JP2000253357A - Video server system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the deterioration of the reading/writing performance of hardware by controlling the file arrangement of video data through the use of control information in a control file to increase a data size which can be accessed simultaneously. SOLUTION: When a command received from a terminal 112 is a video- recording command, video data obtained by a video data input/output device 108 through a video data signal line 110 is written in a main storage 103. At the time of newly video-recording video data in a disk, an MPU 101 controls a disk controller 106 to designate an unused address concerning video data in the main storage 103 to write into a disk 107. In this case, whether an unused cluster exists or not in its using situation is investigated in an order from the top of clusters by referring to a cluster control table when it exists, data is written in the address. Consequently, video data is handled as a file controlled as an OS controller 105 and the arrangement of video data can be controlled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video server apparatus which is connected to at least one terminal and inputs / outputs digital data including video data and audio data in response to a command from the terminal, a file management method therefor, and a file server. The present invention relates to a storage medium storing a file management program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A video server device stores, for example, video data constituting a movie title and sends out video data requested by a plurality of terminals connected by communication lines.

[0003] In recent years, the mainstream video server apparatus has been switched to tape and uses a hard disk as its storage medium.

As a characteristic of a hard disk, it is known that reading and writing large data at a time improves read / write performance. Therefore, when reading or writing data such as video data that cannot be interrupted during transmission, it is preferable to access the hard disk with a data size as large as possible.

However, if the video data is read and written by leaving it to an operating system (hereinafter, referred to as an OS) of a computer, the OS determines the data size that can be accessed to the hardware at one time. Cannot be specified.

This will be further described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 18 shows the configuration of a file management unit found in a normal OS.

[0008] The IO manager 301 is an application programming interface for a program.
(Hereinafter referred to as API). For example, Windows NT, which is a commercially available OS, has an API of a function for creating a new file, CreateFileFile.
As a function, there is a ReadFile function as a function for reading data from an existing file.
This is performed by the O manager 301.

[0009] Then, the IO manager 301
When an API such as Fill is called, a request is made to the file system driver 302 for processing. The file system driver 302 stores the video data file on the disk 1
07 is a module for managing which position is located.

[0010] That is, now, as shown in FIG. 18, the video server apparatus to store image data, for example if that includes four disk 107 _{1-107 4,} the file system driver 302, as shown in FIG. 19, in order to manage whether the video data is stored in which location on the disc 107 _{1-107 4,} in order in correspondence to the region of each disk 107 _1-107 on ₄ 1
A file with block numbers from N to N is created. Each of the block numbers 1 to N in this case is
The 07 _1-107 access unit of the video data to the _4.

For example, as shown in FIG. 20, when continuous video data F1 to F8 are stored in a distributed manner on each of the disks 107 _{1 to} 107 ₄ , these video data F _{1 to} F 8 are stored.
When sequentially reading F8, the file system driver 302 first determines whether it is stored in the block of which number video data F1 is, on each disk 107 _{1-107 4} corresponding to the block number thereto The address is converted to an address number, and the address is
03, the intended data F1 is obtained.
This is sequentially repeated from F2 to F8 to obtain all the video data F1 to F8.

As described above, when the file management of the video data is left to the existing OS, the data size of each of the files F1 to F8 is defined by the OS.
The data arrangement management of the file cannot be uniquely determined by the program of the video server device. For this reason, video data cannot be accessed at high speed.

Therefore, conventionally, when reading and writing video data, a so-called raw device (Raw Device) that manages the hard disk without leaving it to the file system of the OS.
It was common to secure access speed by accessing as e).

[0014]

However, unlike the prior art, the video data is not stored in the file management of the existing OS.
When accessing as a raw device, there is a problem that even if it is desired to obtain a file list by a LIST (file list display) command which is an OS command, the list is not displayed because the video data is outside the control of the OS. Was.

