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AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorAkihiro Morohashi
Estimating the term…
A recording and/or reproducing apparatus for recording and/or reproducing data to and/or from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing these data. The apparatus according to the invention has a selecting means, a reading means, and a transfer means. The selecting means selects, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the recording medium. The group management data are stored in the management data area and manage, as a data group, plural data stored in the data area. The reading means reads the selected group management data and the data group managed thereby. The transfer means transfers the read group management data and the read data group managed thereby to an external device.
A recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing said data are stored, comprising:
A portable recording and reproducing apparatus for receiving data and management data for managing the received data, recording the received data and the received management data to a recording medium, and reproducing the recorded data from said recording medium, comprising:
A data transfer system comprising:
A recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which music data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing a plurality of the music data are stored, comprising:
A data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing said data are stored, comprising the steps of:
A data recording and reproducing method for receiving data and management data for managing said data to record said data and said management data to a recording medium and reproduce said data and said management data therefrom, comprising the steps of:
A method for recording data and management data for managing said data transferred from a first recording medium having a data area in which said data are stored and a management data area in which said management data are stored and reproducing said data and said management data from said first recording medium, comprising the steps of:
A data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which said data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing said data, comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Table of contents: on a disc [VTOC]
Digital recording or reproducing: audio or video recording; Data buffering arrangements
Using flat record carriers, e.g. disc, card: using rotating discs
Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording: reproducing continuously a part of the information, i.e. repeating
Term end not estimated
The present invention generally relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a portable recording and reproducing apparatus, a data transfer system, a data transfer method, and a data recording and reproducing method.
Various types of consumer audio visual devices are in widespread use, allowing users to personally enjoy music software and video software. For example, users own audio systems by which information is reproduced from disc record media such as a CD (Compact Disc) (trademark) and an MD (MiniDisc) (trademark) for example or record information thereto and portable reproducing devices by which information is reproduced from the above-mentioned disc recording media. These audio systems allow users to reproduce desired CDs and MDs or record desired music pieces for example to MDs, which are recordable, thereby creating users' original discs.
The related-art portable music reproducing devices, for example, portable CD players and portable MD players are intended to reproduce only one type of recording medium; for example, one CD or MD is loaded at time in these portable devices. Generally, one unit of a recording medium is provided as one music album in which plural music pieces (a music collection) are recorded. Therefore, a user may only reproduce one music collection at a time by a single portable player. In other words, if a user wants to reproduce music pieces recorded on plural music collections by a single portable player, the user must change the discs every time such a situation occurs. In the case of stationary audio systems, a disc changer system allows the reproduction of music pieces recorded on plural music collections by automatically changing the discs. However, the portable devices, which inevitably are required to be light in weight and small in size, cannot accommodate such a disc changer system.
These and other objects of the invention will be seen by reference to the description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an information distribution system including a recording/reproducing apparatus practiced as one preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the above-mentioned recording/reproducing apparatus and a portable apparatus practiced as another preferred embodiment of the invention;
This invention will be described in further detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. The description will be made about a recording/reproducing apparatus 10, and a portable apparatus 50 and a data transfer system composed thereof, which are preferred embodiments of the present invention, in the order shown. It should be noted that the recording/reproducing apparatus 10 and the portable apparatus 50 in an example shown below also server as terminals of an information distribution system for distributing music information for instance. Therefore, the following description will also refer to such an information distribution system. It should also be noted that, in the above-mentioned preferred embodiments, main data denote music data by way of example and a main data collection is equivalent to a music collection (or so-called a music album). It should be noted again that collection managing data are equivalent to a list ID, music collection managing data, and music piece managing data.
(1) Overview of the information distribution system
(2) Exemplary external views of the recording/reproducing apparatus and the portable apparatus