Patent Publication Number: US-2003233665-A1

Title: Digital broadcast receiving apparatus, method, and program

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] (1) Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that stores a received transport stream (hereafter referred to as TS) as a partial TS, and reproduces a broadcast program contained in the stored partial TS, or controls copying of the broadcast program into an external storage apparatus.  
       [0003] It should be noted here that a partial TS is a bitstream obtained by removing TS packets, which do not relate to one or more specifically selected broadcast programs, from the TS packets that conform to MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 (“BS Digital Broadcast Receiving Apparatus”, Chapter 9, 9.1.7 to 9.1.9, ARIB STD-B2, version 1.1, Association of Radio Industries and Businesses).  
       [0004] (2) Description of the Related Art  
       [0005] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-168718 discloses a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that receives, stores, and reproduces a TS. In general, a TS includes a plurality of broadcast programs multiplexed therein. Of these, only one or more broadcast programs are stored as selected by users, the rest of the broadcast programs, which do no relate to the selected programs, are stored as a partial TS.  
       [0006] Meanwhile, the partial TS contains information necessary for reproducing the broadcast programs such EMM (Entitlement Management Message) in which information regarding the contract is written, CAT (Conditional Access Table) that specifies packet identifiers of TS packets for transmitting the EMM, as well as PAT (Program Association Table) and PMT (Program Map Table), where these pieces of information are repeatedly multiplexed therein. The PMT contains DTCP_CCI (Digital Transmission Content Protection_Copy Control Information) which includes information concerning a digital copy of a broadcast program.  
       [0007] The PMT also contains bitrate information that corresponds to a recording mode of a broadcast program.  
       [0008] The following problems arise when a broadcast program contained in a partial TS is output to an external storage apparatus to be stored therein.  
       [0009]FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of a partial TS stored in a digital broadcast receiving apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1A, a partial TS  101  includes PATs, PMTs, CATs, and EMMs, as well as elementary streams (ES)  102  that constitute a broadcast program.  
       [0010] The first problem is as follows. When a conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus receives, at a time t0, a user instruction to output a partial TS to an external storage apparatus to be stored therein, the conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus interprets PMT to judge whether a copy is available, and removes EMM that should not be output to the external storage apparatus. Due to this operation, the conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus cannot output the partial TS until a time t3 as shown in FIG. 1B.  
       [0011] The reason for this is as follows. As shown in FIG. 1A, the first PAT is extracted at a time t1. Since the PID of the PMT is included in the PAT, the first PMT is extracted at a time t2. The time period between the time t0 and t2 is approximately 100 ms. The digital broadcast receiving apparatus refers to the extracted PMT to judge whether the ESs constituting the broadcast program can be output to the external storage apparatus. However, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus still has a work of removing the CAT and EMM that should not be output to the external storage apparatus. It is at the time t3 that the digital broadcast receiving apparatus extracts the CAT and obtain the PID of the EMM. After this, the EMM is removed, and the partial TS  111  is output to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0012] As understood from the above description, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus cannot output the ESs corresponding to the first part of the broadcast program, for approximately 10 seconds at the maximum since the reception of the user instruction.  
       [0013] The second problem concerns recording of the partial TS in the external storage apparatus after receiving it from the digital broadcast receiving apparatus.  
       [0014]FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of (i) a partial TS output from a conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus to an external storage apparatus and (ii) a partial TS recorded in the external storage apparatus, where broadcast programs A and B are output in sequence.  
       [0015] In a partial TS  201  that is output to the external storage apparatus, the broadcast program A is presented with a standard image quality, and the broadcast program B is presented with a high image quality for the high-definition TV. As a result, the broadcast program A is recorded in the STD mode, and the broadcast program B is recorded in the HS mode.  
       [0016] The external storage apparatus receives the partial TS  201 , and records the broadcast program A in the STD mode. However, the external storage apparatus fails to record the first portion of the broadcast program B while it obtains the PMT, interprets it to detect the recording mode, and sets the recording mode in the external storage apparatus. As a result, the partial TS  202  having been recorded in the external storage apparatus has a copy-dropout portion  203 .  
       [0017]FIG. 3 shows a partial TS containing a broadcast program C as a target program to be copied to a conventional external storage apparatus, and its recording state.  
       [0018] A partial TS  301  also contains, as offsets, broadcast programs B and D that are respectively the preceding and succeeding programs of the broadcast program C. The copy control information written in the PMT or the like indicates that the broadcast program C is set to “free”, and the broadcast program B to “no_more_copies”. The external storage apparatus receives the partial TS  301  and interprets the copy control information in regard with the broadcast program B, which is an offset, and if it continues to detect the “no_more_copies” for a certain time period, automatically stops recording the partial TS  301 . When this happens, even if the copy control information for the broadcast program C being the recording target is set to “free”, the broadcast program C is not recorded.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019] The first object of the present invention is therefore to provide a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that can output a partial TS to an external storage apparatus without a dropout in the first portion thereof.  
       [0020] The second object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiving apparatus that prevents an external storage apparatus from failing to record a partial TS, which is received from the digital broadcast receiving apparatus, due to a change of the recording mode or due to the copy control information, and that prevents the external storage apparatus from failing to record a portion of the partial TS.  
