Patent ID: 8275473

Claim:
A data recording and reproducing apparatus adapted to receive audio data created by encoding an original sound signal and to decode the audio data into the original sound signal to thereby reproduce the original sound signal, the data recording and reproducing apparatus comprising: data storage means for storing the audio data; feature point information creation means for creating information about feature points by extracting information about characteristics of sound indicated by the original sound signal from the stored audio data and by creating feature point information based on the extracted information, in which the feature point information includes information representative of a number of intervals each indicative of a presence of a human voice, a presence of nonvocal sound, or silence, in which the nonvocal sound has an amplitude higher than zero and has a frequency higher than that of the human voice or lower than that of the human voice, and in which the silence has an amplitude of zero; altered-speed reproduction means for reproducing at least a portion of the original sound signal at an altered speed by decoding the audio data and thinning out the decoded audio data based on the feature point information such that respective intervals corresponding to silence and the presence of nonvocal sound are removed so that only the portion or portions of the original sound signal representative of the interval or intervals having the human voice are reproduced at the altered speed; and feature point information storage means for storing the created feature point information in a manner corresponding to a time interval or intervals of the audio data having the information about the characteristics corresponding to the feature point information so as to enable a timed relationship to be maintained between the feature point information and reproduced sound signal or audio data.