JP2003308643A - Sound recording and reproducing device using writable and readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sound recording and reproducing device whose response time to the start of reproduction is reducible while no omission exists in sound data and the number of multiplexings can be increased. <P>SOLUTION: A sound recording and reproducing device 1, by which a sound packet is transferred and stored with respect to a hard disk 5 and also an initial analog sound signal is reproducible by receiving the sound packet stored in the hard disk 5, is provided with a file transfer buffer 13 furnished with two buffer areas having the capacity to store the prescribed number of sound packets and a control means 14 for controlling the write and read of the sound packet in the file transfer buffer 13. By the control means 14, the operation of each buffer area is changed over between write and read in accordance with the number of sound packets stored in one buffer area. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a writable / readable storage medium such as a hard disk, which has no loss of audio data, can increase the number of multiplexed signals, and can shorten the response time at the start of reproduction. The present invention relates to a recording / playback device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a method of recording and reproducing voice by using a hard disk instead of a conventional tape or MD (mini disk) has been used. In this method, recording and reproduction can be performed at the same time, and processing such as editing and multi-recording can be easily realized as compared with the conventional recording and reproduction method.

However, when recording on a hard disk, due to its structure, there is a problem due to the seek of the head, that is, the time taken to move from a desired track to a track. Some of them are as follows. (1) Audio data is missing. Data cannot be transferred when a seek is occurring on the hard disk,
During that time, voice packets cannot be sent, so
Audio data is lost, resulting in audio interruption. (2) The number of multiplexes cannot be increased. If the multiplex number is increased, the number of seeks per unit time increases, and therefore the time when transfer is impossible increases, so that data that cannot be transferred occurs. (3) The response time during reproduction is long. When multiplex simultaneous recording / reproduction is performed, it takes a maximum multiplex seek time from the issuance of the reproduction start request to the actual reproduction.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to eliminate the loss of audio data, to increase the number of multiplexing, and to reproduce it. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus using a writable / readable storage medium such as a hard disk capable of shortening the start response time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is capable of transferring and storing a voice packet to a writable / readable storage medium, and the storage medium. A recording / reproducing apparatus capable of receiving the voice packet stored in the above and reproducing the original analog voice signal, comprising a plurality of buffer areas each having a capacity capable of storing a predetermined number of the voice packet. A file transfer buffer, and management means for controlling writing and reading of the voice packet in the file transfer buffer, wherein the management means stores the number of the voice packets stored in any of the buffer areas. Based on each of the buffers
Provided is a recording / reproducing device characterized by switching the operation of an area between writing and reading.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the file transfer buffer includes two buffer areas, and the management means writes the voice packet in one of the two buffer areas. , The two buffers when the voice packets are read from the other and the predetermined number of the voice packets are accumulated in one buffer area or read from the other buffer area. -Characterized by switching the operation of the area.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the management means changes the operation of one buffer area from writing to reading when the predetermined number of the voice packets are accumulated in the one buffer area during recording. At the same time as switching, the operation of the other buffer area is switched from read to write, and at the time of reproduction, the operation of the one buffer area is performed when the predetermined number of the voice packets are read from the one buffer area. While switching from reading to writing, the other buffer
It is characterized in that the operation of the area is switched from writing to reading.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the management means includes an up / down counter for counting the number of the voice packets accumulated in the buffer area or read from the buffer area. The operation of the buffer area is switched based on the output of the up / down counter.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A configuration example of one embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention and its operation will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 has a configuration capable of simultaneous recording / reproducing, and a recording processing unit via an external bus 2. 3 and the reproduction processing unit 4. The recording processing unit 3 includes a microphone, a voice processing unit, and an A / D.
The conversion processing unit and the packet communication processing unit are included, and the reproduction processing unit 4 includes a packet communication processing unit, a D / A conversion unit, an amplifier, and a speaker. A voice signal received by a microphone (not shown) is packetized by the recording processing unit 3 and sent to the recording / playback apparatus 1. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 creates a voice packet from this packet data, collects a plurality of the voice packets to create a cluster, and causes the hard disk 5 to record each cluster. Also, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is
The audio packets sequentially read from the hard disk 5 are sent to the reproduction processing unit 4 to operate to reproduce the original analog audio signal.

