Information recording medium, information reproducing apparatus, information reproducing method, and computer program product

An information recording medium on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a predetermined compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• and
• management information for managing and controlling said entity information,
• said management information including:
• number information for indicating an identification number of said entity information, which is uniquely given to each Title;
• total number information for indicating the total number of said entity information;
• and
• information for indicating a fact that there is no record of another entity information compressed and encoded by another compressing and encoding method, which is different from the predetermined compressing and encoding method.

An information reproducing apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information,
• said apparatus comprising:
• a reading device for reading out information from the information recording medium;
• a judgment device for judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of the read information;
• and
• a reproduction output device (i) for reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information in accordance with the second management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is recorded and (ii) for reproducing and outputting the first entity information in accordance with first management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is not recorded.

An information reproducing apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information, wherein said second management information includes, for each Title (i) number information for indicating an identification number of said first or second entity information, which is uniquely given to each Title and (ii) identification information for identifying whether said number information indicates the identification number of said first entity information or the identification number of said second entity information,
• said apparatus comprising:
• a selection device for selecting a Title to be reproduced out of the Titles recorded on the information recording medium;
• a reading device for reading out information from the information recording medium;
• a judgment device for judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of the read information;
• a first identification device for identifying an identification number of the first or second entity information corresponding to the selected Title, in accordance with the number information in the second management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is recorded;
• a second identification device for identifying whether the recognized identification number is the identification number of the first entity information or the identification number of the second entity information, on the basis of the identification information in the second management information;
• and
• a reproduction output device for reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information corresponding to the selected Title on the basis of identification results by said first and second identification devices.

An information reproducing method of reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information,
• said method comprising:
• a judgment process of judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of information read by a reading device for reading out the information from the information recording medium;
• and
• a reproduction output process (i) of reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information in accordance with the second management information if it is judged by said judgment process that the second management information is recorded and (ii) of reproducing and outputting the first entity information in accordance with first management information if it is judged by said judgment process that the second management information is not recorded.

An information reproducing method of reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded;

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information, wherein said second management information includes, for each Title (i) number information for indicating an identification number of said first or second entity information, which is uniquely given to each Title and (ii) identification information for identifying whether said number information indicates the identification number of said first entity information or the identification number of said second entity information,
• said method comprising:
• a judgment process of judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of information read by a reading device for reading out the information from the information recording medium;
• a first identification process of identifying an identification number of the first or second entity information corresponding to a Title which is selected as a Title to be reproduced out of the Titles recorded on the information recording medium, in accordance with the number information in the second management information if it is judged by said judgment process that the second management information is recorded;
• a second identification process of identifying whether the recognized identification number is the identification number of the first entity information or the identification number of the second entity information, on the basis of the identification information in the second management information;
• and
• a reproduction output process of reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information corresponding to the selected Title on the basis of identification results by said first and second identification processes.

A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to make the computer function as an information reproducing apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information,
• said apparatus comprising:
• a reading device for reading out information from the information recording medium;
• a judgment device for judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of the read information;
• and
• a reproduction output device (i) for reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information in accordance with the second management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is recorded and (ii) for reproducing and outputting the first entity information in accordance with first management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is not recorded.

A computer program product in a computer-readable medium for tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to make the computer function as an information reproducing apparatus for reproducing an information recording medium, on which there are recorded:

• one or a plurality of first entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents including at least video;
• first management information for managing and controlling said first entity information;
• one or a plurality of second entity information, which is compressed and encoded by a second compressing and encoding method, which is different from the first compressing and encoding method, for individually constituting Titles, each of which is a logical combination of contents same as or different from the contents of said first entity information;
• and second management information for managing and controlling said first and second entity information, wherein said second management information includes, for each Title (i) number information for indicating an identification number of said first or second entity information, which is uniquely given to each Title and (ii) identification information for identifying whether said number information indicates the identification number of said first entity information or the identification number of said second entity information,
• said apparatus comprising:
• a selection device for selecting a Title to be reproduced out of the Titles recorded on the information recording medium;
• a reading device for reading out information from the information recording medium;
• a judgment device for judging whether or not the second management information is recorded on the information recording medium on the basis of the read information;
• a first identification device for identifying an identification number of the first or second entity information corresponding to the selected Title, in accordance with the number information in the second management information if it is judged by said judgment device that the second management information is recorded;
• a second identification device for identifying whether the recognized identification number is the identification number of the first entity information or the identification number of the second entity information, on the basis of the identification information in the second management information;
• and
• a reproduction output device for reproducing and outputting the first or second entity information corresponding to the selected Title on the basis of identification results by said first and second identification devices.