Patents by Inventor Toru Suetomo

Toru Suetomo has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7254318
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recording apparatus for recording a plurality of audio-visual contents stored in a HD to a writable DVD. A drive controller copies at least one of the contents stored in the HD to the DVD. If the available capacity of the DVD left after the copying falls short to copy a remaining content, the remaining content is re-encoded prior to being recorded in the DVD. The bit rate to be allocated to the remaining content upon re-encoding is calculated from the available capacity of the DVD and the reproduction time of the remaining content to be re-encoded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2007
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Imada, Ryuichi Hori, Masahiro Horie, Masahiro Kawasaki, Toru Suetomo
  • Patent number: 7031240
    Abstract: A disc drive device optimally controls a speed for reading RTR-format data, such as video and audio, recorded on a DVD-format disc, thereby enabling real-time playback without interruption. In the disc drive device, information added to each sector is used for determining whether data is RTR-format data. When an error occurs at high-speed reading of RTR-format data and therefore the reading speed is changed to a low speed, the reading speed is so controlled as to be kept at the low speed for reading the following RTR-format data. Thus, for RTR-format data, overhead due to repetitive acceleration and deceleration processes can be avoided, and reading can be carried out without interfering with real-time playback. For normal data, reading can be carried out in a manner similar to that in the background art.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2006
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Suetomo, Masahiro Kawasaki, Masayuki Imada, Yoichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6873584
    Abstract: A disk reproducing apparatus and a disk reproducing method which permit continuous reproduction of data of the RTR type without interruption and without affecting real time reproduction. A defective block list with defective blocks and alternative blocks registered linked to each other by the types of defective blocks has been acquired beforehand from a recording medium and when there arises need to read a defective block, its alternative block is read out and forwarded to a reproduction requester. Here, reading control means identifies the type of defective blocks registered on the defective block list and controls the reading according to the identification results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2005
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Imada, Yoichi Yamamoto, Masahiro Kawasaki, Yoshinori Imanishi, Toru Suetomo
  • Patent number: 6747927
    Abstract: Provided is a disc drive device that optimally controls a speed for reading RTR-format data, such as video and audio, recorded on a DVD-format disc, thereby enabling real-time playback without interruption. In the disc drive device, information added to each sector is used for determining whether data is RTR-format data. When an error occurs at high-speed reading of RTR-format data and therefore the reading speed is changed to a low speed, the reading speed is so controlled as to be kept at the low speed for reading the following RTR-format data. Thus, for RTR-format data, overhead due to repetitive acceleration and deceleration processes can be avoided, and reading can be carried out without interfering with real-time playback. For normal data, reading can be carried out in a manner similar to that in background art.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Suetomo, Masahiro Kawasaki, Masayuki Imada, Yoichi Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20030099460
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recording apparatus for recording a plurality of audio-visual contents stored in a HD to a writable DVD. A drive controller 15 copies at least one of the contents stored in the HD to the DVD. If the available capacity of the DVD left after the copying falls short to copy a remaining content, the remaining content is re-encoded prior to being recorded in the DVD. The bit rate to be allocated to the remaining content upon re-encoding is calculated from the available capacity of the DVD and the reproduction time of the remaining content to be re-encoded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2002
    Publication date: May 29, 2003
    Inventors: Masayuki Imada, Ryuichi Hori, Masahiro Horie, Masahiro Kawasaki, Toru Suetomo
  • Publication number: 20030023807
    Abstract: A hard disk drive 102 includes: a disk 11 that stores data in units of sectors; a ROM unit 12 and a RAM unit 13 that store sector information D showing an extent to which a maximum number of transfer-target sectors can be extended; and a control unit 14. The control unit 14 sends the sector information D in response to an inquiry from a controller 101 about the sector information D, extends the maximum number of the transfer-target sectors in accordance with a transfer request for transferring data and with an instruction from the external device on receiving the transfer request while in a state of being instructed by the instruction to ease the restrictions, and transfers data to/from the disk 11.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2002
    Publication date: January 30, 2003
    Inventors: Youichi Yamamoto, Masahiro Kawasaki, Masayuki Imada, Toru Suetomo
  • Publication number: 20010046191
    Abstract: A disk reproducing apparatus and a disk reproducing method which permit continuous reproduction of data of the RTR type without interruption and without affecting real time reproduction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2001
    Publication date: November 29, 2001
    Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masayuki Imada, Yoichi Yamamoto, Masahiro Kawasaki, Yoshinori Imanishi, Toru Suetomo