USRE41977E1 - Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus - Google Patents

Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus Download PDF

Info

Publication number
USRE41977E1
USRE41977E1 US12/360,666 US36066609A USRE41977E US RE41977 E1 USRE41977 E1 US RE41977E1 US 36066609 A US36066609 A US 36066609A US RE41977 E USRE41977 E US RE41977E
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
data
storing means
recording
unit
reproducing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
US12/360,666
Inventor
Kissei Matsumoto
Min-Jae Han
Takuya Kaeriyama
Tsutomu Imai
Seiichi Jinbo
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Sony Corp
Original Assignee
Sony Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Sony Corp filed Critical Sony Corp
Priority to US12/360,666 priority Critical patent/USRE41977E1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of USRE41977E1 publication Critical patent/USRE41977E1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

Links

Images

Classifications

    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/34Indicating arrangements 
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B19/00Driving, starting, stopping record carriers not specifically of filamentary or web form, or of supports therefor; Control thereof; Control of operating function ; Driving both disc and head
    • G11B19/02Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
    • G11B19/12Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark
    • G11B19/122Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark involving the detection of an identification or authentication mark
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B19/00Driving, starting, stopping record carriers not specifically of filamentary or web form, or of supports therefor; Control thereof; Control of operating function ; Driving both disc and head
    • G11B19/02Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing
    • G11B19/12Control of operating function, e.g. switching from recording to reproducing by sensing distinguishing features of or on records, e.g. diameter end mark
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B20/00Signal processing not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Circuits therefor
    • G11B20/00007Time or data compression or expansion
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B20/00Signal processing not specific to the method of recording or reproducing; Circuits therefor
    • G11B20/10Digital recording or reproducing
    • G11B20/10527Audio or video recording; Data buffering arrangements
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/002Programmed access in sequence to a plurality of record carriers or indexed parts, e.g. tracks, thereof, e.g. for editing
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/02Editing, e.g. varying the order of information signals recorded on, or reproduced from, record carriers
    • G11B27/031Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
    • G11B27/034Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals on discs
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/102Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers
    • G11B27/105Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers of operating discs
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/11Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel by using information not detectable on the record carrier
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/36Monitoring, i.e. supervising the progress of recording or reproducing
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04NPICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/21Server components or server architectures
    • H04N21/218Source of audio or video content, e.g. local disk arrays
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/20Disc-shaped record carriers
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/20Disc-shaped record carriers
    • G11B2220/21Disc-shaped record carriers characterised in that the disc is of read-only, rewritable, or recordable type
    • G11B2220/213Read-only discs
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/20Disc-shaped record carriers
    • G11B2220/25Disc-shaped record carriers characterised in that the disc is based on a specific recording technology
    • G11B2220/2537Optical discs
    • G11B2220/2545CDs
    • GPHYSICS
    • G11INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11BINFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/60Solid state media
    • G11B2220/61Solid state media wherein solid state memory is used for storing A/V content

