EP0312406A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
High-speed reproduction facility for audio programs
Assignee: Warner Custom Music Corp
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Filing: 1988-10-14
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-10-14
Abstract
Abstract Method and apparatus for high-speed reproduction of a customized group of audio programs on a slave medium enables the reproduction of musical recordings at a point-of-sale terminal. Master programs are prerecorded by a Dolby ADM (adaptive delta modulated) technique to condense their "information" content and permit higher data throughput during high-speed reproduction. In a "premastering" process to make encoded masters, a special multiplexer board provides interfacing between Dolby ADM digital audio data and a conventional data processing system. The multiplexer board performs computer-like data blocking and also writes a unique sync code directly in the data block. The data processing system also catalogs and edits the blocked digital audio; places encrypted catalog, pricing, and other indicia in the data file representing the music; and sends the data file to a conventional 16-bit PCM file writer for making encoded CD music ROMS which contain the ADM data representing the encoded audio program. A high-speed reproduction device, under control of a desk top personal computer, extracts timing and ADM data from the CD music ROM at high speed and controls high-speed tape drives to compile selected recordings on a single cassette tape in a form compatible with Dolby B noise reduction.
Inventors
- 👤 Thomas D. Sharples, Jr.
- 👤 Michael K. Poimpoeuf
- 👤 John C. Weitz
- 👤 Hugh Macdonald
- 👤 Ichyterra Ganapathy
- 👤 Charles E. Garvin
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 21:03
CPC Classifications
G; G11; G11B; G11B20/00; G11B20/10; G11B20/10527; G07; G07F; G07F17/00; G07F17/16; G11B27/00; G11B27/02; G11B27/031; G11B27/36; G11B31/00; G11B5/00; G11B5/86; G11B7/00; G11B7/28; G11B2220/00; G11B2220/20; G11B2220/21; G11B2220/213; G11B2220/215; G11B2220/218; G11B2220/25; G11B2220/2537; G11B2220/2545; G11B2220/40; G11B2220/41; G11B2220/90
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 28
Claim 1
Independent Claim
135 words
Apparatus for high-speed reproduction of a customized group of audio programs on a slave medium wherein said programs are derived from encoded representations of master recordings on a master storage medium, said apparatus comprising: A. memory means for storing timing information and digitally encoded representations of said master recordings, said memory means further including indicia information associated with respective ones of said master recordings thereby to allow selected replication thereof, B. reproduction means including at least one reproducer (38) for recording audio programs on a slave medium, and C. controller means (42) coupled to said memory means and said reproduction menas, said controller means being responsive to said indicia and said timing information for selectively effecting reproduction of said master recordings on said slave medium thereby to produce said customized group of selected audio programs.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
135 words
Apparatus for high-speed reproduction of a customized group of audio programs on a slave medium wherein said programs are derived from encoded representations of master recordings on a master storage medium, said apparatus comprising: A. memory means for storing timing information and digitally encoded representations of said master recordings, said memory means further including indicia information associated with respective ones of said master recordings thereby to allow selected replication thereof, B. reproduction means including at least one reproducer (38) for recording audio programs on a slave medium, and C. controller means (42) coupled to said memory means and said reproduction menas, said controller means being responsive to said indicia and said timing information for selectively effecting reproduction of said master recordings on said slave medium thereby to produce said customized group of selected audio programs.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said memory means comprises rotating disc storage means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
25 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said memory means comprises rotating magnetic means for storing digital signals representative of said audio programs.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said memory means comprises a compact disk music ROM having associated drive means for optically storing encoded representations of said master recordings.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
37 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said compact disk music ROM drive means includes speed enhancement means for multiplying the data transfer rate thereof thereby to enable faster-than-real-time production of audio programs on said slave medium.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
54 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 or 5, wherein said memory means comprises a plurality of compact disk music ROMs in a juke box (30, 32), and said controller means (34) further includes scheduling means for scheduling information flow from respective ones of said music ROM drives to the or each said reproducer (38).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
74 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, wherein said memory means comprises at least two said juke boxes (30, 32) for storing redundant master recordings, and said controller means (42) comprises continuous recording means for attaining substantially constant spacing between multiple audio programs recorded on said slave medium by alternately accessing master recordings from said juke boxes thereby to ready a next program to be reocrded in succession while a first program is being recorded.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
24 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said slave medium comprises a magnetic cassette tape for recording analog signals representing said audio programs.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein said slave medium comprises a write-once compact disk music ROM.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
57 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said master recordings include peak limiting means for limiting predetermined peaks in the master recordings, said master recordings having been encoded according to Dolby B noise reduction techniques, and said reproduction means further comprises servo biasing means for improving the fidelity of audio programs recorded on said slave medium.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
26 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said encoded digital representations of said audio programs stored in said memory means comprises time-domain condensed digital representations.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
