A disk player.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention:

0001This invention relates to a disk player, and more particularly to a disk player such as a CD player, an LD player and a CD-V player which has an improved level search system.

2. Description of the prior art:

0002Generally, such a disk player has a function of programming the sequence of playing back two or more pieces of music or songs (hereinafter, referred to as merely "songs") which are respectively recorded in sections of a disk (e.g., a so-called compact disk). Before performing quick listening of such programmed songs or setting of the recording level for dubbing them to a cassette tape or the like, it is desirable to sequentially search ehach of the programmed songs to confirm their output levels. Hereinafter, such a search is referred to as "a level search".

0003Referring to Figure 6, the level search in a conventional CD player will be described.

0004When a compact disk is loaded in the CD player, initialization is performed in step N1; that is, data recorded in the table of contents (TOC) on the inside track of the disk is read. Next, the songs to be played back are selected by performing a so-called programming operation, more specifically the song numbers of the songs to be placed back are selected and stored in a suitable memory device (step N2), and then the level search mode is set by pressing a level search key (step N3).

0005In the level search mode, a long search in which the optical head or pickup jumps to the beginning of the first one of the programmed songs which are selected in step N2 is conducted, and the first song is played back from the beginning for a fixed period of time, e.g., 100 ms, (step N4). Next, the optical pickup jumps a prefixed number of tracks (e.g., 40 tracks), and playback is performed for 100 ms (step N5). In step N6, the subcode included in the playback signal obtained in step N5 is checked whether or not the song number has changed. If the song number has not changed, then processing returns to step N5 so that the optical pickup jumps further 40 tracks and playback is performed again for 100 ms.

0006If it is judged in step N6 that the song number has changed, then it is checked in step N7 whether or not the song number obtained in step N5 is the next programmed song number. When the obtained song number is the next programmed song number, then processing returns to step N5. If the obtained song number is not the next programmed song number, then it is checked whether or not the obtained song number is the last programmed number (i.e., all of the programmed songs have been played back( (step N8). If YES, then the operation of the level search stops (step N9). If NO, then the optical pickup is jumped to the beginning of the next programmed song which is in turn played back for 100 ms from the beginning (step N10). Proc­essing then returns to step N5. The output signals in steps N4, N5 and N10 are processed to obtain the output level of the programmed songs, and the output level for the programmed songs is determined.

0007In a level search in such a prior art CD player, the beginning of a programmed song is searched, and then operations in which a fixed number of tracks is jumped and the song is played back for a fixed period of time are repeated until the optical pickup reaches the next song. When the level search for the song has been completed, the beginning of the next programmed song is searched, and the same operations (i.e., a fixed number of tracks is jumped and playback is performed for a fixed period of time) are repeated, whereby the recording level can be set based on the playback signal obtained from playing back the songs.

0008In a level search of such a prior art disk player, irrespective of the lengths of the programmed songs, the number of tracks which are skipped in one jump of the optical pickup is fixed at a predetermined value (e.g., 40 tracks). When a compact disk including short songs (e.g., about 20 sec. or less) is subjected to a level search in a disk player, therefore, such short songs may be skipped even when such songs are programmed ones, resulting in that the level search cannot be conducted correctly.

0009Moreover, in the level search of the prior art, track jump and playback are repeated until the song changes, that is, until a time when the optical pickup jumps to one of the tracks of the next song and the song change is detected based on the data repro­duced from the track. If the next song is not a pro­ grammed song, therefore, a song which does not have to be played back is unnecessarily played back.

0010Figure 7 illustrates diagrammatically a typical example of this kind of search, wherein PNO is the number of a programmed song and TNO is the number of a recorded song. As indicated by arrows in Figure 7, the track jump and playback are performed in se­quence three times from the beginning of the first programmed song PNO=01. Then, tracks are skipped and playback is performed for a fourth time, but in the fourth operation, the optical pickup jumps to the next song which is not programmed, i.e., song TNO-02 (as shown by the arrow of broken line), and playback is performed in non-programmed song TNO=02.

0011Similarly, in the level search of the second programmed song PNO=02, the optical pickup jumps to the next song TNO=04 which is not programmed, and playback is performed in the song TNO=04.

0012In this way, in a level search of the prior art, songs which are not programmed are unwillingly played back and the recording level is set based on output signals obtained in playback operations includ­ing these unwilling playback operations, resulting a situation where the recording level cannot be accurate­ly set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

0013The disk player of this invention, which overcomes the above-discussed and numerous other disad­ vantages and deficiencies of the prior art, reproduces information from a disk-like information recording medium in which information is recorded in a plurality of sections of said medium and which has time-informa­tion related to the lengths of said sections, and comprises a level search function in which processes of reproduction and track jump of a reproducing head are alternatingly conducted to detect the output level of information recorded in said recording medium, and further comprises: reading means for reading said time-information from said recording medium; determina­tion means for, depending upon time-information related to one of said sections, determining the degree of the track jump which is to be conducted in said one sec­tion; and level search means for conducting the track jump with said determined degree and performing the level search in said one section.