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus and a terminal apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus having a storing unit and relates to a terminal apparatus.
  • CD changer in which a number of CDs (Compact Disc) are enclosed and an automatic reproduction of a CD is executed has been put into practical use.
  • CDs Compact Disc
  • tens to hundreds of CDs are enclosed in one casing and the reproduction of a CD selected by a predetermined operation is automatically executed.
  • the reproduction of the CD can be executed every CD or a plurality of CDs are selected and the random reproduction can be also executed on a CD unit basis or a unit basis of a recorded music piece.
  • the CD changer is mainly fixedly used, namely, it is installed in the room and is used.
  • an apparatus using a magnetooptical disc or optical disc having a diameter of almost 64 mm is spreading.
  • an analog audio signal is converted into a digital . signal and is compressed by a compressing technique called an ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding: trade name) and is recorded to a magnctooptical disc.
  • ATRAC Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding: trade name
  • a recording and reproducing apparatus including a communicating unit, a reading unit, a storing unit, a control unit, and an output unit.
  • the communicating unit transmits and receives data to/from an information center in which a plurality of additional information have been stored.
  • the reading unit reads out recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data of such a plurality of data have been recorded.
  • the data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit.
  • the control unit reads out the additional information corresponding to the recording medium from which the data is read out by the reading unit from the information center by the communicating unit and writes the read-out additional information into the storing unit as additional data of the recording medium which is being read out by the reading unit.
  • the output unit outputs the data stored in the storing unit and the additional data.
  • a recording and reproducing apparatus including an information supplying unit and a recording and reproducing unit. A plurality of additional information have been stored in the information supplying unit.
  • the recording and reproducing unit transmits and receives data to/from the information supplying unit.
  • the recording and reproducing unit includes a communicating unit, a reading unit, a storing unit, a control unit, and an output unit.
  • the communicating unit transmits and receives data to/from the information supplying unit.
  • the reading unit reads out recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data of such a plurality of data have been recorded.
  • the data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit.
  • the control unit reads out the additional information corresponding to the recording medium from which the data is read out by the reading unit from the information center by the communicating unit and writes the read-out additional information into the storing unit as additional data of the recording medium which is being read out by the reading unit.
  • the output unit outputs the data stored in the storing unit and the additional data.
  • a recording and reproducing apparatus including a reading unit, a first storing unit, a reproducing unit, a second storing unit, and a control unit.
  • the reading unit reads out data recorded on a recording medium.
  • the data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the first storing unit.
  • the reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the first storing unit.
  • the data read out from the first storing unit is stored into the second storing unit.
  • the control unit inhibits the further reading operation from the first storing unit of the data which has been read out from the first storing unit and stored into the second storing unit in the data stored in the first storing unit.
  • a recording and reproducing apparatus including first and second recording and reproducing units.
  • the first recording and reproducing unit has a reading unit, a first storing unit, a reproducing unit, and a control unit.
  • the reading unit reads out data recorded on a recording medium.
  • the data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit.
  • the reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the first storing unit.
  • the control unit controls the operations of the reading unit, first storing unit, and reproducing unit.
  • the second recording and reproducing unit has a second storing unit in which the data read out from the first storing unit is stored.
  • the control unit inhibits the further reading operation from the first storing unit of the data which has been read out from the first storing unit and stored in the second storing unit in the data stored in the first storing unit.
  • a terminal apparatus Data is supplied from a recording and reproducing apparatus to the terminal apparatus.
  • the terminal apparatus has a storing unit, a reproducing unit, and a control unit.
  • the data supplied from the recording and reproducing apparatus is stored into the storing unit.
  • the reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the storing unit.
  • the control unit deletes the data which has been read out from the storing unit and supplied to the recording and reproducing apparatus from the storing unit.
  • a recording and reproducing apparatus including a reading unit, a storing unit, a reproducing unit, a communicating unit, and a control unit.
  • the reading unit reads out the data recorded on the recording medium.
  • the data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit.
  • the reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the storing unit.
  • the communicating unit transmits the data read out from the storing unit.
  • the control unit inhibits the reading operation from the storing unit by the reading unit of the data which has been read out from the storing unit and transmitted by the communicating unit in the data stored in the storing unit.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a music server according to the invention and a system using the music server;
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a construction of the music server
  • FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a signal flow until music data read out by a CD-ROM drive is recorded to a hard disk drive;
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a signal flow until compression music data read out by a hard disk drive is reproduction processed and is outputted to a terminal;
  • FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a construction of a portable recording and reproducing apparatus
  • FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another example of a portable recording and reproducing apparatus
  • FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example of processes when music data of a CD is recorded to a hard disk drive in the music server;
  • FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts showing an example of an accounting process when music data of a CD is recorded to a hard disk drive at a high speed
  • FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a moving process of music data according to the invention.
  • FIG. 1 schematically shows a music server to which the invention is applied and a system using the music server.
  • a music server 50 comprises a server main body 51 and right and left speaker units 52 R and 52 L.
  • a display unit 53 comprising, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel and a CD inserting portion 54 to insert a CD into the server main body 51 are provided for the server main body 51 .
  • LCD Liquid Crystal Display
  • an operating unit comprising a plurality of operation switches to operate functions of the server main body 51 by the user is provided for the server main body 51 .
  • a signal receiving unit to receive, for example, an infrared signal to remote operate the functions of the server main body 51 by a remote commander can be also provided.
  • the server main body 51 has a controller as will be explained hereinlater. Various operations of the server main body 51 are controlled by the controller on the basis of a predetermined program which has previously been stored in, for instance, an ROM.
  • the user loads a CD 55 into the server main body 51 through the CD inserting portion 54 and executes a predetermined operation by using an operating unit (not shown), thereby reproducing the CD 55 .
  • He can enjoy music recorded on the CD 55 by generating a reproduction signal reproduced from the CD 55 by the speaker units 52 L and 52 R.
  • the CD 55 includes text data such as music titles or the like, the music titles or the like are displayed to the display unit 53 on the basis of the text data.
  • the music server 50 has therein a recording medium of a large capacity by, for example, a hard disk.
  • a recording medium of a large capacity by, for example, a hard disk.
  • the reproduction data reproduced from the CD 55 loaded into the server main body 51 from the CD inserting portion 54 can be recorded to the recording medium comprising a hard disk.
  • either one of a method of recording at the same transfer speed as the standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 and a high speed recording to record at a transfer speed higher than the standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 can be selected.
  • a desired CD can be selected or a desired music piece recorded on the CD can be selected and the reproduction data as music data reproduced from the CD can be recorded at a transfer speed higher than the reproducing speed of the CD.
  • the music data reproduced from the CD 55 is compression encoded to compression music data by a predetermined method such as a foregoing ATRAC or the like and is recorded.
  • music data of about 1000 music pieces can be memorized or stored to the hard disk having a capacity of 6 GBytes.
  • a list of the titles of the music pieces memorized or stored on the hard disk is displayed on, for example, the display unit 53 .
  • the user can select an arbitrary one of the music pieces memorized or stored on the hard disk on the basis of the music title list displayed in the display unit 53 and can reproduce. Since a random access can be performed in the hard disk, a number of music data memorized or stored can be read out and continuously reproduced in accordance with an arbitrary order.
  • the music server 50 can be connected to an external system, for example, an internet server 60 as a server connected to the internet through a communication line 61 as a public telephone line. By connecting from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 through the communication line 61 , various information on the internet can be obtained.
  • the internet server 60 has, for example, a database such as title information of commercially available music CDs. By allocating a peculiar key to use the database to the user and operating the peculiar key when the database is used, data annexed to the CDs, for example, title information of the CDs can be obtained.
  • an accounting process for the music server 50 is also executed in accordance with services which are presented to the user.
  • the music server 50 communicates data indicative of the execution of the high speed recording to the internet server 60 , so that the accounting process for the user who performs the high speed recording is executed, the selection of the CD or music piece can be performed, and the high speed recording can be executed.
  • the accounting process is executed by the internet server 60 having a large quantity of additional information of the CDs here, the invention is not limited to the foregoing example.
  • the foregoing accounting process can be also performed by another server connected to the internet.
  • the foregoing accounting process can be also executed by another network, for example, a dedicated network different from the internet.
  • a portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a storing medium comprising a hard disk or a flash memory. Any other storing medium or recording media can be also used so long as it can follow the reproducing speed of music.
  • the music data recorded in the music server 50 is transferred to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and can be recorded to the storing medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • the music data transferred to the apparatus 70 exists on the storing medium such as hard disk or flash memory, it is set into a state where the data cannot be reproduced.
  • the storing medium or recording medium which is used in the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a capacity of, for example, about 200 MBytes and music data of tens of music pieces can be memorized or stored.
  • a storing device or storing medium comprising a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory or the like and a recording medium such as a disk-like recording medium or the like such as a hard disk or the like are generally called a storing medium or storing media.
  • the foregoing transfer method which is used in the invention, namely, an act such that in case of transferring the music data, the music data is recorded to a storing medium on the transfer destination side, and on the storing medium on the transferring source side, although the transferred music data exists on the storing medium, it is set into an unreproducible state is called a “movement”.
  • a “movement” By moving as mentioned above, an unlimited copy of the music data can be prevented.
  • the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are connected by the connection line 71 in the above embodiment, the invention is not limited to this example.
  • interfaces corresponding to IrDA (Infrared Data Association) for transmitting and receiving data by an infrared signal are provided for both of the server 50 and apparatus 70 and the music data can be also transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70 by the infrared signal.
  • IrDA Infrared Data Association
  • music server 50 by providing a predetermined interface for the music server 50 , information can be exchanged for various media. For example, by providing an interface corresponding to a PC card 80 for the server 50 , music data which is distributed by the PC card 80 can be fetched to the music server 50 or data can be transmitted and received between a personal computer and the music server 50 . By providing a serial digital interface by an optical cable or the like for the server 50 , for example, music data can be transmitted and received to/from another digital music data recording and reproducing apparatus such as a disc recorder 81 using a small magnetooptical disc having a diameter of 64 mm.
  • another digital music data recording and reproducing apparatus such as a disc recorder 81 using a small magnetooptical disc having a diameter of 64 mm.
  • a disc cartridge 82 in which the foregoing small magnetooptical disc is enclosed is loaded into the disc recorder 81 and music data reproduced from the magnetooptical disc of the disc cartridge 82 is supplied to the music server 50 .
  • an interface such as an IEEE 1394 for the server 50 and to connect, for instance, a set top box 83 for a CATV (Cable Television), a satellite broadcasting, or the like.
  • the PC card conforms to the standard of the card type peripheral equipment for personal computers by the common enactment of the PCMCIA (Personal Memory Card International Association) of U.S.A. and the JEIDA (Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association) of Japan.
  • the IEEE 1394 is an interface standard used in Electrical & Electronics Standards Engineers Association of U.S.A.
  • the music server 50 can have a WWW (World Wide Web) browser as a built-in application.
  • WWW World Wide Web
  • HTML Hypertext Markup Language
  • the user can reproduce the music data memorized or stored in the music server 50 and can listen to it by the speaker units 52 L and 52 R.
  • the user can also load the CD 55 into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 and can reproduce the CD 55 .
  • the title information or the like of the CD 55 loaded into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 can be automatically obtained from the server 60 through the communication line 61 .
  • the information derived from the server 60 is preserved in the music server 50 .
  • the preserved title information is displayed on the display unit 53 of the server 50 as necessary.
  • information such as user ID data of the server 50 or the like that is peculiar to the user (hereinafter, referred to as user information) is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 .
  • user information On the internet server 60 side, a collating process or an accounting process is executed on the basis of the received user information.
  • Media information of the CD which is needed by the user or the CD which is being reproduced is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 .
  • the additional information such as titles of the music pieces, names of the players, names of the composers and songwriters, words, jacket image, and the like for the music data is retrieved.
  • predetermined information regarding the CD requested from the user is returned to the music server 50 .
  • TOC (Table of Contents) information of the CD 55 is sent as media information to the internet server 60 .
  • a data base in which the additional information for the music data mentioned above can be retrieved is constructed in the internet server 60 on the basis of the TOC information.
  • the additional information can be also obtained by retrieving another WWW server on the internet.
  • the internet server 60 retrieves the additional information of the music data by using the received TOC information as media information. For example, it can be retrieved on the basis of time information of each of the music pieces included in the TOC information and recorded in the CD 55 .
  • the additional information obtained by retrieving is sent from the internet server 60 to the music server 50 .
  • the received additional information is displayed in the display unit 53 and is written to, for example, the hard disk drive together with the TOC information of the CD 55 by a CPU 8 , which will be explained hereinlater.
  • the additional information can be displayed by built-in WWW browser software in the music server 50 .
  • the music data in the CD 55 loaded into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 can be recorded into the storing medium of the music server 50 at a speed higher than the specified standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 , for example, the music data of one CD 55 can be recorded for about two minutes.
  • the music data is recorded to the storing medium of the server 50 at the same speed as the specified standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 , namely, at the one-time speed.
  • the server 50 can transfer and move music data memorized or stored in the music server 50 to the portable reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • the moved music data can be reproduced by the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and can be listened by, for example, headphones 72 even if the server 50 and apparatus 70 are not connected by the connection line 71 .
  • the transferred and moved music data is set into a state where it cannot be reproduced in the music server 50 .
  • FIG. 2 shows an example of a construction of the music server 50 .
  • an RAM 5 an ROM 6 , a flash memory 7 , and a CPU 8 which are mutually connected by a bus are provided.
  • the CPU 8 is connected to a bus 40 .
  • the CPU 8 functions as a controller and the whole operation of the music server 50 is controlled.
  • a program to control the operation of the music server 50 has previously been stored in the ROM 6 .
  • the CPU 8 allows the operation corresponding to the operation of input operating unit 1 , which will be explained hereinlater, is executed.
  • a data area and a task area which are used when the program is executed are temporarily assured in the RAM 5 and flash memory 7 .
  • a program loader has been stored in the ROM 6 and the program itself can be also loaded into the flash memory 7 by the program loader of the ROM 6 .
  • the input operating unit 1 comprises, for example, a plurality of push type and rotary type operation keys, switches which are operated by these operation keys, and the like.
  • the input operating unit 1 is not limited to this type but an operation key of a rotary push type called a jog dial, a touch panel on the LCD, or the like can be also used.
  • a switching mechanism which responds by pressing can be also used.
  • a signal according to the operation of the input operating unit 1 is supplied to the CPU 8 through the bus 40 .
  • a control signal to control the operation of the music server 50 is formed on the basis of the signal from the input operating unit 1 .
  • the music server 50 is operated in response to the control signal formed by the CPU 8 .
  • An infrared interface (IrDA I/F) driver 3 and/or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) driver 4 is connected to the bus 40 .
  • a keyboard 2 can communicate or connect to the drivers 3 and 4 . By using the keyboard 2 , for instance, the name of music piece corresponding to the music data which is recorded, the name of artist, and the like can be easily inputted. The data can be also transferred through the infrared interface driver 3 or USB driver 4 .
  • the infrared interface driver 3 and USB driver 4 can be also omitted.
  • a CD-ROM drive 9 is connected to the bus 40 .
  • the CD 55 inserted from the CD inserting unit 54 as mentioned above is loaded into the CD-ROM drive 9 .
  • the music data is read out from the loaded CD 55 at the specified standard reproducing speed.
  • the music data of the CD 55 can be read out at a speed which is higher than the specified standard reproducing speed, for instance, which is 16 or 32 times as high as the specified standard reproducing speed.
  • the CD-ROM drive 9 is not limited to the foregoing example but can be also made correspond to another disk-like recording medium in which music data has been stored, for example, a magnetooptical disk or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). A drive corresponding to a memory card can be also used. Further, the data which is read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is not limited to the music data but image data, text data, program data, or the like can be also read out.
  • a hard disk drive (hereinafter, simply referred to as an HDD) 10 is connected to the bus 40 .
  • the music data read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded to the HDD 10 .
  • the music data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 is supplied to a compression encoder 12 through the bus 40 and a DRAM 11 for audio.
  • a compression encoding process of the music data is performed by the foregoing compressing method disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821 or the like.
  • a compressing speed of the music data by the compression encoder 12 two speeds of a low speed and a high speed are prepared on the basis of the control of the CPU 8 .
  • the low speed compressing speed corresponds to the standard reproducing speed specified for the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9 .
  • the high speed compressing speed corresponds to a speed higher than the standard reproducing speed specified for the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9 , for example, the reproducing speed of two times or more.
  • the compressing speed is switched in accordance with, for example, the reproducing speed of the CD 55 by the CD-ROM drive 9 .
  • an encoding algorithm according to the compressing speed is driven.
  • the changing method of the compressing speed in the compression encoder 12 is not limited to the foregoing method. For instance, it can be also changed by switching a clock frequency of the compression encoder 12 . A different hardware can be also prepared. Further, in the compression encoder 12 in which the high speed compression can be performed, it is also possible to correspond to the low compressing speed by thinning out the processes.
  • the compression music data which was compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 is recorded and accumulated to the HDD 10 through the DRAM 11 .
  • the music data which is read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 can be also directly supplied to the HDD 10 and can be recorded and accumulated to the hard disk of the HDD 10 .
  • an audio signal which is inputted through an amplifier 14 from a microphone connected to a terminal 13 and an audio signal which is inputted from a line input terminal 15 are supplied to the compression encoder 12 through an A/D converter 16 .
  • Those audio signals can be compression encoded by the encoder 12 and can be recorded to the HDD 10 .
  • an optical digital signal is supplied from an optical digital input terminal 17 to the compression encoder 12 through an IEC 958 (International Electrotechnical Commission 958) encoder 18 .
  • the audio signal supplied as an optical digital signal can be also compression encoded by the encoder 12 and can be recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 10 .
  • the compression encoder 12 uses an encoding algorithm as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821
  • the invention is not limited to the foregoing example. That is, in the compression encoder 12 , any other algorithm can be also used so long as it is an encoding algorithm by which information is compressed.
  • the compression encoder 12 can also use an encoding algorithm such as MPEG (moving picture coding experts group), PASC (precision adaptive sub-band coding), Twin VQ (trade name), RealAudio (trade name), or LiquidAudio (trade name).
  • a modem 20 is connected to the bus 40 .
  • an external network 19 such as public telephone line, CATV, or wireless communication is connected to the modem 20 .
  • the music server 50 can communicate through the external network 19 by the modem 20 .
  • the music server 50 is connected to, for example, the internet through the external network 19 .
  • a communication is executed between the music server 50 and the remote internet server 60 .
  • a request signal and various information such as media information as information regarding the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 , user ID data and user information which have previously been given to the music server 50 , accounting information to the user, and the like are transmitted and sent from the music server 50 to the Internet server 60 .
  • the various information such as media information, user information, and the like is transmitted to the internet server 60 .
  • the server 60 executes the collating process and accounting process.
  • the additional information of the music data is retrieved and returned to the music server 50 .
  • the music data can be also directly supplied from the external network 19 on the basis of a request by the user. That is, the user can download the music data from the internet server 60 by using the music server 50 .
  • the music data can be also returned in correspondence to the media information.
  • a bonus track of a predetermined CD 55 can be obtained by the transmission.
  • the compression music data which has been compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is read out for reproduction from the HDD 10 , it is supplied to a compression decoder 21 through the bus 40 .
  • the compression encoding of the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is released by the compression decoder 21 and the resultant data is outputted to a terminal 24 through a D/A converter 22 and an amplifier 23 .
  • the data is supplied from the terminal 24 to the speaker units 52 L and 52 R and the music is reproduced.
  • two paths are provided in correspondence to stereophonic outputs.
  • two terminals 24 are also provided in correspondence to the stereophonic sound.
  • the compression decoder 21 a decoding algorithm corresponding to the encoding algorithm in the compression encoder 12 is used.
  • the compression decoder 21 and foregoing compression encoder 12 can be also realized as software processes by the CPU 8 without having hardware.
  • a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter, simply referred to as an LCD) 26 constructing the display unit 53 is connected to the bus 40 through an LCD driving circuit (namely, LCD driver) 25 .
  • a drawing control signal is supplied from the CPU 8 to the LCD driving circuit 25 through the bus 40 .
  • the LCD 26 is driven by the LCD driving circuit 25 and a predetermined display is performed to the display unit 53 .
  • An operation menu of the music server 50 is displayed on the LCD 26 .
  • a title list of the compression music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is displayed on the LCD 26 .
  • the display is performed on the basis of the data stored on the HDD 10 .
  • a folder or a jacket image corresponding to the compression music data which is selected and reproduced is further displayed on the LCD 26 on the basis of the additional information transmitted from the internet server 60 .
  • the CPU 8 By operating a pointing device of the input operating unit 1 or the keyboard 2 on the basis of the display on the LCD 26 , the CPU 8 performs the reproduction control of the instructed music data.
  • the erasure of the selected music data or the control of the copy or movement of the selected music data to the external apparatus can be also performed on the basis of the display of the LCD 26 .
