INFORMATION ENCODING METHOD AND APPARATUS, INFORMATION DECODING METHOD AND APPARATUS AND INFORMATION RECORDING MEDIUM.

摘要

In case codes of olf and new standards are recorded on the same recording medium it is desirable that signals of the old standard can be reproduced by an old standard accommodating reproducing device. While both signals can be reproduced by the new standard accommodating reproducing device such as to avoid lowering of the signal quality. To this end, if multi-channel signals are recorded in terms of a frame the size of which cannot be controlled, a second encoding circuit 119c encodes signals 190d of a channel reproduced by the new standard accommodating reproducing device, while a first encoding circuit 119b encodes the signals 190c of a channel reproduced by an old standard accommodating reproducing device with a number of bits smaller than the maximum number of bits that can be allocated to that frame. A codestring generating circuit 119d arrays a codestring 190f encoded by the second encoding circuit 119f in a void area of a frame provided by encoding in the first encoding circuit 119b.