       [0021] The first object is fulfilled by a digital broadcast receiving apparatus connected to an external storage apparatus, comprising: a first storage unit; a first control unit operable to store into the first storage unit a partial transport stream which is contained in a transport stream sent from outside and includes (i) elementary streams constituting a broadcast program and (ii) control information for controlling the broadcast program, and to create, from the control information, broadcast program attachment information which is used in outputting the partial transport stream to the external storage apparatus; a second storage unit operable to store the created broadcast program attachment information with indication of a correspondence with the partial transport stream stored in the first storage unit; a second control unit operable to, in accordance with the broadcast program attachment information, give an instruction to update the control information in the first storage unit; and an interface operable to receive the update instruction from the second control unit, read the partial transport stream from the first storage unit, update the control information contained in the read partial transport stream, and output the partial transport stream with the updated control information, to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0022] With the above-described construction, the interface recognizes in advance the control information to be updated. This enables the digital broadcast receiving apparatus to output the partial transport stream to the external storage apparatus from the start while updating the control information.  
       [0023] The above digital broadcast receiving apparatus may further comprise a receiving unit operable to receive an instruction to copy or move a broadcast program, wherein the second control unit obtains from the second storage unit a piece of broadcast program attachment information that corresponds to a partial transport stream containing the broadcast program specified in the received instruction.  
       [0024] With the above-described construction, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus can output the partial transport stream containing the specified broadcast program to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0025] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the first control unit may include: a copy control information reading subunit operable to read copy control information written in a Program Map Table contained in the control information, and the second control unit may include: a copy control information update instructing subunit operable to, if copy control information in the piece of broadcast program attachment information is set to “copy_once”, give an instruction to set the copy control information in the Program Map Table to “copy_once” and “moving”, and the interface updates the Program Map Table in accordance with the instruction given by the copy control information update instructing subunit and outputs the updated Program Map Table.  
       [0026] With the above-described construction, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus can output the partial transport stream containing the copy control information set to “copy_once”, to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0027] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the second control unit may further include a deleting subunit operable to, if the interface has output the partial transport stream by setting the control information in the Program Map Table to “moving”, delete the output partial transport stream from the first storage unit, and after the outputting is completed, delete the piece of broadcast program attachment information from the second storage unit.  
       [0028] With the above-described construction, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus can delete a partial transport stream after moving it to the external storage apparatus by the “move” function.  
       [0029] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the partial transport stream stored in the first storage unit may include at least two broadcast programs that are sequential to each other in a time domain, the first control unit includes a bit rate information reading subunit operable to read bit rate information for each broadcast program from a Program Map Table included in the control information, the second control unit may include a recording mode instructing subunit operable to obtain bitrate information from the broadcast program attachment information stored in the second storage unit, and if a bit rate for a preceding broadcast program is different from a bit rate for a succeeding broadcast program, give an instruction to set a recording mode corresponding to the bit rate for the succeeding broadcast program, and the interface, upon receiving the instruction to set the recording mode from the recording mode instructing subunit, instructs the external storage apparatus to set a recording mode at a time a predetermined time period earlier than a time when the partial transport stream containing the broadcast program starts to be output.  
       [0030] The above-described construction prevents a problem that the digital broadcast receiving apparatus cannot output elementary streams for the specified broadcast program until it detects transport packets which should not be output to the external storage apparatus, and deletes the detected transport packets.  
       [0031] The second object of the present invention is fulfilled by the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus in which the partial transport stream stored in the first storage unit includes at least two broadcast programs that are sequential to each other in a time domain, the first control unit includes a bit rate information reading subunit operable to read bit rate information for each broadcast program from a Program Map Table included in the control information, the second control unit includes a recording mode instructing subunit operable to obtain bit rate information from the broadcast program attachment information stored in the second storage unit, and if a bit rate for a preceding broadcast program is different from a bit rate for a succeeding broadcast program, give an instruction to set a recording mode corresponding to the bit rate for the succeeding broadcast program, and the interface, upon receiving the instruction to set the recording mode from the recording mode instructing subunit, instructs the external storage apparatus to set a recording mode at a time a predetermined time period earlier than a time when the partial transport stream containing the broadcast program starts to be output.  
       [0032] The above-described construction solves a problem that when the copy target broadcast programs change, the first portion of the second broadcast program fails to be copied due to a change of the recording mode.  
       [0033] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the predetermined time period may range from a time when the external storage apparatus receives the instruction to set the recording mode to a time when a recording operation is stabilized.  
       [0034] With the above-described construction, it is possible to set the recording mode with empirically determined timing.  
       [0035] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, the broadcast program in the partial transport stream stored in the first storage unit may be recorded therein by a timer-controlled recording as a target program, and the partial transport stream also includes, as an offset, another broadcast program that precedes the target program, the first control unit includes: an offset time extracting subunit operable to extract a time period of the offset from an Event Information Table contained in the control information; a copy control information creating subunit operable to create, from a Program Map Table contained in the control information, copy control information in relation to the target program and the offset, the second control unit includes: a control information updating subunit operable to extract a piece of control information, which corresponds to a point in time a predetermined time period a later than a start of the target program, and update the extracted control information, a default value of the time period a being determined from the control information; an output start instructing subunit operable to, if the copy control information is set to “free” for both the target program and the offset, give an instruction to start recording in the external apparatus, and give an instruction to output the partial transport stream from a start of the offset; and an update information notifying subunit operable to give an instruction to set the piece of control information updated by the control information updating subunit in the partial transport stream starting at a point in time a predetermined time period N earlier than the start of the target program, the predetermined time period N ranging from a time when the external storage apparatus receives an instruction to set a recording mode to a time when a recording operation is stabilized, wherein the interface outputs to the external storage apparatus the instruction to start recording, then outputs the partial transport stream from the start of the offset, and sets the updated piece of control information in the partial transport stream starting at a point in time the predetermined time period N earlier than the start of the target program, then outputs the partial transport stream.  
