Patent Publication Number: US-2007104041-A1

Title: Disc playing sorting system and method using the same

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a disc playing sorting system and a disc playing sorting method and, more particularly, to produce a disc playing order list to be a basis for playing discs.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The development of the digital technology is rapidly developed so that the multimedia information including the audios and images are currently stored as the digital data. The optical storage medium becomes the main storage medium of the digital data due to its easy portability. Therefore, the optical reading equipments are popularized to read the optical storage medium and a disc changer is further developed for containing more discs.  
      Especially, some films are divided and stored in several discs, and all the discs can be put into the disc changer at the same time for playing discs in turn without changing discs. In order to play the discs in correct disc playing order, the disc changer, generally, has an operation procedure to check the disc order of the discs in the disc changer and plays the discs in order. The conventional operation procedure of the disc changer is described as follows.  
      Referring to  FIG. 1 , a flowchart illustrating a conventional operation procedure of a disc changer is shown. The operation procedure comprises the steps of:  
      Step S 11 : setting discs into a disc changer by the user;  
      Step S 12 : activating a play interface and previewing the discs one by one by trial-and-error method;  
      Step S 13 : checking the disc playing order is correct or not. The step S 14  is executed if the disc playing order is correct. The step S 15  is executed if the disc playing order is incorrect;  
      Step S 14 : playing the discs in said order; and  
      Step S 15 : ejecting the discs and resetting the discs into the disc changer by the user. The step S 12  is executed again until the disc playing order is correct.  
      According to the conventional operation procedure of the disc changer, the user should place the discs into the disc changer by the correct disc playing order. If not, the discs would be ejected and the user need to place the discs into the disc changer again until the disc playing order is correct. Therefore, the conventional operation procedure of a disc changer is inconvenient and time consuming for the user.  
      Accordingly, a solution must be provided to overcome the drawbacks and disadvantages by providing a disc playing sorting system and a disc playing sorting method for playing discs in correct order automatically.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Briefly, the object of the present invention is to provide a disc playing sorting system and a disc playing sorting method for producing a disc playing order list with a correct disc playing order automatically.  
      Therefore, the disc playing sorting system of the present invention comprises a capacity space for setting a plurality of discs, an optical component and a processor. The optical component is drived by a trigger signal to read the label information of the plurality of discs. The processor includes a sorting module, and produces a disc playing order list based on the label information.  
      The present invention also provides a disc playing sorting method. The method comprises: placing a plurality of discs into a capacity space of a disc playing sorting system; starting a start key and providing a trigger signal to drive an optical component of said disc playing sorting system; reading a label information of each of said discs stored in said capacity space; transmitting said label information to a sorting module of a processor; and producing a disc playing order list.  
      According to the disc playing sorting system and the method, a disc changer is provided to be the disc playing sorting system. A plurality of trays are provided to be the capacity space. A start key is provided to generate the trigger signal. An optical read/write head is provided to be the optical component. A system microprocessor is provided to be the processor and a program is provided to be the sorting module.  
      Other features and advantages of the present invention and variations thereof will become apparent from the following description, drawings, and claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a flowchart illustrates a conventional operation procedure of disc changer;  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating a disc playing sorting system according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating the processor according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a disc playing sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating the optical component reading the label information of each disc according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram illustrating a disc stored order and a disc playing order list produced through the disc playing sorting method of an example of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , a schematic diagram illustrating a disc playing sorting system  21  according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The disc playing sorting system  21  comprises a capacity space  22 , a start key  23 , an optical component  24  and a processor  25 . When a plurality of discs are set into the capacity space  22  of the disc playing sorting system  21 , a disc stored order showing the sequence of the discs stored in the capacity space  22  may not conform to the correct disc playing order. After the discs are set into to the capacity space  22 , a trigger signal is generated when the user starts the start key  23 , and then the optical component  24  is drived to read the label information of each disc. The label information of each disc includes a disc playing order and a file type, and all the label information of the discs are transmitted to the processor  25 . The processor  25  provides a disc playing order list based on the label information of the discs to play the discs in correct disc playing order. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a disc changer is provided to be the disc playing sorting system  21 , a plurality of trays  221  are provided to be the capacity space  22 , an optical read/write head is provided to be the optical component  24  and a system microprocessor is provided to be the processor  25 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , a schematic diagram illustrating the processor according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. A sorting module  251  is set in the processor  25 . A disc playing order list  31  is outputted by the sorting module  251  based on a label information  241  of each disc. The outputted disc playing order list  31  can be stored in the processor  25  or other storage media. The sorting module  251  can be a program. The program is executed by the processor  25  to produce the disc playing order list  31 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , a flowchart illustrating a disc playing sorting method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The disc playing sorting method comprises the following steps:  
      Step S 41 : placing a plurality of discs into a capacity space of a disc playing sorting system;  
      Step S 42 : starting a start key and providing a trigger signal to drive an optical component of the disc playing sorting system;  
      Step S 43 : reading the label information of each disc stored in the capacity space;  
      Step S 44 : transmitting the label information to a sorting module of a processor; and  
      Step S 45 : producing a disc playing order list.  
