Digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus and method for setting a number of compression blocks according to different operational modes

Claim 2

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus wherein a basic block is constituted by a plurality of pixels of video signals, comprising: picture data compressing means for effecting data compression of the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; recording means for recording the compressed data of the video signals on a data recording medium; and compression block setting means for setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to different operation modes of the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus which are different in at least one of resolution of the video signals, recording time, and data compression system, the compression block setting means controlling the picture data compressing means so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compression by the picture data compressing means becomes M in a first operation mode and becomes N in a second operation mode, M and N being positive integers which are different from one another; wherein the first operation mode is a long play mode and the second operation mode is a normal play mode.

Claim 3

An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compression block setting means sets the number of basic blocks so as to control the picture data compressing means so that the number of compression blocks recorded on one track is a positive integer in each of other operation modes.

Claim 4

An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the compression block setting means sets the number of basic blocks so as to control the picture data compressing means so that the number of compression blocks recorded on one track in each of one of the second and other operation modes is one of 135, 45, 27, 15, 5, and 3.

Claim 5

An apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising basic block rearranging means provided at an input of the picture data compressing means for rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals to effect data compression in sequence so that the basic blocks of the video signals subjected to data compression in sequence by the picture data compressing means are non-adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block subjected to data compression in a position of the video signals within a frame.

Claim 6

An apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising compressed data dividing means for dividing the compressed data of one compression block output from the picture data compressing means into L groups of compressed data, where a group is constituted by compressed data of K basic blocks, where L and K are positive integers, so as to enable recording of compressed data of the one compression block on a data record domain on the track in groups of group record domains of equal size; and divided compressed data rearranging means for rearranging the divided compressed data output from the compressed data dividing means so that a main portion of the compressed data of each group among the L groups is recorded to the group record domain allocated to each group and a remaining part other than the main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to other group record domains allocated to other groups; wherein the recording means records the output of the divided compressed data rearranging means on the data recording medium; and wherein when the compressed data of the video signals from the data recording medium are reproduced by the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus having an operation mode wherein K basic blocks constitute the one compression block, at least the main portion of the compressed data of each group is subjected to data decompression so as to enable video reproduction.

Claim 7

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of video signals to record data on a data recording medium, comprising: picture data compressing means for data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; recording means for recording the compressed data of the video signals on a data recording medium; compression block setting means for setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to the different operation modes of the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus and for controlling the picture data compressing means so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compressing becomes an integer in each operation mode; and basic block rearranging means provided at an input of the picture data compressing means for rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that the basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence by the picture data compressing means are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame.

Claim 8

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of video signals to record data on a data recording medium, comprising: picture data compressing means for data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; recording means for recording the compressed data of the video signals on a data recording medium; compression block setting means for setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to the different operation modes of the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus and for controlling the picture data compressing means so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compressing becomes an integer in each operation mode; and basic block rearranging means provided at an input of the picture data compressing means for rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that the basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence by the picture data compressing means are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame.

Claim 9

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein one operation mode is a long play mode and another operation mode is a normal play mode, and the integer number of said compression blocks on one track of the data recording medium is different from each other in the different operation modes.

Claim 10

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said basic block rearranging means includes means which is common in all operation modes for vertically dividing a frame of the video signals by the number of tracks of the recording medium to be used for recording the frameof the video signals, horizontally dividing the frame of the video signals by the number of basic blocks constituting one compression block, and generating segments, each of the segments consisting of a number of basic blocks equal to the number of compression blocks recorded on one track after data compression.

Claim 11

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: compressed data dividing means for dividing the compressed data of one compression block output from the picture data compressing means into a plurality of groups of compressed data, where a group is constituted by compressed data of an integer number of the basic blocks, so as to record the compressed data of one compression block on a data record domain on the track in groups of group record domains of equal size; and divided compressed data rearranging means for rearranging the divided compressed data output from the compressed data dividing means so that a main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to the group record domain of equal size allocated to each group and a remaining part other than the main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to other group record domains allocated to other groups; wherein the recording means records the output of the divided compressed data rearranging means on the data recording medium.