The "cluster" is the hard disk 5
This is the minimum amount of data that can be continuously recorded in the above file. For example, if a voice signal is sampled at 16 bits and 48 kHz and compressed to 1/4, the packet size becomes 256 bytes, while the hard disk 5 is 2
When complying with the SCSI standard as a gigabyte connection bus,
The cluster will be 32 kilobytes. One file is composed of a plurality of clusters, and FIG. 1 shows a file being recorded (REC) and a file being played (PLAY).

The recording processing unit 3 A / D converts an audio signal such as music downloaded from a website or an analog audio signal output from a sound source such as a CD-ROM, MD or cassette tape to create digital data. Then, the digital data is divided into packet data of a predetermined size and supplied to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. In addition, the reproduction processing unit 4
Converts the packet data supplied from the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 into continuous digital data and further D / A converts it into an analog audio signal, which is reproduced from a speaker (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording / playback apparatus 1 includes an external bus interface 11 connected to a recording processing section 3 and a playback processing section 4 via an external bus 2, and a packet
Buffer 12 and recording file transfer buffer 13R
A playback file transfer buffer 13P, a file management unit 14, a hard disk connection bus control unit 15, and an input / output unit 16 connected to the hard disk 5 via a cable 6.

In FIG. 1, the packet buffer 12
Is a buffer having a capacity capable of storing one packet data, and transmits / receives one packet in time division with the external bus interface 11 so as to perform simultaneous recording / reproduction. That is, when recording
When reproducing, the digital data input from the interface 11 and sent from the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P are sequentially accumulated, and when one packet data is accumulated, the accumulated packet data is converted into one packet data. As a voice packet, to the next stage, that is, to the recording file transfer buffer 13R during recording, to the external bus during playback.
It is sent to the external bus 2 via the interface 11.

The recording file transfer buffer 13R and the reproducing file transfer buffer 13P are provided with two buffers each having a capacity capable of accumulating a predetermined number of voice packets corresponding to one cluster, and are mutually provided. It operates in a time division manner to transmit and receive digital data between the packet buffer 12 and the file management unit 14. The recording file transfer buffer 13R is
Buffering is performed until the voice packets sequentially sent from the buffer 12 are accumulated by one cluster, and the accumulated voice packets of one cluster are clustered in units of a file management unit 14 and a hard disk connection bus control unit. Write to hard disk 5 via 15. , Playback file transfer buffer 13P
Indicates that one cluster of voice packets is the file management unit 14
Buffering is performed until data is sent from the hard disk 5, and the hard disk 5 is read in cluster units. In this specification, the audio data stored in the hard disk 5 is referred to as a file. Files are managed in clusters on the hard disk.

FIG. 2 shows a file transfer buffer 13 for recording.
The structure of R is shown. As shown, the recording file transfer buffer 13R has two buffer areas 131,
132 and a data counter 133, the two buffer areas 131 and 132 alternately store and transfer packet data during recording. The data counter 133 is an up / down counter.

Although not shown, the reproduction file transfer buffer 13R is also provided with two buffer areas and a data counter like the recording file transfer buffer 13P, and the two buffer areas are used for packet reproduction during reproduction. Data storage and transfer are performed alternately. The data counter is an up / down counter.