0014In preferred embodiments, said disk player further comprises memory means for storing the designa­tions of selected ones of said sections from which ones information is to be reproduced.

0015In preferred embodiments, said determination means determine the degree of the track jump which is to be conducted in each of said selected sections; and said level search means perform the level search se­quentially in said selected sections.

0016According to another aspect of the invention, the disk player reproduces information from a disk-like information recording medium in which information is recorded in a plurality of sections of said medium and which has time-information related to the lengths of said sections, and comprises a level search fucntion in which processes of reproduction and track jump of a reproducing head are alternatingly conducted to detect the output level of information recorded in said re­cording medium, and further comprises: memory means for storing the designations of selected ones of said sections from which ones information is to be repro­duced; reading means for reading said time-information related to said selected sections, from said recording medium; determination means for determining the degree of the track jump which is to be conducted in each of said selected sections; level search means for conduct­ing the track jump with said determined degree and performing the level search sequentially in said se­lected sections; judging means for judging whether or not the next track jump with said determined degree can be conducted within the section where the level search is conducted; and long jump means for, when said judg­ing means judges that the next track jump cannot be conducted within said one section, conducting a jump of said reproducing head to the beginning of the next section.

0017In the above configurations, said degree of the track jump may be the number of tracks to be jumped.

0018In the above configurations, said information may be two or more pieces of music which are respec­tively recorded in said sections.

0019In a preferred embodiment, said determination means determine the degree of track jump which is to be conducted in one selected section depending upon said time-information related to said selected section, the elapsed period of time for said selection section, and the period of time corresponding said degree of the track jump.

0020Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the objectives of: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>(1) providing a disk player which can accu­rately perform a level search;</li><li>(2) providing a disk player which can accu­rately perform a level search even when information having a short length is recorded in a recording medi­um; and</li><li>(3) providing a disk player in which the reproduction of an unwilling information during a level search can be prevented from occurring.</li></ul>

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

0021This invention may be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become appar­ent to those skilled in the art by reference to the accompanying drawings as follows: <ul id="ul0002" list-style="none"><li>Figure 1 is a block diagram of a CD player according to the invention.</li><li>Figure 2 is a flowchart of the level search in the CD player of Figure 1.</li><li>Figure 3 is a block diagram of another CD player according to the invention.</li><li>Figure 4 is a flowchart of the level search in the CD player of Figure 3.</li><li>Figure 5 illustrates diagrammatically the level search in the CD player of Figure 3.</li><li>Figure 6 is a flowchart of the level search in a conventional CD player.</li><li>Figure 7 illustrates diagrammatically the level search in the conventional CD player.</li></ul>

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

0022Figure 1 shows a CD player according to the invention. The CD player of Figure 1 comprises: an optical pickup 1 which picks up the signal recorded on a compact disk 2; an RF amplifier 3 which amplifies the signal from the optical pickup 1; a digital signal processing circuit 4 which performs signal processes such as the EFM demodulation, subcode demodulation and error correction; a D/A converter-filter circuit 5 which performs D/A conversion of the data from the digital signal processing circuit 4 and filters the resulting analog data; a servo circuit 6 which performs the focus servo control, the tracking servo control for moving an objective lens (not shown) in a radial direc­tion, the slide servo and rotation servo control for moving the pickup 1; a motor 7 which rotates the com­ pact disk 2; an operation unit 8 having various opera­tion keys such as a level search key, a programming key and the like; and a microcomputer 9.

0023The microcomputer 9 performs the overall control of the CD player, and comprises: a TOC (table of contents) data detection unit 10 which detects the TOC data recorded on the inside track of the compact disk 2; a track jump judging unit 11; a pickup control unit 12; a song number storage unit 13 which stores programmed song numbers; a song number detection unit 14 which detects the song number from subcodes included in the playback signal; and a playback command unit 15.

0024The CD player of Figure 1 is provided with a programming function which stores song numbers selected by operation of the operation unit 8 and sequentially plays back the selected songs, and also with a level search function. When the user operates the level search key in the operation unit 8 in order to quickly confirm the output level of each of the programmed songs, the optical pickup 1 is jumped to the beginning of each of the selected songs and the track jump and playback are alternately repeated.

0025Referring to Figure 2, the level search in the CD player of Figure 1 will be described.

