Abstract:
An information record/playback machine includes a playback unit for reading a selected piece of information from a plurality of pieces of information recorded on a recording medium to play back the selected piece of information. The machine also includes a flag setting unit for preparing a flag indicating that the selected piece of information currently played should be deleted, in response to a command issued while the playback unit is playing the selected piece of information. The flag is attached to the selected piece of information. The machine further includes a display unit for displaying a list of all the pieces of information recorded on the recording medium except for the selected piece of information to which the flag is attached.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording a plurality of pieces of information on a recording medium and reproducing information recorded thereon.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    In recent times, a hard disc recorder and a hard disc are sometimes utilized, instead of a video tape recorder and a video tape, to record a broadcast program such as a TV program. The hard disc is fixedly provided, as a recording medium, in the hard disc recorder. Received programs are successively recorded on the hard disc. When playing back (or reproducing) a desired program from the hard disc, a user operates the hard disc recorder to have a list of all the recorded programs in a display screen of the hard disc recorder. The user then selects a desired program from the list to reproduce the desired program. If too many programs are included in the list, it is troublesome for the user to select a desired program. In general, therefore, the user deletes programs which are believed to be no longer necessary.  
           [0005]    In order to delete a certain program from the hard disc, the user causes the hard disc recorder to show the list of the recorded programs, and finds out a target program. The user then selects the target program such that the hard disc recorder plays back the target program. The user watches the reproduced program for a while to confirm if this program is really unnecessary. When no necessity is confirmed, the user operates the hard disc recorder again to have the list of the recorded programs and searches for the target program. The user then specifies the target program and presses a deletion switch.  
           [0006]    As described above, the user of the hard disc recorder must perform various bothersome operations to delete a desired one of the programs recorded on the hard disc.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    An object of the present invention is to provide an information record/playback apparatus that allows a user to delete a desired information data from a recording medium with an easy operation.  
           [0008]    According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information record/playback apparatus for recording a plurality of pieces of information on a recording medium and reproducing information recorded thereon comprising: a playback unit for reading a selected piece of information from a plurality of pieces of information recorded on the recording medium to play back the selected piece of information; a flag setting unit for preparing a deletion flag indicating that the selected piece of information currently played should be deleted, in response to a deletion command issued while the playback unit is reading or playing the selected piece of information, and for attaching the deletion flag to the selected piece of information; and a generating unit for generating a list of all the pieces of information recorded on the recording medium except for the selected piece of information to which the deletion flag is attached. Since the name of the played back piece of information is deleted from the recordation list in response to the deletion command made during the playing back, a user of the record/playback apparatus can easily delete desired information or data.  
           [0009]    The information record/playback apparatus may further include a control unit for rendering a recording area of the selected piece of information to which the deletion flag is attached overwritable when a remaining recording capacity of the recording medium is less than a predetermined capacity. The information record/playback apparatus may further include an operation unit having a deletion button for issuing the deletion command. The generating unit may generate a confirmation message to the user before the deletion command is issued. The recording medium may be a hard disc, a video tape, an optical disc or a semiconductor. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 illustrates an inside structure of a hard disc recorder, which is an example of an information record/playback apparatus according to the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates storage regions on a hard disc shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates a control panel of an operation unit shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 illustrates a recorded program list stored in a memory shown in FIG. 1;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 illustrates a display screen to show the recorded program list;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 6 illustrates a program deletion subroutine executed upon clicking a program deletion button;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 7 illustrates a display screen to confirm program deletion;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 8 illustrates another program deletion subroutine executed upon pressing another program deletion button;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 9 illustrates a subroutine for recovering a deleted program; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 10 illustrates a display screen to show a deleted program list. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0020]    Embodiments of the present invention will be described in reference to the accompanying drawings.  
         [0021]    Referring to FIG. 1, illustrated is a schematic block diagram of a hard disc recorder  100 , which is an example of an information record/playback apparatus according to the present invention.  