  • the input operating unit 1 is a touch panel provided on the LCD 26
  • the operation of the music server 50 can be performed.
  • the music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is managed and controlled by the user by using the LCD 26 as an interface.
  • the invention corresponds to the IEEE 1394 and PC card as an interface between the music server 50 and the external general information apparatus.
  • An IEEE 1394 interface 28 is connected to the bus 40 through an IEEE 1394 driver 29 .
  • a PC card slot 31 is connected to the bus 40 through a PC card driver 30 .
  • Transmission and reception of data can be performed between the music server 50 and, for example, a personal computer by the IEEE 1394 interface 28 .
  • Music data can be fetched from an IRD (Integrated Receiver/Decoder) for satellite broadcasting, a small magnetooptical disc or optical disc having a diameter of about 64 mm, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc: trade name), a digital video tape, or the like by the IEEE 1394 interface 28 .
  • IRD Integrated Receiver/Decoder
  • DVD Digital Versatile Disc: trade name
  • a digital video tape or the like by the IEEE 1394 interface 28 .
  • An interface 34 is an interface to transmit and receive music data or the like between the music server 50 and corresponding another recording and reproducing apparatus.
  • the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 mentioned above is applied to the other recording and reproducing apparatus.
  • the invention is not limited to it but another music server 50 can be also used as another recording and reproducing apparatus.
  • the interface 34 is connected to the bus 40 through an interface driver 33 .
  • An interface 35 constructing a part together with the interface 34 is provided for the corresponding other recording and reproducing apparatus.
  • FIG. 3 schematically shows a signal flow until the music data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded into the HDD 10 .
  • the music data read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory through the bus 40 .
  • the music data is read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing and is supplied to the compression encoder 12 through the bus 40 .
  • the compression encoder 12 is set to a predetermined compressing speed according to the reproducing speed of the CD-ROM drive 9 as mentioned above.
  • the music data is compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and is again once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory.
  • the compression music data read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing is supplied to the HDD 10 through the bus 40 and is recorded to the disk of the HDD 10 .
  • the TOC information of the CD 55 which is reproduced by the CD-ROM drive 9 is transmitted to the internet server 60 as mentioned above and the additional information of the CD 55 transmitted from the server 60 is also recorded to the disk of the HDD 10 and is managed as one data by the CPU 8 or the like together with the compression music data based on the music data read out from the CD 55 .
  • FIG. 4 schematically shows a signal flow until the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is reproduction processed and is supplied to the terminal 24 .
  • the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory through the bus 40 .
  • the compression music data is read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing and is supplied to the compression decoder 21 through the bus 40 .
  • the compression music data is decompressed by the compression decoder 21 , the compression encoding is released, and the resultant data is supplied as music data to the D/A converter 22 .
  • the music data is converted into an analog audio signal by the D/A converter 22 and is amplified by the amplifier 23 .
  • An amplified signal is supplied as a reproduction output to the terminal 24 .
  • the speakers are connected to the terminal 24 , the music reproduced by the speakers can be enjoyed.
  • the additional information read out from the disc of the HDD 10 together with the compression music data is decoded by the CPU 8 or the like and the music piece titles or the like are displayed on the display unit 53 .
  • FIG. 5 shows an example of a construction of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 which is used as another recording and reproducing apparatus.
  • the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a construction similar to the music server 50 shown in FIG. 2 mentioned above.
  • the interface 34 on the music server 50 side and the interface 35 on the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 side are usually separated and are carried and used as sole units.
  • an RAM 103 in a manner similar to the construction of the ordinary personal computer, an RAM 103 , an ROM 104 , and a CPU 105 which are mutually connected by a bus are provided.
  • a flash memory can be also provided in a manner similar to the construction of the music server 50 .
  • the CPU 105 is connected to a bus 130 .
  • the CPU 105 functions as a controller and the whole operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is controlled by the CPU 105 .
  • a program to control the operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has previously been stored in the ROM 104 .
  • the operation corresponding to the operation of the input operating unit 102 which will be explained hereinbelow, is executed on the basis of such a program.
  • a data area and a task area which are used when the program is executed are temporarily assured in the RAM 103 .
  • the input operating unit 102 comprises, for example, a plurality of push type and rotary type operation keys and a plurality of switches which are operated by those operation keys.
  • the input operating unit 102 is not limited to such a type but a rotary push type operation device called a jog dial, a touch panel on the LCD, which will be explained hereinlater, or the like can be also used.
  • a mechanical switching mechanism which responds by depressing can be also used.
  • a signal corresponding to the operation of the input operating unit 102 is supplied to the CPU 105 through the bus 130 .
  • the CPU 105 forms a control signal to control the operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 on the basis of an output signal which is generated by operating the operation keys of the input operating unit 102 .
  • the operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is switched and the operation is controlled in response to the control signal formed by the CPU 105 .
  • the music data which was read out from the HDD 10 and in which a transfer to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has been instructed is transferred or supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the interfaces 34 and 35 and a connection line connecting the interfaces 34 and 35 .
  • the additional information of the music data whose transfer has been instructed is also transmitted to the apparatus 70 together with the music data whose transfer has been instructed.
  • the interfaces 34 and 35 are directly connected and the music data is transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70 .
  • the music data is transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70 by an infrared signal.
  • the music data transferred and supplied from the server 50 to the apparatus 70 is supplied from an interface driver 101 to an HDD 106 as a music data recording medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the bus 130 and is recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106 .
  • the music data recording medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is not limited to the HDD 106 but, for example, a flash memory can be also used. Any other recording medium such as a magnetooptic disk can be also used as a music data recording medium so long as it can follow the reproducing speed of the music data.
  • a music data recording medium of the apparatus 70 for instance, tens of music pieces can be recorded by using a medium having a memory capacity of about 200 MBytes.
  • the music data transmitted from the server 50 and the additional information of the music data are also recorded to the disc of the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70 .
  • the music data which is transferred and recorded to the HDD 106 is the compression music data which has already been compression encoded in the music server 50 .
  • the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 the invention is not limited to such an example but music data which is not compression encoded is supplied and can be also recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106 .
  • the music data reproduced and read out from the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 of the music server 50 is directly supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the interface driver 101 . In case of directly supplying the data to the apparatus 70 , however, it will be obviously understood that the number of recordable music data is largely limited.
  • the supplied music data is temporarily stored into a DRAM 107 for audio which is connected to the bus 130 .
  • the music data read out from the DRAM 107 is supplied to a compression encoder 108 through the bus 130 .
  • the compression encoder 108 executes a compression encoding process of the music data by an encoding algorithm similar to that of the compression encoder 12 in the music server 50 .
  • the compression music data which was compression encoded by the compression encoder 108 is supplied to the DRAM 107 and is again temporarily stored into the DRAM 107 .
  • the compression music data stored in the DRAM 107 is read out and recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106 .
  • the compression music data of the HDD 10 exists as data on the HDD 10 , it is set into a state where it cannot be read out from the HDD 10 and reproduced.
  • the compression music data moved to the apparatus 70 is again returned to the recording medium on the moving source side, namely, to the HDD 10 of the server 50 , so that it can be reproduced on the moving source side, namely, server 50
  • the compression music data returned to the server 50 is deleted from the hard disk of the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70 serving as a recording medium on the movement destination side.
  • an audio signal which is inputted through an amplifier 110 from a microphone connected to the terminal 109 and an audio signal which is inputted from a line input terminal 111 are supplied to the compression encoder 108 through an A/D converter 112 .
  • the compression encoding process can be performed to the audio signals supplied from the A/D converter 112 by the compression encoder 108 and can be recorded to the HDD 106 .
  • an optical digital signal is supplied from an optical digital input terminal 113 to the compression encoder 108 through an IEC 958 encoder 114 .
  • the audio signal supplied as an optical digital signal can be subjected to the compression encoding process by the encoder 108 and can be recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106 . So long as the apparatus 70 is a read only portable reproducing apparatus only for reproducing the compressed music data, all of the foregoing A/D converter 112 , encoder 108 , and the like can be also omitted.
  • the compression music data is read out from the HDD 106 for reproduction and is supplied to a compression decoder 115 through the bus 130 .
  • the music data in which the decompressing process has been performed to the supplied compression music data and the compression encoding has been released by the compression decoder 115 is outputted to a terminal 118 through a D/A converter 116 and an amplifier 117 .
  • the headphones 72 are connected to the terminal 118 .
  • the user can listen to the reproduced music by attaching the headphones 72 .
  • two paths are provided in correspondence to the stereophonic outputs in the L channel and the R channel.
  • two terminals 118 are also provided in correspondence to the stereophonic sounds of the L channel and the R channel.
  • An LCD 120 is connected to the bus 130 through an LCD driving circuit (or LCD driver) 119 .
  • a drawing control signal is supplied from the CPU 105 to the LCD driving circuit 119 through the bus 130 , the LCD 120 is driven on the basis of the supplied drawing control signal, and a predetermined display is performed to the LCD 120 .
  • An operation menu of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 , a title list of the music data stored on the HDD 106 , or the like is displayed on the LCD 120 . For example, a folder or a jacket image corresponding to the music data which is selected and reproduced from the music data stored in the HDD 106 can be also displayed on the LCD 120 on the basis of the additional information stored on the HDD 106 .
  • one compression music data in the compression music data stored on the HDD 106 is selected and reproduced.
  • the control of the erasure, copy, and movement of the selected compression music data can be also performed on the basis of the display of the LCD 120 .
  • the operation input of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 can be performed.
  • the compression music data recorded on the HDD 106 is managed by the user while using the LCD 120 as an interface and the recording, reproduction, and the like are controlled.
  • the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is driven by a battery.
  • a power supply unit using a general secondary battery or dry cell as a power supplying source is provided and a charging unit is provided for the apparatus 70 .
  • the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are directly connected by a connection line or attaching units, the music data is transferred and an electric power is supplied from the music server 50 to the charging unit and the secondary battery of the apparatus 70 is charged.
  • the secondary battery of the apparatus 70 can be also charged by an external charging power source.
  • a power supplying source only either one of the power source by a dry cell and the charging power source using the secondary battery can be also used or provided.
  • FIG. 6 shows another example of the foregoing portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • a switching circuit 200 is inserted between an HDD (or flash memory) 106 a and the bus 130 .
  • One selection terminal 200 a of the switching circuit 200 is connected to the bus 130 and another selection terminal 200 b is connected to the interface 35 .
  • the HDD 106 a is separated from the bus 130 by the switching circuit 200 .
  • a terminal is switched to the selection terminal 200 b or the selection terminal 200 b is selected in the switching circuit 200 .
  • the HDD 106 a and the bus 40 of the music server 50 are directly connected through the interfaces 34 and 35 .
  • the HDD 106 a is seen as if it were a recording medium of the music server 50 when it is seen from the CPU 8 of the server 50 .
  • the direct control of the HDD 106 a is enabled by the CPU 8 of the music server 50 .
  • the movement, copy, or the like of the compression music data can be easily performed between the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example of processes when the music data of the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded to the disc of the HDD 10 of the music server 50 .
  • step S 10 the apparatus waits for a recording request of the music data of the CD 55 to the HDD 10 by the user. For example, when the recording request is inputted by the user by using the input operating unit 1 , the processing routine advances to step S 11 .
  • step S 11 a check is made to see if the recording requested by the user is the “high speed recording” or the “recording at the one-time speed”. For example, when the recording request is issued in step S 10 mentioned above, a recording method, namely, a mode to record at a high speed or a mode to record at the one-time speed is designated by the user.
  • the “recording at the one-time speed” used here denotes the operation for reading out the CD 55 at the specified standard speed and recording data to the disc of the HDD 10 .
  • the “high speed recording” used here denotes the operation to read out the CD 55 at a speed that is two or more times as high as the specified standard speed and to record data to the disc of the HDD 10 .
  • step S 11 the processing routine advances to step S 12 and an accounting system of the servers 50 and 60 is activated. Processes by the accounting system of the servers 50 and 60 will be explained hereinlater. When the accounting process by the accounting system of the server 50 is performed and the “high speed recording” is permitted from the internet server 60 or another apparatus, the processing routine advances to step S 13 and a high speed compressing process is activated in the compression encoder 12 . The processing routine advances to step S 15 .
  • step S 11 When the “recording at the one-time speed” is designated in step S 11 , the processing routine advances to step S 14 and a low speed compressing process is activated in the compression encoder 12 . The processing routine advances to step S 15 .
  • step S 15 the CD-ROM drive 9 is driven at a predetermined speed on the basis of the control of the CPU 8 and the music data recorded in the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 is read out.
  • the read-out music data is compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and is transferred to the HDD 10 and recorded to the disc of the HDD 10 .
  • step S 16 when it is determined that the transfer of the compression music data read out from the CD 55 to the HDD 10 has been finished, the transfer of the data from the CD-ROM drive 9 to the HDD 10 is inhibited in next step S 17 .
  • the compressing process of the compression encoder 12 is stopped in further next step S 18 .
  • FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts showing an example of the accounting process of the accounting system in step S 12 of the foregoing flowchart of FIG. 7 .
  • the accounting process is performed by performing a data communication between the music server 50 and internet server 60 .
  • FIG. 8A shows an accounting process in the account processing system in the music server 50
  • FIG. 8B shows an accounting process in the account processing system in the internet server 60 .
  • step S 20 in FIG. 8A the communication is started between the music server 50 and internet server 60 by a predetermined protocol.
  • step S 21 when the connection between the server 50 and server 60 is established and a state where the communication between the server 50 and server 60 is possible is confirmed, the processing routine advances to step S 22 .
  • step S 22 the TOC information of the CD 55 which is loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 and is transferred and recorded to the HDD 10 is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 .
  • High speed recording information showing the execution of the “high speed recording” is transmitted from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 together with the TOC information of the CD 55 .
  • the apparatus waits until the high speed recording information and TOC information are supplied or transmitted from the music server 50 (step S 30 ).
  • the high speed recording information and the TOC information are received by the server 60
  • the information corresponding to the TOC information transmitted is retrieved in step S 31 by using the database in the server 60 or an external database on the basis of the transmitted TOC information.
  • the TOC information the CD 55 is specified.
  • the accounting process is performed in next step S 32 .
  • a money amount to be accounted is calculated on the basis of the information such as the number of music pieces which were subjected to the “high speed recording” and, for example, the accounting can be performed by drawing money from an account of the bank designated by the user on the basis of the credit card number of the user which has previously been registered.
  • the accounting method is not limited to this method. For instance, there is also considered a method whereby a function to read a prepaid card is provided for the music server 50 , a set account money amount is sent to the music server 50 , and the user pays the account money amount by allowing the accounted money amount to be subtracted from the prepaid card.
  • the account money amount can be changed or the recording to the disc of the HDD 10 of the music data read out from the CD 55 can be also inhibited in accordance with the contents of the CD 55 .
  • step S 33 the accounting information is transmitted to the music server 50 .
  • the contents of the transmitted accounting information is confirmed on the music server 50 side (step S 23 ).
  • a check is made to see if the accounting information has been received by the music server 50 (step S 34 ). For instance, this checking operation is performed by transmitting data indicative of the completion of the confirmation from the music server 50 to the server 60 when it is confirmed that there is no error in the accounting information received on the music server 50 side and the accounting information has correctly been received.
  • step S 25 the music data is read out from the CD 55 at a high speed by the CD-ROM drive 9 .
  • the compressing process is executed at a high compressing speed by the compression encoder 12 .
  • the compression music data from the compression encoder 12 is supplied to the HDD 10 and recorded to the disk of the HDD 10 .
  • Step S 25 corresponds to step S 15 in FIG. 7 mentioned above.
  • the interlocking operation can be performed between the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • the interlocking operation between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is executed between them.
  • FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an example of such a movement.
  • first step S 40 a check is first made to see if the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 have been connected by the interfaces 34 and 35 .
  • the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is detected by, for example, transmitting and receiving a predetermined signal between the interfaces 34 and 35 .
  • the detection of the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is not limited to this method but the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 can be also detected by using a mechanical detecting mechanism by providing a switching mechanism to the portion where the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are connected.
  • step S 41 a check is made in next step S 41 to see if the movement of the music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has been requested. For example, a list of the information as well as the music piece titles of the compression music data accumulated in the HDD 10 is displayed on the display unit 53 and the user selects predetermined compression music data from the list displayed in the display unit 53 by using a predetermined pointing device as an input operating unit 1 . Further, an instruction for movement to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is inputted from the input operating unit 1 to the compression music data selected by the user.
  • a button to instruct the movement is displayed on the display unit 53 and by designating this button by using the pointing device of the input operating unit 1 , the movement can be instructed.
  • the movement can be also instructed by using what is called a drag & drop such that an icon is displayed on the display unit 53 every compression music data and the icon displayed on the display unit 53 is moved onto an icon indicative of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 on the movement destination side also displayed on the display unit 53 .
  • the movement can be also instructed by the operation of the operation switch provided for the input operating unit 1 .
  • step S 41 When it is determined in step S 41 that there is a moving request of the compression music data, a file size of the compression music data whose movement has been designated, namely, a data amount is examined by, for example, the CPU 8 on the server 50 side in step S 42 .
  • step S 43 a vacant capacity of the HDD 106 , namely, a recordable memory capacity is checked by, for example, the CPU 105 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 .
  • the vacant capacity of the HDD 106 and the file size of the compression music data whose movement has been designated and which was examined in step S 42 are compared by, for instance, the CPU 8 of the server 50 (step S 43 ).
  • step S 43 the CPU 8 discriminates whether the compression music data in which the movement has been designated can be recorded to the HDD 106 . If it can be recorded to the HDD 106 , the processing routine advances to step S 45 and the transfer of the compression music data in which the movement from the server 50 toward the apparatus 70 has been designated is started.
  • step S 43 When it is determined in step S 43 that the vacant capacity in the HDD 106 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is insufficient, the processing routine advances to step S 44 .
  • step S 44 the compression music data which has already been recorded to the HDD 106 is deleted automatically or on the basis of a procedure or method, which will be explained hereinlater, by the CPU 105 of the apparatus 70 so that the compression music data whose movement has been designated can be recorded to the HDD 106 .
  • the processing routine advances to step S 45 .
  • the deletion of the compression music data in step S 44 is automatically performed under control of the CPU 105 on the basis of a predetermined parameter in the compression music data which has already been recorded in the HDD 106 .
  • a predetermined parameter in the compression music data which has already been recorded in the HDD 106 For example, in the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 , there is considered a method whereby the number of reproducing times is counted every compression music data recorded in the HDD 106 and the compression music data is sequentially deleted from the HDD 106 in accordance with the order from the data in which the number of reproducing times is small.
  • the compression music data recorded on the HDD 106 can be also sequentially deleted from the data in which the date of recording to the HDD 106 is old.
  • step S 44 There can be a situation such that when the compression music data is automatically deleted from the HDD 106 in step S 44 , the compression music data which is important to the user is deleted from the HDD 106 .
  • step S 45 when the apparatus is set into a state where the compression music data whose movement has been designated in the compression music data stored on the HDD 10 can be recorded to the HDD 106 , the transmission, namely, transfer of the compression music data from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is started in step S 45 . That is, the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the bus 40 and interface 34 . In the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 , the compression music data supplied through the interface 34 is recorded to the HDD 106 through the interface 35 .
  • the transferred compression music data also exists in the HDD 10 on the music server 50 side in a manner similar to the case before the transfer to the apparatus 70 .
  • the reproduction of the compression music data which has already been transferred to the apparatus 70 namely, the compression music data which has been moved to the apparatus 70 and exists in the HDD 10 is inhibited (step S 46 ).
  • a reproduction inhibition flag indicative of the inhibition of the reproduction is set to the high level for the compression music data on the HDD 10 at a time point of the completion of the movement to the apparatus 70 .
  • the reproduction inhibition flag By the reproduction inhibition flag, the reproduction of the compression music data moved to the apparatus 70 is inhibited by the CPU 8 of the server 50 and the compression music data stored on the HDD 10 is virtually moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 . Therefore, the music data which can be reproduced by the server 50 or apparatus 70 in a plurality of compression music data is managed so that only one data always exists, and the illegal copy of the music data is prevented.
  • next step S 47 a check is made to see if there is a moving request of the next compression music data to the apparatus 70 . If the user further wants to move the other compression music data, the processing routine is returned to step S 42 . When there is not a moving request of music data any more, a series of moving processes of the music data is finished.
  • the invention is not limited to such an example and the moved compression music data can be also deleted from the HDD 10 , namely, the data itself can be also erased.
  • the compression music data moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is again moved from the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 to the music server 50 , so that the reproduction inhibition flag of the compression music data serving as a moving source of the compression music data moved from the apparatus 70 in a plurality of compression music data stored on the HDD 10 is cancelled in the music server 50 . That is, the compression music data can be again reproduced in the music server 50 by cancelling the reproduction inhibition flag.
  • the moved compression music data which has been stored on the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70 the data itself is deleted from the HDD 106 or the management data of the moved compression music data is deleted from the management table of the HDD 106 .