0026First, when a compact disk is loaded, ini­tialization is performed in step S1, i.e., the TOC (table of contents) data recorded on the inside track of the disk are read by the TOC data detecton unit 10 to obtain the playing time of each song. Next, songs to be played back are selected by operating the opera­tion unit 8 or performing the programming (step S2), and the numbers of the programmed songs are stored in the song number storage unit 13. The level search mode is then set by operating the level search key for performing a level search (step S3).

0027In the level search mode, for each of the programmed songs, the track jump judging unit 11 deter­mines the number of tracks which are to be jumped, based on the playing time of each song which is includ­ed in the TOC data (step S4). More specifically, the number of tracks to be jumped is determined so that any programmed song is surely subjected to at least one level search or playback, even when the song is a short one. The optical pickup 1 is controlled by the pickup control unit 12 to jump to the beginning of the first programmed song (step S5). In step S6, then, the optical pickup 1 is moved to skip tracks the number of which equals that which was determined for the first programmed song in step S4, and, undeer the control of the playback command unit 15, the first programmed song is played back for fixed period of time (e.g., 100 ms.), and playback signals are output.

0028The song number detection unit 14 checks the subcode included in the playback signals obtained after the first track jump, to determine whether or not the song has changed (step S7). If the song number has changed, it is judged that the CD player is abnormal, and processing is stopped (step S8). As described above, the number of tracks to be jumped was determined in step S4 so that any programmed song is surely sub­ jected to at least one level search or playback, irre­spective of the length of the song. Consequently, the song number cannot be changed after the first track jump. If the song number has changed, therefore, it is judged that the CD player is in an abnormal condition.

0029When it is judged in step S7 that the song number has not changed, processing proceeds to step S9 in which the optical pickup 1 is controlled to further jump over tracks the number of which is equal to that determined in step S4, and playback is performed. The song number detection unit 14 checks the subcode in­cluded in the playback signals obtained after the second track jump, to judge whether or not the song has changed (step S10). If the song number has not changed, processing returns to step S9 to repeat the track jump (of the determined number of tracks) and playback (of 100 ms).

0030If the song number detection unit 14 judges in step S10 that the song number has changed, then it is checked whether or not the song number is the next programmed song number stored in the song number stor­age unit 13 (step S11). If the song number is that of the next programmed song, processing returns to step S6, and steps S6 to S10 are repeated by using the track jump number for the next programmed song (which has been determined in step S4). If the song number is not that of the next programmed song, it is checked whether or not all of the programmed songs have been subjected to the level search (step S12). If YES in step S12, processing is stopped (step S13). If NO in step S12, processing returns to step S5 so that the pickup con­ trol unit 12 controls the pickup 1 to jump to the beginning of the following programmed song, and the above-mentioned processes are repeated.

0031In this way, according to this embodiment, the number of tracks which are skipped in one track jump in each of programmed songs is suitably determined for each programmed song, considering the playing time of the song. Even if programmed songs including a short song are subjected to the level search, there­fore, such a short song will not be skipped, thereby assuring the correct level search.

0032Figure 3 shows another CD player according to the invention. In the CD player of Figure 3, the microcomputer 9 further comprises an elapsed playing time detection unit 16 which detects the period of elapsed playing time for a song currently undergoing a level check. According to this embodiment, in order to prevent the optical pickup 1 from landing on a non-­programmed song and the song from being unwillingly played back during the level search, the judging unit 11 successively judges whether or not the pickup 1 will land again on the same song as a result of a track jump, and the pickup control unit 12, based on the output of the judging unit 11, controls the pickup 1 so as to jump tracks when it can land on the same song again or to jump to the beginning of the next pro­grammed song when it cannot land again on the same song.

0033The operation of the judging unit 11 will be described. The judging unit 11 judges whether or not the difference (T1 - T2) between the playing time T1 of a currently played back song obtained from the TOC data and the elapsed playing time T2 of the same song ob­tained from the output of the elapsed playing time detection unit 16 is greater than the playing time T3 which corresponds to 40 tracks to be skipped (12 sec­onds in this embodiment). If the difference is greater than 12 seconds, then the judging unit 11 judges that the pickup 1 will land again on the same song when 40 tracks are skipped, but if the difference is less than 12 seconds, then it judges that the pickup 1 will not land on the same song again when 40 tracks are skipped.

0034For example, if the playing time of a song currently undergoing a level check is 5 minutes 30 seconds and the elapsed playing time (i.e., time the song has already played) is 5 minutes, then the differ­ence between them is 30 seconds, and it is judged that the pickup 1 will land on the same song even when 40 tracks are skipped. If the elapsed playing time is 5 minutes 20 seconds, the difference is 10 seconds, and it is judged that the pickup 1 will land on the next song when 40 tracks are skipped.

