Abstract:
In a recording/reproducing apparatus using a hard disk drive (HDD), a connection confirmation/processing program (program for confirming connection with an external equipment and conducting processing required for that connection) which can be executed during starting time of the HDD is stored in a non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory) of a microcomputer, and a recording/reproduction control program which cannot be executed until the HDD becomes accessible and is greatly affected by extension of the functions and modification of the specification is stored in the HDD.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording and reproducing audio visual (AV) data.  
           [0002]    Recently, a recording/reproducing apparatus using a hard disk drive (HDD) to store audio visual (AV) data is developed. This recording/reproducing apparatus enables implementation of various recording/reproducing modes by utilizing the large storage capacity and fast access of the HDD.  
           [0003]    Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-187939 describes an example of an AV-data recording/reproducing apparatus using a HDD. This apparatus is connected to an external equipment via an IEEE1394 bus, and receives an AV stream and various control commands through the bus.  
           [0004]    In view of the ease of extension of the functions and modification of the specification, it is effective for a microcomputer to control the overall operation of the AV data recording/reproducing apparatus. In other words, it is effective to employ a program control system. Moreover, there is a requirement for the AV data recording/reproducing apparatus as an AV equipment to quickly become accessible by the user after power-on (i.e., short starting time). This requires consideration of the storage location of the programs to be executed by the microcomputer.  
           [0005]    For reduced starting time, it is convenient to store all programs in a rewritable, non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. However, this type of semiconductor memory has a great limitation on storage capacity, and therefore cannot store a large-size program. For example, a flash memory which is mounted on a microcomputer chip has a capacity of about 256 kilobytes. The use of a non-rewritable, non-volatile memory such as a mask ROM (Read Only Memory) would improve integration, but is not advantageous in terms of extension of the functions and modification of the specification.  
           [0006]    For example, a 30 G-byte HDD for storing AV data may have a program storage region for storing all programs, so- that the programs may be read onto a main memory, e.g., DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) as necessary for execution. As opposed to the case of a general-purpose personal computer, however, this is not practical in the AV data recording/reproducing apparatus due to the long starting time of the HDD (the time required for the HDD to become accessible after power-on).  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    It is an object of the present invention to implement optimal program arrangement in an AV data recording/reproducing apparatus using a HDD, which can achieve both short starting time and easy extension and modification of programs.  
           [0008]    In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an AV data recording/reproducing apparatus configured to be connected with an external equipment via a bus separately stores a connection confirmation/processing program (program for confirming connection with an external equipment and conducting processing required for that connection) and a recording/reproducing control program. In other words, the connection confirmation/processing program which can be executed during starting time of a HDD is stored in a non-volatile memory of a microcomputer, and a recording/reproduction control program which cannot be executed until the HDD becomes accessible and is greatly affected by extension of the functions and modification of the specification is stored in the HDD.  
           [0009]    More specifically, an AV data recording/reproducing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a digital input/output (I/O) interface for receiving and outputting an AV stream via the bus, a recording control section for producing AV data including AV information and management information from the AV stream received through the digital I/O interface, a HDD for storing a recording/reproduction control program and storing the AV data produced by the recording control section, a reproduction control section for reproducing the AV stream based on the AV data read from the HDD, and outputting the reproduced AV stream via the digital I/O interface, and a microcomputer having a non-volatile memory storing a connection confirmation/processing program. The microcomputer executes the connection confirmation/processing program stored in the non-volatile memory during starting time of the HDD after power-on in order to confirm connection with the external equipment via the digital I/O interface and to execute processing required for the connection, and then executes the recording/reproduction control program read from the HDD in order to determine respective operation modes of the recording control section and the reproduction control section. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the structure of an audio visual (AV) data recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the AV data recording/reproducing apparatus in FIG. 1; and  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another example of the structure of the AV data recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0013]    Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. An AV data recording/reproducing apparatus using a HDD is herein referred to as “AVHDD”.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 shows an example of the structure of an AVHDD according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the AVHDD  1  of the present invention is connected to external equipments such as a digital broadcasting tuner  2  and a digital television (TV)  3  via an IEEE1394 bus  4 . The AVHDD  1  includes an HDD  10 , a buffer memory  20 , a DRAM (program memory)  30 , a microcomputer  40 , a digital input/output (I/O) interface  50 , a recording control section  60 , a buffer control section  70 , and a reproduction control section  80 .  