Abstract

A recording and reproducing apparatus has a communicating unit, a reading unit, a storing unit, a control unit, and an output unit. The communicating unit transmits and receives data to/from an information center in which a plurality of additional information have been stored. The reading unit reads out recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data of a plurality of data have been recorded. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored in the storing unit. The control unit reads out the additional information corresponding to the recording medium from which the data is read out by the reading unit from the information center by the communicating unit and writes the read-out additional information into the storing unit as additional data of the recording medium which is read out by the reading unit. The output unit outputs the data stored in the storing unit and the additional data.

Description

This is a division of prior application Ser. No. 09/244,651 on Feb. 4, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,332. The present reissue application is a continuation reissue application of reissue application Ser. No. 10/972,116, filed on Oct. 22, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. RE41,112, which is a reissue application of U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,777, which is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 09/244,651, filed on Feb. 4, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,332, and claims priority under 35 USC §119 to Japanese Application No. JP10- 027297, filed in the JPO on Feb. 9, 1998. More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,704,777. Along with the present reissue application and reissue application Ser. No. 10/972,116, reissue application Ser. No. 12/139,552, filed Jun. 16, 2008, is a divisional reissue application of reissue application Ser. No. 10/972,116.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus and a terminal apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to a recording and reproducing apparatus having a storing unit and relates to a terminal apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, what is called a CD changer in which a number of CDs (Compact Disc) are enclosed and an automatic reproduction of a CD is executed has been put into practical use. In such a CD changer, tens to hundreds of CDs are enclosed in one casing and the reproduction of a CD selected by a predetermined operation is automatically executed. The reproduction of the CD can be executed every CD or a plurality of CDs are selected and the random reproduction can be also executed on a CD unit basis or a unit basis of a recorded music piece. The CD changer is mainly fixedly used, namely, it is installed in the room and is used.
On the other hand, as a portable audio data reproducing apparatus, in recent years, an apparatus using a magnetooptical disc or optical disc having a diameter of almost 64 mm is spreading. In such a portable audio data reproducing apparatus, an analog audio signal is converted into a digital . signal and is compressed by a compressing technique called an ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding: trade name) and is recorded to a magnctooptical disc. There are advantages such that since the analog audio signal is recorded as compressed digital data, deterioration in sound quality is small and that since the disc is used as a recording medium, the random reproduction can be performed.
In the foregoing CD changer, however, even in the automatic reproduction, an exchanging time of the CD occurs, so that there is a problem such that it is difficult to realize the continuous reproduction. The CD changer in which 100 to 200 CDs are enclosed has problems such that a casing is large and heavy and it is very inconvenient to carry and install.
Even in the foregoing portable audio data reproducing apparatus, when the recording is once performed to a magnetooptical disc, in case of reproducing, the random reproduction or normal reproduction can be performed only in a range of the recorded magnetooptical disc. There is, therefore, a problem such that in the random reproduction, music piece designation reproduction, or the like in a plurality of magnetooptical discs, it is necessary to exchange the magnetooptical discs every time. There is, consequently, a problem such that the user has to always carry a plurality of magnetooptical discs or optical discs.
In the foregoing CD changer, although a number of CDs can be enclosed, there is a problem such that there is not means for automatically fetching information regarding the enclosed CDs and the titles of the music pieces or the like recorded in the CD. Hitherto, the user cannot help manually inputting those information regarding the music piece titles or the like.
Further, there are problems such that a dubbing process from the CD changer to another audio apparatus (recording medium), for example, the foregoing magnetooptical disc can be performed at only a reproducing speed of the CD and it takes a long time even to perform the dubbing of one CD.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a recording and reproducing apparatus which resolves the above-mentioned problem.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a terminal apparatus which resolves the above-mentioned problem.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording and reproducing apparatus including a communicating unit, a reading unit, a storing unit, a control unit, and an output unit. The communicating unit transmits and receives data to/from an information center in which a plurality of additional information have been stored. The reading unit reads out recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data of such a plurality of data have been recorded. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit. The control unit reads out the additional information corresponding to the recording medium from which the data is read out by the reading unit from the information center by the communicating unit and writes the read-out additional information into the storing unit as additional data of the recording medium which is being read out by the reading unit. The output unit outputs the data stored in the storing unit and the additional data.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording and reproducing apparatus including an information supplying unit and a recording and reproducing unit. A plurality of additional information have been stored in the information supplying unit. The recording and reproducing unit transmits and receives data to/from the information supplying unit. The recording and reproducing unit includes a communicating unit, a reading unit, a storing unit, a control unit, and an output unit. The communicating unit transmits and receives data to/from the information supplying unit. The reading unit reads out recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data of such a plurality of data have been recorded. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit. The control unit reads out the additional information corresponding to the recording medium from which the data is read out by the reading unit from the information center by the communicating unit and writes the read-out additional information into the storing unit as additional data of the recording medium which is being read out by the reading unit. The output unit outputs the data stored in the storing unit and the additional data.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording and reproducing apparatus including a reading unit, a first storing unit, a reproducing unit, a second storing unit, and a control unit. The reading unit reads out data recorded on a recording medium. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the first storing unit. The reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the first storing unit. The data read out from the first storing unit is stored into the second storing unit. The control unit inhibits the further reading operation from the first storing unit of the data which has been read out from the first storing unit and stored into the second storing unit in the data stored in the first storing unit.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording and reproducing apparatus including first and second recording and reproducing units. The first recording and reproducing unit has a reading unit, a first storing unit, a reproducing unit, and a control unit. The reading unit reads out data recorded on a recording medium. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit. The reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the first storing unit. The control unit controls the operations of the reading unit, first storing unit, and reproducing unit. The second recording and reproducing unit has a second storing unit in which the data read out from the first storing unit is stored. The control unit inhibits the further reading operation from the first storing unit of the data which has been read out from the first storing unit and stored in the second storing unit in the data stored in the first storing unit.
According to the present invention, there is provided a terminal apparatus. Data is supplied from a recording and reproducing apparatus to the terminal apparatus. The terminal apparatus has a storing unit, a reproducing unit, and a control unit. The data supplied from the recording and reproducing apparatus is stored into the storing unit. The reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the storing unit. The control unit deletes the data which has been read out from the storing unit and supplied to the recording and reproducing apparatus from the storing unit.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording and reproducing apparatus including a reading unit, a storing unit, a reproducing unit, a communicating unit, and a control unit. The reading unit reads out the data recorded on the recording medium. The data read out from the recording medium by the reading unit is stored into the storing unit. The reproducing unit reproduces the data read out from the storing unit. The communicating unit transmits the data read out from the storing unit. The control unit inhibits the reading operation from the storing unit by the reading unit of the data which has been read out from the storing unit and transmitted by the communicating unit in the data stored in the storing unit.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram schematically showing a music server according to the invention and a system using the music server;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a construction of the music server;
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a signal flow until music data read out by a CD-ROM drive is recorded to a hard disk drive;
FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a signal flow until compression music data read out by a hard disk drive is reproduction processed and is outputted to a terminal;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a construction of a portable recording and reproducing apparatus;
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another example of a portable recording and reproducing apparatus;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example of processes when music data of a CD is recorded to a hard disk drive in the music server;
FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts showing an example of an accounting process when music data of a CD is recorded to a hard disk drive at a high speed; and
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a moving process of music data according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
An embodiment of the invention will now be described hereinbelow with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a music server to which the invention is applied and a system using the music server. A music server 50 comprises a server main body 51 and right and left speaker units 52R and 52L. A display unit 53 comprising, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel and a CD inserting portion 54 to insert a CD into the server main body 51 are provided for the server main body 51.
Although not shown in FIG. 1, an operating unit comprising a plurality of operation switches to operate functions of the server main body 51 by the user is provided for the server main body 51. A signal receiving unit to receive, for example, an infrared signal to remote operate the functions of the server main body 51 by a remote commander can be also provided. The server main body 51 has a controller as will be explained hereinlater. Various operations of the server main body 51 are controlled by the controller on the basis of a predetermined program which has previously been stored in, for instance, an ROM.
The user loads a CD 55 into the server main body 51 through the CD inserting portion 54 and executes a predetermined operation by using an operating unit (not shown), thereby reproducing the CD 55. He can enjoy music recorded on the CD 55 by generating a reproduction signal reproduced from the CD 55 by the speaker units 52L and 52R. When the CD 55 includes text data such as music titles or the like, the music titles or the like are displayed to the display unit 53 on the basis of the text data.
The music server 50 has therein a recording medium of a large capacity by, for example, a hard disk. By executing a predetermined operation by using the operating unit (not shown), the reproduction data reproduced from the CD 55 loaded into the server main body 51 from the CD inserting portion 54 can be recorded to the recording medium comprising a hard disk. In this instance, either one of a method of recording at the same transfer speed as the standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 and a high speed recording to record at a transfer speed higher than the standard reproducing speed of the CD 55 can be selected. In case of recording at the high transfer speed, by executing an accounting process by a predetermined procedure, a desired CD can be selected or a desired music piece recorded on the CD can be selected and the reproduction data as music data reproduced from the CD can be recorded at a transfer speed higher than the reproducing speed of the CD.
In the music server 50, the music data reproduced from the CD 55 is compression encoded to compression music data by a predetermined method such as a foregoing ATRAC or the like and is recorded. For example, music data of about 1000 music pieces can be memorized or stored to the hard disk having a capacity of 6 GBytes. A list of the titles of the music pieces memorized or stored on the hard disk is displayed on, for example, the display unit 53. The user can select an arbitrary one of the music pieces memorized or stored on the hard disk on the basis of the music title list displayed in the display unit 53 and can reproduce. Since a random access can be performed in the hard disk, a number of music data memorized or stored can be read out and continuously reproduced in accordance with an arbitrary order.
Although various methods can be used for compression encoding, the method as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821 is used in this embodiment of the invention. This method is a method of improving the ATRAC as a compression encoding system which is used in the foregoing portable audio data reproducing apparatus. By using a masking effect based on the nature of hearing and a frequency dependency of the minimum audible limit and by using both of a transform coding and an entropy coding, the audio data is compression encoded. The encoding/decoding can be performed at a high speed while maintaining a high sound quality by hardware of a relatively small scale.
The music server 50 can be connected to an external system, for example, an internet server 60 as a server connected to the internet through a communication line 61 as a public telephone line. By connecting from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 through the communication line 61, various information on the internet can be obtained. The internet server 60 has, for example, a database such as title information of commercially available music CDs. By allocating a peculiar key to use the database to the user and operating the peculiar key when the database is used, data annexed to the CDs, for example, title information of the CDs can be obtained.
In the internet server 60, an accounting process for the music server 50 is also executed in accordance with services which are presented to the user. When the foregoing high speed recording of the CD 55 is executed, the music server 50 communicates data indicative of the execution of the high speed recording to the internet server 60, so that the accounting process for the user who performs the high speed recording is executed, the selection of the CD or music piece can be performed, and the high speed recording can be executed.
Although the accounting process is executed by the internet server 60 having a large quantity of additional information of the CDs here, the invention is not limited to the foregoing example. For instance, the foregoing accounting process can be also performed by another server connected to the internet. The foregoing accounting process can be also executed by another network, for example, a dedicated network different from the internet.
A portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a storing medium comprising a hard disk or a flash memory. Any other storing medium or recording media can be also used so long as it can follow the reproducing speed of music. By connecting the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 to the music server 50 by a connection line 71, the music data recorded in the music server 50 is transferred to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and can be recorded to the storing medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70. In this instance, on the music server 50 side, although the music data transferred to the apparatus 70 exists on the storing medium such as hard disk or flash memory, it is set into a state where the data cannot be reproduced. The storing medium or recording medium which is used in the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a capacity of, for example, about 200 MBytes and music data of tens of music pieces can be memorized or stored. In the following description, a storing device or storing medium comprising a semiconductor memory such as a flash memory or the like and a recording medium such as a disk-like recording medium or the like such as a hard disk or the like are generally called a storing medium or storing media.
The foregoing transfer method which is used in the invention, namely, an act such that in case of transferring the music data, the music data is recorded to a storing medium on the transfer destination side, and on the storing medium on the transferring source side, although the transferred music data exists on the storing medium, it is set into an unreproducible state is called a “movement”. By moving as mentioned above, an unlimited copy of the music data can be prevented.
Although the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are connected by the connection line 71 in the above embodiment, the invention is not limited to this example. For instance, it is also possible to provide mutually corresponding attaching portions for both of the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and to directly attach the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 to the music server 50, thereby enabling data to be transmitted and received between the server 50 and apparatus 70. Besides the electric connection, for example, interfaces corresponding to IrDA (Infrared Data Association) for transmitting and receiving data by an infrared signal are provided for both of the server 50 and apparatus 70 and the music data can be also transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70 by the infrared signal.
Further, by providing a predetermined interface for the music server 50, information can be exchanged for various media. For example, by providing an interface corresponding to a PC card 80 for the server 50, music data which is distributed by the PC card 80 can be fetched to the music server 50 or data can be transmitted and received between a personal computer and the music server 50. By providing a serial digital interface by an optical cable or the like for the server 50, for example, music data can be transmitted and received to/from another digital music data recording and reproducing apparatus such as a disc recorder 81 using a small magnetooptical disc having a diameter of 64 mm. In this example, a disc cartridge 82 in which the foregoing small magnetooptical disc is enclosed is loaded into the disc recorder 81 and music data reproduced from the magnetooptical disc of the disc cartridge 82 is supplied to the music server 50. Similarly, it is also possible to provide an interface such as an IEEE 1394 for the server 50 and to connect, for instance, a set top box 83 for a CATV (Cable Television), a satellite broadcasting, or the like.
The PC card conforms to the standard of the card type peripheral equipment for personal computers by the common enactment of the PCMCIA (Personal Memory Card International Association) of U.S.A. and the JEIDA (Japanese Electronic Industry Development Association) of Japan. The IEEE 1394 is an interface standard used in Electrical & Electronics Standards Engineers Association of U.S.A.
The music server 50 can have a WWW (World Wide Web) browser as a built-in application. By connecting to the internet server 60 through the communication line 61, various contents which exist on the internet and were described by, for example, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) can be retrieved and can be displayed on the display unit 53.
With the above construction, for instance, the user can reproduce the music data memorized or stored in the music server 50 and can listen to it by the speaker units 52L and 52R. The user can also load the CD 55 into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 and can reproduce the CD 55.
By communicating between the music server 50 and internet server 60, the title information or the like of the CD 55 loaded into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 can be automatically obtained from the server 60 through the communication line 61. The information derived from the server 60 is preserved in the music server 50. The preserved title information is displayed on the display unit 53 of the server 50 as necessary.
More specifically speaking, information such as user ID data of the server 50 or the like that is peculiar to the user (hereinafter, referred to as user information) is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60. On the internet server 60 side, a collating process or an accounting process is executed on the basis of the received user information. Media information of the CD which is needed by the user or the CD which is being reproduced is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60. In the internet server 60, on the basis of the received media information, for example, the additional information such as titles of the music pieces, names of the players, names of the composers and songwriters, words, jacket image, and the like for the music data is retrieved. In the internet server 60, predetermined information regarding the CD requested from the user is returned to the music server 50.
For example, TOC (Table of Contents) information of the CD 55 is sent as media information to the internet server 60. A data base in which the additional information for the music data mentioned above can be retrieved is constructed in the internet server 60 on the basis of the TOC information. The additional information can be also obtained by retrieving another WWW server on the internet. The internet server 60 retrieves the additional information of the music data by using the received TOC information as media information. For example, it can be retrieved on the basis of time information of each of the music pieces included in the TOC information and recorded in the CD 55.
The additional information obtained by retrieving is sent from the internet server 60 to the music server 50. In the music server 50, the received additional information is displayed in the display unit 53 and is written to, for example, the hard disk drive together with the TOC information of the CD 55 by a CPU 8, which will be explained hereinlater. By storing the retrieved additional information into an HTML file and sending from the server 60, the additional information can be displayed by built-in WWW browser software in the music server 50.
If another URL (Uniform Resource Locator) on the internet has been described in the additional information, it is possible to access to a homepage or the like on the internet displayed by the other URL in the music server 50.
Further, by communicating the data between the internet server 60 and server 50, the music data in the CD 55 loaded into the server 50 through the CD inserting portion 54 can be recorded into the storing medium of the music server 50 at a speed higher than the specified standard reproducing speed of the CD 55, for example, the music data of one CD 55 can be recorded for about two minutes. When a communication is not performed between the internet server 60 and server 50, the music data is recorded to the storing medium of the server 50 at the same speed as the specified standard reproducing speed of the CD 55, namely, at the one-time speed.
By connecting to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 by the connection line 71, the server 50 can transfer and move music data memorized or stored in the music server 50 to the portable reproducing apparatus 70. The moved music data can be reproduced by the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and can be listened by, for example, headphones 72 even if the server 50 and apparatus 70 are not connected by the connection line 71. The transferred and moved music data is set into a state where it cannot be reproduced in the music server 50.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a construction of the music server 50. First, in the music server 50, in a manner similar to the construction of the ordinary personal computer, an RAM 5, an ROM 6, a flash memory 7, and a CPU 8 which are mutually connected by a bus are provided. The CPU 8 is connected to a bus 40. The CPU 8 functions as a controller and the whole operation of the music server 50 is controlled.
A program to control the operation of the music server 50 has previously been stored in the ROM 6. In the music server 50, on the basis of this program, the CPU 8 allows the operation corresponding to the operation of input operating unit 1, which will be explained hereinlater, is executed. A data area and a task area which are used when the program is executed are temporarily assured in the RAM 5 and flash memory 7. A program loader has been stored in the ROM 6 and the program itself can be also loaded into the flash memory 7 by the program loader of the ROM 6.
The input operating unit 1 comprises, for example, a plurality of push type and rotary type operation keys, switches which are operated by these operation keys, and the like. The input operating unit 1 is not limited to this type but an operation key of a rotary push type called a jog dial, a touch panel on the LCD, or the like can be also used. A switching mechanism which responds by pressing can be also used. A signal according to the operation of the input operating unit 1 is supplied to the CPU 8 through the bus 40. In the CPU 8, a control signal to control the operation of the music server 50 is formed on the basis of the signal from the input operating unit 1. The music server 50 is operated in response to the control signal formed by the CPU 8.
An infrared interface (IrDA I/F) driver 3 and/or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) driver 4 is connected to the bus 40. A keyboard 2 can communicate or connect to the drivers 3 and 4. By using the keyboard 2, for instance, the name of music piece corresponding to the music data which is recorded, the name of artist, and the like can be easily inputted. The data can be also transferred through the infrared interface driver 3 or USB driver 4. The infrared interface driver 3 and USB driver 4 can be also omitted.
A CD-ROM drive 9 is connected to the bus 40. The CD 55 inserted from the CD inserting unit 54 as mentioned above is loaded into the CD-ROM drive 9. In the CD-ROM drive 9, the music data is read out from the loaded CD 55 at the specified standard reproducing speed. In the CD-ROM drive 9, the music data of the CD 55 can be read out at a speed which is higher than the specified standard reproducing speed, for instance, which is 16 or 32 times as high as the specified standard reproducing speed.
The CD-ROM drive 9 is not limited to the foregoing example but can be also made correspond to another disk-like recording medium in which music data has been stored, for example, a magnetooptical disk or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). A drive corresponding to a memory card can be also used. Further, the data which is read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is not limited to the music data but image data, text data, program data, or the like can be also read out.
A hard disk drive (hereinafter, simply referred to as an HDD) 10 is connected to the bus 40. The music data read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded to the HDD 10. As a pre-process of the process for recording the music data to the HDD 10, the music data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 is supplied to a compression encoder 12 through the bus 40 and a DRAM 11 for audio.
In the compression encoder 12, a compression encoding process of the music data is performed by the foregoing compressing method disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821 or the like. As a compressing speed of the music data by the compression encoder 12, two speeds of a low speed and a high speed are prepared on the basis of the control of the CPU 8. The low speed compressing speed corresponds to the standard reproducing speed specified for the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9. The high speed compressing speed corresponds to a speed higher than the standard reproducing speed specified for the CD 55 in the CD-ROM drive 9, for example, the reproducing speed of two times or more. The compressing speed is switched in accordance with, for example, the reproducing speed of the CD 55 by the CD-ROM drive 9. In the compression encoder 12, for example, an encoding algorithm according to the compressing speed is driven.
The changing method of the compressing speed in the compression encoder 12 is not limited to the foregoing method. For instance, it can be also changed by switching a clock frequency of the compression encoder 12. A different hardware can be also prepared. Further, in the compression encoder 12 in which the high speed compression can be performed, it is also possible to correspond to the low compressing speed by thinning out the processes.
The compression music data which was compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 is recorded and accumulated to the HDD 10 through the DRAM 11.
Although it is constructed such that the compression music data which was compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 is accumulated to the HDD 10, the music data which is read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 can be also directly supplied to the HDD 10 and can be recorded and accumulated to the hard disk of the HDD 10.
In the example, an audio signal which is inputted through an amplifier 14 from a microphone connected to a terminal 13 and an audio signal which is inputted from a line input terminal 15 are supplied to the compression encoder 12 through an A/D converter 16. Those audio signals can be compression encoded by the encoder 12 and can be recorded to the HDD 10. Further, an optical digital signal is supplied from an optical digital input terminal 17 to the compression encoder 12 through an IEC 958 (International Electrotechnical Commission 958) encoder 18. The audio signal supplied as an optical digital signal can be also compression encoded by the encoder 12 and can be recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 10.
Although the case where the compression encoder 12 uses an encoding algorithm as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,821 has been shown above, the invention is not limited to the foregoing example. That is, in the compression encoder 12, any other algorithm can be also used so long as it is an encoding algorithm by which information is compressed. For example, the compression encoder 12 can also use an encoding algorithm such as MPEG (moving picture coding experts group), PASC (precision adaptive sub-band coding), Twin VQ (trade name), RealAudio (trade name), or LiquidAudio (trade name).
A modem 20 is connected to the bus 40. For example, an external network 19 such as public telephone line, CATV, or wireless communication is connected to the modem 20. The music server 50 can communicate through the external network 19 by the modem 20.
The music server 50 is connected to, for example, the internet through the external network 19. A communication is executed between the music server 50 and the remote internet server 60. A request signal and various information such as media information as information regarding the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9, user ID data and user information which have previously been given to the music server 50, accounting information to the user, and the like are transmitted and sent from the music server 50 to the Internet server 60.
The various information such as media information, user information, and the like is transmitted to the internet server 60. On the basis of the received user information such as user ID data and the like, the server 60 executes the collating process and accounting process. On the basis of the received media information, the additional information of the music data is retrieved and returned to the music server 50.
Although the example in which the additional information of the music data is returned has been shown here, the music data can be also directly supplied from the external network 19 on the basis of a request by the user. That is, the user can download the music data from the internet server 60 by using the music server 50. The music data can be also returned in correspondence to the media information. Thus, for example, a bonus track of a predetermined CD 55 can be obtained by the transmission.
When the compression music data which has been compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is read out for reproduction from the HDD 10, it is supplied to a compression decoder 21 through the bus 40. The compression encoding of the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is released by the compression decoder 21 and the resultant data is outputted to a terminal 24 through a D/A converter 22 and an amplifier 23. The data is supplied from the terminal 24 to the speaker units 52L and 52R and the music is reproduced. Although not shown in FIG. 2, as a path starting from the D/A converter 22 and reaching the terminal 24 through the amplifier 23, two paths are provided in correspondence to stereophonic outputs. Similarly, two terminals 24 are also provided in correspondence to the stereophonic sound.
In the compression decoder 21, a decoding algorithm corresponding to the encoding algorithm in the compression encoder 12 is used. The compression decoder 21 and foregoing compression encoder 12 can be also realized as software processes by the CPU 8 without having hardware.
A liquid crystal display device (hereinafter, simply referred to as an LCD) 26 constructing the display unit 53 is connected to the bus 40 through an LCD driving circuit (namely, LCD driver) 25. A drawing control signal is supplied from the CPU 8 to the LCD driving circuit 25 through the bus 40. On the basis of the supplied drawing control signal, the LCD 26 is driven by the LCD driving circuit 25 and a predetermined display is performed to the display unit 53.