Further, even when video data is sent to another video server through a network such as Ethernet using a command such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol),
There was a problem that it could not be transferred.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. By providing video data under OS file management, it becomes a target file of an OS command and a method of accessing a hard disk. By making the change, the data size that can be accessed at one time to the hardware can be set larger than before so that the read and write performance of the hard disk is prevented from lowering.

[0017]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a video server apparatus connected to at least one terminal and for inputting / outputting digital data including video data in response to a command from the terminal, as follows. I have.

That is, in the present invention, a video data storage unit for holding the video data, a disk control unit for controlling input / output of the video data stored in the video data storage unit, and a plurality of programs are managed. An operating system control unit for operating an operating system, wherein when the video data is read from or written to the video data storage unit, video data management information is used as a management file of the operating system control unit. The file arrangement of the video data is managed using the video data management information.

With this configuration, it is possible to arbitrarily determine the continuous writing area for the video data storage unit, thereby improving the hard disk access performance and recognizing the video data as a file under OS management. Becomes

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a video server device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] [Configuration of Video Server] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall hardware configuration of a video server according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a video server device 1 according to the first embodiment has an MPU (Micro Processor Un
it) 101, main memory 103, MPU using bus 104
A bus bridge unit 102 for connecting the main memory 103 to the main memory 103; an operating system controller (hereinafter referred to as an OS controller) 105; a disk controller 106; a video data input / output device 108;
/ F device 109 is provided.

The MPU 101 has a bus bridge unit 1
02, it is connected to the main storage 103 and the disk controller 106, the video data input / output device 108, and the external I / F device 109 on the bus 104. The video data input / output device 108 has a video data signal line 110,
A command control line 111 is connected between the external I / F device 109 and each of the terminals 112.

The main memory 103 is constituted by a RAM or a similar recording medium, and stores a program for controlling the entire apparatus. MPU101
Executes a function as the video server device 1 by executing a program stored in the main storage 103. More specifically, the MPU 101 determines whether each terminal 112
, The video data is transferred to and from the video data input / output device 108 connected to the plurality of disks 107. The video data input / output device 108 inputs and outputs video data according to instructions from each terminal 112. Further, the external I / F device 109 inputs a command from each terminal 112 and outputs a response to the command.

The OS control device 105 operates an OS for managing a plurality of programs including a file management program stored in the management information disk 115. Then, when the video server device 1 operates, necessary programs are read from the information management disk 115 to the main storage 103 and held.

Also, the disk control unit 106
Based on the read / write command from 101, an access command to each disk 107 is executed.

Each of the disks 107 corresponds to a video data storage unit in the claims and is constituted by a nonvolatile mass storage device, and stores digital data including video data constituting a title of a movie, for example. Stored. In this embodiment, four disks 10
7 is provided.

The video data input / output device 108 includes, for example, S
Input / output video data based on the DI (Serial Digital Interface) standard. The video data signal line 110 is
For example, it comprises a coaxial cable, an optical fiber cable, and the like.

[Software Configuration of Video Server Device]
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a functional module constructed by software of the video server device 1 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the software of the video server device 1 includes a command input / output processing unit 201, a command processing interpretation unit 202, a disk control processing unit 203, a file management unit 204, a video Data transfer processing unit 205 and video data input / output processing unit 20
6. Each of these processing units
It operates on the OS in the S control device 105.

The command input / output processing unit 201
12, which is a software for performing command transmission / reception processing, and receives a command via the external I / F device 109. Then, the MPU 101 controls the external I / F device 10
9 determines whether it has received a command by either polling or interruption, and upon receiving the command, passes the command to the command interpretation processing unit 202.

The command interpretation processing unit 202 interprets a command from the command input / output processing unit 201. And
Based on the interpreted command, it requests the disk control processing unit 203, the file management unit 204, the video data transfer processing unit 205, and the video data input / output processing unit 206 for the processing required to execute the command. In addition, the command interpreting unit 202 requests the command input / output processing unit 201 to perform a response process to the received command.