       [0036] With the above-described construction, the external storage apparatus can completely record a partial TS, which is received from the digital broadcast receiving apparatus and includes a broadcast program that is a target of a copy.  
       [0037] In the above digital broadcast receiving apparatus, if the copy control information is set to “free” for the target program and is set to “once” for the offset, the output start instructing subunit may give an instruction to stand by for recording in the external storage apparatus, then after the update information notifying subunit gives an instruction to set the updated piece of control information in the partial transport stream, give an instruction to output the target program in the partial transport stream to the external storage apparatus so as to start recording.  
       [0038] The above-described construction solves a problem that a target main program cannot be copied due to the control information indicating that an offset broadcast program cannot be copied.  
       [0039] The first object is fulfilled by a digital broadcast receiving method for use in a digital broadcast receiving apparatus connected to an external storage apparatus, comprising: a first control step for storing into a first storage area a partial transport stream which is contained in a transport stream sent from outside and includes (i) elementary streams constituting a broadcast program and (ii) control information for controlling the broadcast program, and creating, from the control information, broadcast program attachment information, which is used in outputting the partial transport stream to the external storage apparatus, and storing into a second storage area the created broadcast program attachment information with indication of a correspondence with the partial transport stream stored in the first storage area; a second control step for, in accordance with the broadcast program attachment information, giving an instruction to update the control information in the first storage area; and an outputting step for receiving the update instruction, reading the partial transport stream from the first storage area, updating the control information contained in the read partial transport stream, and outputting the partial transport stream with the updated control information, to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0040] With the above-described construction, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus can output a complete partial TS to the external storage apparatus without a dropout in the first portion thereof.  
       [0041] The first object is also fulfilled by a digital broadcast receiving program applied to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which includes a computer connected to an external storage apparatus, the digital broadcast receiving program causing the computer to execute: a first control step for storing into a first storage area a partial transport stream which is contained in a transport stream sent from outside and includes (i) elementary streams constituting a broadcast program and (ii) control information for controlling the broadcast program, and creating, from the control information, broadcast program attachment information, which is used in outputting the partial transport stream to the external storage apparatus, and storing into a second storage area the created broadcast program attachment information with indication of a correspondence with the partial transport stream stored in the first storage area; a second control step for, in accordance with the broadcast program attachment information, giving an instruction to update the control information in the first storage area; and an outputting step for receiving the update instruction, reading the partial transport stream from the first storage area, updating the control information contained in the read partial transport stream, and outputting the partial transport stream with the updated control information, to the external storage apparatus.  
       [0042] When the above-described digital broadcast receiving program is applied to a digital broadcast receiving apparatus which includes a large-capacity storage apparatus, the digital broadcast receiving apparatus can output a complete partial Ts to the external storage apparatus without a dropout in the first portion thereof. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0043] These and the other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a specific embodiment of the invention.  
     [0044] In the drawings:  
     [0045]FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of a partial TS stored in a digital broadcast receiving apparatus;  
     [0046]FIG. 1B is a schematic illustration of a partial TS output from a conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus to an external storage apparatus;  
     [0047]FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of (i) a partial TS output from a conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus to an external storage apparatus and (ii) a partial TS copied in the external storage apparatus;  
     [0048]FIG. 3 shows a case where copying of a partial TS output from a conventional digital broadcast receiving apparatus to an external storage apparatus ends incompletely, due to the settings in the copy control information;  
     [0049]FIG. 4 shows the construction of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus as the first embodiment of the present invention  
     [0050]FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the partial TSs stored in a HDD in the first embodiment;  
     [0051]FIG. 7A shows an example of contents of a PMT included in a TS that is input to the TS decoder in the first embodiment;  
     [0052]FIG. 7B shows an example of contents of a PMT included in a partial TS stored in a HDD in the first embodiment;  
     [0053]FIG. 8 shows an example of the broadcast program attachment information stored in the flash ROM in the first embodiment;  
     [0054]FIG. 9 is a flowchart of recording the broadcast program attachment information when a partial TS is recorded onto a HDD in the first embodiment;  
     [0055]FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an operation of outputting a partial TS a VCR in the first embodiment;  
     [0056]FIG. 11 shows an example of the broadcast program attachment information stored in a flash ROM in the second embodiment;  
     [0057]FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of a partial TS composed of a broadcast program C and an offset thereof, the broadcast program C having been recorded onto a HDD by a timer-controlled recording in the second embodiment;  
     [0058]FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an operation in the second embodiment;  
     [0059]FIG. 14 is a flowchart (part  1 ) of a detailed operation of S 1310  in the flowchart shown in FIG. 13;  
     [0060]FIG. 15 is a flowchart (part  2 ) of the detailed operation of S 1310  in the flowchart shown in FIG. 13; and  
     [0061]FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a detailed operation of S 1312  in the flowchart shown in FIG. 13. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
     [0062] The following describes digital broadcast receiving apparatuses that are embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the attached drawings.  
     [0063] Embodiment 1  
     [0064]FIG. 4 shows the construction of a digital broadcast receiving apparatus as the first embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0065] The digital broadcast receiving apparatus includes: a hard disk drive (HDD)  401  embedded therein; a tuner  402 ; a demodulating unit  403 ; a descrambler  404 ; a TS decoder  405 ; a video decoder  406 ; a monitor  407 ; an audio decoder  408 ; a speaker  409 ; a CPU  410 ; a flash ROM  411 ; a memory  412 ; and a digital interface  413 . The digital interface  413  is connected to a videocassette recorder (VCR)  420  being an external storage apparatus, based on the IEEE1394 protocol.  
     [0066] The HDD  401  stores partial TSs, where the partial TSs include a broadcast program, among broadcast programs multiplexed in a TS transmitted from a broadcast station, that has been instructed by the user to be recorded.  
     [0067]FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of the partial TSs stored in a HD  501  which is a recording medium included in the HDD  401 . Partial TS-I, partial TS-II, and partial TS-III are stored as files  1 ,  3 , and  6 , respectively.  
     [0068]FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a partial TS, as an example. A partial TS-I  601  includes a broadcast program that is broadcast on a channel A. The partial TS-I  601  includes a PAT packet, a PMT packet, ES packets respectively containing video, audio, and data of the broadcast program, and an EMM packet. The partial TS-I  601  also includes an SIT (Service Information Table) packet and other information, though they are omitted here.  
     [0069] The tuner  402 , under control of the CPU  410 , has an antenna (not illustrated) receive a transponder having a specified frequency, obtains a modulated wave, and outputs the obtained modulated wave to the demodulating unit  403 . The demodulating unit  403  demodulates the modulated wave to obtain a multiplexed TS packet, and outputs the obtained TS packet to the descrambler  404 . The descrambler  404  descrambles the TS and outputs the descrambled TS to the TS decoder  405 . If a TS received from a broadcast station has not been scrambled, a demodulated TS is directly output from the demodulating unit  403  to the TS decoder  405 .  
     [0070] The TS decoder  405 , under control of the CPU  410 , decodes the TS it receives. In the case where a broadcast program is to be only viewed, the TS decoder  405  stores into the memory  412  such tables as PAT and PMT defined by a PSI (Program Specific Information) multiplexed in the TS, outputs an ES packet containing audio data to the audio decoder  408 , and outputs an ES packet containing video data to the video decoder  406 . The audio decoder  408  decodes an audio ES to an audio signal, and has the speaker  409  output a sound. The video decoder  406  decodes a video ES to a video signal, and has the monitor  407  output an image.  
     [0071] When recording a broadcast program into the HDD  401 , the TS decoder  405 , under control of the CPU  410 , extracts, from the TS, ESs containing video data, audio data or the like of the broadcast program, a PAT, a PMT, a CAT, an EMM or the like, and stores extracted information into the HDD  401  as a partial TS. During this operation, a DTCP descriptor to be added to the PMT is created from a digital copy control descriptor and a content availability descriptor that are contained in the PMT, and the created DTCP descriptor is output.  
     [0072]FIG. 7A shows an example of contents of a PMT included in a TS that is input to the TS decoder  405 . Items contained in a left column  702  show contents of a PMT  701 , and information related to the items are given in a right column  703 .  
     [0073] “Table-id” in the left column  702  indicates a table identifier identifying the PMT  701 , used for extracting the PMT  701 , and is specified by a PAT. A digital copy control descriptor identified by “0×Cl” and a content availability descriptor identified by “0×DE” constitute copy control information from which a DTCP descriptor is created.  
     [0074]FIG. 7B shows an example of contents of a PMT included in a partial TS stored in the HDD  401 . A PMT  711 , compared with the PMT  701 , additionally has a DTCP descriptor identified by “0×88”. The DTCP descriptor identified by “descriptor_tag” “0×88” contains “retention_move_mode” and “DTCP_CCI”. The retention_move_mode indicates a move state and is set to “0” to indicate being in a move state, or “1” to indicate being in a non-move state. The DTCP_CCI indicates how copy is available and is set to “00” to indicate “free”, “10” to indicate “copy_once” (that is, copy is available only once), or “01” to indicate “no_more_copies” (that is, copy is not available any more).  
     [0075] The TS decoder  405 , under control of the CPU  410 , if the digital copy control descriptor in the PMT indicates a one-generation copy, outputs a DTCP descriptor with a DTCP_CCI set to “Ol” indicating “no_more_copies”.  
     [0076] The CPU  410  obtains values of the retention_move_mode and DTCP_CCI, which are written in the DTCP descriptor in the PMT in the output partial TS, in units of broadcast programs or ESs constituting a broadcast program. The CPU  410  also causes the TS decoder  405  to obtain from a CAT packet a value of “EMM PID” identifying an EMM packet. The CPU  410  then causes the TS decoder  405  to store the obtained values into the flash ROM  411  as broadcast program attachment information by correlating them with a partial TS that include the broadcast program stored in the HDD  401 .  
     [0077]FIG. 8 shows an example of the broadcast program attachment information stored in the flash ROM  411 . Broadcast program attachment information  801  is composed of (i) copy control information  802  obtained from the PMT and (ii) PID information  803  concerning the CAT and the EMM. The copy control information  802  and the PID information 803  respectively contain information  804  and  805  that are both information for differentiating a partial TS corresponding to a broadcast program stored in the HDD  401 . If, for example, the broadcast program is included in the partial TS-I as shown in FIG. 5, its file name “file  1 ” is written in each of the information  804  and  805 .  
     [0078] When being instructed to reproduce a broadcast program stored in the HDD  401 , reads a partial TS including the specified broadcast program from the HDD  401 , extracts the PAT, PMT, EMM, SIT and the like from the partial TS and stores them into the memory  412 , and outputs audio ESs to the audio decoder  408  and video ESs to the video decoder  406 , respectively.  
     [0079] The CPU  410  controls each component in accordance with a control program stored in the flash ROM.  
     [0080] Upon receiving an instruction from a receiving unit (not illustrated) to record into the HDD  401  a broadcast program transmitted from a broadcast station, the CPU  410  instructs the tuner  402  to select a channel, and instructs the TS decoder  405  to record the partial TS and the broadcast program attachment information into the HDD  401  and the flash ROM  411 , respectively.  
     [0081] Upon receiving an instruction from the receiving unit to copy the broadcast program included in the partial TS stored in the HDD  401 , obtains from the flash ROM  411  the broadcast program attachment information  801  of the partial TS including the broadcast program.  
     [0082] If the CPU  410  receives an instruction to copy a partial TS recorded in the HDD  401  when the DTCP_CCI in the copy control information  802  is set to “10” indicating “copy_once”, the CPU  410 , for example, instructs the video decoder  406  to display a message “copy is not available” on the monitor  407  since the copy is prohibited and recording by the external VCR  401  is not available.  
     [0083] If the CPU  410  receives an instruction to move a partial TS recorded in the HDD  401  when the DTCP_CCI in the copy control information  802  is set to “10” indicating “copy_once”, the CPU  410  instructs the digital interface  413  to change the value of the retention_move_mode in the PMT from “1” to “0”, namely from “being in a non-move state” to “being in a move state”, and to change the value of the DTCP_CCI from “01” to “10”, namely from “no_more_copies” to “copy_once”.  
     [0084] When the DTCP_CCI in the copy control information  802  is set to “00” indicating “free” where copy is available as necessary, there is no need to change the copy control information in the PMT.  
     [0085] The CPU  410  also notifies the digital interface  413  of the PIDs of the CAT and the EMM written in the PID information  803 , instructing the digital interface  413  not to output the CAT and the EMM, and instructing to read the partial TS including the specified broadcast program.  
     [0086] The flash ROM  411  stores a control program that enables the CPU  410  to operate as a control unit. The flash ROM  411  also stores pieces of broadcast program attachment information  801  shown in FIG. 8 that are correlated by the TS decoder  405  with partial TSs including broadcast programs recorded in the HDD  401 .  
     [0087] The memory  412  stores control information such as a PAT and a PMT multiplexed in a TS transmitted from a broadcast station.  
     [0088] The digital interface  413  is connected to the VCR  420  being an external storage apparatus, and outputs partial TSs to the VCR  420  in conformance with the protocol defined in IEEE1394.  
     [0089] Upon receiving from the CPU  410  an instruction to rewrite values of the DTCP_CCI and the retention_move_mode constituting the copy control information of the PMT included in the partial TS, an instruction to delete the CAT and the EMM, and an instruction to read the specified partial TS, the digital interface  413  reads the specified partial TS from the HDD  401 , updates the contents of the PMT, and outputs the partial TS, from which the CAT and the EMM have been deleted, to the VCR  420 .  
     [0090] As described above, the digital interface  413  can output the specified partial TS to the VCR  420  without cutting ESs constituting the first portion of the first broadcast program of the specified partial TS since the digital interface  413  is notified in advance of contents of a PMT change or PIDs of the CAT and EMM to be deleted.  
     [0091] In the case of outputting the partial TS  101  shown in FIG. 1A, it is possible to output the partial TS  101 , starting with the ES  102  that starts at the time t0, the following EMM  103  and CAT  104  and the like having been deleted, and the PMT  105  and the like having been updated.  
     [0092] When outputting a partial TS with the value of the retention_move_mode set to “0”, the CPU  410  outputs the partial TS and at the same time deletes the partial TS from the HDD  401 . After outputting all the specified partial TSs, the CPU  410  deletes the broadcast program attachment information related to the output partial TSs.  
     [0093] Now, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. First, an operation of recording the broadcast program attachment information into the embedded HDD  401  will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9, where the operation is performed when the user specifies a broadcast program among a TS transmitted from the broadcast station, and a partial TS including the specified broadcast program is recorded.  
     [0094] The CPU  410  waits for an instruction to record a broadcast program into the HDD  401  (S 902 ), and if the instruction is received, instructs the TS decoder  405  to extract ESs, a PAT and the like that constitute the specified broadcast program.  
     [0095] After extracting a PAT (S 904 ), the TS decoder  405  extracts a PMT using a PID of the PMT written in the extracted PAT as a filtering condition (S 906 ). After confirming the extraction of the PMT, the TS decoder  405  obtains copy control information from the extracted PMT, the copy control information being a digital copy control descriptor and a content availability descriptor, and creates a DTCP descriptor from the obtained copy control information (S 908 ). The TS decoder  405  then judges whether a PID of an EMM has been obtained (S 910 ). If the judgment result is affirmative, the control moves to. S 918 , and if the judgment result is negative, the control moves to S 912 .  
     [0096] In S 912 , the TS decoder  405  waits for a CAT to be extracted, and if the CAT is extracted, obtains a PID of an EMM from the extracted CAT (S 914 ) The TS decoder  405  then judges whether copy control information has been obtained (S 916 ). If the judgment result is negative, the control returns to S 904 , and if the judgment result is affirmative, the control goes to S 918 .  
     [0097] In S 918 , the TS decoder  405  stores the obtained copy control information and PIDs of EMMs or the like into the flash ROM  411  as broadcast program attachment information by correlating them with a file name of a partial TS recorded in the HDD  401 . The TS decoder  405  then judges whether the recording of the specified broadcast program has completed (S 920 ). If the judgment result is affirmative, the process ends, and if the judgment result is negative, the control returns to S 902 .  
     [0098] Now, an operation of outputting a partial TS including the specified broadcast program to the VCR  420 , an external storage apparatus, will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 10.  
     [0099] The CPU  410  waits for an instruction by the user to copy or move a broadcast program from the HDD  401  to the VCR  420  (S 1002 ), and if the instruction is received, obtains a piece of broadcast program attachment information  801  correlated with the specified broadcast program from the flash ROM  411  (S 1004 ).  
     [0100] The CPU  410  judges whether the copy control information should be updated by referring to the value of the DTCP_CCI in the copy control information  802  in the obtained piece of broadcast program attachment information  801 . That is to say, if the value is “00”, there is no need to update the copy control information; if the value is “10” and the move instruction has been received, the value of the DTCP_CCI in the PMT in the partial TS stored in the HDD  401  should be updated from “01” to “10”, and the value of the retention_move_mode should be updated from “1” to “0”; and if the value is “10” and the copy instruction has been received, a message “copy is not available” is presented to the user, and the process ends (S 1006 ).  
     [0101] If the judgment result in S 1006  is negative, the CPU  410  moves to S 1010 . If the judgment result in S 1006  is affirmative, the CPU  410  moves to S 1008  and notifies the digital interface  413  of the contents of the updating of the copy control information in the PMT (S 1008 ).  
     [0102] The CPU  410  then notifies the digital interface  413  of the PIDs of the CAT and EMM to be deleted from the partial TS (S 1010 ), and instructs the digital interface  413  to read the specified partial TS (S 1012 ).  
     [0103] The digital interface  413  read the specified partial TS from the HDD  401 , replaces the PMT in the partial TS with the updated PMT, outputs the partial TS, from which the CAT and EMM have been deleted, to the VCR  420  (S 1014 ), and continues the operation in S 1014  until the reading of the partial TS from the HDD  401  is completed (S 1016 ).  
     [0104] In the present embodiment, the broadcast program attachment information  801  is stored in the flash ROM  411 . However, the broadcast program attachment information  801  may be stored in the HDD  401  as a file different from the partial TS. For example, the broadcast program attachment information  801  may be stored as the file  4  shown in FIG. 3.  
     [0105] Also, in the present embodiment, the copy control information is only explained in relation to updating of the DTCP descriptor in the PMT. Meanwhile, information EMI containing copy control information that is different from the one in the partial TS is also output when the partial TS is output to the VCR  420 . The EMI, which is updated in the same way as the DTCP_CCI of the DTCP descriptor in the PMT in the partial TS, is, for example, stored in the file  2  shown in FIG. 5. The EMI is information conforming to the IEEE1394 protocol.  
     [0106] Accordingly, when the copy control information in the EMI is set to “no_more_copies”, the value of the retention_move_mode should be changed to “0”, and the copy control information in the EMI should be changed to “copy_once”.  
     [0107] Also, in the present embodiment, the broadcast program attachment information is obtained and stored when a broadcast program is recorded. However, instead of this, when an instruction to output a partial TS to the VCR  420 , the broadcast program attachment information may be obtained prior to issuing of the read instruction to the digital interface  413 . In this case, however, the output of the partial TS to the VCR  420  is delayed as much as it requires to obtain the broadcast program attachment information.  
     [0108] Embodiment 2  
     [0109] Now, a digital broadcast receiving apparatuses that is the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Since it has the same construction as Embodiment 2, it will be described with reference to the construction shown in FIG. 4.  
     [0110] In Embodiment 2, an external storage apparatus outputs control information to a VCR  420  with certain timing to prevent the problem that a copy is not available or a copy dropout is generated when a copy target broadcast program changes from one to another in the VCR  420 .  
     [0111] For achieving the above-stated purpose, Embodiment 2 has the following construction, as well as the construction of Embodiment 1.  
     [0112]FIG. 11 shows an example of the broadcast program attachment information stored in the flash ROM  411 .  
     [0113] A piece of broadcast program attachment information  1101  is correlated with a partial TS stored in the HDD  401  as a file A  1102 .  
     [0114] The file A contains a broadcast program C having been recorded by a timer-controlled recording, a broadcast program B that is an offset having been transmitted prior to the broadcast program C, and a broadcast program D that is an offset following the broadcast program C. In this example, information concerning the broadcast program D is omitted.  
     [0115] The broadcast program attachment information  1101  contains items such as a copy information ID  1105  in relation to the broadcast program (main program)  1103 , which has been recorded by a timer-controlled recording, and the broadcast program (offset)  1104 .  
     [0116] The copy information ID  1105  has values “1” and “0” indicating the main program and the offset, respectively.  
     [0117] An offset value  1106  is a predetermined value representing a recording time that is added to before and after the main program so that the main program can be recorded completely. The offset value  1106  is obtained by referring to an EIT (Event Information Table).  
     [0118] An EMI  1107  is copy control information that indicates whether copy is available. In this example, the EMI  1107  is set to “free” for the main program, and “copy_once” for the offset.  
     [0119] Bit rate information  1108  specifies a recording mode related to the image quality which is classified into standard (represented as “STD”) and high-quality (represented as “HS”). In this example, the bit rate information  1108  is set to 24 Mbps (bit per second), which corresponds to the high-quality, for the main program, and is set to 12 Mbps, which corresponds to the standard, for the offset.  
     [0120] Digital interface output availability information  1109  indicates whether data can be output in conformance with the IEEE1394 protocol. In this example, the digital interface output availability information  1109  is set to “available” for both the main program and the offset.  
     [0121] The EMI  1107 , bit rate information  1108 , and digital interface output availability information  1109  are created from information written in a PMT.  
     [0122] The CPU  410  creates apiece of broadcast program attachment information  1101  for each file of partial TS stored in the HDD  401 .  
     [0123] When a broadcast program is recorded by a timer-controlled recording with an offset, the CPU  410  writes the values “1” and “0” to differentiate between the main program and the offset.  
     [0124] The offset value  1106  is obtained from information of the recording time written in the EIT.  
     [0125] To set the EMI  1107 , the CPU  410  refers to the copy control information in the PMT extracted by the TS decoder  405  and determines how copy is available for each of the main program and the offset. The information provided in the EMI  1107  may change with time even within the broadcast program. A strictly restricted value is written.  
     [0126] Similarly, for the bit rate information which is obtained from the PMT, the highest value of the bit rate is written.  
     [0127] The digital interface output availability information  1109  is also obtained from the PMT.  
     [0128]FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of a partial TS being a file A corresponding to the broadcast program attachment information  1101 . In FIG. 12, “T0” indicates the starting time of the broadcast program B being an offset. The time T0 is one minute earlier than “T2”, that is, the starting time of the broadcast program C.  
     [0129] Times “T1” and “T3” are set empirically, where the time T1 is a predetermined time period “N” earlier than the time T2, and the time T3 is a predetermined time period “a” later than the time T2.  
     [0130] The time period N ranges from a point in time at which an instruction to change the recording state of the VCR  420  is issued to a point in time at which the recording operation is stabilized. The time period a is an appropriate starting time period of the broadcast program C, and the control information such as PMT for the broadcast program C is used as the default value thereof. In this example, the time periods N and α are respectively set to two seconds in advance.  
     [0131] The operation of the CPU  410  will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 13.  
     [0132] The CPU  410  waits for a receiving unit (not illustrated) to receive from the user an instruction to copy or move a broadcast program to the VCR  420  (S 1302 ), and if the instruction is received, obtains a piece of broadcast program attachment information  1101 , which is correlated with a partial TS containing the specified broadcast program and stored in the HDD  401  as a file, from the flash ROM  411  (S 1304 ).  
     [0133] The CPU  410  then judges whether copy control information for the main program written in the EMI  1107  is set to “free” and the copy instruction has been received (S 1306 ). If the judgment result of S 1306  is affirmative, the CPU  410  judges whether copy control information for the offset is set to “free” (S 1308 ). If the judgment result of S 1308  is affirmative, the CPU  410  outputs the partial TS starting with the start of the offset and ends the whole process (S 1310 ). If the judgment result of S 1308  is negative, the CPU  410  outputs the partial TS for only the main program (S 1312 ).  
     [0134] If the judgment result of S 1306  is negative, that is to say, if the copy control information for the main program written in the EMI  1107  is set to “copy_once” and the move instruction has been received, the CPU  410  performs the move process (S 1314 ) Now, the outputting of the partial TS starting with the start of the offset will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 14 and 15.  
     [0135] The CPU  410  obtains by reading from the HDD  401  the PMT and EMI in correspondence with a point in time immediately after the time T3 that is a predetermined time period “a” later than the start of the main program (broadcast program C) (S 1402 ). The CPU  410  then obtains bit rate information for the main program and the offset from the broadcast program attachment information  1101  (S 1404 ). The CPU  410  then judges whether the bit rate of the main program matches with that of the offset (S 1406 ). If the judgment result of S 1406  is negative, the CPU  410  creates recording mode update information that corresponds to the bit rate of the main program (S 1408 ). More particularly, if the bit rate of the main program is 24 Mbps and the bit rate of the offset is 12b Mbps, the CPU  410  creates recording mode update information of “HS”.  
     [0136] The CPU  410  then instructs via the digital interface  413  to set, in the VCR  420 , the recording mode (for example, recording mode of STD) that corresponds to the bit rate information of the offset (S 1410 ). The CPU  410  then instructs via the digital interface  413  to start recording in the VCR  420  (S 1412 ). The CPU  410  then waits for stabilization of the recording operation of the VCR  420  (S 1414 ). Generally, the stabilization requires approximately 2-5 seconds.  
     [0137] As is the case with Embodiment 1, the CPU  410  notifies the digital interface  413  of the PMT and EMI having been updated when the PMT and EMI included in the partial TS stored in the HDD  401  should be updated (S 1416 ). At the same time, the CPU  410  instructs the digital interface  413  to start outputting the partial TS to the VCR  420  (S 1418 ).  
