Information recording apparatus, information reproducing apparatus, and related computer programs

1. An information recording apparatus comprising:

first means for successively capturing pictures and thereby generating moving-picture data representing a stream of moving pictures;

second means for capturing at least one picture and thereby generating still-picture data representing at least one still picture corresponding in picture capture timing to first one of the moving pictures;

third means for generating link information representing the correspondence in picture capture timing between the still picture and the first one of the moving pictures;

fourth means for generating offset information designating a second one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval;

fifth means for generating correspondence information including a pair of the link information generated by the third means and the offset information generated by the fourth means; and

sixth means for recording the moving-picture data generated by the first means the still-picture data generated by the third means, and the correspondence information generated by the fifth means on a recording medium.

2. An information reproducing apparatus for reproducing moving-picture data, still-picture information, and correspondence information from a recording medium which have been recorded by the information recording apparatus of claim 1 , the information reproducing apparatus comprising:

first means for reading out the still-picture data from the recording medium;

second means for processing the still-picture data read out by the first means into index-picture data representing at least one index picture which originates from a still picture represented by the still-picture data;

third means for reading out the correspondence information from the recording medium;

fourth means for identifying first one of moving pictures represented by the moving-picture data recorded on the recording medium in response to link information in the correspondence information read out by the third means, wherein the first one of the moving pictures is linked with the still picture from which the index picture originates; and

fifth means for finding second one of the moving pictures in response to offset information in the correspondence information read out by the third means, wherein the second one of the moving pictures precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval.

3. An information reproducing apparatus as recited in claim 2 , further comprising:

sixth means for generating new offset information designating a third one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures and which differs from the second one of the moving pictures; and

seventh means for writing the new offset information generated by the sixth means over the old offset information in the correspondence information in the recording medium for updating.

4. A computer with peripheral devices and having a computer program that enables the computer and its peripheral devices to perform the following functions of:

successively capturing pictures and thereby generating moving-picture data representing a stream of moving pictures;

capturing at least one picture and thereby generating still-picture data representing at least one still picture corresponding in picture capture timing to first one of the moving pictures;

generating link information representing the correspondence in picture capture timing between the still picture and the first one of the moving pictures;

generating offset information designating a second one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval;

generating correspondence information including a pair of the generated link information and the generated offset information; and

recording the generated moving-picture data, the generated still-picture data, and the generated correspondence information on a recording medium.

5. A computer with peripheral devices and having a computer program that enables the computer and its peripheral devices to perform the following functions of:

reading out still-picture data from a recording medium;

processing the read-out still-picture data into index-picture data representing at least one index picture which originates from a still picture represented by the read-out still-picture data;

reading out correspondence information from the recording medium;

identifying first one of moving pictures represented by moving-picture data recorded on the recording medium in response to link information in the read-out correspondence information, wherein the first one of the moving pictures is linked with the still picture from which the index picture originates; and

finding second one of the moving pictures in response to offset information in the read-out correspondence information, wherein the second one of the moving pictures precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval.

6. A computer as recited in claim 5 , wherein the computer program enables the computer and its peripheral devices to further perform the following functions of:

generating new offset information designating a third one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures and which differs from the second one of the moving pictures; and

writing the generated new offset information over the old offset information in the correspondence information in the recording medium for updating.

7. A method comprising the steps of:

successively capturing pictures and thereby generating moving-picture data representing a stream of moving pictures;

capturing at least one picture and thereby generating still-picture data representing at least one still picture corresponding in picture capture timing to first one of the moving pictures;

generating link information representing the correspondence in picture capture timing between the still picture and the first one of the moving pictures;

generating offset information designating a second one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval;

generating correspondence information including a pair of the generated link information and the generated offset information; and

recording the generated moving-picture data, the generated still-picture data, and the generated correspondence information on a recording medium.

8. A method comprising the steps of:

reading out still-picture data from a recording medium;

processing the read-out still-picture data into index-picture data representing at least one index picture which originates from a still picture represented by the read-out still-picture data

reading out correspondence information from the recording medium;

identifying first one of moving pictures represented by moving-picture data recorded on the recording medium in response to link information in the read-out correspondence information, wherein the first one of the moving pictures is linked with the still picture from which the index picture originates; and

finding second one of the moving pictures in response to offset information in the read-out correspondence information, wherein the second one of the moving pictures precedes the first one of the moving pictures by a prescribed time interval.

9. A method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising the steps of:

generating new offset information designating a third one of the moving pictures which precedes the first one of the moving pictures and which differs from the second one of the moving pictures; and

writing the generated new offset information over the old offset information in the correspondence information in the recording medium for updating.