The disk control processing unit 203 is a module that controls a process of reading video data from each disk 107 during reproduction and a process of writing to each disk 107 during recording. As is well known, the video server device 1 is not allowed to interrupt video data during reproduction or recording. For this reason, the disk control processing unit 203 controls the reading or writing of the video data in the disk control device 106 so that the video data is not interrupted.

The file management unit 204 is a module that manages where the video data is written on the disk 107.

Each disk 107 is divided from the head of the disk in units of a certain size (block), and video data is read / written in units of this block.

The video data transfer processing unit 205 is software for performing data transfer between the disk control processing unit 203 and the video data input / output device 108. The video data input / output processing unit 206 performs output processing of the video data from the video data transfer processing unit 205 via the video data input / output device 108 during reproduction, and performs input processing via the video data input / output device 108 during recording. An input process for passing the video data thus obtained to the video data transfer processing unit 205 is performed.

[Configuration of File Management Unit] FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the file management unit 204.

The file management unit 204 shown in FIG. 3 operates in the same manner as the conventional case shown in FIG.
1, a file system driver 302 and a disk driver 303, and an intermediate driver 601 is further provided. By providing the intermediate driver 601, a program unique to the video server device 1 can determine the data arrangement.

[Structure of Video Data and Cluster] FIG.
3 shows a configuration of video data.

The video data is frame unit (for example, 1
20 KB) of data, and 1, 2, 2,
Serial numbers (hereinafter, referred to as frame numbers) such as 3,. Here, to simplify the description, it is assumed that the size of each frame matches the size of each block on the disk 107.

Next, as shown in FIG.
The concept of a cluster is introduced as an aggregate of a plurality of blocks (= frames) set corresponding to. Here, in order to simplify the explanation, it is assumed that one cluster is composed of 16 blocks. Then, in each cluster, the video data is always continuous. Therefore, frame numbers are consecutive in one cluster.

[OS Management File (Data Structure)] FIG.
7 shows a cluster management table T1, and FIG. 7 shows a cluster correspondence table T2 and an intra-cluster use state table T3. Note that these tables T1, T2, and T3 are managed by the file management unit 204 in FIG.

The cluster management table T1 shown in FIG.
A serial number (hereinafter, referred to as a cluster number) C is assigned to each cluster so that the usage status of each cluster can be understood, and data (flag) indicating whether the cluster is already used for the cluster number C is provided. Is stored. Here, when the flag is “0”, it indicates that no video data is stored in any of the blocks constituting the cluster (unused state). When the flag is “1”, it indicates that the video data is already stored in at least one of the blocks constituting the cluster (use state).

FIG. 7 shows how the video data is allocated to the cluster correspondence table T2 and the intra-cluster use status table T3.

The cluster correspondence table T2 gives information on the correspondence between video data and clusters. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 7, the cluster number is 1 → 10 →
Video data is stored in the order of 14 → 4. When the cluster number is “0”, it indicates that no video data is stored in any of the blocks included in the cluster.

The intra-cluster use status table T3
Stores data (flag) indicating whether or not actual video data is written for each block included in the cluster. Here, when the flag is “0”, no video data is stored in the block, indicating an unused state. When the flag is “1”, it indicates that video data is already stored in the block and is in use.

Next, operations of the video server device having the above-described configuration when recording and reproducing video data will be described.

(Recording) When the command received from the terminal 112 is a recording (Record) command, the video data input / output device 108 writes the video data acquired through the video data signal line 110 to the main memory 103.

At this time, when the video data is overwritten on the disk 107, the MPU 101 controls the disk control unit 106 to specify an existing address for the video data in the
7 is written.

On the other hand, new video data is
When recording on the disk 107, the MPU 101 controls the disk control device 106 to specify an unused address for the video data in the main memory 103 and write the data to the disk 107.

By executing the above operations until a stop command is received, it becomes possible to write video data to the disk 106.