An operation menu of the music server 50, for example, is displayed on the LCD 26. For instance, a title list of the compression music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is displayed on the LCD 26. As for the title list which is displayed on the LCD 26, since the data based on the data obtained by decoding the additional information transmitted from the internet server 60 has been stored on the HDD 10, the display is performed on the basis of the data stored on the HDD 10. For example, a folder or a jacket image corresponding to the compression music data which is selected and reproduced is further displayed on the LCD 26 on the basis of the additional information transmitted from the internet server 60.
By operating a pointing device of the input operating unit 1 or the keyboard 2 on the basis of the display on the LCD 26, the CPU 8 performs the reproduction control of the instructed music data. The erasure of the selected music data or the control of the copy or movement of the selected music data to the external apparatus can be also performed on the basis of the display of the LCD 26. For example, when the input operating unit 1 is a touch panel provided on the LCD 26, by touching the touch panel in accordance with the display of the LCD 26, the operation of the music server 50 can be performed. As mentioned above, the music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 is managed and controlled by the user by using the LCD 26 as an interface.
In the first embodiment, the invention corresponds to the IEEE 1394 and PC card as an interface between the music server 50 and the external general information apparatus. An IEEE 1394 interface 28 is connected to the bus 40 through an IEEE 1394 driver 29. Similarly, a PC card slot 31 is connected to the bus 40 through a PC card driver 30.
Transmission and reception of data can be performed between the music server 50 and, for example, a personal computer by the IEEE 1394 interface 28. Music data can be fetched from an IRD (Integrated Receiver/Decoder) for satellite broadcasting, a small magnetooptical disc or optical disc having a diameter of about 64 mm, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc: trade name), a digital video tape, or the like by the IEEE 1394 interface 28. By loading the PC card into the PC card slot 31, an expansion of an external storage device or another media drive or various peripheral devices such as modem, terminal adapter, capture board, and the like can be easily performed.
An interface 34 is an interface to transmit and receive music data or the like between the music server 50 and corresponding another recording and reproducing apparatus. For example, the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 shown in FIG. 1 mentioned above is applied to the other recording and reproducing apparatus. The invention is not limited to it but another music server 50 can be also used as another recording and reproducing apparatus.
The interface 34 is connected to the bus 40 through an interface driver 33. An interface 35 constructing a part together with the interface 34 is provided for the corresponding other recording and reproducing apparatus. By electrically connecting the interfaces 34 and 35 by the predetermined connection line 71, for instance, the music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 can be transferred from the music server 50 to the other recording and reproducing apparatus.
FIG. 3 schematically shows a signal flow until the music data read out by the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded into the HDD 10. The music data read out from the CD-ROM drive 9 is once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory through the bus 40. The music data is read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing and is supplied to the compression encoder 12 through the bus 40. The compression encoder 12 is set to a predetermined compressing speed according to the reproducing speed of the CD-ROM drive 9 as mentioned above. The music data is compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and is again once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory. The compression music data read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing is supplied to the HDD 10 through the bus 40 and is recorded to the disk of the HDD 10. In this instance, the TOC information of the CD 55 which is reproduced by the CD-ROM drive 9 is transmitted to the internet server 60 as mentioned above and the additional information of the CD 55 transmitted from the server 60 is also recorded to the disk of the HDD 10 and is managed as one data by the CPU 8 or the like together with the compression music data based on the music data read out from the CD 55.
FIG. 4 schematically shows a signal flow until the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is reproduction processed and is supplied to the terminal 24. The compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is once stored into the DRAM 11 as a buffer memory through the bus 40. The compression music data is read out from the DRAM 11 at a predetermined timing and is supplied to the compression decoder 21 through the bus 40. The compression music data is decompressed by the compression decoder 21, the compression encoding is released, and the resultant data is supplied as music data to the D/A converter 22. The music data is converted into an analog audio signal by the D/A converter 22 and is amplified by the amplifier 23. An amplified signal is supplied as a reproduction output to the terminal 24. If the speakers are connected to the terminal 24, the music reproduced by the speakers can be enjoyed. In this instance, the additional information read out from the disc of the HDD 10 together with the compression music data is decoded by the CPU 8 or the like and the music piece titles or the like are displayed on the display unit 53.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a construction of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 which is used as another recording and reproducing apparatus. The portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has a construction similar to the music server 50 shown in FIG. 2 mentioned above. As for the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the interface 34 on the music server 50 side and the interface 35 on the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 side are usually separated and are carried and used as sole units.
First, in the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, in a manner similar to the construction of the ordinary personal computer, an RAM 103, an ROM 104, and a CPU 105 which are mutually connected by a bus are provided. A flash memory can be also provided in a manner similar to the construction of the music server 50. The CPU 105 is connected to a bus 130. The CPU 105 functions as a controller and the whole operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is controlled by the CPU 105.
A program to control the operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has previously been stored in the ROM 104. In the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the operation corresponding to the operation of the input operating unit 102, which will be explained hereinbelow, is executed on the basis of such a program. A data area and a task area which are used when the program is executed are temporarily assured in the RAM 103.
The input operating unit 102 comprises, for example, a plurality of push type and rotary type operation keys and a plurality of switches which are operated by those operation keys. The input operating unit 102 is not limited to such a type but a rotary push type operation device called a jog dial, a touch panel on the LCD, which will be explained hereinlater, or the like can be also used. A mechanical switching mechanism which responds by depressing can be also used. A signal corresponding to the operation of the input operating unit 102 is supplied to the CPU 105 through the bus 130. The CPU 105 forms a control signal to control the operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 on the basis of an output signal which is generated by operating the operation keys of the input operating unit 102. The operation of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is switched and the operation is controlled in response to the control signal formed by the CPU 105.
In the music server 50, the music data which was read out from the HDD 10 and in which a transfer to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has been instructed is transferred or supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the interfaces 34 and 35 and a connection line connecting the interfaces 34 and 35. At the same time, the additional information of the music data whose transfer has been instructed is also transmitted to the apparatus 70 together with the music data whose transfer has been instructed. In the case where mutually corresponding attaching units are respectively provided for the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the interfaces 34 and 35 are directly connected and the music data is transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70. Further, in the case where the interface by IrDA is provided for both of the apparatus 70 and server 50, the music data is transferred between the server 50 and apparatus 70 by an infrared signal.
The music data transferred and supplied from the server 50 to the apparatus 70 is supplied from an interface driver 101 to an HDD 106 as a music data recording medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the bus 130 and is recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106.
The music data recording medium of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is not limited to the HDD 106 but, for example, a flash memory can be also used. Any other recording medium such as a magnetooptic disk can be also used as a music data recording medium so long as it can follow the reproducing speed of the music data. As a music data recording medium of the apparatus 70, for instance, tens of music pieces can be recorded by using a medium having a memory capacity of about 200 MBytes. The music data transmitted from the server 50 and the additional information of the music data are also recorded to the disc of the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70.
In the example, the music data which is transferred and recorded to the HDD 106 is the compression music data which has already been compression encoded in the music server 50. In the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the invention is not limited to such an example but music data which is not compression encoded is supplied and can be also recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106. For example, the music data reproduced and read out from the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 of the music server 50 is directly supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the interface driver 101. In case of directly supplying the data to the apparatus 70, however, it will be obviously understood that the number of recordable music data is largely limited.
As a pre-process of the process for recording the music data to the hard disk of the HDD 106, the supplied music data is temporarily stored into a DRAM 107 for audio which is connected to the bus 130. The music data read out from the DRAM 107 is supplied to a compression encoder 108 through the bus 130. The compression encoder 108 executes a compression encoding process of the music data by an encoding algorithm similar to that of the compression encoder 12 in the music server 50. The compression music data which was compression encoded by the compression encoder 108 is supplied to the DRAM 107 and is again temporarily stored into the DRAM 107. Finally, the compression music data stored in the DRAM 107 is read out and recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106.
As mentioned above, when the movement of the compression music data accumulated in the HDD 10 is instructed and the data is transmitted and transferred to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 in the music server 50, although the compression music data of the HDD 10 exists as data on the HDD 10, it is set into a state where it cannot be read out from the HDD 10 and reproduced. The compression music data moved to the apparatus 70 is again returned to the recording medium on the moving source side, namely, to the HDD 10 of the server 50, so that it can be reproduced on the moving source side, namely, server 50 In this instance, the compression music data returned to the server 50 is deleted from the hard disk of the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70 serving as a recording medium on the movement destination side.
In this example, an audio signal which is inputted through an amplifier 110 from a microphone connected to the terminal 109 and an audio signal which is inputted from a line input terminal 111 are supplied to the compression encoder 108 through an A/D converter 112. The compression encoding process can be performed to the audio signals supplied from the A/D converter 112 by the compression encoder 108 and can be recorded to the HDD 106. Further, an optical digital signal is supplied from an optical digital input terminal 113 to the compression encoder 108 through an IEC 958 encoder 114. The audio signal supplied as an optical digital signal can be subjected to the compression encoding process by the encoder 108 and can be recorded to the hard disk of the HDD 106. So long as the apparatus 70 is a read only portable reproducing apparatus only for reproducing the compressed music data, all of the foregoing A/D converter 112, encoder 108, and the like can be also omitted.
The compression music data is read out from the HDD 106 for reproduction and is supplied to a compression decoder 115 through the bus 130. The music data in which the decompressing process has been performed to the supplied compression music data and the compression encoding has been released by the compression decoder 115 is outputted to a terminal 118 through a D/A converter 116 and an amplifier 117. For example, the headphones 72 are connected to the terminal 118. The user can listen to the reproduced music by attaching the headphones 72. Although not shown in FIG. 5, as a signal path starting from the D/A converter 116 and reaching the terminal 118 through the amplifier 117, two paths are provided in correspondence to the stereophonic outputs in the L channel and the R channel. Similarly, two terminals 118 are also provided in correspondence to the stereophonic sounds of the L channel and the R channel.
An LCD 120 is connected to the bus 130 through an LCD driving circuit (or LCD driver) 119. A drawing control signal is supplied from the CPU 105 to the LCD driving circuit 119 through the bus 130, the LCD 120 is driven on the basis of the supplied drawing control signal, and a predetermined display is performed to the LCD 120. An operation menu of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, a title list of the music data stored on the HDD 106, or the like is displayed on the LCD 120. For example, a folder or a jacket image corresponding to the music data which is selected and reproduced from the music data stored in the HDD 106 can be also displayed on the LCD 120 on the basis of the additional information stored on the HDD 106.
By operating the pointing device of the input operating unit 102 by the user on the basis of the display of the LCD 120, one compression music data in the compression music data stored on the HDD 106 is selected and reproduced. The control of the erasure, copy, and movement of the selected compression music data can be also performed on the basis of the display of the LCD 120. For example, by touching the touch panel of the input operating unit 102 by the user in accordance with the display of the LCD 120, the operation input of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 can be performed. As mentioned above, the compression music data recorded on the HDD 106 is managed by the user while using the LCD 120 as an interface and the recording, reproduction, and the like are controlled.
Although not shown in FIG. 5, the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is driven by a battery. For this purpose, a power supply unit using a general secondary battery or dry cell as a power supplying source is provided and a charging unit is provided for the apparatus 70. In the case where the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are directly connected by a connection line or attaching units, the music data is transferred and an electric power is supplied from the music server 50 to the charging unit and the secondary battery of the apparatus 70 is charged. The secondary battery of the apparatus 70 can be also charged by an external charging power source. As a power supplying source, only either one of the power source by a dry cell and the charging power source using the secondary battery can be also used or provided.
FIG. 6 shows another example of the foregoing portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70. In FIG. 6, portions common to those in FIG. 5 mentioned above are designated by the same reference numerals and their detailed description is omitted. In a portable recording and reproducing apparatus 170 shown in FIG. 6, for the construction of FIG. 5 mentioned above, a switching circuit 200 is inserted between an HDD (or flash memory) 106a and the bus 130. One selection terminal 200a of the switching circuit 200 is connected to the bus 130 and another selection terminal 200b is connected to the interface 35. The HDD 106a is separated from the bus 130 by the switching circuit 200.
When the compression music data is transferred from the music server 50, a terminal is switched to the selection terminal 200b or the selection terminal 200b is selected in the switching circuit 200. The HDD 106a and the bus 40 of the music server 50 are directly connected through the interfaces 34 and 35. The HDD 106a is seen as if it were a recording medium of the music server 50 when it is seen from the CPU 8 of the server 50. The direct control of the HDD 106a is enabled by the CPU 8 of the music server 50. The movement, copy, or the like of the compression music data can be easily performed between the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70.
The operation of the system constructed as mentioned above will now be described. First, functions which are executed solely by the music server 50 will be explained. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example of processes when the music data of the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 is recorded to the disc of the HDD 10 of the music server 50.
In first step S10, the apparatus waits for a recording request of the music data of the CD 55 to the HDD 10 by the user. For example, when the recording request is inputted by the user by using the input operating unit 1, the processing routine advances to step S11. In step S11, a check is made to see if the recording requested by the user is the “high speed recording” or the “recording at the one-time speed”. For example, when the recording request is issued in step S10 mentioned above, a recording method, namely, a mode to record at a high speed or a mode to record at the one-time speed is designated by the user. The “recording at the one-time speed” used here denotes the operation for reading out the CD 55 at the specified standard speed and recording data to the disc of the HDD 10. The “high speed recording” used here denotes the operation to read out the CD 55 at a speed that is two or more times as high as the specified standard speed and to record data to the disc of the HDD 10.
If the “high speed recording” is designated in step S11, the processing routine advances to step S12 and an accounting system of the servers 50 and 60 is activated. Processes by the accounting system of the servers 50 and 60 will be explained hereinlater. When the accounting process by the accounting system of the server 50 is performed and the “high speed recording” is permitted from the internet server 60 or another apparatus, the processing routine advances to step S13 and a high speed compressing process is activated in the compression encoder 12. The processing routine advances to step S15.
When the “recording at the one-time speed” is designated in step S11, the processing routine advances to step S14 and a low speed compressing process is activated in the compression encoder 12. The processing routine advances to step S15.
In step S15, the CD-ROM drive 9 is driven at a predetermined speed on the basis of the control of the CPU 8 and the music data recorded in the CD 55 loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 is read out. The read-out music data is compression encoded by the compression encoder 12 and is transferred to the HDD 10 and recorded to the disc of the HDD 10.
In step S16, when it is determined that the transfer of the compression music data read out from the CD 55 to the HDD 10 has been finished, the transfer of the data from the CD-ROM drive 9 to the HDD 10 is inhibited in next step S17. The compressing process of the compression encoder 12 is stopped in further next step S18.
FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts showing an example of the accounting process of the accounting system in step S12 of the foregoing flowchart of FIG. 7. The accounting process is performed by performing a data communication between the music server 50 and internet server 60. FIG. 8A shows an accounting process in the account processing system in the music server 50 and FIG. 8B shows an accounting process in the account processing system in the internet server 60.
When the accounting process is started, in step S20 in FIG. 8A, the communication is started between the music server 50 and internet server 60 by a predetermined protocol. In step S21, when the connection between the server 50 and server 60 is established and a state where the communication between the server 50 and server 60 is possible is confirmed, the processing routine advances to step S22.
In step S22, the TOC information of the CD 55 which is loaded in the CD-ROM drive 9 and is transferred and recorded to the HDD 10 is sent from the music server 50 to the internet server 60. High speed recording information showing the execution of the “high speed recording” is transmitted from the music server 50 to the internet server 60 together with the TOC information of the CD 55.
In FIG. 8B, on the other hand, in the internet server 60, the apparatus waits until the high speed recording information and TOC information are supplied or transmitted from the music server 50 (step S30). When the high speed recording information and the TOC information are received by the server 60, the information corresponding to the TOC information transmitted is retrieved in step S31 by using the database in the server 60 or an external database on the basis of the transmitted TOC information. By retrieving the TOC information, the CD 55 is specified.
The accounting process is performed in next step S32. A money amount to be accounted is calculated on the basis of the information such as the number of music pieces which were subjected to the “high speed recording” and, for example, the accounting can be performed by drawing money from an account of the bank designated by the user on the basis of the credit card number of the user which has previously been registered. The accounting method is not limited to this method. For instance, there is also considered a method whereby a function to read a prepaid card is provided for the music server 50, a set account money amount is sent to the music server 50, and the user pays the account money amount by allowing the accounted money amount to be subtracted from the prepaid card. On the basis of the TOC information, the account money amount can be changed or the recording to the disc of the HDD 10 of the music data read out from the CD 55 can be also inhibited in accordance with the contents of the CD 55.
In step S33, the accounting information is transmitted to the music server 50. In FIG. 8A, the contents of the transmitted accounting information is confirmed on the music server 50 side (step S23). On the internet server 60 side as well, a check is made to see if the accounting information has been received by the music server 50 (step S34). For instance, this checking operation is performed by transmitting data indicative of the completion of the confirmation from the music server 50 to the server 60 when it is confirmed that there is no error in the accounting information received on the music server 50 side and the accounting information has correctly been received.
Returning to FIG. 8A, when the accounting information received on the music server 50 side is confirmed in step S23, the processing routine advances to step S24 and the received accounting information or the like is displayed on the display unit 53. In step S25, the music data is read out from the CD 55 at a high speed by the CD-ROM drive 9. The compressing process is executed at a high compressing speed by the compression encoder 12. The compression music data from the compression encoder 12 is supplied to the HDD 10 and recorded to the disk of the HDD 10. Step S25 corresponds to step S15 in FIG. 7 mentioned above.
In the embodiment, the interlocking operation can be performed between the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70. For example, when the music data is moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the interlocking operation between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is executed between them. FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an example of such a movement.
In first step S40, a check is first made to see if the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 have been connected by the interfaces 34 and 35. The connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is detected by, for example, transmitting and receiving a predetermined signal between the interfaces 34 and 35. The detection of the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is not limited to this method but the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 can be also detected by using a mechanical detecting mechanism by providing a switching mechanism to the portion where the music server 50 and portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 are connected.
When the connection between the server 50 and apparatus 70 is confirmed in step S40, a check is made in next step S41 to see if the movement of the music data recorded and accumulated in the HDD 10 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has been requested. For example, a list of the information as well as the music piece titles of the compression music data accumulated in the HDD 10 is displayed on the display unit 53 and the user selects predetermined compression music data from the list displayed in the display unit 53 by using a predetermined pointing device as an input operating unit 1. Further, an instruction for movement to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is inputted from the input operating unit 1 to the compression music data selected by the user.
Various methods of inputting the instruction for movement using the input operating unit 1 are considered. For example, a button to instruct the movement is displayed on the display unit 53 and by designating this button by using the pointing device of the input operating unit 1, the movement can be instructed. For example, the movement can be also instructed by using what is called a drag & drop such that an icon is displayed on the display unit 53 every compression music data and the icon displayed on the display unit 53 is moved onto an icon indicative of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 on the movement destination side also displayed on the display unit 53. The movement can be also instructed by the operation of the operation switch provided for the input operating unit 1.
When it is determined in step S41 that there is a moving request of the compression music data, a file size of the compression music data whose movement has been designated, namely, a data amount is examined by, for example, the CPU 8 on the server 50 side in step S42. In next step S43, a vacant capacity of the HDD 106, namely, a recordable memory capacity is checked by, for example, the CPU 105 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70. The vacant capacity of the HDD 106 and the file size of the compression music data whose movement has been designated and which was examined in step S42 are compared by, for instance, the CPU 8 of the server 50 (step S43). On the basis of a comparison result in step S43, the CPU 8 discriminates whether the compression music data in which the movement has been designated can be recorded to the HDD 106. If it can be recorded to the HDD 106, the processing routine advances to step S45 and the transfer of the compression music data in which the movement from the server 50 toward the apparatus 70 has been designated is started.
When it is determined in step S43 that the vacant capacity in the HDD 106 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is insufficient, the processing routine advances to step S44. In step S44, the compression music data which has already been recorded to the HDD 106 is deleted automatically or on the basis of a procedure or method, which will be explained hereinlater, by the CPU 105 of the apparatus 70 so that the compression music data whose movement has been designated can be recorded to the HDD 106. The processing routine advances to step S45.
The deletion of the compression music data in step S44 is automatically performed under control of the CPU 105 on the basis of a predetermined parameter in the compression music data which has already been recorded in the HDD 106. For example, in the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, there is considered a method whereby the number of reproducing times is counted every compression music data recorded in the HDD 106 and the compression music data is sequentially deleted from the HDD 106 in accordance with the order from the data in which the number of reproducing times is small. The compression music data recorded on the HDD 106 can be also sequentially deleted from the data in which the date of recording to the HDD 106 is old.
There can be a situation such that when the compression music data is automatically deleted from the HDD 106 in step S44, the compression music data which is important to the user is deleted from the HDD 106. To prevent such a situation, it is also possible to display a warning showing that the apparatus is in an operating mode in which the compression music data is automatically deleted from the HDD 106, a list of data to be deleted is displayed, or the like to the display unit 53 of the music server 50 or the LCD 120 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and to delete the compression music data from the HDD 106 after obtaining a confirmation of the user. It is also possible to use a method whereby a list of the compression music data which has already been recorded in the HDD 106 is displayed to the display unit 53 of the music server 50 or the LCD 120 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 and the user himself selects the compression music data to be deleted.
By the processes in steps S43 and S44 mentioned above, when the apparatus is set into a state where the compression music data whose movement has been designated in the compression music data stored on the HDD 10 can be recorded to the HDD 106, the transmission, namely, transfer of the compression music data from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is started in step S45. That is, the compression music data read out from the HDD 10 is supplied to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 through the bus 40 and interface 34. In the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70, the compression music data supplied through the interface 34 is recorded to the HDD 106 through the interface 35.
The transferred compression music data also exists in the HDD 10 on the music server 50 side in a manner similar to the case before the transfer to the apparatus 70. In the embodiment, the reproduction of the compression music data which has already been transferred to the apparatus 70, namely, the compression music data which has been moved to the apparatus 70 and exists in the HDD 10 is inhibited (step S46). For example, a reproduction inhibition flag indicative of the inhibition of the reproduction is set to the high level for the compression music data on the HDD 10 at a time point of the completion of the movement to the apparatus 70. By the reproduction inhibition flag, the reproduction of the compression music data moved to the apparatus 70 is inhibited by the CPU 8 of the server 50 and the compression music data stored on the HDD 10 is virtually moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70. Therefore, the music data which can be reproduced by the server 50 or apparatus 70 in a plurality of compression music data is managed so that only one data always exists, and the illegal copy of the music data is prevented.
In next step S47, a check is made to see if there is a moving request of the next compression music data to the apparatus 70. If the user further wants to move the other compression music data, the processing routine is returned to step S42. When there is not a moving request of music data any more, a series of moving processes of the music data is finished.
Although the explanation has been made above with respect to the case of moving one compression music data in a plurality of compression music data stored on the HDD 10 in steps S42 to S46 in the flowchart of FIG. 9 from the server 50 to apparatus 70, the invention is not limited to this example. A plurality of compression music data can be also collectively moved from the server 50 to the apparatus 70.
Although the description has been made in the foregoing embodiment on the assumption that, in the process in step S46, the compression music data itself exists on the HDD 10 of the music server 50 serving as a moving source side while the reproduction of the moved compression music data is merely inhibited, the invention is not limited to such an example and the moved compression music data can be also deleted from the HDD 10, namely, the data itself can be also erased.
The example in which the compression music data is moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 has been described in the above embodiment. However, the movement in the opposite direction, namely, the operation such that the compression music data recorded in the HDD 106 of the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is moved to the HDD 10 of the music server 50 can be also executed in accordance with processes similar to those in the flowchart shown in FIG. 9.
In this instance, the compression music data moved from the music server 50 to the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 is again moved from the portable recording and reproducing apparatus 70 to the music server 50, so that the reproduction inhibition flag of the compression music data serving as a moving source of the compression music data moved from the apparatus 70 in a plurality of compression music data stored on the HDD 10 is cancelled in the music server 50. That is, the compression music data can be again reproduced in the music server 50 by cancelling the reproduction inhibition flag. At this time, as for the moved compression music data which has been stored on the HDD 106 of the apparatus 70, the data itself is deleted from the HDD 106 or the management data of the moved compression music data is deleted from the management table of the HDD 106.
The present invention is not limited to the foregoing embodiment but many modifications and variations are possible within the spirit and scope of the appended claims of the invention.

Claims (50)

1. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:
communicating means for transmitting data to and receiving data from an information center in which a plurality of additional information have been stored;
reading means for reading recorded data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data for use in managing said plurality of data have been recorded, said recording medium being loaded in said recording and reproducing apparatus;
storing means for storing said recorded data read from said recording medium by said reading means;
control means for controlling said communicating means to transmit to said information center said index data of said recording medium from which said data are read by said reading means based on said index data and to read from said information center additional information corresponding to said transmitted index data and for writing said read additional information into said storing means as additional data of said recording medium from which said recorded data are read by said reading means; and
output means for outputting said data stored in said storing means and said additional data corresponding to said data stored in said storing means.
2. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:
reading means for reading data recorded on a recording medium;
first storing means for storing said data read from said recording medium by said reading means;
reproducing means for reproducing said data stored in said first storing means;
control means for inhibiting said data stored in said first storing means from being further reproduced from said first storing means by said reproducing means when said data read out from said first storing means is stored into second storing means connected to said recording and reproducing apparatus; and
an operating unit operated by a user, whereby said data stored in said second storing means may be deleted based on an input from said operating unit, wherein
said deletion of said data stored in said second storing means is performed in accordance with an order from previous data in said data stored in said second storing means; and
when a storage capacity of said second storing means is larger than said amount of data supplied to said second storing means as a result of a deletion of the data stored in said second storing means, said control means reads out said data stored in said first storing means and supplies said read-out data to said second storing means.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control means sets an inhibition flag to the data read out from said first storing means and stored in said second storing means.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said output means comprises reproducing means for reproducing said recorded data stored in said storing means.
5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said output means comprises converting means for converting an output signal from said reproducing means into a sound audible to a user.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additional information includes title data of the recorded data on said recording medium.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the recorded data read out from said recording medium by said reading means is recorded from said recording medium to said storing means at a high speed, said control means transmits data indicative of an execution of said high-speed recording to said information center through said communicating means.
8. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:
an information supplying unit in which a plurality of additional information have been stored;
a recording and reproducing unit for transmitting data to and receiving data from said information supplying unit,
wherein said recording and reproducing unit includes communicating means, reading means, storing means, control means, and output means;
said communicating means transmits said data to and receives said data from said information supplying unit;
said reading means reads data from a recording medium on which a plurality of data and index data for use in managing said plurality of data have been recorded, said recording medium being loaded in said recording and reproducing apparatus, whereby
said data read from said recording medium by said reading means are stored in said storing means;
said control means controls said communicating means to read from said information supplying unit additional information corresponding to said recording medium from which said data are read by said reading means based on said index data and to write said read additional information into said storing means as additional data of said recording medium that are read by said reading means; and
output means for outputting said data stored in said storing means and for outputting said additional data stored in said storing means.
9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the index data read out from said recording medium by said reading means is transmitted to said information supplying unit through said communicating means.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein on the basis of said transmitted index data, said information supplying unit retrieves the additional information corresponding to said transmitted index data from said plurality of additional information and transmits the retrieved additional information to said recording and reproducing unit.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said recording and reproducing unit transmits said index data read out from said recording medium by said reading means to said information supplying unit through said communicating means and transmits user identification data of said recording and reproducing unit, and
said information supplying unit controls a retrieving operation of said information supplying unit of said additional information based on said index data transmitted on the basis of said user identification data transmitted together with said index data.
12. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said output means includes a display unit providing a display based on said additional data.
13. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising reproducing means for reproducing the data stored said storing means.
14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said output means includes converting means for converting an output signal from said reproducing means into a sound audible to a user.
15. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said additional information includes title data of the data recorded on said recording medium.
16. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when the data read out from said recording medium by said reading means is recorded from said recording medium to said storing means at a high speed, said control means transmits data indicative of an execution of said high-speed recording to said information supplying unit through said communicating means.
17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said information supplying unit executes an accounting process on the basis of the data indicative of the execution of high-speed recording transmitted through said communicating means.
18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said recording and reproducing unit records at a high speed the data read out by said reading means from said recording medium to said storing means on the basis of data indicative of an end of said accounting process.
19. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said storing means of said recording and reproducing unit comprises first storage means and further comprising a terminal apparatus unit having second storing means, and
wherein the data which is read out from said first storing means of said recording and reproducing unit is stored into said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit.
20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said control means inhibits the data which was read out from said first storing means from being stored in said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit and the data stored in said first storing means of said recording and reproducing unit is further read out again from said first storing means of said recording and reproducing unit.
21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said control means sets an inhibition flag for the data which was read out from said first storing means and stored in said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit in the data stored in said first storing means of said recording and reproducing unit.
22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein when the data read out from said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit is again supplied to said first storing means, said control mean provides control, whereby the data in said first storing means corresponding to the data supplied from said second storing means can be further read out from said first storing means.
23. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said control means performs a comparison by comparing a storage capacity of said second storing means with an amount of the data which is read out from said first storing means and supplied to said second storing means.
24. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein as a result of said comparison between said storage capacity of second storing means and said amount of the data read out from said first storing means and supplied to said second storing means, when said storage capacity of said second storing means is larger than said amount of data supplied to said second storing means, said control means reads out the data from said first storing means and supplies the read-out data to said terminal apparatus unit.
25. The apparatus according to claim 23, wherein as a result of said comparison between said storage capacity of said second storing means and said amount of data read out from said first storing means and supplied to said second storing means, when said storage capacity of said second storing means is smaller than said amount of data supplied to said second storing means, said control means deletes the data stored in said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit.
26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said terminal apparatus unit deletes data stored in said second storing means in accordance with an order from previous data in the data stored in said second storing means.
27. A The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said terminal apparatus unit further includes an operating unit operated by a user, and said terminal apparatus unit deletes data stored in said second storing means on the basis of an input from said operating unit.
28. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein when said storage capacity of said second storing means is larger than said amount of data supplied to said second storing means as a result of the deletion of the data stored in said second storing means of said terminal apparatus unit, said control means reads out the data from said first storing means and supplies said read-out data to said terminal apparatus.
29. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein when the data read out from said second storing means is again supplied to said first storing means, said control means performs control so that the data in said first storing means corresponding to the data supplied from said second storing means can be further read out from said first storing means.
30. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:
a first recording and reproducing unit including:
reading means for reading data recorded on a recording medium, said recording medium being loaded in said recording and reproducing apparatus;
first storing means for storing said data read from said recording medium by said reading means;
reproducing means for reproducing said data stored in said first storing means; and
control means for controlling operations of said reading means, said first storing means, and said reproducing means; and
a second recording and reproducing unit; and
an operating unit operated by a user, whereby the data stored in second storing means are deleted based on an input from said operating unit, wherein
said control means inhibits said data from being reproduced by said first recording and reproducing unit when said data have been stored in said second storing means;
said control means deletes said data stored in said second storing means in accordance with an order from previous data in said data stored in said second storing means; and
when a storage capacity of said second storing means is larger than an amount of said data supplied to said second storing means as a result of said deletion of said data stored in said seconds storing means, said control means controls said reproduction of said data from said first storing means and supplies said reproduced data to said second storing means.
31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said control means sets an inhibition flag to the data which was reproduced from said first storing means of said first recording and reproducing unit and stored in said second storing means.
32. The apparatus according to claim 31, wherein when data reproduced from said second storing means is again supplied to said first storing means, said control means performs a control so that the data in said first storing means corresponding to the data supplied from said second storing means can be further reproduced from said first storing means.
33. A recording and reproducing apparatus comprising:
reading means for reading data recorded on a recording medium;
storing means for storing said data read from said recording medium by said reading means;
reproducing means for reproducing said data stored in said storing means;
communicating means for transmitting said data reproduced from said storing means; and
control means for inhibiting an operation to reproduce said data from said storing means by said reproducing means when said data have been transmitted to an other external apparatus by said communicating means, wherein
said storing means includes first storing means;
said control means sets an inhibition flag to said data reproduced from said first storing means and transmitted by said communicating means and stored in second storing means; and
when said data transmitted by said communicating means are again supplied to said apparatus, said control means performs a control operation such that said data in said first storing means corresponding to said data supplied to said apparatus through said communicating means can be further read out from said first storing means.
34. An audio apparatus comprising:
a main body that includes
acoustic speakers arranged as an integral component of said main body;
a receiver configured to receive an operation command via a wireless remote control device; and
an interface component including
a single physical interface that is part of said main body and is configured to mutually correspond to a physical interface of a portable music player device for docking said portable music player device thereon, said portable music player device having music content stored therein, and
a single electrical interface that provides electrical power to said portable music player device and is configured to receive said music content from said portable music player device and to play an audible version of said music content through said acoustic speakers in response to said receiver receiving a play command as said operation command, wherein
said music content, and metadata information retrieved over a network and associated with said music content, are stored on a semiconductor non-volatile random access memory of the portable music player.
35. The audio apparatus of claim 34, wherein
said main body does not include a tactile user interface and relies on said infrared receiver for receiving all user-initiated commands for controlling playback of said music information.
36. The audio apparatus of claim 34, wherein
said wireless remote control device is contained in a different housing than said main body.
37. The audio apparatus of claim 34, wherein
said main body is configured to be portable when in a normal mode of operation.
38. A portable audio playback system comprising:
a docking station that includes
a main body that includes
acoustic speakers arranged as an integral component of said main body,
a receiver configured to receive an operation command via a wireless remote control device, and
an interface component including
a single physical interface that is part of said main body and is configured to mutually correspond to a physical interface of a portable music player device for docking said portable music player device thereon, said portable music player device having music content stored therein, and
a single electrical interface that provides electrical power to said portable music player device and is configured to receive said music content from said portable music player device and to play an audible version of said music content through said acoustic speakers in response to said receiver receiving a play command as said operation command; and
said portable music player device, including
a semiconductor non-volatile random access memory that stores said music content and metadata information associated with said music content,
a rechargeable battery configured to be recharged when said portable music device is docked on said physical interface of said docking station, and
a display, wherein
said metadata information is retrieved over a network.
39. The system of claim 38, wherein
said main body does not include a tactile user interface and relies on said receiver for receiving all user-initiated commands for controlling playback of said music content.
40. The system of claim 38, wherein
said wireless remote control device is contained in a different housing than said main body.
41. The system of claim 38, wherein
said main body is configured to be portable when in a normal mode of operation.
42. A method for physically and electrically coupling a portable music player device to a music playback station comprising:
storing music content and associated metadata information in a semiconductor non-volatile memory of the portable music player device;
physically connecting said portable music player device to said music playback station at a single physical interface configured to mutually correspond between said portable music player device and said music playback station;
electrically connecting said portable music player device to said playback music station at a single electrical interface, said electrically connecting including connecting a power source provided by said music playback station to said portable music player device to provide power to said portable music player device and connecting signal conductors provided by said music playback station to said portable music player device;
playing through an integrated acoustic speaker system, in response to a receipt of a selection control signal from a remote control wireless device, an audible version of said music content received from the portable music player device through the connected signal conductors, wherein
said metadata information is retrieved over a network.
43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:
displaying said metadata information on a display formed in said music playback station.
44. The audio apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:
a tactile user interface on said main body for controlling said audio apparatus.
45. The audio apparatus of claim 34, wherein
said metadata comprises song titles, artist names, and jacket images associated with said music content.
46. The audio apparatus of claim 45, wherein
said metadata is displayed on a display of said portable player music device.
47. The audio apparatus of claim 38, wherein
said metadata comprises song titles, artist names, and jacket images associated with said music content.
48. The audio apparatus of claim 47, wherein
said metadata is displayed on said display of said portable music player device.
49. The method of claim 42, wherein
said metadata comprises song titles, artist names, and jacket images associated with said music content.
50. The method of claim 49, further comprising:
displaying said metadata on a display of said portable music player device.
US12/360,666 1998-02-09 2009-01-27 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus Expired - Lifetime USRE41977E1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/360,666 USRE41977E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2009-01-27 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Applications Claiming Priority (6)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP10-027297 1998-02-09
JP2729798 1998-02-09
US09/244,651 US6408332B1 (en) 1998-02-09 1999-02-04 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US09/993,834 US6704777B2 (en) 1998-02-09 2001-11-06 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US10/972,116 USRE41112E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2004-10-22 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US12/360,666 USRE41977E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2009-01-27 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Related Parent Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/993,834 Reissue US6704777B2 (en) 1998-02-09 2001-11-06 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
USRE41977E1 true USRE41977E1 (en) 2010-11-30