         [0022]    A tuner  11  receives an airwave (channel) designation signal CH from a system control circuit  10 . The airwave designation signal CH is used to designate a certain airwave in a plurality of analog television airwaves (NTSC, PAL or SECAM). The tuner  11  then accepts the designated analog television airwave, and demodulates the analog television airwave signal to a television signal. The television signal is supplied to an MPEG encoder  14  from the tuner  11 . The MPEG encoder  14  applies an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) coding process to the television signal to obtain an MPEG signal M 1 . The MPEG encoder  14  then feeds the MPEG signal M 1  to a hard disc apparatus  12 . When the tuner  11  receives another airwave designation signal CH, which designates a certain digital airwave, from the system control circuit  10 , the tuner  11  accepts a designated digital airwave. The tuner  11  demodulates the digital airwave signal to obtain another MPEG signal M 2 , and supplies the MPEG signal M 2  to the hard disc apparatus  12  and a selector  13  respectively.  
         [0023]    The tuner  11  also extracts electronic program guidance information from the received airwave. With this guidance information, the tuner  11  creates program information PI representing a name of the broadcast program just received, a date of broadcasting, a channel number, etc. The tuner  11  then feeds the program information PI to the system control circuit  10 .  
         [0024]    The hard disc apparatus  12  records a series of MPEG signals M 1  or M 2 , which carry the received broadcast program, on a hard disc  120  in response to a recordation command supplied from the system control circuit  10 . The hard disc apparatus  12  retrieves the MPEG signals recorded on the hard disc  120  in accordance with a playback command supplied from the system control circuit  10 , and supplies the retrieved MPEG signals RM to the selector  13 . These MPEG signals are referred to as playback MPEG signals.  
         [0025]    Referring to FIG. 2, illustrated is a schematic structure of a recording area on the hard disc  120 .  
         [0026]    A data region of the recording area is divided by a plurality of clusters. A FAT region includes information of next cluster (i.e., which cluster should be accessed next) for each of the clusters. The next cluster is specified by an appended number. The access is recordation or playback. A series of MPEG signals that carry one broadcast program are recorded over a plurality of clusters in accordance with the order determined by the information recorded in the FAT region. A route directory region includes access cluster information representing relationship between names of programs recorded in the data region and record initiation clusters of the recorded programs. The route directory region also includes deleted cluster information representing relationship between names of the deleted programs and record initiation clusters of the deleted programs.  
         [0027]    The selector  13  selects one of the two MPEG signals, either the playback MPEG signal RM supplied from the hard disc apparatus  12 , or the MPEG signal M 2  supplied from the tuner  11 , in accordance with a selection signal issued from the system control circuit  10 . The selector  13  supplies the selected MPEG signal to an MPEG decoder  17 . The MPEG decoder  17  applies an MPEG decoding process to the MPEG signal to obtain an audio/ video signal D AV . The audio/video signal D AV  is introduced to a second selector  18 . An OSD (On Screen Display) image creation circuit  19  creates an image signal D C  , which is used to display various messages and/or images fed from the system control circuit  10 . The image signal D C  is introduced to the second selector  18 . The second selector  18  selects one of the audio/video signal D AV  and the image signal D C  in accordance with a selection signal fed from the system control circuit  10 . The selected signal is transferred to a display device  200 . The display device  200  displays an image on the basis of the audio/video signal D AV  or the image signal D C  supplied from the hard disc recorder  100 .  
         [0028]    An operation unit  20  is, for example, a remote controller having a control panel as shown in FIG. 3. The control panel includes a power switch G for turning on and off the hard disc recorder  100 , a group of numeric buttons NG for specifying a channel and/or entering numbers, and a cursor button CSL for moving a selection box or frame (will be described) within a display screen of the display device  200 . The control panel also includes a playback button P for causing the hard disc recorder  100  to play back a recorded image, a quick-forward button Q, a rewind button R, a pause button PS, a stop button S and a recordation button RE. The control panel also includes a list display button LD for displaying a list of all the programs recorded on the hard disc  120 , and a delete button DL for deleting a program.  
         [0029]    The operation unit  20  is operated by a user and generates an operation signal corresponding to the pressed button. The operation unit  20  transmits the operation signal to the system control circuit  10  by means of a short-distance radio interface such as infrared radiation or Bluetooth.  