34 words
Apparatus as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 10, wherein said encoded digital representations of said audio programs stored in said memory means comprises adaptive delta modulated digital representations of said audio programs.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
74 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a data processing system (42) for handling digital data and processing instructions for reproduction of audio programs, said data processing system comprising said controller means, and decoder means (34) utilizing the timing information stored by said memory means for extracting data from said memory means and coverting said encoded digital data signals of said memory means to a format compatible with said data processing system.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
56 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 13, further comprising order entry means for enabling a user to select audio programs to produce custom recordings thereof including means for receiving input indicia to identify desired audio programs, said data processing system being responsive to said input indicia to select audio programs to be reproduced by said reproduction means.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
23 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 14, wherein said order entry means directly couples said data processing system via a local area communications link.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus as claimed in Claim 15, wherein said order entry means is remote from said data processing system, and further comprising means for establishing communications between said order entry means and said controller means to effect reproduction of said audio programs on said slave medium.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
58 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said controller means further comprises cache memory means for temporarily storing digital data, means for retrieving digital data representations of audio programs from said memory means and for transferring said data to said cache memory means, and means connected to said cache memory means reproducing audible samples of audio programs.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
25 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising means for retrieving and selectively reproducing audible samples of audio programs stored in said memory means.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising backup archival means located remote from a point-of-sale terminal for storing duplicates of information stored in said memory means, and means for communicating selection information to said backup archival means for reproducing said customized selections.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
138 words
In a method for producing a high-speed recording of an audio program, a method of preprocessing an analog representation of said audio program comprising the steps of: A. sampling an analog representation of said audio program by an adaptive delta modulation technique to produce at least one digital data stream and two digital side chains associated therewith for each audio channel, B. multiplexing each data stream and associated side chains to generate a multiplexed data stream for processing by a data processing system, C. data blocking said multiplexed data stream into data blocks suitable for storage in a digital storage medium, D. converting said data blocks to a format of a compact disk music ROM, and E. producing a recording of said audio program by extracting CD formatted data from said compact disk music ROM at greater-than-real-time speeds.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
138 words
In a method for producing a high-speed recording of an audio program, a method of preprocessing an analog representation of said audio program comprising the steps of: A. sampling an analog representation of said audio program by an adaptive delta modulation technique to produce at least one digital data stream and two digital side chains associated therewith for each audio channel, B. multiplexing each data stream and associated side chains to generate a multiplexed data stream for processing by a data processing system, C. data blocking said multiplexed data stream into data blocks suitable for storage in a digital storage medium, D. converting said data blocks to a format of a compact disk music ROM, and E. producing a recording of said audio program by extracting CD formatted data from said compact disk music ROM at greater-than-real-time speeds.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
50 words
A method as claimed in Claim 20 further comprising, in said processing step, generating a synchronizing word within said data blocks, and in said producing step, producing said recording from successive data blocks by synchronizing the extracting of CD formatted data blocks with occurrences of said synchronizing word appearing therein.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
44 words
A method as claimed in Claim 20 or 21, further comprising, in said producing step, adjusting the time instance of conversion of each data block by phase-comparing the occurrences of said synchronizing word and a crystal-controlled oscillator thereby to produce a closed-loop tracking signal.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method as claimed in Claim 22 further comprising, in said producing step, time-base correcting the extraction of data in said data blocks in accordance with said closed-loop tracking signal.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
36 words
A method as claimed in any of Claims 20 to 23, comprising the step of: F extracting indicia data from said data blocks for producing printed textual information to be affixed to said produced audio recording.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
56 words
A method as claimed in Claim 24, wherein said indicia data comprises pricing and catalog information, said method further comprising, in the data blocking step, scrambling said indicia information in order to provide security as to the contents thereof, and in said producing step, descrambling said scrambled indicia information in order to produce said textual information.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
55 words
A method as claimed in any of Claims 20 to 25, multiple audio programs are decoded, said method further comprising, in said converting step, placing a precisely controlled amount of silence between each audio program, and in said producing step, detecting said silence between respective programs in order to control start-stop operations of said producing.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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