Claim 12

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus has a reproducing operation mode wherein at least said main portion of the compressed data is subjected to data decompression so as to reproduce the video signals.

Claim 13

A digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said basic block rearranging means defines, from all said basic blocks constituting one frame of said video signals, a secondary dimensional matrix having a number of columns equal to a number of the basic blocks constituting one compression block and a number of rows equal to a number of tracks for recording compression data in one frame, and defines a common standard for rearranging said basic blocks in all operation modes with respect to said secondary dimensional matrix.

Claim 14

A digital video signal recording and reproducing system comprising the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 6.

Claim 15

A digital video signal recording and reproducing system comprising the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus according to claim 11.

Claim 16

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of the video signals to record data on a data recording medium, the method comprising the steps of: data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; recording the compressed data of the video signals on a data recording medium; setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to said different operation modes of the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus and controlling the picture data compressing so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compression becomes an integer in each operation mode; and rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that the basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame.

Claim 17

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of the video signals to record data on a data recording medium, the method comprising the steps of: data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; recording the compressed data of the video signals on a data recording medium; setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to said different operation modes of the digital video signal recording and reproducing apparatus and controlling the picture data compressing so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compression becomes an integer in each operation mode; and rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that the basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame.

Claim 18

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method according to claim 14, wherein one operation mode is a long play mode and another operation mode is a normal play mode.

Claim 19

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method according to claim 14, further comprising the step which is common in all operation modes of vertically dividing a frame of the video signals by the number of tracks of the recording medium to be used for recording the frame of the video signals, horizontally dividing the frame of the video signals by the number of basic blocks constituting one compression block, and generating segments, each of the segments consisting of a number of basic blocks equal to the number of compression blocks recorded on one track after data compression.

Claim 20

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals, and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of the video signals to record data on a data recording medium, the method comprising the steps of: data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to said different operation modes, and controlling the data compressing step so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compression becomes an integer in each operation mode; rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that said basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame; dividing the compressed data of one compression block produced by the data compressing step into a plurality of groups of compressed data, where a group is constituted by compressed data of an integer number of the basic blocks, so as to enable recording of compressed data of one compression block on a data record domain on the track in groups of group record domains of equal size; rearranging the divided compressed data produced by the compressed data dividing step so that a main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to the group record domain of equal size allocated to each group and a remaining part other than the main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to other group record domains allocated to other groups; and recording the rearranged divided compressed data produced by the divided compressed data rearranging step on a data recording medium.

Claim 21

A digital video signal recording and reproducing method having a plurality of operation modes in which at least one of a resolution, a recording time of video signals, and a data compression system is different, the video signals being data compressed in a unit of a basic block comprised of a plurality of pixels of the video signals to record data on a data recording medium, the method comprising the steps of: data compressing the video signals so that a compression data quantity after data compression becomes a constant with respect to a compression block constituted by a plurality of the basic blocks; setting a number of the basic blocks to constitute the compression block in response to said different operation modes, and controlling the data compressing step so that the number of the compression blocks of the video signals recorded on one track of the data recording medium after data compression becomes an integer in each operation mode; rearranging an order of the basic blocks of the video signals within a frame according to a common standard in all operation modes so that said basic blocks to be data compressed in sequence are not adjacent to an immediately preceding basic block which has been data compressed in the position of the video signals within a frame; dividing the compressed data of one compression block produced by the data compressing step into a plurality of groups of compressed data, where a group is constituted by compressed data of an integer number of the basic blocks, so as to enable recording of compressed data of one compression block on a data record domain on the track in groups of group record domains of equal size; rearranging the divided compressed data produced by the compressed data dividing step so that a main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to the group record domain of equal size allocated to each group and a remaining part other than the main portion of the compressed data of each group is recorded to other group record domains allocated to other groups; and recording the rearranged divided compressed data produced by the divided compressed data rearranging step on a data recording medium.