Image data readout time adjuster for a video-on-demand system

Claim 2

A data readout time adjuster to be used for a video-on-demand system, said video on demand system comprising a storage means for dividing each titled image data into a plurality of image data sections and storing each of the plurality of image data sections in one of a series of storage media in order of reproduction, returning to a first storage medium in the series after reaching a final storage medium in the series along a story of each titled image data; a readout administration means for assigning a slot and a readout right to each subscriber who has made a data transmission request, for designating an image data storage area for each image data section, and for assigning a waiting order to each subscriber who has not been given the readout right; an update means for updating the readout right and the readout position at a certain time interval; a readout means for sequentially reading the plurality of image data sections from the storage media for each subscriber who has been assigned the readout right; and a transmission means for transmitting the plurality of image data sections read to each subscriber, said data readout time adjuster comprising: a readout time adjusting data storage means for storing image data for adjusting readout time to be provided to subscribers who have not been assigned the readout right and are waiting for a start of a readout operation, the image data for adjusting readout time causing no inconvenience even if a transmission of the image data is interrupted any time; a readout start position check means for, in response to an additional data transmission request, judging whether a subscriber is assigned a readout right for reading a first image data section of a titled image data requested by the additional data transmission request, wherein said readout start position check means judges that the subscriber is assigned the readout right when there is a free slot in a storage media storing the first image data section of the titled image data; and a readout control means for making at least one of said readout means and a private readout means exclusively provided for said readout time adjusting data storage means read the image data for adjusting readout time stored in said readout time adjusting data storage means until said readout start position check means judges that the subscriber is assigned the readout right, wherein said transmission means transmits the image data for adjusting readout time to the subscriber.

Claim 3

A data readout time adjuster included in a video-on-demand system, the video-on-demand system comprising a transmission request receiving means for receiving at least one transmission request for image data from each of a plurality of subscribers; and a transmission means for transmitting the image data requested in the transmission requests to each subscriber, wherein each piece of image data is composed of a plurality of image data sections, said data readout adjuster comprising: an image data storage means for storing at least one piece of image data and including a certain number of storage mediums which store the plurality of image data sections so that the plurality of image data sections are read in order according to a story of each piece of image data; a read-out time adjustment image storage means for storing, as a read-out time adjustment image corresponding to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, one of at least one still picture and at least one short-period piece of moving picture data; a slot table managing means for managing a slot table included in said slot table managing means, the slot table including a plurality of slot areas each of which is related to one of said certain number of storage mediums and also to one of a certain number of slots, wherein each slot area stores subscriber identification information for identifying a subscriber, image identification information for identifying the pieces of image data specified by the transmission requests received by said transmission request receiving means, and read-out time adjustment image identification information for identifying one of addresses of the plurality of image data sections in said certain number of storage mediums and the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and read-out time adjustment images; a slot table updating means including: a slide means for, each time an image data section is read from said image data storage means, writing content of each slot area in the slot table to each slot area corresponding to a next storage medium, wherein when each slot area stores the read-out time adjustment image and when a first image data section corresponding to the read-out time adjustment image is stored in a storage medium of a current slot area, said slide means writes an address of the first image data section in the storage medium of the current slot area; a free slot area judging means for judging whether there is a free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request; and a writing means for, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is at least one free slot area, writing the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and an address of the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request into one of the free slot areas judged as free by said free slot area judging means, wherein said writing means, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is no free slot area, writes, into a free slot area for another storage medium, the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the read-out time adjustment image identification information corresponding to the piece of image data; and a reading means including a certain number of reading units which respectively correspond to said certain number of storage mediums, wherein each reading unit, based on the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and one of the read-out time adjustment image identification information and the address of the first image data section, reads and outputs to said transmission means one of the plurality of image data sections of each piece of image data and the read-out time adjustment images respectively from said storage medium corresponding to each reading unit and said read-out time adjustment image storage means.

Claim 4

A data readout time adjuster included in a video-on-demand system, the video-on-demand system comprising a transmission request receiving means for receiving at least one transmission request for image data from each of a plurality of subscribers; and a transmission means for transmitting the image data requested in the transmission requests to each subscriber, wherein each piece of image data is composed of a plurality of image data sections, said data readout adjuster comprising: an image data storage means for storing at least one piece of image data and including a certain number of storage mediums which store the plurality of image data sections so that the plurality of image data sections are read in order according to a story of each piece of image data; a read-out time adjustment image storage means for storing, as a read-out time adjustment image corresponding to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, one of at least one still picture and at least one short-period piece of moving picture data; a slot table managing means for managing a slot table included in said slot table managing means, the slot table including a plurality of slot areas each of which is related to one of said certain number of storage mediums and also to one of a certain number of slots, wherein each slot area stores subscriber identification information for identifying a subscriber, image identification information for identifying the pieces of image data specified by the transmission requests received by said transmission request receiving means, and read-out time adjustment image identification information for identifying one of addresses of the plurality of image data sections in said certain number of storage mediums and the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and read-out time adjustment images; a slot table updating means including: a slide means for, each time an image data section is read from said image data storage means, writing content of each slot area in the slot table to each slot area corresponding to a next storage medium, wherein when each slot area stores the read-out time adjustment image and when a first image data section corresponding to the read-out time adjustment image is stored in a storage medium of a current slot area, said slide means writes an address of the first image data section in the storage medium of the current slot area; a free slot area judging means for judging whether there is a free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request; and a writing means for, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is at least one free slot area, writing the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and an address of the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request into one of the free slot areas judged as free by said free slot area judging means, wherein said writing means, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is no free slot area, writes, into a free slot area for another storage medium, the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the read-out time adjustment image identification information corresponding to the piece of image data; and a reading means including a certain number of reading units which respectively correspond to said certain number of storage mediums, wherein each reading unit, based on the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and one of the read-out time adjustment image identification information and the address of the first image data section, reads and outputs to said transmission means one of the plurality of image data sections of each piece of image data and the read-out time adjustment images respectively from said storage medium corresponding to each reading unit and said read-out time adjustment image storage means.

Claim 5

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 6

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an audio data insert signal generating means for generating an audio data insert signal when said slot table updating means judges that there is no free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data; and an audio data inserting means for receiving the audio data insert signal generated by said audio data insert signal generating means, generating audio data, combining the audio data with the read-out time adjustment images read from said read-out time adjustment image storage means, and outputting the combined audio data and read-out time adjustment image to said transmission means, wherein said transmission means transmits the combined audio data and read-out time adjustment image from the audio data inserting means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 7

The data readout time adjuster of claim 4 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 8

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading a piece of unbalance correction information from the unbalance correction information storage means at the position stored in said image data managing means and outputting the read piece of unbalance correction information to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 9

The data readout time adjuster of claim 6 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 10

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 farther comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing at least one position, inside the plurality of image data sections for each piece of image data stored in said image data storage means, at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading an image data section from said image data storage means according to the image identification information read by said reading means, inserting a piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means into the image data section at the position stored in said image data managing means, and outputting the image data section with the piece of unbalance correction information inserted to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits to the plurality of subscribers a piece of image data including the image data section with the piece of unbalance correction information inserted by the image processing means.

Claim 11

The data readout time adjuster of claim 8 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 12

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading a piece of unbalance correction information from a unbalance correction information storage means at the position stored in said image data managing means and outputting the read piece of unbalance correction information to said transmission means, wherein said image data storage means stores at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 13

The data readout time adjuster of claim 10 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 14

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and which is to be transmitted repeatedly; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading a piece of unbalance correction information from the unbalance correction information storage means at the position stored in said image data managing means, generating a plurality of copies of the read piece of unbalance correction information, and outputting the generated plurality of pieces of unbalance correction information to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the plurality of pieces of unbalance correction information generated by said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 15

The data readout time adjuster of claim 12 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by the overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 16

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading a piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data from the unbalance correction information storage means at the position stored in said image data managing means and outputting the read piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification Information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 17

The data readout time adjuster of claim 14 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 18

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data sections are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading a piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data from the unbalance correction information storage means at the position stored in said image data managing means and outputting the read piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 19

The data readout time adjuster of claim 16 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 20

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being image effect data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing at least one position of image data section for which an image effect is performed, wherein the positions of image data section respectively correspond to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when the unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading an image data section from said image data storage means according to the image identification information read by said reading means, reading a piece of unbalance correction information being image effect data from said unbalance correction information storage means, processing the read image data section in accordance with the read piece of unbalance correction information at the position stored in said image data managing means, and outputting the processed image data section to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the processed image data section output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 21

The data readout time adjuster of claim 18 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 22

The data readout time adjuster of claim 2 further comprising: an image data managing means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information each of which indicates a position of an image data section to be cut, wherein the pieces of unbalance correction information respectively correspond ho the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; and an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, judges whether said image data managing means stores the pieces of unbalance correction information, and when having judged so, writes a content of a current slot area to a slot area in a next storage medium, and changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area.

Claim 23

The data readout time adjuster of claim 20 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 24

A video-on-demand system for receiving at least one transmission request for image data from each of a plurality of subscribers, reading the image data requested in the transmission requests from an inside storage, and for transmitting the read image data to each subscriber, said video-on-demand system comprising: an image data storage means for storing at least one piece of image data and including a certain number of storage mediums which store the plurality of image data sections so that the plurality of image data sections are read in order according to a story of each piece of image data; a read-cut time adjustment image storage means for storing, as a read-out time adjustment image corresponding to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, one of at least one still picture and at least one short-period piece of moving picture data; a slot table managing means for managing a slot table included in said slot table managing means, the slot table including a plurality of slot areas each of which is related to one of said certain number of storage mediums and also to one of a certain number of slots, wherein each slot area stores subscriber identification information for identifying a subscriber, image identification information for identifying the pieces of image data specified by the transmission requests received by said transmission request receiving means, and read-out time adjustment image identification information for identifying one of addresses of the plurality of image data sections in said certain number of storage mediums and the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and read-out time adjustment images; a slot table updating means including: a slide means for, each time an image data section is read from said image data storage means, writing content of each slot area in the slot table to each slot area corresponding to a next storage medium, wherein when each slot area stores the read-out time adjustment image and when a first image data section corresponding to the read-out time adjustment image is stored in a storage medium of a current slot area, said slide means writes an address of the first image data section in the storage medium of the current slot area; a free slot area judging means for judging whether there is a free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request; and a writing means for, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is at least one free slot area, writing the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and an address of the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request into one of the free slot areas judged as free by said free slot area judging means, wherein said writing means, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is no free slot area, writes, into a free slot area for another storage medium, the subscriber identification Information, the image identification information, and the read-out time adjustment image identification information corresponding to the piece of image data; and a reading means including a certain number of reading units which respectively correspond to said certain number of storage mediums, wherein each reading unit, based on the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and one of the read-out time adjustment image identification information and the address of the first image data section, reads and outputs to said transmission means one of the plurality of image data sections of each piece of image data and the read-out time adjustment images respectively from said storage medium corresponding to each reading unit and said read-out time adjustment image storage means.

Claim 25

A video-on-demand system for receiving at least one transmission request for image data from each of a plurality of subscribers, reading the image data requested in the transmission requests from an inside storage, and for transmitting the read image data to each subscriber, said video-on-demand system comprising: an image data storage means for storing at least one piece of image data and including a certain number of storage mediums which store the plurality of image data sections so that the plurality of image data sections are read in order according to a story of each piece of image data; a read-cut time adjustment image storage means for storing, as a read-out time adjustment image corresponding to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, one of at least one still picture and at least one short-period piece of moving picture data; a slot table managing means for managing a slot table included in said slot table managing means, the slot table including a plurality of slot areas each of which is related to one of said certain number of storage mediums and also to one of a certain number of slots, wherein each slot area stores subscriber identification information for identifying a subscriber, image identification information for identifying the pieces of image data specified by the transmission requests received by said transmission request receiving means, and read-out time adjustment image identification information for identifying one of addresses of the plurality of image data sections in said certain number of storage mediums and the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and read-out time adjustment images; a slot table updating means including: a slide means for, each time an image data section is read from said image data storage means, writing content of each slot area in the slot table to each slot area corresponding to a next storage medium, wherein when each slot area stores the read-out time adjustment image and when a first image data section corresponding to the read-out time adjustment image is stored in a storage medium of a current slot area, said slide means writes an address of the first image data section in the storage medium of the current slot area; a free slot area judging means for judging whether there is a free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request; and a writing means for, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is at least one free slot area, writing the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and an address of the first image data section of the piece of image data specified in the transmission request into one of the free slot areas judged as free by said free slot area judging means, wherein said writing means, when said free slot area judging means judges that there is no free slot area, writes, into a free slot area for another storage medium, the subscriber identification Information, the image identification information, and the read-out time adjustment image identification information corresponding to the piece of image data; and a reading means including a certain number of reading units which respectively correspond to said certain number of storage mediums, wherein each reading unit, based on the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and one of the read-out time adjustment image identification information and the address of the first image data section, reads and outputs to said transmission means one of the plurality of image data sections of each piece of image data and the read-out time adjustment images respectively from said storage medium corresponding to each reading unit and said read-out time adjustment image storage means.

Claim 26

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 27

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an audio data insert signal generating means for generating an audio data insert signal when said slot table updating means judges that there is no free slot area among the plurality of slot areas corresponding to a storage medium which stores the first image data section of the piece of image data; and an audio data inserting means for receiving the audio data insert signal generated by said audio data insert signal generating means, generating audio data, combining the audio data with the read-out time adjustment images read from said read-out time adjustment image storage means, and outputting the combined audio data and read-out time adjustment image to said transmission means, wherein said transmission means transmits the combined audio data and read-out time adjustment image from the audio data inserting means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 28

The video-on-demand system of claim 24 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 29

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for outputting a piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means at the position stored in said image data managing means to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 30

The video-on-demand system of claim 26 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 31

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing at least one position, inside the plurality of image data sections for each piece of image data stored in said image data storage means, at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading an image data section from said image data storage means according to the image identification information read by said reading means, inserting a piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means into the image data section at the position stored in said image data managing means, and outputting the image data section with the piece of unbalance correction information inserted to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits to the plurality of subscribers a piece of image data including the image data section with the piece of unbalance correction information inserted by the image processing means.

Claim 32

The video-on-demand system of claim 28 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 33

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscribed identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for outputting a piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means at the position stored in said image data managing means to said transmission means, wherein said image data storage means stores at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading Means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 34

The video-on-demand system of claim 30 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 35

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means and which is to be transmitted repeatedly; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for generating a plurality of copies of a piece of unbalance correction information read by said reading means at the position stored in said image data managing means and outputting the generated plurality of pieces of unbalance correction information to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the plurality of pieces of unbalance correction information generated by said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 36

The video-on-demand system of claim 32 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by the overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 37

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for outputting to said transmission means a piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data read by said reading means at the position stored in said image data managing means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information being fade-in image data output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 38

The video-on-demand system of claim 34 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 39

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing a position between neighboring image data section at which a piece of unbalance correction information is to be inserted, wherein said image data managing means stores the position for each of the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for outputting to said transmission means a piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data read by said reading means at the position stored in said image data managing means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the piece of unbalance correction information being fade-out image data output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 40

The video-on-demand system of claim 36 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 41

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an unbalance correction information storage means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information being image effect data which respectively corresponds to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an image data managing means for storing at least one position of image data section for which an image effect is performed, wherein the positions of image data section respectively correspond to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when the unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium; and an image processing means for reading an image data section from said image data storage means according to the image identification information read by said reading means, reading a piece of unbalance correction information being image effect data from said unbalance correction information storage means, processing the read image data section in accordance with the read piece of unbalance correction information at the position stored in said image data managing means, and outputting the processed image data section to said transmission means, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area, and writes into slot area of another storage medium the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information stored in said image data managing means, wherein said reading means reads the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the piece of unbalance correction information from the slot table, and wherein said transmission means transmits the processed image data section output from said image processing means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 42

The video-on-demand system of claim 38 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the plurality of subscribers.

Claim 43

The video-on-demand system of claim 22 further comprising: an image data managing means for storing at least one piece of unbalance correction information each of which indicates a position of an image data section to be cut, wherein the pieces of unbalance correction information respectively correspond to the pieces of image data stored in said image data storage means; and an unbalance detecting means for judging for each of said certain number of storage mediums whether the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, and outputting a subscriber assignment change request to said slot table updating means when said unbalance detecting means judges that the subscriber identification information, the image identification information, and the address of the first image data section are stored in each slot area, wherein the subscriber assignment change request requests for changing of at least one subscriber assigned to a certain number of slot areas of said storage medium, wherein said slot table updating means, when receiving a subscriber assignment change request from said unbalance detecting means, judges whether said image data managing means stores the pieces of unbalance correction information, and when having judged so, writes a content of a current slot area to a slot area in a next storage medium, and changes the slot area, to which the subscriber is assigned, to a free slot area.

Claim 44

The video-on-demand system of claim 40 further comprising: an overlap control means for, each time a piece of image data is read, detecting a plurality of subscribers who request a same piece of image data to be read in a certain time period by referring to the slot table; and a duplication means for duplicating a same number of image data sections output to said transmission means as a number of the plurality of subscribers detected by said overlap control means, wherein said transmission means transmits a plurality of image data duplicated by said duplication means to the is plurality of subscribers.