         [0030]    The system control circuit  10  receives the operation signal from the operation unit  20  and controls the hard disc recorder  100  in accordance with the operation signal.  
         [0031]    Operations of the hard disc recorder  100  under the control of the system control circuit  10  will be described in detail. The operations include use of the display device  200  as a television monitor, recordation of a television program, playback of the same, program deletion and deleted program recovery.  
         [0032]    (1) TV Monitor  
         [0033]    When a user wants to watch a TV show in realtime, the user first presses a certain button in the numeric button group NG on the remote controller  20  to specify a desired channel. The remote controller  20  supplies a television monitor command to the system control circuit  10 . Upon receiving the television monitor command signal, the system control circuit  10  feeds a channel designation signal CH, which represents the desired channel, to the tuner  11 . At the same time, the system control circuit  10  supplies a selection signal to the first selector  13  such that the MPEG signal M 2 , which is supplied from the turner  11 , will be transferred to the MPEG decoder  17 . In addition, the system control circuit  10  feeds a selection signal to the second selector  18  such that the audio/video signal D AV  derived from the MPEG decoder  17  will be transferred to the display device  200 . As a result, the MPEG signal M 2 , which is received and demodulated by the tuner  11 , is decoded to the audio/video signal D AV  by the PMEG decoder  17  and introduced to the display device  200 . Accordingly, the display device  200  displays a digital television show of the desired channel, which is received at the tuner  11 , in realtime.  
         [0034]    (2) Recordation  
         [0035]    If the user wants to record a television show received at the tuner  11 , the user presses the recordation button RE on the remote controller  20  while the tuner  11  is receiving the television program. The remote controller  20  then issues a recordation command to the system control circuit  10 . Upon receiving the recordation command, the system control circuit  10  accepts the program information PI from the tuner  11  and writes the program information PI into a recorded program list memory  30 . As a result, the program information PI representing the name, date and channel of the television show currently received at the tuner  11  as well as other information are stored in the memory  30 , for example as shown in FIG. 4. The system control circuit  10  also stores deletion flags F DL  in the memory  30 . At the beginning, a logic “0” that indicates no deletion is appended to each program. The system control circuit  10  also supplies a recordation command signal to the hard disc apparatus  12  such that the MPEG signal M 1  or M 2  which carries the received program is recorded. Upon receiving the recordation command signal, the hard disc apparatus  12  records the MPEG signal M 1  or M 2  in the data region on the hard disc  120 . In order to record the MPEG signal, the hard disc apparatus  12  first stores access cluster information into the route directory region on the hard disc  120  as shown in FIG. 2. The access cluster information indicates (includes) the name of the program and a recordation start cluster. The hard disc apparatus  12  then records a first piece of the MPEG signal M 1  or M 2  in a cluster, which has the same cluster number as the recordation start cluster, inside the data region on the hard disc  120 . When the recordation into the first cluster (i.e., recordation start cluster) is complete, the hard disc apparatus  12  successively selects next clusters in accordance with the order determined by the “next cluster” information recorded in the FAT region, and continues the recordation of subsequent pieces of the MPEG signal into the data region.  
         [0036]    (3) Playback  
         [0037]    When the user wants to play back a desired program among the recorded programs, the user firsts pushes the list button LD on the operation unit  20 . The operation unit  20  sends a recorded program list request command to the system control circuit  10 . In response to the request command, the system control circuit  10  reads all programs whose flag F DL  is the logic “0” from the program information PI stored in the recorded program list memory  30  (FIG. 4). The system control circuit  10  then creates image data of the list of the extracted programs, and supplies the image data to the OSD image creation circuit  19 . The OSD image creation circuit  19  produces an image signal Dc on the basis of the image data and supplies it to the selector  18 . In the meantime, the system control circuit  10  issues a selection signal to the selector  18  such that the image signal Dc from the OSD image creation circuit  19  is selected and issued to the display device  200 . A series of the above described control causes the display unit  200  to show the list of the recorded program as shown in FIG. 5.  
