on the basis of the video sync. signal supplied to the input terminal 23. The read address signal thus read is supplied to the above field memory 22. Accordingly, the quantized data and the outer code written in the field memory 22 are read out therefrom and the quantized data and outer code thus read are supplied to an outer code correcting circuit 25. The outer code correcting circuit 25 corrects a burst error of the quantized data similarly supplied from the field memory 22 by using the outer code supplied thereto from the field memory 22. The quantized data in which the burst error was corrected is supplied to an inverse DCT circuit 26. The inverse DCT circuit 26 converts the quantized data from the outer code correcting circuit 25 into the transform coefficient, converts the transform coefficient into original image data and supplies the original image data to an error concealing circuit 27. The error concealing circuit 27 conceals an error of the image data from the inverse DCT circuit 26 and outputs the error-concealed video signal from an output terminal 28 as a reproduced video signal. The reproduced video signal is supplied through the output terminal 28 to a monitor (not shown) or the like, thereby being displayed on a picture screen of the monitor as a reproduced picture. As described above, according to this embodiment, when the recording signal is recorded by the recording head 13, of the recording signal, the high frequency signal component of data that is less affected from a visual sense standpoint or the outer code that is less affected by the occurrence of error is recorded on the first half portion of the track formed by recording the recording signal by the recording head 13, i.e., in the portion in which the waveform of a reproduced output is considerably deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback. Also, the low frequency signal component of data that is affected considerably from a visual sense standpoint, i.e., the low frequency signal component of data that is considerably affected in picture quality from a visual sense standpoint is recorded on the track at its second half portion in which the contact of the reproducing head 15 is relatively stabilized. Thus, even if a reproducing error occurs and increases because the waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head 15 just starts to scan the track upon playback, the amount of picture quality deterioration of the reproduced picture due to the reproducing error can be remarkably reduced. In the case of FIG. 8, the first half portion and the second half portion of the track are assigned ratios of substantially 50 % and 50 % because the distribution of the signal components is determined such that the low frequency signal component is selected to be 1/3 of the total signal amount, the high frequency signal component is selected to be 1/2 of the total signal amount, and the outer code is selected to be 1/6 of the total signal amount. The present invention is not limited thereto and the following variant is also possible: That is, when an apparatus such as a digital video tape recorder or the like is designed in actual practice, the low frequency signal component of data and the high frequency signal component of data may remain unseparated and only the outer code may be recorded on the first half portion of the track and the low frequency signal component of data and the high frequency signal component of data may be recorded together on the second half portion of the track. In this case, a range of about 10 to 20 % is assigned to an outer code area. While the video signal is recorded on the magnetic tape 14 as described above, the present invention may be applied to the case that an audio signal and other various informations are recorded on the magnetic tape 14. In an embodiment of the present invention, wherein information is recorded on a recording medium while the influence of playback error and the contact condition of the rotary head with the recording medium are taken into consideration, even if a playback error occurs in the first half portion of the track when a waveform of a reproduced output is deteriorated in amplitude when the reproducing head just starts to scan the track upon playback, the amount by which the picture quality of the reproduced picture is deteriorated due to the occurrence of the reproducing error can be reduced considerably.

Claims: Recording apparatus for recording a digital signal on oblique tracks of a magnetic tape medium, said apparatus comprising: means (3) for transform coding said digital signal into a transform-coded signal comprising high frequency components and low frequency components; means (5) for generating outer code data for enabling error correction of said transform-coded data after reproduction from said tape medium and for combining said transform-coded data with said outer code data; means (10, 13) for recording the thus combined data on tracks on a magnetic tape medium each track having a first area where a scanning head (13) starts to scan said track and a second area subsequent to said first area; and means (6, 8, 9) for rearranging said transform-coded data and said outer code data prior to recording, such that either said outer code data or said high frequency components are recorded in the said first area and such that said low frequency components are recorded in the said second area. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the high frequency components are recorded in the said first area. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer code data are recorded in the said first area and the low frequency components are recorded in the said second area. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the high frequency components are recorded in the said second area. Apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the transform coding means orthogonally transforms the said digital signal. Apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, wherein the transform coding means (3) comprises a DCT (discrete cosine transform) coding means. The apparatus according to any preceding claim, in which said rearranging means includes means (7) for storing the outer code data and the transform coded signal, a write address counter (6) for defining the locations in which the code data and signal are stored and means (8, 9) including a read address counter (8) for reading out the code data and the coded signal in an order so as to record them in the said areas on the tape. Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the digital signal includes a digital video signal. Apparatus according to claim 8, when dependent on claim 7, wherein the storing means stores one video field of said transform coded signal and outer-code data. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, further comprising quantising means (4) for quantizing the transform coded signal and wherein the outer code generating means (5) generates the outer-code data in response to the quantized transform-coded signal. Reproducing apparatus for reproducing a digital signal recorded by apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, and comprising: means (15-20) for reproducing from the oblique tracks on the tape the digital transform coded signal and the outer code data; means (21, 22, 24) for arranging the reproduced transform coded signal and outer code data inversely to the rearranging means; outer code correcting means (25) for correcting errors in the transform-coded signal based on the outer code data, and inverse transform coding means (26) for inverse transforming the corrected transform coded signal. Reproducing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the digital signal includes inner code data and said reproducing means (15-20) comprises, means (17) for equalising the digital signal reproduced from the tape, means (18) for reproducing a clock signal on the basis of the equalised digital signal, means (19) for converting the equalised digital signal having the form of one-bit serial data to 8-bit parallel data, and means (20) responsive to the inner code data for correcting random errors in said 8-bit parallel data. Apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the arranging means (21, 22, 24) comprises means (22) for storing the transform-coded signal and the outer code data contained within the corrected 8-bit parallel data, and means (21) for producing from the corrected 8-bit parallel data an address signal for writing the said data into the storing means. Apparatus according to claim 13, in which said storing means comprises a buffer memory (22). Apparatus according to claim 12, 13 or 14, in which said means for reproducing a clock signal comprises a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit (18). Apparatus according to claims 12, 13, 14 or 15, in which said converting means comprises a synchronizing detector (19). Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 16, comprising means (27) for concealing errors in the corrected and inverse transformed signal. Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the inverse transfer coding means is an inverse orthogonal coding means. Apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 18, in which said inverse transform coding means is an inverse discrete cosine transform circuit (26). A system comprising recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10 and reproducing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 19.

Inventors: UEDA MAMORU C O PATENTS DIVISI, UEDA, MAMORU, Ueda, Mamoru, c/o Patents Division
Applicants: SONY CORP, SONY CORPORATION
Application year: 1993
Main classification: H04N5
IPC codes: H04N5, G11B20