The file management unit 14 controls the operations of the external bus interface 11, the packet buffer 12, the recording file transfer buffer 13R and the reproducing file transfer buffer 13P. That is, at the time of recording, the file management unit 14 sequentially stores the digital data sent from the recording processing unit 3 in the packet buffer 12, and the packet buffer 12 stores one packet of digital data. Then, it is transferred as a voice packet to the recording file transfer buffer 13R, the amount of voice packets accumulated in the recording file transfer buffer 13R is determined, and the recording file transfer buffer 13R is determined.
When the voice packet for one cluster is stored in R, the voice packet for one cluster is transferred to the hard disk connection bus control unit 15. Further, at the time of reproduction, the file management unit 14 uses the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P to execute the operation reverse to the above. In this way, the file management unit 14 manages the amount of data buffering at the time of recording and reproduction and the data transfer, that is, from the input of data to the output.

The hard disk connection bus control unit 15 controls the writing of the clusters transferred from the file management unit 14 to the hard disk 5, and transfers the audio packets read from the hard disk 5 in cluster units to the file management unit 14. Control the control.

As is clear from the above description, in the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, packets are not transferred between the external bus interface 11 and the recording fill transfer buffer 13R or the reproducing file transfer buffer 13P.
Handles voice packets consisting of data and a predetermined number of packet data. On the other hand, recording file transfer buffer 13R
Alternatively, the area from the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P to the hard disk 5 is a portion in which one cluster of audio packets is transferred.

As already described with reference to FIG. 2, the recording file transfer buffer 13R and the reproducing file transfer buffer 13P alternately operate their two buffer areas to store and transfer voice packets for clusters. To do. The data counter 133 detects the time point at which the storage and transfer of the voice packets for the cluster are switched. This operation will be described below.

At the time of recording, voice packets are transferred from the packet buffer 12 to the hard disk 5 via the recording file transfer buffer 13R in units of clusters. Therefore, at some point during recording, for example, a voice packet is transferred from the packet buffer 12 and accumulated in one buffer area 131, and at the same time, a voice packet is read from the other buffer area 132. It is assumed that the data is written in the hard disk 5 via the file management section 14, the hard disk connection bus control section 15 and the cable 6. After that, when one cluster of voice packets is accumulated in one buffer area 131, the count value of the data counter 133 reaches the upper limit value.

The file management unit 14 uses the data counter 1
When it is detected that the count value of 33 reaches the upper limit value, the operations of the buffer areas 131 and 132 are switched, and one of the buffer areas 131 sequentially transfers the voice packets accumulated therein to the hard disk 5. The other buffer area 132 receives and accumulates voice packets from the packet buffer 12. The data counter 133 monitors this accumulation operation, and when the other buffer area 132 accumulates one cluster of voice packets, that is, when the count value of the data counter 133 reaches the upper limit value, the file management unit 14 Switches the operation again, and this time causes one of the buffer areas 131 to write the voice packet from the packet buffer 12, and the other buffer area 132 stores the voice packets stored therein to the hard disk 5. Transfer.

Thereafter, each time the count value of the data counter 133 reaches the upper limit value, the operation of the two buffer areas 131 and 132 is switched from write to read or from read to write until the recording is completed. ,
When one is writing a voice packet from the packet buffer 12, the other operates to read a voice packet to the hard disk 5.

Next, at the time of reproduction, the voice packet is transferred from the hard disk 5 to the packet buffer 12 via the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P. Therefore, at a certain point during reproduction, for example, an audio packet is transferred from the hard disk 5 to the buffer area via the file management unit 14, the hard disk connection bus control unit 15, and the cable 6 and accumulated, and at the same time, It is assumed that the voice packet is read from the other buffer area and is transferred to the packet buffer 12. When one cluster of voice packets has been transferred from the other buffer area in this way, the count value of the data counter becomes zero.

When the file management unit 14 detects that the count value of the data counter has become zero, the operation of the two buffer areas is switched, and the voice packets accumulated in one of the buffer areas are sequentially packetized. The voice packet from the hard disk 5 is written in the other buffer area while being transferred to the buffer 12. The data counter monitors one buffer area, and when one buffer area completes the transfer of one file, that is, when the count value of the data counter becomes zero, the file management unit 14 operates again. The voice packets from the hard disk 5 are written in one buffer area, and the voice packets stored therein are transferred to the packet buffer 12 in the other buffer area.