      According to the disc playing sorting system and the disc playing sorting method of the present invention, as the user wants to play the discs stored in the capacity space, the disc playing sorting system would produce a disc playing order list according to the disc playing sorting method, and the discs would be played sequentially based on the disc playing order list.  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , a flowchart illustrating the optical component reading the label information of each disc according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. In the preferred embodiment, the discs are placed on the trays respectively, and the label information of each disc is read by the optical component according to the following steps:  
      Step S 51 : starting to read the label information of disc from a first tray;  
      Step S 52 : determining whether a disc is placed on the tray. Step S 53  is executed if there is no disc placed on the tray. Step S 54  is executed if there is a disc placed on the tray;  
      Step S 53 : determining whether the tray is a last tray. The step S 55  is executed if the tray is not the last tray. Step S 56  is executed if the tray is the last tray;  
      Step S 54 : reading the label information of the disc on the tray and going to the step S 53 ;  
      Step S 55 : going to the next tray to read the label information of disc and the step S 52  is executed again; and  
      Step S 56 : stopping reading the label information of the discs.  
      The steps listed above are the detailed steps of the step S 43  mentioned above. As the optical component reads the label information of all discs stored in the capacity space by the steps mentioned above, the label information is transmitted to a sorting module of a processor as the step S 44  shows.  
      In next paragraph, an example using the disc playing sorting system and method of present invention to produce a disc playing order list is shown.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 6 , a schematic diagram illustrating a disc stored order  61  and a disc playing order list  62  produced through the disc playing sorting method  63  of an example of the present invention is shown. In the example, a first video disc  1 / 2 , a first video disc  2 / 2 , a second video disc  1 / 2 , a second video disc  2 / 2 , a third video disc  1 / 2  and a third video disc  2 / 2  are provided and stored in the capacity space of the disc playing sorting system. A user puts these discs into the capacity space randomly, and therefore a disc stored order  61  is generated. The disc stored order  61  of the discs is random, and it may cause some errors to play the discs following the disc stored order  61 . As shown in the disc stored order  61 , the second video disc  1 / 2  is put next to the first video disc  1 / 2 , and it is not correct for the disc playing sorting system to play the second video disc  1 / 2  after the first video disc  1 / 2 .  
      According to the disc playing sorting system and method of the present invention, the label information of the discs is read by the optical component and is transmitted to the sorting module in the processor. For example, the label information of the first disc in the disc stored order  61  is “first video disc  1 / 2  on tray  1 ” and the second disc in the disc stored order  61  is “second video disc  1 / 2  on tray  2 ”. After receiving the label information of all discs, the sorting module resets the disc stored order  61  and produces the disc playing order list  62  which has correct disc playing order. According to the disc playing order list  62 , the disc placed on tray  1  is the first disc to be played, and the disc placed on tray  6  is the second disc to be played. Therefore, the discs stored in the capacity space can be played according to the playing order list  62  without mistakes.  
      According to the disc playing sorting system and method of present invention, a disc playing order list with a correct playing order is automatically produced to be a basis for playing discs. A user does not need to put the discs into the disc changer in order, and it is convenient and timesaving for the user.  
      Although the features and advantages of the embodiments according to the preferred invention are disclosed, it is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all modifications and changes within the spirit and scope of the following claims.