     [0138] The digital interface  413 , according to the instruction from the CPU  410 , starts to read the partial TS at the time TO, the starting time of the broadcast program B (S 1502 ). The digital interface  413  then outputs the partial TS to the VCR  420  after replacing the PMT and EMI with the updated PMT and EMI which have been notified from the CPU  410  (S 1504 ). The control information such as PMT in the read partial TS is stored into the memory  412 . It the control information such as PMT should be updated, the CPU  410  notifies the digital interface  413  of it as necessary. The digital interface  413  outputs the partial TS after replacing the PMT or the like with a corresponding, updated one which has been notified from the CPU  410 .  
     [0139] The CPU  410  waits for the time T1 to be reached (s 1506 ), and if the time T1 is reached, judges whether the recording mode update information has been created in S 1408  (S 1508 ). If the judgment result of S 1508  is affirmative, the CPU  410  outputs the created recording mode update information to the VCR  420  via the digital interface  4413  (Si 510 ).  
     [0140] With this operation, after the time period N has elapsed since the time T1, the recording mode in the VCR  420  is changed, for example, from STD (standard rate) to HS (high-quality rate) in a stable manner.  
     [0141] If the judgment result of S 1508  is negative, the control moves to S 1512 .  
     [0142] In S 1512 , the CPU  410  adds necessary changes to the PMT and EMI obtained in S 1402 , and instructs the digital interface  413  to set the changes in the partial TS to be output. The digital interface  413 , in accordance with the instruction from the CPU  410 , outputs the partial TS to the VCR  420  (S 1512 ). That is to say, after the time T1, the partial TS, in which the PMT and EMI corresponding to the time T3 are set, is output to the VCR  420 .  
     [0143] The CPU  410  waits for the time T3 to be reached (S 1514 ), and if the time T3 is reached, updates the PMT and EMI, which have been read from the HDD  401  and stored in the memory  412 , as necessary, and notifies the digital interface  413  of the updated PMT and EMI. The digital interface  413  outputs the partial TS to the VCR  420  after replacing the PMT and EMI with the updated PMT and EMI which have been notified from the CPU  410  (S 1516 ).  
     [0144] The digital interface  413  continues this process until all the packets in the partial TS have been output (S 1518 ), and ends the whole process.  
     [0145] Now, the operation of outputting the partial TS for only the main program to the VCR  420  will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 16.  
     [0146] This process prevents a case where the main program cannot be copied since information for the offset is set to “no_more copies” although information for the main program is set to copy available.  
     [0147] The CPU 410  obtains the bit rate information corresponding to the main program from the broadcast program attachment information  1101  stored in the flash ROM  411  (S 1602 ), instructs, via the digital interface  413 , to set a recording mode corresponding to the obtained bit rate information (for example, recording mode “HS” when the bit rate information is set to 24 Mbps) in the VCR  420  (S 1604 ).  
     [0148] The CPU  410  then instructs the VCR  420  to stand by for recording, via the digital interface  413  (S 1606 ).  
     [0149] The CPU  410  then instructs, via the digital interface  413 , to obtain by reading from the HDD  401  the PMT and EMI in correspondence with a point in time immediately after the time T3 that is a predetermined time period “a” later than the start of the main program (S 1608 ).  
     [0150] The digital interface  413 , according to the instruction from the CPU  410 , starts to read the partial TS from the HDD  401  at the time T0 (S 1610 ).  
     [0151] The CPU  410  waits for the time T1 to be reached (s 1612 ), and if the time T1 is reached, instructs the digital interface  413  to add necessary changes to the PMT and EMI obtained in S 1608 , and to set the changes in the partial TS (S 1614 ).  
     [0152] The digital interface  413 , according to the instruction from the CPU  410 , outputs the partial TS to the VCR  420  (S 1616 ), and at the same time, instructs the VCR  420  to start recording (S 1618 ).  
     [0153] The CPU  410  waits for the time T3 to be reached (S 1620 ), and if the time T3 is reached, updates the PMT and EMI, which have been read from the HDD  401  and stored in the memory  412 , as necessary, and notifies the digital interface  413  of the updated PMT and EMI. The digital interface  413  outputs the partial TS to the VCR  420  after replacing the PMT and EMI with the updated PMT and EMr which have been notified from the CPU  410  (S 1622 ).  
     [0154] The digital interface  413  continues this process until all the packets in the partial TS have been output (S 1624 ), and ends the whole process.  
     [0155] As described above, immediately before a recording start in the VCR  420 , the present embodiment outputs the PMT and EMI at the time T3 when the main program has stabilized. This prevents the problems that a copy dropout is generated when the PAT, PMT or the like is updated when a recording target changes from the offset to the main program, and that the main program is not recorded since the EMI information of the offset is not set to “free”.  
     [0156] It should be noted here that the flowchart shown in FIG. 16 is performed in accordance with the description in the copy control information  1107  in the broadcast program attachment information  1101  shown in FIG. 11.  
     [0157] The move process in S 1314  is basically the same as the process shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 in which the partial TS is output from the start. However, different from the copy process in the VCR  420 , in the move process for moving to the VCR  420 , after the partial TS is read by the digital interface  413  from the HDD  401 , the partial TS is deleted from the HDD  401 .  
     [0158] In the above description of embodiments, partial TSs are recorded in the HDD  401 . However, off course, partial TSs may be recorded in a random access, large-capacity recording medium such as DVD-RAM, SD card, or semiconductor memory.  
     [0159] In the above description of embodiments, partial TSs are recorded in units of files. However, not limited to the this, information that manages recording positions of the partial TSs in a recording medium may be held and used so that the partial TSs can be accessed.  
     [0160] Although the present invention has been fully described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, unless such changes and modifications depart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as being included therein.