Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2004-45296, filed on Jun. 18, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates in general to a controlling method of an optical recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an optical recording apparatus and a controlling method of an optical recording apparatus, in which although a data recording operation on an optical recording medium may be temporarily stopped or paused by a user, the recording operation is automatically resumed exactly at a recording resume preset time.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     An optical recording apparatus is a device for recording data on an optical disk using an optical disk driver. Typically, data is recorded on the optical disk in stream format, so that users are provided with images of the high quality and sounds.  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a front panel of a general optical recording apparatus. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the optical recording apparatus comprises a front panel  100  provided with a key input unit  110  comprising a plurality of function keys  110   a  to  110   g  for a user to set desired functions or input an operation command therethrough. The front panel  100  further comprises a display  120  for displaying an operation currently under way in the optical recording apparatus, the state of the operation and a function selected by the user, and a tray  130  for loading and unloading the optical disk.  
         [0007]     In general, the function keys on the key input unit  110  include a play key  110   a  to reproduce the data, a record key  110   b  to perform data recording, a stop key  110   c  to stop the process currently underway, a pause key  110   d  to stop, temporarily, the process currently underway, an open/close key  110   e  to open or close the tray  130 , a rewind key  110   f,  and a fast forward key  110   g.    
         [0008]     The pause key  110   d  is used to apply a signal requesting temporary stop of data recording to the optical recording apparatus, such that a data recording operation currently underway is temporarily stopped. In contrast, the stop key  110   c  is used to stop the recording operation completely.  
         [0009]     When the user operates the record key  110   b  on the front panel  100 , a record request signal is applied to the optical recording apparatus, and as a result, data from external equipment is recorded on the optical disk. At this time, if the user needs to go somewhere for a while or the external equipment provides unwanted data, the user operates the pause key  110   d  to pause the data recording operation.  
         [0010]     Once the data recording operation is paused by the operation of the pause key  110   d,  the optical recording apparatus is kept in pause state and does not resume the recording operation until the user applies a recording resume request signal to the optical recording apparatus by operating the record key  110   b.    
         [0011]     However, if the user does not return within time to resume the data recording operation and leaves the optical recording apparatus in pause state, or if the user forgets what he was doing and fails to resume the recording within a predetermined time, the user often loses data he wanted to record.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     An aspect of the present invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below. Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide an optical recording apparatus in which a user presets a recording resume time so that the data recording operation is automatically resumed at the recording resume time even after a temporary stop of the recording operation on the recording medium has been made by the user, and a controlling method thereof.  
         [0013]     To achieve the above-described aspects of the present invention, a controlling method of an optical recording apparatus to record data in a recording medium, the method including performing a recording operation to record the data in the recording medium; applying a pause request signal to stop, temporarily, the recording operation; determining whether to set a record resume time; and if the record resume time is set while the recording operation is in pause, temporarily stopping the recording operation, and then resuming the recording operation at the record resume time.  
         [0014]     If the user declines to set the record resume time, maintaining the pause state until a record request signal to resume the recording operation is applied.  
         [0015]     In an exemplary embodiment, if a specific amount of time for the recording operation is allocated, the recording operation is performed for the allocated amount of time.  
         [0016]     In an exemplary embodiment, the record resume time is set within a remaining time of the allocated amount of time.  
         [0017]     Another aspect of the invention provides an optical recording apparatus to record data provided from an external equipment in a recording medium, the apparatus including: a pickup to record the data in the recording medium; a servo driver to drive the pickup; a key input unit to apply at least one request signal; and a controller to control the servo driver, wherein if a record resume time is input following the application of a pause request signal from the key input unit to pause the recording operation, the controller controls the servo driver to stop the pickup temporarily, and if the record resume time occurs, the controller controls the servo driver to drive the pickup.  
         [0018]     The apparatus further includes a display to display designated information under the control of the controller, and if the pause request signal for temporarily stopping the recording operation is applied, the controller controls the display to show a message asking a user whether to set the record resume time.  
         [0019]     In an exemplary embodiment, if the user declines to set the record resume time, the controller controls the servo driver to ensure that the pickup is maintained in a pause state until a record request signal is applied from the key input unit.  
         [0020]     In an exemplary embodiment, the key input unit is a remote controller to send an infrared signal in correspondence with the request signal.  
         [0021]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0022]     The above aspects and/or features of the present invention will be more apparent by describing certain embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
         [0023]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a front panel of a general optical recording apparatus;  
         [0024]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an optical recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a controlling method of an optical recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0026]     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0027]     The matters defined in the description such as a detailed construction and elements are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the invention. Thus, it is apparent that the present invention may be carried out without those defined matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.  
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an optical recording apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The optical recording apparatus  200  is a device to record data in a recording medium, being connectable to a variety of image sources like computers, broadcast receiving antennas, TVs, and hard disk drives. An example of the optical recording apparatus  200  is a DVD recorder. As for the recording medium, a one-time recordable medium such as CD±R and DVD±R, as well as a rewritable recording medium such as CD±RW, DVD±RW and DVD−RAM (rewritable), may be used. Additionally, while described as a recording apparatus  200 , it is understood that the apparatus  200  may further reproduce data according to an aspect of the invention.  
         [0029]     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the optical recording apparatus  200  of the invention includes a pickup  210 , a radio frequency (RF) signal processor  220 , a CODEC  230 , a digital signal processor (DSP)  240 , a controller  250 , a servo driver  260 , a spindle motor  270 , and a user interface  280 .  
         [0030]     The DSP  240  converts data input to the optical recording apparatus  200  into digital data, and performs on the converted data a signal processing operation such as error correction to convert the data into a recording format. The CODEC  230  encodes the data converted into the recording format by the DSP  240 , and decodes the encoded data. The spindle motor  270  rotates a loaded optical disk  200   a.  The pickup  210  records a signal in the optical disk  200   a,  or reads a recorded signal therefrom. The RF signal processor  220  filters and shapes the signal detected by the pickup  210  into a binary signal, and outputs it. The servo driver  250  controls the operations of the pickup  210  and the spindle motor  270 .  
         [0031]     The user interface  280  applies to the controller  250  a key operation signal applied by the user through the key input unit  110 . As for the key input unit, the key input unit  110  of  FIG. 1 , which is formed on the front panel  100  of the optical recording apparatus  100 , or a remote controller (not shown) sending an infrared signal in correspondence to each request signal may be used. However, it is understood that the input may be otherwise received, such as across network connections or the like.  
         [0032]     There are certain types of key operation signals applied to the controller  250  through function keys shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, the play key  100   a  is assigned to output a play request signal, the stop key  110   c  a stop request signal, the pause key  110   d  a pause request signal, the OPEN/CLOSE key  110   e  a tray open/close request signal, the rewind key  110   f  a rewind request signal, and the fast forward key  110   f  a fast forward request signal.  
         [0033]     If a record resume time is input after the pause request signal is applied from the key input unit  110  through the user interface  280 , the controller  250  controls the servo driver  250  and stops the pickup  210  temporarily. As a result, the data recording operation currently underway stops temporarily.  
         [0034]     When the record resume time is provided from the user interface  280  and the time is reached, the controller  250  controls the servo driver  250  to drive the pickup  210  again. In this manner, the temporarily stopped data recording operation is resumed.  
         [0035]     If the pause request signal is applied, but the record resume time is not input from the user interface  280 , the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  and ensures that the pickup  210  is maintained in pause state until the record request signal is applied from the user interface  280 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a controlling method of an optical recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the controlling method of the optical recording apparatus will be explained with reference to FIGS.  1  to  3 . While not required, it is understood that the method illustrated in  FIG. 2  may be implemented as computer software encoded on a computer readable medium and implemented using a general or special purpose computer.  
         [0037]     Using a generally known method, the user loads the optical disk  200   a  to the optical recording apparatus  200  connected to a designated image source, and operates the record key  110   b.  Then, the record request signal is transferred to the controller  250  from the user interface  280 , and the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  to drive the spindle motor  270 . In this way, a recording data provided from the image source is recorded in the optical disk  200   a  (S 200 ).  
         [0038]     While the optical disk  200   a  is recording the data, if the user operates the pause key  110   d,  the pause request signal is applied from the user interface  280 , and the controller  250  displays on the display  120  a message asking the user whether to set the record resume time (S 210 , S 220 ).  
         [0039]     If the record resume time is input from the user interface  280 , the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  to stop the spindle motor  270  (S 230 , S 240 ) temporarily. The record resume time is recorded so as to allow the recording of the data to be resumed.  
         [0040]     If the record resume time input from the user interface  280  has occurred while the data recording operation is being temporarily stopped, the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  to ensure that the spindle motor  270  starts driving again, and the temporarily stopped recording operation may be resumed (S 250 , S 260 ).  
         [0041]     In operation  220 , in the case that the user declines to set the record resume time, that is, if the user gives ‘No’ for an answer to the message provided to the display  120  by the controller  250 , the message asking whether the user wants to set the record resume time, the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  to stop the spindle motor  270  temporarily, thus temporarily stopping the data recording operation (S 220 , S 240 ).  
         [0042]     If the recording operation is temporarily stopped without the record resume time being preset, the controller  250  is maintained in pause state until the record request signal is applied from the user interface  280 .  
         [0043]     After operation  250  and if no record resume time is recorded, if the user operates the record key  110   b,  and therefore the record request signal is applied from the user interface  280 , the controller  250  controls the servo driver  260  to drive the spindle motor  270 , thus resuming the temporarily stopped recording operation (S 280 ).  
         [0044]     As may be appreciated from the above description of the an optical recording apparatus and the method to control the same, according to an embodiment of the present invention, when a user wants to stop temporarily during the recording process, the record resume time may be selectively set by the user to resume the recording correctly at a desired time.  
         [0045]     While described as used with an optical recording apparatus, it is understood that the present invention may be used with magnetic and/or magneto-optical apparatuses.  
         [0046]     While described as a record resume time, it is understood that other, non-time based events may be used to resume, automatically, recording of the data. Thus, accordingly to aspects of the invention, recording may be resumed if an eject button is pressed or if the power button is turned off to ensure that the recording is completed.  
         [0047]     Accordingly, although the user may not return within time to resume the data recording operation after leaving the optical recording apparatus in a pause state, or the user forgets to resume the recording within the time to resume the data recording operation, loss of data for recording may be prevented.  
         [0048]     The present invention may also be embodied as computer readable instructions on a computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium is any data storage device that may store data which may be thereafter read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and carrier waves (such as data transmission through the Internet). The computer readable recording medium may also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.  
         [0049]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Technology Category: 3