Next, how to write video data using the data structure shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 during recording will be described more specifically with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, the case where the video data having the frame number "N" is overwritten on the disk 107 will be described.

In this case, referring to the cluster correspondence table T2, it is checked whether a cluster number other than "0" is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 corresponding to the frame number N (S11).

Here, the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 for the frame number N is given by A = [(N-1) / 16] +1. Here, [x] means a maximum integer not exceeding x. The following description is used interchangeably.

Therefore, for example, the frame number N =
In the case of 1, the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 is
A = [(1-1) / 16] + 1 = 0 + 1 = 1. Then, the cluster number C at this time is C = 1. When N = 18, the address A = 1 + 1 = 2. Then, the cluster number C at this time becomes 10.

If an integer other than "0" is written as the cluster number in the cluster correspondence table T2, a cluster has already been assigned.

Therefore, when overwriting the video data, the video data is sequentially written into each block in the cluster having the cluster number C selected as described above with reference to the intra-cluster use status table T3 (S13). Here, the address R of the intra-cluster use status table T3 corresponding to the frame number N is given by R = ((N-1)% 16) +1. Here, m% n means a remainder obtained by dividing m by n. The same meaning is used in the following description.

Therefore, for example, when N = 1, m
Since% n = 0, R = 0 + 1 = 1, so that the video data having the frame number “1” is written in the block having the address R = 1. In the case of N = 22, since m% n = 5, R = 5 + 1 = 6.
The video data having the frame number “22” is written in the block having the address R = 6. Then, the flag corresponding to the address R in the intra-cluster use status table T3 is set to "1" to indicate that it is being used (S14).

Next, a case where new video data is written will be described.

In this case, referring to the cluster management table shown in FIG. 6, clusters having a vacant use status are checked in order from the beginning of the cluster number. That is, if the flag is "0", the cluster at that cluster number is unused (empty), and if the flag is "1", it is understood that the cluster indicated by the cluster number is used. If there is an empty cluster, the flag is changed from “0” to “1” to be in a use state, and the cluster number C of the cluster is sequentially viewed from the top of the cluster correspondence table T2, and the first cluster number “ Data is written to a block having an address A of "0" (S12).

Subsequently, the video data is written to the blocks in the cluster thus selected (S13). Which block of an address R (R = 1 to 16) to write data in among the blocks included in this cluster is determined based on the above equation.

As described above, when the frame number is “1”, the address R of the block in the cluster where the video data is actually written is “1”. Then, the flag corresponding to the address R in the intra-cluster use status table T3 is set to the use state "1" (S14).

The above processing is performed by the intermediate driver 601 shown in FIG.
The file is managed as a file managed by the video server 05 and the arrangement of video data in the video server device 1 can be controlled.

(In the case of reproduction) When the command received from the terminal 112 or the like is reproduction (Play), the position (address) where the video data to be reproduced is stored is set to the MPU 101.
Is transmitted to the disk controller 106. In response to this, the disk control device 106 issues a request to read data at the address to the disk 107 and writes the data received from the disk 107 to the main storage 103. At the same time, the video data input / output device 108 reads out the data written in the main memory 103 and sends out the data via the video data signal line 110. By executing the above operation until a stop command is received, the video data can be read from the disk 107 and transmitted from the video data input / output device 108.

Next, how to read video data using the data structure shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 during reproduction will be described more specifically with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when reading the data of the frame number 1 of the video data shown in FIG. 7, is the cluster number C (here, C = 1) assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 corresponding to the frame number 1? Is checked (S11).

Here, if the cluster number C is 0 ",
No video data exists in the blocks in the cluster. In this case, the data of the black screen recorded in advance is read out as frame data in accordance with the rules (S
24).

On the other hand, in S11, the cluster correspondence table T2
If an integer other than “0” is written as the cluster number C at the position of, it is known that a cluster has already been assigned, and that cluster number C is obtained (S
21).