After that, until the reproduction is completed, the operation of the two buffer areas is switched from write to read or read to write each time the count value of the data counter reaches zero, and one of them is read from the hard disk 5. While the other voice packet is being written, the other operates so as to read the voice packet into the packet buffer 12.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it is described that the voice packet passes through the file management unit 14, but the file management unit 14 controls the reading and writing of the voice packet. The voice packet does not necessarily have to pass through the file management unit 14.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the data transfer operation performed in the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 (a) shows the operation at the time of recording, and FIG. 3 (b) shows the operation at the time of reproduction. .
That is, at the time of recording, in step S11, the file management unit 14 receives a “record” command and data related thereto from the operation unit (not shown). The above command has, for example, the content of “record only data size ΔΔ bytes with file name XX” and is sent from the operation unit to the file management unit 14 via the external bus interface 11. The operation unit in this case may be a personal computer for system control that exists as a terminal on the network, or a terminal of the recording processing unit 3 or the reproduction processing unit 4. However, the operation unit may be provided in the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 and the command may be directly sent from the operation unit to the file management unit 14.

Next, in step S12, it is determined whether or not the priority order of processing is changed. Since the recording is usually set to have a lower priority than the reproduction, when the recording command is received during the reproduction operation, the start of the recording is delayed until the reproduction operation ends. When it is ready to start recording, the file management unit 14 transfers the voice packet from the packet buffer 12 to one buffer area of the recording file buffer 13R and is accumulated in the other buffer area. The voice packet is transferred to the hard disk 5 (step S1
3) The data counter 133 is caused to count the number of voice packets accumulated in any of the buffer areas 131 or 132 (step S14), and a report notifying the processing result for the command is transmitted to the operation unit (step S15). ).

Thereafter, in step S16, it is monitored whether or not the data counter 133 has counted up to the upper limit value. When the counted value of the data counter 133 reaches the upper limit value, the file management unit 14 determines that the two buffer areas Thirteen
The operation of Nos. 1 and 132 is switched (step S17),
The voice packet stored in the buffer area that has been written is read and transferred to the hard disk 5, and the voice packet is written in the buffer area that has been read (step S).
18). After that, steps S12 to S18 are repeated.

Next, the operation during reproduction will be described with reference to FIG. 3B. In step S21, the file management unit 14 receives a "reproduction" command from the operation unit.
This command is transmitted from the operation unit, for example, with the content "play the file with the file name XX by the data size ΔΔ bytes". The operation part is shown in FIG.
(A) is as described above.

Next, in step S22, it is determined whether or not the priority order of processing is changed. As mentioned above, playback has a higher priority than recording, so
When the recording command is received during the reproducing operation, the reproducing operation is prioritized and the reproducing operation is continued. Therefore, the file management unit 14 uses the reproduction file transfer buffer 13
The voice packet stored in one of the two buffer areas of P is transferred to the packet buffer 12, and the voice packet is transferred from the hard disk 5 to the other of the buffer areas (step S23).
The data counter is caused to count the number of voice packets read from any of the buffer areas (step S24), and a report notifying the processing result for the command is transmitted to the operation unit (step S25).

Thereafter, in step S26, it is monitored whether or not the data counter has been decremented to zero. When the count value of the data counter reaches zero, the file management unit 14 switches the operation of the two buffer areas. Then, the voice packet from the hard disk 5 is written in the buffer area which has been read so far (step S27), and the voice packet accumulated therein is read in the buffer area which has been written so far. Transfer to hard disk 5 (step S2)
8). After that, steps S22 to S28 are repeated.

As described above, the recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1 accesses the hard disk 5 for each cluster in order to realize the simultaneous recording / reproducing, and sets the recording file transfer buffer 13R and the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P to 2 respectively. It is characterized in that it is divided into two buffer areas, and writing and reading are alternately performed in each buffer area, and that the priority order is sorted according to the processing content to access the hard disk and the reproduction processing is preferentially performed.

