Digital information recording and reproducing method and apparatus therefor

A digital information recording and reproducing method, comprising:

• receiving a piece of digital information and copy control information of the piece of digital information, the copy control information being for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium;
• recording the piece of digital information on a first recording medium;
• and
• in copying the piece of digital information recorded on the first recording medium into a second recording medium, rerecording the piece of digital information on the first recording medium.

A digital information recording and reproducing method, comprising:

• receiving a piece of digital information and copy control information of the piece of digital information, the copy control information being for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium and for specifying the allowable number of copies for the piece of digital information;
• recording a first piece of digital information on a first recording medium;
• and
• copying automatically the first piece of digital information on the first recording medium as a second piece of digital information.

A digital information recording and reproducing apparatus that receives a piece of digital information including video information and/or audio information, and copy control information for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium, and records/reproduces the piece of digital information on/from the recording medium, the apparatus comprising:

• a recording circuit configured to record the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a reproducing circuit configured to output the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• and
• a control circuit configured to control the digital information recording and reproducing apparatus,
• wherein in the case where the copy control information is Copy One Generation indicating that only one generation copy of digital information is allowed, allowing the control circuit to control the recording circuit to record a plurality of the pieces of digital information in different formats or in different bit rates on the first recording medium.

A digital information recording and reproducing apparatus that receives a piece of digital information including video information and/or audio information, and copy control information for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium, and records/reproduces the piece of digital information on/from the recording medium, the apparatus comprising:

• a recording circuit configured to record the piece of digital information on a first recording medium through a predetermined process;
• a reproducing circuit configured to output the piece of digital information from the first recording medium through a predetermined process;
• and
• a control circuit configured to control the digital information recording and reproducing apparatus,
• wherein in the case where the piece of digital information recorded on the first recording medium is copied on a second recording medium, the control circuit controls so as to rerecord the piece of digital information on the first recording medium.

A digital information recording and reproducing apparatus that receives a piece of digital information including video information and/or audio information, and copy control information for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium, and records/reproduces the piece of digital information on/from the recording medium, the apparatus comprising:

• a recording circuit configured to record the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a reproducing circuit configured to output the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• and
• a control circuit configured to control the digital information recording and reproducing apparatus,
• wherein the control circuit controls the recording circuit and the reproducing circuit so that after a first piece of digital information is recorded on a first recording medium, the first piece of digital information is automatically copied on the first recording medium as a second piece of digital information.

A digital information recording and reproducing method, comprising:

• receiving a piece of digital information and copy control information of the piece of digital information, the copy control information being for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium;
• in the case where the received copy control information is Copy One Generation indicating that only one generation copy of digital information is allowed, recording the allowable number of copies for the piece of digital information, together with the piece of digital information, on a first recording medium;
• in the case of moving the piece of digital information recorded on the first recording medium into a second recording medium, rerecording the piece of digital information and the updated allowable number of copies on the first recording medium;
• and
• outputting the allowable number of copies recorded on the first recording medium to a display unit.

A digital information recording and reproducing apparatus that records/reproduces a piece of digital information including video information or audio information on/from a recording medium, the piece of digital information further including copy control information indicating whether or not the piece of digital information is allowed to be recorded on the recording medium, the apparatus comprising:

• a recording circuit configured to record the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a reproducing circuit configured to output the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a control detection circuit configured to detect the copy control information from the piece of digital information;
• an unreproducing circuit configured to make at least a part of the piece of digital information recorded on the recording medium unreproducible;
• a number of copies information update circuit configured to update the information of the number of copies that indicates the pre-set allowable number of copies to the recording medium for the piece of digital information;
• and
• a recording and reproducing control circuit configured to control the reproducing operation of the reproducing circuit and the recording operation of the recording circuit based on a detection result obtained by the control detection circuit,
• wherein the recording and reproducing control circuit controls the recording circuit,
• wherein in the case where the copy control information is Copy One Generation indicating that only one generation copy of digital information is allowed, the converted piece of digital information that is converted from the piece of digital information into the pre-set number of pieces of digital information with the pre-set bit rates and the number of copies information, together with the piece of digital information, are recorded on the recording medium,
• wherein the recording and reproducing control circuit controls the unreproducing operation of the unreproducing circuit and the updating operation of the number of copies information update circuit in accordance with the copy control information detected in the control detection circuit, and
• wherein in the case where the piece of digital information or the converted piece of digital information is moved to other recording media provided in the recording apparatus connected to the digital information recording and reproducing apparatus although the copy control information of the piece of digital information or the converted piece of digital information reproduced from the recording medium is Copy No More indicating that no more copies are allowed,
• (i) the number of copies information is updated by reducing the allowable number of copies in the number of copies information update circuit,
• (ii) the piece of digital information or the converted piece of digital information, the copy control information, and the number of copies information are recorded on the recording medium again by the recording circuit, and simultaneously
• (iii) the piece of digital information or the converted piece of digital information that has been reproduced is made to be unreproducible in the unreproducing circuit.

A digital information recording and reproducing method, comprising:

• receiving a piece of digital information and copy control information of the piece of digital information, the copy control information being for controlling the recording of the piece of digital information on a recording medium;
• in the case where the received copy control information is Copy One Generation indicating that only one generation copy of digital information is allowed, recording the allowable number of copies for the piece of digital information, together with the piece of digital information, on a first recording medium;
• and
• in the case of moving the recorded piece of digital information into a second recording medium, rerecording the piece of digital information and the updated allowable number of copies on the first recording medium.

A digital information recording and reproducing apparatus that records/reproduces a piece of digital information including video information or audio information on/from a recording medium, the piece of digital information further including copy control information indicating whether or not the piece of digital information is allowed to be recorded on the recording medium, the apparatus comprising:

• a recording circuit configured to record the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a reproducing circuit configured to output the piece of digital information through a predetermined process;
• a control detection circuit configured to detect the copy control information from the piece of digital information;
• an unreproducing circuit configured to make at least a part of the piece of digital information recorded on the recording medium unreproducible;
• a number of copies information update circuit configured to update the information of the number of copies that indicates the pre-set allowable number of copies to the recording medium for the piece of digital information;
• and
• a recording and reproducing control circuit configured to control the reproducing operation of the reproducing circuit and the recording operation of the recording circuit based on a detection result obtained by the control detection circuit, wherein
• the recording and reproducing control circuit controls the recording circuit,
• wherein in the case where the copy control information is Copy One Generation indicating that only one generation copy of digital information is allowed, the piece of digital information and the number of copies information are recorded on the recording medium,
• wherein the recording and reproducing control circuit controls the unreproducing operation of the unreproducing circuit and the updating operation of the number of copies information update circuit in accordance with the copy control information detected in the control detection circuit and the reproduced number of copies information, and
• wherein in the case where the piece of digital information is moved to the other recording media provided in the recording apparatus connected to the digital information recording and reproducing apparatus although the copy control information reproduced from the recording medium is Copy No More indicating that no more copies are allowed,
• (i) the number of copies information is updated by reducing the allowable number of copies in the number of copies information update circuit, and
• (ii) the piece of digital information and the number of copies information are recorded on the recording medium again by the recording circuit, and simultaneously
• (iii) the piece of digital information that has been reproduced is made to be unreproducible in the unreproducing circuit.