         [0038]    The user then operates the cursor button CSL on the operation unit  20  to move the selection box SB over a name of a desired program (i.e., a program to be played back) as shown in FIG. 5, and presses the playback button P on the operation unit  20 . The system control circuit  10  stores information representing (including) the desired program name into a playback program register  31 . This information is data to identify the program selected by the selection box SB. The system control circuit  10  then issues a playback start command signal to the hard disc apparatus  12  to start playing back this program. In response to the playback start signal, the hard disc apparatus  12  first retrieves information representing (including) the recordation start cluster of the selected program from the access cluster information stored in the route directory region of the hard disc  120 . The hard disc apparatus  12  then starts retrieving the recorded information from the recordation start cluster on the hard disc  120 . When the information retrieval from the recordation start cluster is complete, the hard disc apparatus  12  selects subsequent clusters in accordance with the order determined by the next cluster information recorded in the FAT region on the hard disc  120 , and continues to retrieve the recorded information from the subsequent clusters.  
         [0039]    In the above described manner, a series of playback MPEG signals RM carrying the target program are taken out from the hard disc apparatus  12 . An audio/video signal D AV  corresponding to the playback MPEG signal RM is then introduced to the display device  200 , and the user can watch the played back television show.  
         [0040]    (4) Program Deletion (First Approach)  
         [0041]    When the user wants to delete a program from the list of the recorded programs of FIG. 5, the user first operates the cursor button CSL on the operation unit  20  to move the selection box SB over the name of the desired program, and clicks. The user then operates the cursor button CSL to click a program deletion button DLL indicated in the recorded program list screen shown in FIG. 5. The system control circuit  10  enters a first subroutine for program deletion as shown in FIG. 6 in response to the clicking of the program deletion button DLL.  
         [0042]    Referring to FIG. 6, the system control circuit  10  first supplies a deletion confirmation message indication command to the OSD image creation circuit  19  to admonish the user to confirm if the selected program should be really deleted. The system control circuit  10  also feeds a selection signal to the selector  18  such that the image signal Dc generated from the OSD image creation circuit  19  is transmitted to the display device  200  (Step S 61 ). Upon execution of Step S 61 , the program playback screen of the display device  200  switches to a deletion confirmation message screen as shown in FIG. 7. The user operates the cursor button CSL of the operation device  20  to click a YES button YB indicated in the confirmation message screen when the user wants to delete the program. If the user does not want to delete the program, the user clicks a NO button NB.  
         [0043]    The system control circuit  10  determines whether the YES button YB is clicked or not (Step S 62 ). If the YES button YB is not clicked, the system control circuit  10  determines whether the NO button NB is clicked or not (Step S 63 ). If the answer is no, the control program returns to Step S 62  to repeat the above described operations. Accordingly, the determinations at Steps S 62  and S 63  are repeatedly made until the user clicks one of the YES button YB and the NO button NB.  
         [0044]    When it is determined at Step S 62  that the YES button YB is clicked, the system control circuit  10  rewrites the deletion flag F DL  of the program having the same program name as that selected by the selection frame SB to a logic level “1” (Step S 64 ). The deletion flags F DL  are appended to the respective programs recorded in the list memory  30  of FIG. 4, and the logic level “1” indicates deletion. The system control circuit  10  prepares deletion cluster information representing (including) the name of the program specified by the selection frame SB and the recordation start cluster of this program. The system control circuit  10  sends a command to the hard disc apparatus  12  to store the deletion cluster information in the route directory region of the hard disc  120  (Step S 65 ). Upon receiving the command, the hard disc apparatus  12  writes the deletion cluster information in the route directory region on the hard disc  120 . Subsequently, the system control circuit  10  issues a command to the hard disc apparatus  12  to delete the access cluster information of the program specified by the selection frame SB (Step S 66 ). The hard disc apparatus  12  deletes the access cluster information from the route directory region of the hard disc  120  in accordance with the command.  
         [0045]    When Step S 66  is complete or when the NO button NB is clicked at Step S 63 , the system control circuit  10  exits the first deletion subroutine and returns to a main routine (not shown).  