Subsequently, in order to check whether video data is actually stored in each block in the cluster, each address R determined based on the above equation is used.
It is checked whether or not each block corresponding to is used (S22).

Here, if the flag of the block at the address R is "1", since video data exists,
Reads video data from the block at address R
(S23) If the flag is "0", there is no video data, so black screen data is returned according to the rules (S24).

By performing the above operations by the intermediate driver 601, the video server 701 can control the arrangement of the video data while the video data 701 appears as a file managed by the OS control device 105. That is, a file of the block arrangement information (the files shown in FIGS. 9 and 10) is placed under the management of the existing OS, and the intermediate driver 601 acquires the management information and writes the video data to each disk 107 to thereby create a unique configuration. Block management information can be managed.

An existing OS such as Windows NT has a fixed interface between drivers, and thus a new driver can be inserted into the hierarchical structure of the drivers in this way.

In the first embodiment, one cluster is composed of 16 frames, but this relationship is not fixed and can be freely changed.

{Second Embodiment} In the second embodiment, when video data is recorded in the configuration of the video server apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, the same disk 107 in one cluster So that continuous data is written at a time, and when video data is played back,
The configuration is such that data is read from the same disk 107 in one cluster at a time.

For example, in FIG. 5, focusing on one cluster including block numbers 1 to 16, four blocks of block numbers 1, 5, 9, and 13 are included in the same disk 107. Read and write video data of one block at a time. Also, for the block numbers 2, 6, 9, and 13, other identical disks 10
7, the video data of the four blocks is read and written at a time.

For this purpose, in the second embodiment, a buffer B as shown in FIG. 11 is secured.

The construction and operation of each of the other parts is described in the first section.
Since the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, a duplicate description will be omitted.

Next, the features of the second embodiment will be described more specifically below.

(Recording) The flowchart in FIG. 10 is a flowchart when the video data of the frame number N is written to the disk 107.

First, when writing the video data of the frame number N, it is checked whether the cluster number C is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 corresponding to the frame number N (S11). In this case, the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 for the frame number N
Is given by the above equation.

If an integer other than "0" has already been written as a cluster number in the corresponding location of the corresponding address A in the cluster correspondence table T2, a cluster has already been allocated. On the other hand, if “0” is written as the cluster number in the corresponding part of the address A, the empty clusters are checked in order from the top of the cluster management table T1 shown in FIG. After changing the flag “0” indicating the use state to the flag “1” indicating the use state, the cluster number C is changed to the cluster correspondence table T2.
Is written to the corresponding address A (S12). This operation is the same as in the case of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

Next, the video data of frame number N is shown in FIG.
The data is written to the buffer B shown in FIG. 1 (S31). Here, which address R (R = 1 to 16) in the buffer B to write the video data is given by the above equation (S31). Subsequently, the use state flag "1" is set to the address R of the intra-cluster use state table T3 (S14).

Next, it is determined whether or not the frame number N is the last block in the cluster (S32). This determination can be made based on whether N / 16 is “0”. When the frame number N does not correspond to the last block in the cluster, the process returns to S11.

On the other hand, when the frame number N corresponds to the last block in the cluster, the flow advances to S33 to collectively write the data written in the buffer B at one time.
Write in. Also, when a stop (Stop) command is received at the time of recording, the control jumps here and the process proceeds to S33.

For example, paying attention to one cluster in FIG. 5, when writing video data to one (eg, left end) disk 107, the block numbers are 1, 5,
The video data is written to the positions 9 and 13 all at once. As a result, the performance of writing to the disk is improved.

The above-described operations performed by the intermediate driver 601 can improve the performance of writing data to the disk.

(In the case of reproduction) The flowchart in FIG. 12 is a flowchart when the video data of the frame number N is read from the disk 107.

