1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on an optical disk, or for reproducing information recorded on an optical disk. More particularly, the invention relates to an optical disk apparatus which has a function of displaying and reproducing previews on a display device for respective titles or chapters of information recorded on an optical disk.
2. Background Art
Currently, a DVD (digital versatile disk) as an optical disk having a high recording density has been increasingly used as a device for recording picture and audio information obtained from TV programs or the like. When certain TV programs are recorded on a DVD, for example, a DVD recorder for recording information on the DVD records the TV programs together with the recording year, month and date when the programs are broadcasted for each title. At the time of reproduction of the DVD, the DVD recorder displays a disk menu screen on a display device, and reproduces the titles or chapters of the DVD on the disk menu screen through small windows (preview windows).
For example, preview windows A, B, C, D, E and F are displayed on a disk menu screen M as illustrated in FIG. 3. The preview window A shows a preview of a title T1. Similarly, the preview windows B, C, D, E and F show previews of title T2, title T3, title T4, title T5, and title T6, respectively. The recording dates of the titles T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 are Jul. 2, Jul. 8, Jul. 9, Jul. 12, Jul. 18, Jul. 20, all in 2004, respectively.
[Patent Reference No. 1] JP-A-11-184867
[Patent Reference No. 2] JP-A-2001-283570
In a conventional optical disk apparatus such as a DVD recorder and a DVD player, for example, the preview windows A, B, C, D, E and F corresponding to respective titles (or chapters) are shown on the disk menu screen M, and the contents in each title are reproduced from its initial part. However, since most TV programs include commercials, the contents of the titles cannot be easily recognized when commercials are recorded at the top. Even when the program is reproduced from its initial part without commercial break, the same opening pictures such as names of the cast are shown every time the program is reproduced in case of a drama. Thus, the contents of the title in this case are also difficult to be recognized.
In a related art disclosed in Patent Reference No. 1 which uses multiplexed closed caption data as picture signals of movie titles recorded on a DVD or the like, spoken words which are included in a movie are selected as a retrieval key and the movie is instantly reproduced from a target scene using the selected words. However, since this related-art device is not designed to skip commercials and the same scenes, contents of a preview displayed on a disk menu screen are difficult to be recognized.
Another related art disclosed in Patent Reference No. 2 pertains to a media contents management apparatus capable of efficiently deleting desired media contents stored in storage unit, and is not associated with an optical disk apparatus such as a DVD recorder and a DVD player.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an optical disk apparatus for overcoming the above problems, which has a function of improving recognizability of previews on a disk menu.