         [0046]    In the first deletion subroutine, the deletion flag F DL  of the program specified by the user is only rewritten to the logic “1”. By pressing the list display button LD shown in FIG. 3, therefore, the specified program is deleted from the recorded program list (FIG. 5) shown in the screen of the display device  200 .  
         [0047]    It should be noted that the information record/playback apparatus of the invention can also delete a desired program from the recorded program list of FIG. 5 in the following manner.  
         [0048]    (5) Program Deletion (Second Approach)  
         [0049]    When the above described playback operation is proceeding, the system control circuit  10  enters a second subroutine shown in FIG. 8 if the user presses the program deletion button DL (FIG. 3) on the operation device  20 .  
         [0050]    In the flowchart of FIG. 8, the system control circuit  10  issues a deletion confirmation message command to the OSD image creation circuit  19  to urge the user to confirm if the specified program should be really deleted. The system control circuit  10  also issues a selection signal to the selector  18  such that the image signal Dc produced by the OSD image creation circuit  19  is introduced to the display device  200  (Step S 81 ). Upon execution of Step S 81 , the screen of the display device  200  changes from the program playback screen to the deletion confirmation message screen shown in FIG. 7. If the user wants to delete the program, the user operates the cursor button CSL of the operation device  20  to click the YES button YB indicated in the deletion confirmation message screen of FIG. 7. If the user wants to keep the program, the user clicks the NO button NB.  
         [0051]    The system control circuit  10  determines whether the YES button YB is clicked or not (Step S 82 ). If the answer is no, the system control circuit  10  determines whether the NO button NB is clicked or not (Step S 83 ). If the NO button is not clicked, the control program returns to Step S 82  such that the system control circuit  10  repeats the above described determinations. In other words, the determinations of Steps S 82  and S 83  are repeatedly made until the user clicks one of the YES and NO buttons.  
         [0052]    If it is determined at Step S 82  that the YES button YB is clicked, the system control circuit  10  takes information, which represents the name of the program currently played, from the playback program register  31  (Step S 84 ). Subsequently the system control circuit  10  rewrites the logic level of the deletion flag F DL  of the program, which has the same program name as the obtained program name information, among those stored in the recorded program list memory  30  (Step S 85 ). The logic level is changed from “0” to “1”. The system control circuit  10  creates deletion cluster information that represents the program name and the recordation start cluster of this program. The system control circuit  10  then issues a command to the hard disc device  12  such that the deletion cluster information is stored in the route directory region shown in FIG. 2 (Step S 86 ). Upon receiving the command, the hard disc device  12  stores the deletion cluster information into the route directory region of the hard disc  120 . The system control circuit  10  issues a command to the hard disc device  12  such that the access cluster information of the program having the same name as the clicked program name is deleted (Step S 87 ). In response to the command, the hard disc device  12  deletes the access cluster information of this program from the route directory region on the hard disc  120 .  
         [0053]    When Step S 87  is complete or the NO button NB is clicked at Step S 83 , the system control circuit  10  exits the second subroutine of FIG. 8 and enters the main routine.  
         [0054]    In the second subroutine for the program deletion, the deletion flag F DL  of the program currently played is changed to “1” from “0” upon pressing of the deletion button DL. After that, when the list indication button LD is pressed, the program information whose flag is “1” is deleted from the recorded program list shown in the screen of the display device  200 .  
         [0055]    Therefore, by simply pushing the program deletion button DL on the remote controller  20  during the program playback operation, the information of the program currently played is deleted from the recorded program list.  
         [0056]    (6) Deleted Program Recovery  
         [0057]    When the user wants to recover a deleted program, the user first presses the list indication button LD of the remote controller  20 . Upon pressing of the list indication button LD, the recorded program list of FIG. 5 is displayed in the screen of the display device  200  in the same manner as described earlier.  
         [0058]    The user then operates the cursor button CSL of the remote controller  20  to click the deleted program list indication button DD shown in the recorded program list screen. The remote controller  20  then transmits a deleted program list indication command to the system control circuit  10 . Upon receiving this command, the system control circuit  10  enters a subroutine for deleted program recovery as shown in FIG. 9.  
         [0059]    In the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 9, the system control circuit  10  first supplies a command to the hard disc apparatus  12  to read the deleted cluster information (Step S 91 ). Upon receiving the command, the hard disc apparatus  12  reads all the deleted cluster information from the route directory region on the hard disc  120 , and supplies it to the system control circuit  10 . Subsequently, the system control circuit  10  creates image data of a deleted program list which shows names of programs in the deleted condition. These program names are provided from the deleted cluster information retrieved from the hard disc  12 . The system control circuit  10  supplies the image data of the deleted program list to the OSD image creation circuit  19  (Step S 92 ). As a result, the display device  200  shows the list of the deleted programs (i.e., the recorded programs currently in the deleted condition) in the display screen as shown in FIG. 10.  
         [0060]    If the user does not want to recover any deleted programs, the user operates the cursor button CSL to click a cancellation button C shown in the display screen of FIG. 10 (i.e., the deleted program list screen). On the other hand, if the user wants to recover a certain program among those present in the deleted program list screen, the user operates the cursor button CSL to move the selection frame SB over the target program and clicks. The user then clicks a recovery button RS shown in the display screen.  
         [0061]    The system control circuit  10  determines whether the recovery button RS is clicked or not (Step S 93 ). If the recovery button RS is not clicked, the system control circuit  10  determines whether the cancellation button C is clicked or not (Step S 94 ). If the cancellation button C is not clicked, the control program returns to Step S 93  such that the system control circuit  10  repeats the above described determinations. In other words, the determinations of Steps S 93  and S 94  are repeatedly made until the user clicks one of the recovery button RS and the cancellation button C.  
         [0062]    If it is determined at Step S 93  that the recovery button RS is clicked, the system control circuit  10  sends a command to the hard disc apparatus to delete deletion cluster information of the program selected by the selection frame SB (Step S 95 ). The system control circuit  10  then creates access cluster information of the program selected by the selection frame SB, and feeds a command to the hard disc apparatus  12  to record the access cluster information (Step S 96 ). Execution of Steps S 95  and S 96  results in the deletion of the deletion cluster information of the selected program from the route directory region of the hard disc  120  and the creation of the access cluster information of the selected program in the route directory region. Subsequently the system control circuit  10  rewrites the logic level of the deletion flag F DL  of the selected program among those stored in the recorded program list memory  30  from “1” to “0” (Step S 97 ). The logic level “0” indicates that this program is in the non-deletion condition. As a result, the program information of the selected program is indicated again in the recorded program list screen of FIG. 5. When Step S 97  is complete or Step S 94  determines that the cancellation button C is clicked, the system control circuit  10  exits the deleted program recovery subroutine and returns to the main routine.  
         [0063]    In the above described recovery subroutine, therefore, the program information once deleted from the recorded program list of FIG. 5 appears again in the recorded program list.  
         [0064]    The deletion of the program is simple erasure of indication of the program in the recorded program list (screen) of FIG. 5 in the above described embodiment. It should be noted, however, that the deletion of the program may be physical deletion or erasure of the program data from the hard disc  120 .  
         [0065]    When the user wants to record a new television show but a remaining recording capacity of the hard disc  120  is insufficient, then a recording area (cluster) of a program whose flag F DL  has a logic level “1” is set to an overwritable area. If a plurality of programs have a logic level “1,” the overwritable area is chosen in accordance with predetermined priority. The hard disc apparatus  12  chooses the recorded programs in the deleted condition in accordance with, for example, how many days the program has been stored, or how large area the program occupies. The hard disc apparatus  12  records the new program into the overwritable area prepared in this manner.  
         [0066]    Although the MPEG signals carrying the broadcast program or the moving picture data are used as information data to be recorded on the hard disc  120  in the illustrated embodiment, static picture data and/or audio data may be recorded on the hard disc.  
         [0067]    Further, the information record/playback apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the hard disc recorder. For instance, any apparatus suited for recording and playing back a video tape, an optical disc and a semiconductor (solid-state) memory can be the information record/playback apparatus of the present invention.  
         [0068]    This application is based on a Japanese patent application No. 2001-19824, and the entire disclosure thereof is incorporated herein by reference.