0035With reference to the flowchart shown in Figure 4, the level search in the CD player of Figure 3 will be described.

0036In steps S21 to S23, the reading of the TOC data, selection or programming of songs to be played back, and setting of the level search mode are conduct­ed in a similar manner as steps S1 to S3 in the first embodiment.

0037In the level search mode, the optical pickup 1 is controlled by the pickup control unit 12 to jump to the beginning of the first programmed song. Then, under the control of the playback command unit 15, the first programmed song is played back from the beginning for a fixed period of time (e.g., 100 ms), and playback signals are output (step S24).

0038Next, based on the playing time of the song according to the TOC data, the elapsed playing time according to subcodes contained in the playback signals and the playing time corresponding to the skipped 40 tracks, the judging unit 11 judges whether or not the pickup 1 will land again on the same song after skip­ping 40 tracks (step S25). If it is judged that the pickup 1 will land on the same song, then the pickup control unit 12 controls the pickup 1 so that it jumps 40 tracks, and the playback command unit 15 controls playback so it is performed for 100 ms (step S26), after which processing returns to step S25.

0039If it is judged in step S25 that the pickup 1 cannot land on the same song, then processing proceeds to step S27 in which it is judged whether or not all of the programmed songs have been subjected to the level search. If YES in step S27, then the level search is stopped. If NO in step S27, then the pickup control unit 12 controls the optical pickup 1 so as to jump to the beginning of the next programmed song, and under the control of the playback command unit 15 the next programmed song is played back for 100 ms from the beginning of the song, and playback signals are output (step S28), after which processing returns to step S25.

0040According to this embodiment, the judgment as to whether or not the pickup 1 can land again on the same song is done before the jump of the pickup 1. When it is judged that the pickup 1 can land on the same song, the pickup 1 jumps the predetermined number of tracks. When it is judged that the pickup 1 cannot land on the same song, the pickup 1 jumps to the begin­ning of the next programmed song so that unwilling playback of non-programmed songs can be avoided.

0041Figure 5 diagrammatically illustrates the level search according to this embodiment. For exam­ple, the track jump and playback are performed in sequence three times from the beginning of the pro­grammed song PNO-01 (as indicated by three short ar­rows) because it is judged that the pickup 1 can land on the song PNO=01. After the third level search, it is judged that the pickup 1 cannot land again on the song PNO=01 or will land on the next song TNO=02 which is a non-programmed one. Instead of a fourth short track jump, therefore, a long jump of the pickup 1 is done so that the pickup 1 skips the non-programmed song TNO=02 to jump to the beginning of the next programmed song PNO=02, and the level search is performed in the song PNO=02.

0042Similarly, in the first to fourth jumps on the programmed song PNO=02, it is judged that the pickup 1 can land on the programmed song PNO=02. After the fourth level search for the programmed song PNO=02, it is judged that the pickup 1 cannot land on the song PNO=02. In the fifth jump, therefore, the pickup 1 skips the non-programmed songs TNO=04 and TNO=05 to jump to the beginning of the next programmed song PNO-03, and the level search is performed in the song PNO-03.

0043In this embodiment, 40 tracks are skipped by one jump, but alternatively, the number of tracks to be skipped may be changed based on the playing time of each song. In this alternative embodiment, the playing time corresponding to the number of skipped tracks can be changed as required from the 12 seconds in the above embodiment. For example, 40 tracks could be skipped as in the above embodiment in songs with playing times longer than 30 seconds, and 10 tracks could be skipped in songs with playing times short than 30 seconds, so that the playing time corresponding to 40 tracks could be set at 12 seconds and the playing time corresponding to 10 tracks could be set at 3 seconds.

0044According to this embodiment, it is succes­sively judged whether or not the pickup can land again on the same song in level search, and if the pickup can land on the same song, then the predetermined number of tracks are skipped, but if the pickup cannot land on the same song, then it is skipped to the beginning of the next programmed song, whereby the pickup is pre­vented from landing on non-programmed songs. There­fore, level search can be accurately performed.

0045In the above described embodiments, songs to be played back are previously programmed. This inven­tion can be applied also to a disk player without such a programming function. Although CD players have been described as the embodiments of this invention, more­ over, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that this invention can be applied to disk players of other types.

0046It is understood that various other modifica­tions will be apparent to and can be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the claims appended hereto be limited to the description as set forth herein, but rather that the claims be construed as encompassing all the features of patentable novelty that reside in the present invention, including all features that would be treated as equivalents thereof by those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains.