Data recording

Claim 2

A digital data signal recorder (1) comprising: rotary head means (11) for recording a digital data signal on part of an oblique track (Ta, Tb) on a recording medium (12); and means (19) for transporting the recording medium (12) past the rotary hard means (11); characterized by: means (23, 33) for detecting invalid data in the digital data signal; and means (2, 18) controlled by said detecting means (23, 22) for recording in another part of said oblique track (Ta, Tb) a signal indicating that the data is invalid.

Claim 3

A data recorder (1) according to claim 1 wherein the medium transporting means (19) is controllable to have a normal recording speed mode and a high speed mode at which the recording medium (12) is transported past the rotary heads means (11) at a rate much faster than the normal recording speed, and further comprising means for recording on the recording medium (12), when a recording is ended, a predetermined end signal for a period having a duration which can be detected during the high speed mode, means for detecting a start position of said end signal at the next recording operation, and means controlled by the end signal detecting means for carrying out over-­write recording on the recording medium (12) at said detected start position.

Claim 4

A data recording (1) according to claim 2 further comprising means for recording on the recording medium (12), just before the end signal, an amble signal indicative of the end of the recording.

Claim 5

A data recording (1) according to claim 1 further comprising means for recording in at least one portion of said oblique tracks (Ta, Tb) a file number which increments in response to a signal indicative of an end file.

Claim 6

A data recorder (1) according to claim 1 wherein said rotary head means (11) comprises at least a pair of recording heads (A B) and a pair of reproducing heads (Aʹ, Bʹ) having characteristics corresponding to said recording heads (A, B) and located at positions at which a portion recorded on the recording medium (12) by one of said pair of recording heads (A,B) arrives after passing by one of said pair of recording heads (A, B), and detecting means (14), supplied with the outputs of said reproducing heads (Aʹ, Bʹ), for detecting an error in the recorded signal, and control means (18) responsive to said detecting means (14) for re-recording on the recording medium (12) a signal whose content is the same as that of the original signal prior to the recording in which the error was detected.

Claim 7

A data recorder (1) according to any one of the preceding claims wherein said data recorder is a digital audio tape recorder (1).

Claim 8

A digital data signal recorder (1) of the type having a rotary head means (11) for forming an oblique track (Ta, Tb) on a recording medium (12); means (19) for transporting the recording medium (12) past the rotary head means (11); and signal control and processing circuitry (2, 18) for controlling the medium transporting means (19) and supplying the digital signal to the rotary head means (11); characterized in that the signal control and processing circuitry (2, 18) further comprises: means for providing in a part of said oblique track (ta, Tb) formed by said rotary head means (11), other than a part of the track (Ta, Tb) on which the data signal is invalid whereby when there is no data to be recorded, a signal indicating invalid data is recorded in said signal area.

Claim 9

A digital data signal recorder (1) of the type having a rotary head means (11) for forming an oblique track (Ta, Tb) on a recording medium (12); means (19) for transporting the recording medium (12) past the rotary head means (11); and signal control and processing circuitry (2, 18) for controlling the medium transporting means (19) and supplying the digital signal to the rotary head means (11); characterized in that the signal control and processing circuitry (2, 18) further comprises: means for providing in a part of said oblique track (ta, Tb) formed by said rotary head means (11), other than a part of the track (Ta, Tb) on which the data signal is invalid whereby when there is no data to be recorded, a signal indicating invalid data is recorded in said signal area.

Claim 10

A data recorder (1) according to claim 7 wherein the data recorder is a digital audio tape recorder (1) of the type including a pair of rotary recording heads (A, B), a recording amplifier (15) and a playback amplifier (17), each of which has a separate input and an output, switching means (16) for selectively connecting the rotary head means (11) either to the input of the playback amplifier (17) or the output of the recording amplifier (15), a digital signal processor (14) for receiving input data, converting it into a predetermined digital audio tape recorder (DAT) format, supplying the DAT formatted data to the input of the recording amplifier (15), and for receiving DAT formatted data from the output of the playback amplifier (17), converting it from the DAT format to digital data and supplying the digital data, and a system control circuit (18) connected to the rotary head means (11), the tape transport means (19), the switching means (16) and the digital signal processor (14) for controlling the operations thereof.

Claim 11

A data recorder (1) according to claim 8 further comprising a microcomputer (22), protocol control means (21) for interchanging data and control signals between an external computer (5) and the microcomputer (22), direct memory access means (23) connected to the protocol control means (21) and further connected to and controlled by the microcomputer (22), a buffer memory (24) connected to the direct memory access means (23), and input/output means (13) connected between the buffer memory (24) and the digital signal processor (14) and wherein the system control circuit (18) and the microcomputer (22) are interconnected to exchange control signals.

Claim 14

A method according to claim 10 comprising the additional steps of recording on the recording medium (12), when a recording is ended, a predetermined end signal for a period having a duration which can be detected when the recording medium (12) is transported past the rotary head (A, B) at a high speed, much faster than the normal recording speed, detecting a start position of said end signal at the next recording step, and over-write recording on the recording medium (12) at the detected start position.

Claim 15

A method according to claim 11 further comprising the step of recording on the recording medium (12), just before the end signal, an amble signal indicative of the end of the recording.

Claim 16

A method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of recording in at least one portion of said oblique track (Ta, Tb) a file number which increments in response to a signal indicative of an end of file.

Claim 17

A method according to claim 10 wherein said recording step comprises using at least a pair of recording heads (A, B) and a pair of reproducing heads (Aʹ, Bʹ) having characteristics corresponding to said recording heads (A, B) and located at position at which a portion recorded on the recording medium (12) by one of said pair of recording heads (A, B) arrives after passing by one of said pair of recording heads (A, Bʹ), and further comprising the step of detecting in the outputs of said reproducing heads (Aʹ, Bʹ), an error in the recorded signal, and re-recording on the recording medium (12) a signal whose content is the same as that of the original signal prior to the recording in which the error was detected.