# US 5,703,994 A · Index processor for digital VCR and method therefor

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- Number: US 5,703,994 A
- Document ID: US5703994A
- Status: Granted
- Kind: A
- Application number: 08/511,602
- Filed: 1995-08-04
- Granted: 1997-12-30
- Earliest claimed: 1994-08-10
- Assignees: LG Electronics Inc.
- Inventors: Doo Hee Lee; Tae Seok Yang
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5703994A

## CPC

- G11B 27/107: {of operating tapes}
- G11B 27/11: by using information not detectable on the record carrier
- G11B 27/3027: {used signal is digitally coded}
- G11B 27/324: {Duty cycle modulation of control pulses, e.g. VHS-CTL-coding systems, RAPID-time code, VASS- or VISS-cue signals}
- G11B 27/328: {on a tape [TTOC]}
- G11B 27/34: Indicating arrangements {(indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D)}
- H04N 5/9208: {involving the use of subcodes}
- G11B 2220/65: wherein solid state memory is used for storing indexing information or metadata
- G11B 2220/90: Tape-like record carriers
- G11B 2220/91: Helical scan format, wherein tracks are slightly tilted with respect to tape direction, e.g. VHS, DAT, DVC, AIT or exabyte
- G11B: INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER (recording measured values in a way that does not require playback through a transducer G01D9/00; recording or playback apparatus using mechanically marked tape, e.g. punched paper tape, or using unit records, e.g. punched or magnetically marked cards G06K; transferring data from one type of record carrier to another G06K1/18; circuits for coupling output of reproducer to radio receiver H04B1/20; gramophone pick-ups or like acoustic electromechanical transducers or circuits therefor H04R)
- H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

## Abstract

An index processor and processing method for digital VCR including the steps of: normally recording a user-selected program on video tape in a general recording mode; recording an index input after the program is recorded in an index recording mode, succeeding the end of a final program; normally reproducing a program recorded on video tape in a general playback mode; and reproducing the user-selected program according to the index recorded on video tape in the index reproducing mode, and recording a modified index.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An index processing method for a digital VCR comprising the steps of:
editing index data in an index recording mode according to a user designation;
recording the index data on the end portion of a program when the program has been recorded on an index recording region;
moving to the recording region of the index data recorded on a video tape when an eject key is input; and
reproducing a user-selected program according to the index data recorded on the video tape in an index reproducing mode, and recording a modified index.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 1, wherein said index/program recording step comprises the steps of:
editing, modifying and storing the index in the index recording mode;
recording a user-designated program;
moving to the end of the final program when an eject key is input;
recording the index stored on the video tape until the end of the video tape;
recording the index stored at the beginning of the video tape when the end of video tape arrives; and
rewinding the video tape for the index recording section and extracting the video tape after the index recording steps.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 2, wherein said index editing step comprises the steps of:
displaying a menu in the index recording mode;
editing or modifying the index according to the menu displayed; and
storing the edited or modified index if the index recording is finished.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 2, wherein said moving-to-end step comprises the steps of:
detecting whether a REW/FF key is input or not;
moving the video tape by a predetermined distance if the REW/FF key is input;
moving the video tape behind the final program and to an index recording-at-end step if an eject key is input; and
going directly to the index recording-at-end step if the eject key not the REW/FF key is input according to the detection result.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 2, wherein said recording-at-end step comprises the steps of:
recording stored index data at the end of the program;
detecting whether the current position is the end of the video tape or not during recording;
continuously recording the stored index data at the end of the program if the current position is the end of video tape; and
going to an index recording-at-beginning step if the end of video tape arrives.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 1, wherein said index/program reproducing step comprises the steps of:
detecting and displaying index data in the index reproducing mode;
selecting and reproducing a program according to the displayed index;
displaying the title of a program on the upper portion of the screen if the user wants;
storing a new index if the user requires index data modification and inputs the new index;
moving to where the index is recorded on the video tape if the eject key is input, and recording the stored new index; and
rewinding the video tape as long as the index recording section and extracting the video tape.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

An index processing method as claimed in claim 6, wherein said index displaying step comprises:
detecting whether the index is present or not in the index reproducing mode;
displaying a corresponding message if there is no index;
detecting and storing the index program number at the current position if the index is present; and displaying the stored index.

### Claim 8 (depends on 2)

An index processing method for digital VCR as claimed in claim 2, wherein said recording-at-beginning step comprises the steps of:
rewinding the video tape to the beginning thereof if the end of video tape arrives; and
recording the index stored at the beginning of the video tape.