Granted Patent B2

US 7,519,272 · App. 10/983,586 · Granted Apr 14, 2009

Abstract

Claims (44)

1. A video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus to record a video and audio file received from an outside on a storage device, and to reproduce and output the recorded video and audio file to an external display, the video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus comprising:

an external input device to receive a function selection signal of the video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus; and

a main controller to display a lock setting list screen on the external display upon receiving a signal to set a lock from the external input device, and to set a lock setting information to prevent a first area of the storage device, on which the recorded video and audio file is recorded, from being overwritten by a video and audio file to be recorded, the recorded video and audio file being selected from a plurality of video and audio files listed on the lock setting list screen,

the setting of the lock setting information being performed after a remaining recording capacity of the storage device is less than a capacity of the video and audio file to be recorded.

2. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lock setting information is recorded on a second area of the storage device on which information on the video and audio file to be recorded is recorded.

3. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main controller checks the remaining recording capacity of the storage device upon receiving from the external input device a recording request signal, and if the checked recording capacity is less than the capacity of the video and audio file to be recorded, the main controller processes to respectively overwrite the plurality of video and audio files on an area of the storage device in sequence excluding the first area.

4. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the storage device comprises:

a file allocation table (FAT) area,

a boot area comprising capacities of the FAT area; and

a root directory area comprising information on the remaining recording capacity.

5. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage device is a hard disc drive.

6. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the hard disc drive comprises a plurality of clusters.

7. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein a remaining recording capacity of the hard disc drive is determined based on a number of the clusters which are unused.

8. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lock setting list screen displays a list of the plurality of video and audio files and a lock setting item to select whether to respectively lock or unlock the plurality of video and audio files.

9. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external input device is a remote controller or a keyboard.

10. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external input device comprises a plurality of input/output (I/O) terminals, each of the I/O terminals comprising:

a super video input terminal (S_V IN) to receive a luminance signal and a color difference signal; and

a super video output signal (S_V OUT) to transfer the received luminance signal and color difference signals to the external display.

11. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 10 wherein the I/O terminals each further comprise a switch to receive an analog signal having the luminance signal and a color signal, the apparatus further comprising:

an audio A/D converter to convert the received analog signal to a digital signal; and

an MPEG encoder to receive the digital signal and encode the received digital signal under a control of the main controller.

12. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the main controller comprises: an MPEG decoder to receive the encoded signal from the MPEG encoder and decode the received signal; and

a CPU to control the MPEG decoder.

13. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the external display is a television.

14. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a video decoder controlled by the main controller to decode the signals received by the S_V IN.

15. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a flash memory comprising a program relating to a function execution of the main controller.

16. The video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the program is a graphical user interface storage.

17. A control method of a video and audio recording and/or reproducing apparatus to record a video and audio file received from an outside on a storage device, and reproduce and output the recorded video and audio file to an external display, the control method comprising:

displaying a lock setting list screen through the external display upon receiving a lock setting request signal to lock at least one video and audio file among video and audio files recorded on the storage device; and

setting a lock setting information to prevent an area of the storage device, on which a selected one of the recorded video and audio files which is also listed on the lock setting list screen, from being overwritten by a video and audio file to be recorded,

the setting of the lock setting information being after a remaining recording capacity of the storage device is less than a capacity of the video and audio file to be recorded.

18. The control method of claim 17 , further comprising:

checking a remaining recording capacity of the storage device upon receiving a record request signal to record the video and audio file on the storage device;

determining whether a recording mode of the storage device is an overwrite mode when it is determined that the recording capacity remaining on the storage device is below the capacity of the video and audio file to be recorded; and

overwriting the video and audio file on a second area of the storage device in sequence excluding the area of the storage device on which the locked video and audio file is recorded when it is determined that the recording mode is the overwrite mode.

19. The control method of claim 17 , wherein the setting of the lock setting information comprises recording the lock setting information on an area of the storage device on which information on the recorded video and audio file is recorded.

20. The control method of claim 17 , further comprising displaying the listed video and audio files and a lock setting item to select whether respectively to lock or unlock the video and audio files.

21. A method comprising:

recording a plurality of video and audio files on a storage device;

selecting at least one of the recorded files as a locked file; and

recording an additional video and audio file on the storage device comprising skipping an area of the storage device where the selected file is stored,

wherein the skipping the area comprises determining whether a capacity of the additional file is greater than a remaining capacity of the storage device, setting the area to be skipped, and deleting an unselected one of the recorded files if determined that the capacity of the additional file is greater than the remaining capacity,

the setting the area to be skipped being after the determining that the capacity of the additional file is greater than the remaining capacity.

Assignments (7)