Family

ID=12217165

Family Applications (6)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/244,651 Expired - Lifetime US6408332B1 (en) 1998-02-09 1999-02-04 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US09/993,834 Ceased US6704777B2 (en) 1998-02-09 2001-11-06 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US10/972,116 Expired - Lifetime USRE41112E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2004-10-22 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US12/139,552 Ceased USRE42810E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2008-06-16 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US12/360,666 Expired - Lifetime USRE41977E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2009-01-27 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US13/208,045 Expired - Lifetime USRE43917E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2011-08-11 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Family Applications Before (4)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US09/244,651 Expired - Lifetime US6408332B1 (en) 1998-02-09 1999-02-04 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US09/993,834 Ceased US6704777B2 (en) 1998-02-09 2001-11-06 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US10/972,116 Expired - Lifetime USRE41112E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2004-10-22 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US12/139,552 Ceased USRE42810E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2008-06-16 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US13/208,045 Expired - Lifetime USRE43917E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2011-08-11 Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Country Status (9)

Country Link
US (6) US6408332B1 (en)
EP (4) EP1564739A3 (en)
JP (3) JP4320817B2 (en)
KR (4) KR100568087B1 (en)
AU (1) AU751522B2 (en)
DE (1) DE69934156T2 (en)
ID (1) ID21943A (en)
MY (1) MY125646A (en)
TW (1) TW423261B (en)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100085705A1 (en) * 2008-10-03 2010-04-08 Coretronic Corporation Keyboard set having a micro projector
US20110053491A1 (en) * 2007-12-20 2011-03-03 Apple Inc. Tagging of broadcast content using a portable media device controlled by an accessory
US20120161705A1 (en) * 2010-12-28 2012-06-28 Teco Image System Co., Ltd. Docking station module for portable communication device
US8311275B1 (en) 2008-06-10 2012-11-13 Mindmancer AB Selective viewing of a scene
USRE43917E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2013-01-08 Sony Corporation Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus

Families Citing this family (62)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6829368B2 (en) * 2000-01-26 2004-12-07 Digimarc Corporation Establishing and interacting with on-line media collections using identifiers in media signals
KR100643871B1 (en) * 1998-10-27 2006-11-13 소니 가부시끼 가이샤 Recording Apparatus
JP2000163865A (en) * 1998-11-26 2000-06-16 Ricoh Co Ltd Information transferring device
JP4214651B2 (en) * 1999-03-31 2009-01-28 ソニー株式会社 Data communication system and data management method
US6694200B1 (en) * 1999-04-13 2004-02-17 Digital5, Inc. Hard disk based portable device
AUPQ439299A0 (en) * 1999-12-01 1999-12-23 Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd Interface system
JP4300644B2 (en) * 1999-08-24 2009-07-22 ソニー株式会社 Mobile device
WO2001016840A1 (en) * 1999-09-02 2001-03-08 Xm Satellite Radio Inc. Method and apparatus for providing prepaid music card for deciphering recorded broadcast audio signals
JP2001093226A (en) * 1999-09-21 2001-04-06 Sony Corp Information communication system and method, and information communication device and method
JP4269122B2 (en) * 1999-10-20 2009-05-27 ソニー株式会社 Recording apparatus and recording method
JP2001195825A (en) * 1999-10-29 2001-07-19 Sony Corp Recording/reproducing device and method
JP2001184785A (en) * 1999-12-24 2001-07-06 Sony Corp Dubbing device
EP1830552A1 (en) * 1999-12-28 2007-09-05 Sony Corporation Image commercial transactions system and method
EP1133157A3 (en) 1999-12-28 2004-10-27 Sony Corporation Image commercial transactions system and method, image transfer system and method, image distribution system and method, display device and method
US20070220173A1 (en) * 1999-12-28 2007-09-20 Sony Corporation Image commercial transactions system and method
US20060245741A1 (en) * 2000-03-09 2006-11-02 Cynthia Lakhansingh Digital enterainment recorder
JP3992419B2 (en) * 2000-03-27 2007-10-17 パイオニア株式会社 Information playback device
JP2001285759A (en) * 2000-03-28 2001-10-12 Pioneer Electronic Corp Av information processor and information recording medium having program for av information processing computer readably recorded thereon
US6937814B1 (en) * 2000-04-14 2005-08-30 Realnetworks, Inc. System and method for play while recording processing
TW569130B (en) 2000-05-29 2004-01-01 Sony Corp Data providing device and method, data processing device and method and program storage media
JP2001357001A (en) * 2000-06-12 2001-12-26 Pioneer Electronic Corp Device and method for outputting information, device and method for recording information, information output recording system and information recording medium
US7277765B1 (en) 2000-10-12 2007-10-02 Bose Corporation Interactive sound reproducing
US6642629B2 (en) * 2000-12-28 2003-11-04 Intel Corporation Audio system with removable, active faceplate
US7272788B2 (en) * 2000-12-29 2007-09-18 Fotomedia Technologies, Llc Client-server system for merging of metadata with images
JP2002230945A (en) * 2001-01-30 2002-08-16 Pioneer Electronic Corp Information recording and reproducing device, title information imparting method, and program recording medium having title information imparting procedure program recorded thereon
EP1381026A4 (en) * 2001-04-17 2007-09-19 Kenwood Corp System for transferring information on attribute of, for example, cd
JP4465577B2 (en) * 2001-04-19 2010-05-19 ソニー株式会社 Information processing apparatus and method, information processing system, recording medium, and program
US8131389B1 (en) 2002-02-08 2012-03-06 Digital Voice Systems, Inc. Digital audio server
US20030206500A1 (en) * 2002-05-03 2003-11-06 Simsek Burc A. Apparatus and method for aquisition of compact disc information for a compact disc/digital radio
US7096187B1 (en) * 2002-07-23 2006-08-22 Harris Scott C Compressed audio information
KR100957797B1 (en) * 2002-11-13 2010-05-13 엘지전자 주식회사 Method for reproducing contents information in interactive optical disc player, and method for providing contents information in contents provide server
KR100892977B1 (en) * 2002-11-16 2009-04-10 엘지전자 주식회사 Method for reproducing contents information in interactive optical disc player, and method for providing contents information in contents provide server
WO2004072976A1 (en) * 2003-02-12 2004-08-26 Sony Corporation Digital data recording medium and recording/reproduction device
US7249147B2 (en) * 2003-04-04 2007-07-24 Gibson Guitar Corp. Combination compact disc recorder and player system
US20050114374A1 (en) * 2003-04-04 2005-05-26 Juszkiewicz Henry E. User interface for a combination compact disc recorder and player system
US7216178B2 (en) * 2003-04-04 2007-05-08 Gibson Guitar Corp. System and method for distributing music to customers over the internet using uniquely identified proprietary devices
JP2004335013A (en) * 2003-05-09 2004-11-25 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Data storage device and data storage method
GB0310929D0 (en) * 2003-05-13 2003-06-18 Koninkl Philips Electronics Nv Portable device for storing media content
JP3947978B2 (en) * 2003-12-24 2007-07-25 ソニー株式会社 REPRODUCTION SYSTEM, REPRODUCTION DEVICE, AND REPRODUCTION METHOD
KR20060130760A (en) * 2004-03-23 2006-12-19 마츠시타 덴끼 산교 가부시키가이샤 Content movement device, content movement method, computer program, recording medium, and content movement system
JP2005277621A (en) * 2004-03-24 2005-10-06 Hitachi Ltd Recording and reproducing apparatus
US7822866B2 (en) * 2005-01-27 2010-10-26 Sony Corporation Method and system for retrieving content in network system
JP4845413B2 (en) * 2005-04-11 2011-12-28 三洋電機株式会社 Data processing device
JP4114676B2 (en) * 2005-05-16 2008-07-09 船井電機株式会社 Video playback device
JP4650229B2 (en) * 2005-11-21 2011-03-16 株式会社ケンウッド Playback system, portable playback device, and playback method
JP2007149183A (en) * 2005-11-25 2007-06-14 Sharp Corp Voice processor and display device with same
US20070271116A1 (en) 2006-05-22 2007-11-22 Apple Computer, Inc. Integrated media jukebox and physiologic data handling application
US8073984B2 (en) 2006-05-22 2011-12-06 Apple Inc. Communication protocol for use with portable electronic devices
US7643895B2 (en) * 2006-05-22 2010-01-05 Apple Inc. Portable media device with workout support
KR101112736B1 (en) 2006-11-03 2012-03-13 삼성전자주식회사 Method of synchronizing content list between portable content player and content storing device, portable content player, content saving device
US20080181585A1 (en) * 2007-01-26 2008-07-31 Disney Enterprises, Inc. System and Method for Allocating Excess Capacity on a Storage Medium
US20100076576A1 (en) * 2008-09-24 2010-03-25 Apple Inc. Systems, methods, and devices for providing broadcast media from a selected source
US8452228B2 (en) * 2008-09-24 2013-05-28 Apple Inc. Systems, methods, and devices for associating a contact identifier with a broadcast source
US20100075695A1 (en) * 2008-09-24 2010-03-25 Apple Inc. Systems, methods, and devices for retrieving local broadcast source presets
US8886112B2 (en) 2008-09-24 2014-11-11 Apple Inc. Media device with enhanced data retrieval feature
US20100178938A1 (en) * 2009-01-13 2010-07-15 Apple Inc. Systems and methods for customizing radio presets
JP2010198671A (en) * 2009-02-24 2010-09-09 Sanyo Electric Co Ltd Audio information recording device
US20100261662A1 (en) * 2009-04-09 2010-10-14 Endologix, Inc. Utilization of mural thrombus for local drug delivery into vascular tissue
KR101690599B1 (en) * 2010-07-30 2016-12-28 엘지전자 주식회사 Mobile Device and Method for Controlling Electronic Device using the same
KR101837082B1 (en) 2011-01-20 2018-03-09 삼성전자주식회사 Method and apparatus for controlling device
KR20160050713A (en) * 2014-10-30 2016-05-11 삼성전자주식회사 Method and Electronic Device for storing audio data
DE102018004307A1 (en) 2018-05-30 2018-10-18 Daimler Ag Method for automatically downloading media content

Citations (60)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH02142604A (en) 1988-11-24 1990-05-31 Sumitomo Metal Ind Ltd Plug for piercing and rolling
JPH03219486A (en) 1990-01-25 1991-09-26 Nec Home Electron Ltd Data management system
JPH0417160A (en) 1990-05-09 1992-01-21 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Method for recording and reproducing magneto-optical information
JPH0628786A (en) 1992-07-10 1994-02-04 Sony Corp Recording and reproducing device
JPH06292127A (en) 1993-04-06 1994-10-18 Mitsubishi Electric Corp Still picture dubbing device
JPH06338861A (en) 1993-05-27 1994-12-06 Sony Corp Method and device for processing digital signal and recording medium
JPH0737317A (en) 1993-07-22 1995-02-07 Sharp Corp High speed dubbing device for data
JPH0787433A (en) 1993-06-24 1995-03-31 Canon Inc Still video device
JPH07121987A (en) 1993-10-27 1995-05-12 Sharp Corp Information recorder/reproducer
JPH07271639A (en) 1995-03-07 1995-10-20 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Image information processor
JPH07296008A (en) 1994-04-28 1995-11-10 Nippon Telegr & Teleph Corp <Ntt> Device and method for recording/reproducing digital information
JPH08138357A (en) 1994-11-08 1996-05-31 Nippon Columbia Co Ltd Optical disc player
JPH08167243A (en) 1994-12-09 1996-06-25 Nippon Columbia Co Ltd Digital audio system and reproducing device as well as recording device and digital copying method
JPH08235758A (en) 1995-02-28 1996-09-13 Toshiba Corp Recording medium reproducing device and method thereof
JPH08273297A (en) 1995-02-02 1996-10-18 Sharp Corp Voice recording and reproducing device
JPH08306167A (en) 1995-03-06 1996-11-22 Fujitsu Ltd Method for storing data in storage medium, reproducing device of storage medium, and information management device of storage medium using storage medium, and use method of storage medium
JPH08320767A (en) 1995-05-24 1996-12-03 Ricoh Co Ltd Data copying device
US5581740A (en) 1994-10-04 1996-12-03 Dell Usa, L.P. System for reading CD ROM data from hard disks
US5587978A (en) 1992-04-16 1996-12-24 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Record/reproduction apparatus for recording/reproducing multi-channel signals in different areas of a recording medium
JPH0917165A (en) 1995-06-27 1997-01-17 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Disc-reproducing apparatus
WO1997005616A1 (en) 1995-07-26 1997-02-13 Sony Electronics Inc. Compact disc changer utilizing disc database
JPH0955071A (en) 1995-08-07 1997-02-25 Canon Inc Auto-changer
US5621458A (en) * 1993-11-23 1997-04-15 Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc. Audio and video docking and control system
US5625608A (en) * 1995-05-22 1997-04-29 Lucent Technologies Inc. Remote control device capable of downloading content information from an audio system
JPH09115242A (en) 1995-08-10 1997-05-02 Sony Corp Data transmission method, data recorder, data recording medium and data reproducing device
US5636096A (en) 1995-10-02 1997-06-03 Aris Mardirossian, Inc. Magnetic disc cartridge and corresponding system/method for limiting copying of software
WO1997021218A1 (en) 1994-09-19 1997-06-12 Software Control Systems, Inc. Jukebox entertainment system
JPH09161375A (en) 1995-12-07 1997-06-20 Sony Corp Disk reproducing device
JPH09179599A (en) 1995-12-27 1997-07-11 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Voice recording and reproducing device
JPH09247599A (en) 1996-03-06 1997-09-19 Hitachi Ltd Interactive video recording and reproducing system
JPH09251761A (en) 1996-03-15 1997-09-22 Pioneer Electron Corp Information recording medium and its recorder and reproducer
JPH09265731A (en) 1996-01-24 1997-10-07 Sony Corp Speech reproducing device and its method, speech recording device and its method, speech recording and reproducing system, speech data transfer method, information receiving device, and reproducing device
US5675390A (en) 1995-07-17 1997-10-07 Gateway 2000, Inc. Home entertainment system combining complex processor capability with a high quality display
JPH09282853A (en) 1996-04-09 1997-10-31 Sony Corp Apparatus for measuring production time video tape
JPH103778A (en) 1996-06-18 1998-01-06 Alpine Electron Inc Recording and reproducing device
JPH1021174A (en) 1996-07-01 1998-01-23 Ricoh Co Ltd Data transfer system
WO1998025269A1 (en) 1996-12-02 1998-06-11 Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Apparatus and method for identifying the information stored on a medium
JPH10162559A (en) 1996-12-03 1998-06-19 Yamaha Corp Method for controlling soft data
US5782692A (en) 1994-07-21 1998-07-21 Stelovsky; Jan Time-segmented multimedia game playing and authoring system
WO1998047080A2 (en) 1997-04-15 1998-10-22 Ion, Inc. Network delivery of interactive entertainment complementing audio recording
US5883621A (en) 1996-06-21 1999-03-16 Sony Corporation Device control with topology map in a digital network
JPH11176142A (en) 1997-12-10 1999-07-02 Sony Corp Editing device
US5926624A (en) 1996-09-12 1999-07-20 Audible, Inc. Digital information library and delivery system with logic for generating files targeted to the playback device
EP0944080A1 (en) 1997-10-02 1999-09-22 Sony Corporation Recording/reproducing device and recording/reproducing method
US5959945A (en) 1997-04-04 1999-09-28 Advanced Technology Research Sa Cv System for selectively distributing music to a plurality of jukeboxes
US5987607A (en) 1996-05-08 1999-11-16 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Copy preventing system for multi-media equipment
US5991399A (en) 1997-12-18 1999-11-23 Intel Corporation Method for securely distributing a conditional use private key to a trusted entity on a remote system
US5991640A (en) * 1996-11-22 1999-11-23 Ericsson Inc. Docking and electrical interface for personal use communication devices
US6007228A (en) * 1997-05-21 1999-12-28 Neomagic Corp. Master digital mixer with digital-audio links to external audio in a docking station and to internal audio inside a portable PC
US6031795A (en) 1996-12-02 2000-02-29 Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Method and apparatus for programming a jukebox with information related to content on media contained therein
US6049453A (en) * 1997-12-09 2000-04-11 Compaq Computer Corporation Personal digital assistant and associated computer host device bay structure
US6070799A (en) 1997-01-08 2000-06-06 Eastman Kodak Company Copy protection for a recordable medium and for controlling a recorder
US6148353A (en) * 1996-10-29 2000-11-14 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Portable computer system having and a method for an audio expansion control function
JP2001503930A (en) 1996-06-21 2001-03-21 ソニー エレクトロニクス インク Device user interface with topology map
USRE37131E1 (en) 1991-02-19 2001-04-10 Roy J. Mankovitz Apparatus and methods for music and lyrics broadcasting
US6243328B1 (en) 1998-04-03 2001-06-05 Sony Corporation Modular media storage system and integrated player unit and method for accessing additional external information
US6288991B1 (en) 1995-03-06 2001-09-11 Fujitsu Limited Storage medium playback method and device
JP3219486B2 (en) 1992-09-16 2001-10-15 三洋電機株式会社 Cup feeding device
US6453281B1 (en) * 1996-07-30 2002-09-17 Vxi Corporation Portable audio database device with icon-based graphical user-interface
US6972945B1 (en) * 1997-10-17 2005-12-06 Gateway Inc. Modular computer device and computer keyboard for modular device

Family Cites Families (21)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS58161189A (en) * 1982-03-19 1983-09-24 Sony Corp Information reproducing and recording device
JPS61283089A (en) * 1985-06-07 1986-12-13 Teac Co Reproducing and recording device
US4908786A (en) * 1986-10-17 1990-03-13 Sharp Kabushiki Jausga Electronic calculator having graph displaying function
US5195066A (en) * 1989-02-13 1993-03-16 Pioneer Electronic Corporation Information reproducing system for reproducing a group of recording mediums in accordance with stored program information
US5274762A (en) * 1989-12-15 1993-12-28 Ncr Corporation Method for high speed data transfer
JPH065056A (en) * 1992-06-18 1994-01-14 Canon Inc Audio reproduction system
JPH06179599A (en) 1992-12-14 1994-06-28 Hiromasa Kitaguchi Mechanical lifter
JP3130536B2 (en) * 1993-01-21 2001-01-31 アップル コンピューター インコーポレーテッド Apparatus and method for transferring and storing data from multiple networked computer storage devices
US5883722A (en) * 1994-09-20 1999-03-16 Oce Printing Systems Gmbh Controller for editing encoded image data
JP4518574B2 (en) * 1995-08-11 2010-08-04 ソニー株式会社 Recording method and apparatus, recording medium, and reproducing method and apparatus
JP4332225B2 (en) * 1995-08-31 2009-09-16 ソニー株式会社 Receiver
KR100478413B1 (en) * 1995-09-11 2005-06-08 소니 가부시끼 가이샤 Audio signal recording and reproducing apparatus
JP3541535B2 (en) * 1995-11-27 2004-07-14 ソニー株式会社 Recording device, recording / reproducing device
JPH09231665A (en) * 1996-02-28 1997-09-05 Sony Corp Recording system and recording/reproducing system
US5841988A (en) * 1996-05-23 1998-11-24 Lsi Logic Corporation Interprocessor communications data transfer and error detection in a multiprocessing environment
JP3503435B2 (en) * 1996-08-30 2004-03-08 カシオ計算機株式会社 Database system, data management system, portable communication terminal, and data providing method
KR19980059920A (en) * 1996-12-31 1998-10-07 구자홍 Portable audio / video data receiver and method
KR100284748B1 (en) * 1997-12-26 2001-03-15 김덕중 Audio data recording/reproducing apparatus
JP4320817B2 (en) 1998-02-09 2009-08-26 ソニー株式会社 Recording / reproducing apparatus, recording / reproducing system, recording / reproducing method, and program
JPH11328851A (en) * 1998-05-19 1999-11-30 Sony Corp Terminal device and reproduction method
JP4936037B2 (en) 2001-08-31 2012-05-23 ソニー株式会社 Information processing apparatus and method, and program

Patent Citations (64)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH02142604A (en) 1988-11-24 1990-05-31 Sumitomo Metal Ind Ltd Plug for piercing and rolling
JPH03219486A (en) 1990-01-25 1991-09-26 Nec Home Electron Ltd Data management system
JPH0417160A (en) 1990-05-09 1992-01-21 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Method for recording and reproducing magneto-optical information
USRE37131E1 (en) 1991-02-19 2001-04-10 Roy J. Mankovitz Apparatus and methods for music and lyrics broadcasting
US5587978A (en) 1992-04-16 1996-12-24 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Record/reproduction apparatus for recording/reproducing multi-channel signals in different areas of a recording medium
JPH0628786A (en) 1992-07-10 1994-02-04 Sony Corp Recording and reproducing device
JP3219486B2 (en) 1992-09-16 2001-10-15 三洋電機株式会社 Cup feeding device
JPH06292127A (en) 1993-04-06 1994-10-18 Mitsubishi Electric Corp Still picture dubbing device
JPH06338861A (en) 1993-05-27 1994-12-06 Sony Corp Method and device for processing digital signal and recording medium
JPH0787433A (en) 1993-06-24 1995-03-31 Canon Inc Still video device
JPH0737317A (en) 1993-07-22 1995-02-07 Sharp Corp High speed dubbing device for data
JPH07121987A (en) 1993-10-27 1995-05-12 Sharp Corp Information recorder/reproducer
US5621458A (en) * 1993-11-23 1997-04-15 Thomson Consumer Electronics Inc. Audio and video docking and control system
JPH07296008A (en) 1994-04-28 1995-11-10 Nippon Telegr & Teleph Corp <Ntt> Device and method for recording/reproducing digital information
US5782692A (en) 1994-07-21 1998-07-21 Stelovsky; Jan Time-segmented multimedia game playing and authoring system
WO1997021218A1 (en) 1994-09-19 1997-06-12 Software Control Systems, Inc. Jukebox entertainment system
US5581740A (en) 1994-10-04 1996-12-03 Dell Usa, L.P. System for reading CD ROM data from hard disks
JPH08138357A (en) 1994-11-08 1996-05-31 Nippon Columbia Co Ltd Optical disc player
JPH08167243A (en) 1994-12-09 1996-06-25 Nippon Columbia Co Ltd Digital audio system and reproducing device as well as recording device and digital copying method
JPH08273297A (en) 1995-02-02 1996-10-18 Sharp Corp Voice recording and reproducing device
JPH08235758A (en) 1995-02-28 1996-09-13 Toshiba Corp Recording medium reproducing device and method thereof
JPH08306167A (en) 1995-03-06 1996-11-22 Fujitsu Ltd Method for storing data in storage medium, reproducing device of storage medium, and information management device of storage medium using storage medium, and use method of storage medium
US6288991B1 (en) 1995-03-06 2001-09-11 Fujitsu Limited Storage medium playback method and device
JPH07271639A (en) 1995-03-07 1995-10-20 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Image information processor
US5625608A (en) * 1995-05-22 1997-04-29 Lucent Technologies Inc. Remote control device capable of downloading content information from an audio system
JPH08320767A (en) 1995-05-24 1996-12-03 Ricoh Co Ltd Data copying device
JPH0917165A (en) 1995-06-27 1997-01-17 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Disc-reproducing apparatus
US5675390A (en) 1995-07-17 1997-10-07 Gateway 2000, Inc. Home entertainment system combining complex processor capability with a high quality display
JPH10511191A (en) 1995-07-17 1998-10-27 ゲートウェイ 2000,インコーポレイティド Home entertainment system with high quality display
WO1997005616A1 (en) 1995-07-26 1997-02-13 Sony Electronics Inc. Compact disc changer utilizing disc database
US5751672A (en) 1995-07-26 1998-05-12 Sony Corporation Compact disc changer utilizing disc database
JPH0955071A (en) 1995-08-07 1997-02-25 Canon Inc Auto-changer
JPH09115242A (en) 1995-08-10 1997-05-02 Sony Corp Data transmission method, data recorder, data recording medium and data reproducing device
US5636096A (en) 1995-10-02 1997-06-03 Aris Mardirossian, Inc. Magnetic disc cartridge and corresponding system/method for limiting copying of software
JPH09161375A (en) 1995-12-07 1997-06-20 Sony Corp Disk reproducing device
JPH09179599A (en) 1995-12-27 1997-07-11 Olympus Optical Co Ltd Voice recording and reproducing device
JPH09265731A (en) 1996-01-24 1997-10-07 Sony Corp Speech reproducing device and its method, speech recording device and its method, speech recording and reproducing system, speech data transfer method, information receiving device, and reproducing device
JPH09247599A (en) 1996-03-06 1997-09-19 Hitachi Ltd Interactive video recording and reproducing system
JPH09251761A (en) 1996-03-15 1997-09-22 Pioneer Electron Corp Information recording medium and its recorder and reproducer
JPH09282853A (en) 1996-04-09 1997-10-31 Sony Corp Apparatus for measuring production time video tape
US5987607A (en) 1996-05-08 1999-11-16 Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Copy preventing system for multi-media equipment
JPH103778A (en) 1996-06-18 1998-01-06 Alpine Electron Inc Recording and reproducing device
US5883621A (en) 1996-06-21 1999-03-16 Sony Corporation Device control with topology map in a digital network
JP2001503930A (en) 1996-06-21 2001-03-21 ソニー エレクトロニクス インク Device user interface with topology map
JPH1021174A (en) 1996-07-01 1998-01-23 Ricoh Co Ltd Data transfer system
US6453281B1 (en) * 1996-07-30 2002-09-17 Vxi Corporation Portable audio database device with icon-based graphical user-interface
US5926624A (en) 1996-09-12 1999-07-20 Audible, Inc. Digital information library and delivery system with logic for generating files targeted to the playback device
US6148353A (en) * 1996-10-29 2000-11-14 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Portable computer system having and a method for an audio expansion control function
US5991640A (en) * 1996-11-22 1999-11-23 Ericsson Inc. Docking and electrical interface for personal use communication devices
WO1998025269A1 (en) 1996-12-02 1998-06-11 Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Apparatus and method for identifying the information stored on a medium
US6031795A (en) 1996-12-02 2000-02-29 Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Method and apparatus for programming a jukebox with information related to content on media contained therein
JPH10162559A (en) 1996-12-03 1998-06-19 Yamaha Corp Method for controlling soft data
US6070799A (en) 1997-01-08 2000-06-06 Eastman Kodak Company Copy protection for a recordable medium and for controlling a recorder
US5959945A (en) 1997-04-04 1999-09-28 Advanced Technology Research Sa Cv System for selectively distributing music to a plurality of jukeboxes
US5987525A (en) 1997-04-15 1999-11-16 Cddb, Inc. Network delivery of interactive entertainment synchronized to playback of audio recordings
US6230192B1 (en) 1997-04-15 2001-05-08 Cddb, Inc. Method and system for accessing remote data based on playback of recordings
WO1998047080A2 (en) 1997-04-15 1998-10-22 Ion, Inc. Network delivery of interactive entertainment complementing audio recording
US6007228A (en) * 1997-05-21 1999-12-28 Neomagic Corp. Master digital mixer with digital-audio links to external audio in a docking station and to internal audio inside a portable PC
EP0944080A1 (en) 1997-10-02 1999-09-22 Sony Corporation Recording/reproducing device and recording/reproducing method
US6972945B1 (en) * 1997-10-17 2005-12-06 Gateway Inc. Modular computer device and computer keyboard for modular device
US6049453A (en) * 1997-12-09 2000-04-11 Compaq Computer Corporation Personal digital assistant and associated computer host device bay structure
JPH11176142A (en) 1997-12-10 1999-07-02 Sony Corp Editing device
US5991399A (en) 1997-12-18 1999-11-23 Intel Corporation Method for securely distributing a conditional use private key to a trusted entity on a remote system
US6243328B1 (en) 1998-04-03 2001-06-05 Sony Corporation Modular media storage system and integrated player unit and method for accessing additional external information

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
U.S. Appl. No. 12/139,552, filed Jun. 16, 2008, Matsumoto et al.
U.S. Appl. No. 12/360,666, filed Jan. 27, 2009, Matsumoto et al.

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
USRE43917E1 (en) 1998-02-09 2013-01-08 Sony Corporation Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US20110053491A1 (en) * 2007-12-20 2011-03-03 Apple Inc. Tagging of broadcast content using a portable media device controlled by an accessory
US9130686B2 (en) * 2007-12-20 2015-09-08 Apple Inc. Tagging of broadcast content using a portable media device controlled by an accessory
US8311275B1 (en) 2008-06-10 2012-11-13 Mindmancer AB Selective viewing of a scene
US8965047B1 (en) 2008-06-10 2015-02-24 Mindmancer AB Selective viewing of a scene
US9172919B2 (en) 2008-06-10 2015-10-27 Mindmancer AB Selective viewing of a scene
US20100085705A1 (en) * 2008-10-03 2010-04-08 Coretronic Corporation Keyboard set having a micro projector
US8054616B2 (en) * 2008-10-03 2011-11-08 Coretronic Corporation Keyboard set having a micro projector
US20120161705A1 (en) * 2010-12-28 2012-06-28 Teco Image System Co., Ltd. Docking station module for portable communication device

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
KR20060012554A (en) 2006-02-08
USRE42810E1 (en) 2011-10-04
DE69934156D1 (en) 2007-01-11
JP4320817B2 (en) 2009-08-26
US6704777B2 (en) 2004-03-09
ID21943A (en) 1999-08-12
KR100568087B1 (en) 2006-04-05
JP2008287871A (en) 2008-11-27
EP1696436A2 (en) 2006-08-30
JPH11288557A (en) 1999-10-19
USRE43917E1 (en) 2013-01-08
DE69934156T2 (en) 2007-10-25
MY125646A (en) 2006-08-30
AU751522B2 (en) 2002-08-22
EP0935248A3 (en) 2000-09-20
AU1422299A (en) 1999-08-26
USRE41112E1 (en) 2010-02-09
JP4321528B2 (en) 2009-08-26
EP1564739A2 (en) 2005-08-17
KR20060012553A (en) 2006-02-08
EP1696436A3 (en) 2012-10-03
US20020035599A1 (en) 2002-03-21
EP1696435A2 (en) 2006-08-30
KR100620533B1 (en) 2006-09-06
EP1564739A3 (en) 2012-10-03
KR100620529B1 (en) 2006-09-06
EP1696435A3 (en) 2012-10-03
EP0935248A2 (en) 1999-08-11
TW423261B (en) 2001-02-21
KR19990072467A (en) 1999-09-27
US6408332B1 (en) 2002-06-18
EP0935248B1 (en) 2006-11-29
KR20060012555A (en) 2006-02-08
KR100620538B1 (en) 2006-09-06
JP2006185584A (en) 2006-07-13

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
USRE41977E1 (en) Recording and reproducing apparatus and terminal apparatus
US10645161B2 (en) Communication system and its method and communication apparatus and its method
US6570079B2 (en) Recording and reproducing apparatus, recording and reproducing method, and data processing apparatus
KR20010067294A (en) Recording and playback apparatus and method, terminal device, transmitting receiving method, and storage medium

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FEPP Fee payment procedure

Free format text: PAYOR NUMBER ASSIGNED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: ASPN); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY

CC Certificate of correction
FPAY Fee payment

Year of fee payment: 8