         [0015]    The digital I/O interface  50  receives and outputs an AV stream and various control commands via the IEEE1394 bus  4 . For example, the AV stream is an MPEG-2 transport stream for packet-based serial communications. The recording control section  60  produces AV data including AV information and management information from the AV stream received through the digital I/O interface  50 . The AV information includes transport stream packets, and the management information includes, e.g., a timestamp. The AV data thus produced by the recording control section  60  is transferred to the HDD  10  through the buffer memory  20 . The HDD  10  stores the AV data transferred thereto. The AV data read from the HDD  10  is transferred to the reproduction control section  80  through the buffer memory  20 . The buffer control section  70  controls AV-data transfer between the recording control section  60  and the buffer memory  20 , between the buffer memory  20  and the HDD  10 , and between the buffer memory  20  and the reproduction control section  80 . The reproduction control section  80  reproduces the AV stream based on the AV data read from the HDD  10 , and outputs the reproduced AV stream via the digital I/O interface  50 .  
         [0016]    A recording/reproduction control program  11  for determining the respective operation modes of the recording control section  60  and the reproduction control section  80  is prestored in a region of the HDD  10  other than the region for storing AV data. The program memory  30  is a memory for storing the recording/reproduction control program  11  read from the HDD  10  so that the microcomputer  40  can execute the program  11 . The microcomputer  40  serves as a controller for controlling the overall operation of the AVHDD  1 , and a non-volatile memory  41  is mounted on the microcomputer chip. A program  42  for confirming connection with the external equipments  2 ,  3  via the digital I/O interface  50  and conducting processing required for that connection is prestored in the non-volatile memory  41  (hereinafter, this program  42  is referred to as “connection confirmation/processing program 42”). The non-volatile memory  41  may either be a flash memory or a mask ROM.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 illustrates operation of the AVHDD  1 . When the power of the AVHDD  1  is turned ON (step S 1 ), the microcomputer  40  initializes the digital I/O interface  50 , the recording control section  60 , the buffer control section  70  and the reproduction control section  80 , and starts the HDD  10  (device initialization step S 2 ). In step S 3 , the microcomputer  40  executes the connection confirmation/processing program  42  stored in the non-volatile memory  41  during the starting time of the HDD  10 . The microcomputer  40  thus confirms connection with the external equipments  2 ,  3  via the digital I/O interface  50 , and executes processing required for that connection. In step S 4 , the microcomputer  40  waits for the HDD  10  to become accessible. When the HDD  10  gets ready for access, the recording/reproduction control program  11  is read from the HDD  10  onto the program memory  30  (step S 5 ). The microcomputer  40  then executes the recording/reproduction control program  11  to determine the respective operation modes of the recording control section  60  and the reproduction control section  80  (step S 6 ). Any command applied from the external equipments  2 ,  3  to the digital I/O interface  50  via the IEEE1394 bus  4  would be rejected during execution of the connection confirmation/processing program  42  by the microcomputer  40 .  
         [0018]    As has been described above, according to the present invention, the microcomputer  40  executes the connection confirmation/processing program  42  during the starting time of the HDD  10  after power-on. This enables the operation of recording/reproducing the AV data to be started as soon as the HDD  10  becomes accessible. Note that a preprocessing program for recording AV data may additionally be executed during the starting time of the HDD  10 .  
         [0019]    Since the broadcasting system varies from country to country (e.g., Japan, the United States, and European countries), the recording/reproduction control program  11  must be modified according to the specification of the country where the AVHDD  1  is to be used. Moreover, the recording/reproduction control program  11  must be modified every time the functions of the AVHDD  1  are extended. According to the present invention, however, the recording/reproduction control program  11  is stored in the HDD  10 . This facilitates extension of the functions and modification of the specification.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 shows another example of the structure of the AVHDD according to the present invention. The main difference between the structures of FIGS. 1 and 3 is that the DRAM (program memory)  30  is eliminated in FIG. 3. More specifically, the buffer memory  20  serves also as a program memory for storing the recording/reproduction control program  11  read from the HDD  10 , so that the microcomputer  40  can execute that program  11 . Particularly for high-quality AV data requiring a high data transfer rate, a cache control section  71  may be provided between the buffer memory  20  and the microcomputer  40  so that the microcomputer  40  can execute the recording/reproduction control program  11  without being hindered by the AV data transfer through the buffer memory  20 . The structure of FIG. 3 is otherwise the same as that of FIG. 1.  
         [0021]    Note that the bus for connecting the AVHDD  1  to the external equipments  2 ,  3  may be a data communication bus based on a protocol other than IEEE1394.