Although one embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention has been described above in detail, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, the following changes and modifications are possible.

(1) Although a hard disk is used as the storage medium, any other writable / readable storage medium can be used instead. (2) In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, packet communication is performed between the recording processing unit 3 and the reproduction processing unit 4 and the recording / reproducing apparatus 1, but the recording processing unit 3 and the reproduction processing unit 4 perform the recording. When provided in the playback device 1, the external bus interface 11 is unnecessary.

(3) Recording file transfer buffer 13R
The reproduction file transfer buffer 13P and the reproduction file transfer buffer 13P have been described as having two buffer areas, respectively. Instead, three or more buffer areas are provided, and these are switched in an appropriate order to alternate writing and reading. Similar processing can be performed by performing the processing.

(4) FIG. 1 shows a recording / reproducing apparatus having one recording file transfer buffer and one reproducing file transfer buffer capable of simultaneous recording and reproduction.
By providing a plurality of combinations of the recording file transfer buffer and the reproducing file transfer buffer and operating them in a time division manner, it is possible to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus capable of simultaneous recording / reproducing of a plurality of channels.

[0039]

As can be understood from the description of one embodiment of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the present invention is capable of transmitting a predetermined number of voice packets, for example, one cluster, to / from a storage medium. Since it is designed to send and receive data, it is possible to reduce the number of seeks per hour and prevent the loss of audio data. The file transfer buffer has multiple buffer areas, which speeds up the response to processing requests. Not only is it possible to process multiple processing requests at the same time, it is possible to operate the storage medium efficiently and increase the number of multiplexes, either recording processing or playback processing. Since it is possible to set the priority, it is possible to shorten the response time to the process of the priority (for example, recording 16,
In the case where the reproduction process has a higher priority in the case where the number of multiplexes is 32 for reproduction 16, if the recording and reproduction are started at the same time, the response time to the slowest reproduction request is conventionally the seek time from the reproduction request issuance × It is 32 or more, but in the present invention, it is half that), and so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a recording file transfer buffer in FIG.

3A and 3B are flow charts for explaining the operation of the recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 3A shows an operation during recording and FIG. 3B shows an operation during reproduction.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: recording / reproducing device, 2: external bus, 5: hard disk, 6: cable, 12: packet buffer,
13R: file transfer buffer for recording, 13P: file transfer buffer for playback, 14: file management unit,
15: hard disk connection bus control unit,
16: Input / output section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A voice packet can be transferred to and stored in a writable / readable storage medium, and a voice packet stored in the storage medium can be received to reproduce an original analog voice signal. A recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: a file transfer buffer having a plurality of buffer areas capable of accumulating a predetermined number of audio packets; and controlling writing and reading of the audio packets in the file transfer buffer. Management means, the management means switching the operation of each of the buffer areas between writing and reading based on the number of the voice packets accumulated in any of the buffer areas. Recording / playback device characterized by: 2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the file transfer buffer includes two buffer areas, and the management unit includes the two buffer areas in one of the buffer areas. Operate so that voice packets are written and read from the other, and
Recording / reproducing, wherein the operations of the two buffer areas are switched when the predetermined number of the voice packets are accumulated in one buffer area or read from the other buffer area. apparatus. 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the managing unit is configured to record one of the buffer areas when the predetermined number of the voice packets are accumulated in the one buffer area during recording.
The operation of the area is switched from writing to reading, and the operation of the other buffer area is switched from reading to writing, and at the time of reproduction, when the predetermined number of the voice packets are read from the one buffer area, A recording / reproducing apparatus wherein the operation of one buffer area is switched from reading to writing and the operation of the other buffer area is switched from writing to reading. 4. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management unit is stored in the buffer area or read from the buffer area. An up / down counter for counting the number of the voice packets,
A recording / reproducing apparatus characterized in that the operation of the buffer area is switched based on the output of the up / down counter.