In this case, it is checked whether or not the cluster number C is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 corresponding to the frame number N (S11). If an integer other than "0" has already been written to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2, a cluster has already been allocated. On the other hand, if "0" is written in the address A, no video data is stored in each block in the cluster, and the black screen data recorded in advance is stored in accordance with the rules. Read as data
(S24).

The data in cluster C is stored in buffer B
It is checked whether the file has already been read (S41).

If it has already been read, the flow shifts to S43,
If it has not been read yet, the process proceeds to S42. This S
At 42, of the blocks included in one cluster,
The data of the blocks included in the same disk 107 are read and registered in the buffer B at once (S42).

For example, paying attention to one cluster in FIG. 5, when video data is read out to one (for example, the left end) disk 107, the block numbers are 1, 5 and 5.
The video data at the positions 9 and 13 are read all at once. As a result, the read performance to the disk is improved.

Next, in order to check whether or not video data actually exists, the flag of the corresponding address R in the intra-cluster use status table T3 is checked to determine whether or not it is in use (S43). If the corresponding address R is a flag "1" indicating use, data is read from the address R of the buffer B (S44). If the flag R indicates "vacancy", black screen data is returned as data (S24). .

By performing the above operations by the intermediate driver 601, it is possible to improve the performance of reading video data from the disk 107.

{Third Embodiment} FIGS. 13 and 14
Is a flowchart showing the flow of a program according to the third embodiment.

The first and second embodiments are based on the premise that the data size of one frame of video data and the block size of each block number set on the disk 107 match.

In the third embodiment, FIGS.
In the configuration of the video server device shown in FIG. 7, when video data is recorded and played back, if the data size of one frame of the video data is smaller than each block size of the disc 107, the video data is set so that both sizes match. Is supplemented.

That is, when the data size of one frame of the video data is smaller than each block size of the disk 107, the data is written so that the one frame size of the video data matches the block size of the disk. Similarly, when the video data is reproduced, one frame size of the video data can be read as the block size of the disk.

The construction and operation of each of the other parts is described in the first section.
Since the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, a duplicate description will be omitted.

Next, the features of the third embodiment will be described more specifically below.

(In the case of recording) The flowchart in FIG. 12 is a flowchart when the video data of the frame number N is written to the disk 107.

First, when writing the video data of the frame number N, it is checked whether the cluster number C is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 corresponding to the frame number N (S11). The address A of the cluster correspondence table T3 for the frame number N is given by the above equation.

If an integer other than "0" has already been written as the cluster number C at the corresponding location of the address A in the cluster correspondence table T3, a cluster has already been assigned. On the other hand, if “0” is written as the cluster number at the corresponding location of the address A, the empty clusters are checked in order from the top of the cluster management table T1 shown in FIG.
If there is a vacancy, the vacancy flag "0" is changed to a use status flag "1", and the cluster number C at that time is written to the corresponding portion of the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 (S12).

Subsequently, the video data of the frame number N is written to the block in the cluster selected as described above (S51). Which of the addresses R (R = 1 to 16) in each block included in this cluster is to be written with data is determined based on the above equation. In addition, at that time, the size of the video data is enlarged to one block size and written. Therefore, the intermediate driver 60
No. 1 performs writing by increasing the write size specified by the IO manager 301. This is IO Manager 3
01 is not notified.

Next, the corresponding portion of the address R in the intra-cluster use status table T3 is set to a flag "1" indicating the use status (S14).

(In the case of reproduction) The flowchart in FIG. 13 is a flowchart when the video data of the frame number N is read from the disk 107.

First, it is checked whether the cluster number C is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T3 corresponding to the frame number N (S11). This address A
Is given based on the above equation.

If "0" is written as the cluster number at the address A, there is no data in the blocks in the cluster, so the previously recorded black screen data is replaced with the frame data. (S2
4).

On the other hand, in S11, the cluster correspondence table T
"0" as the cluster number at the corresponding location of address A of No. 2
If an integer other than is written, a cluster has already been assigned, and the cluster number C is obtained.
(S21).

Subsequently, in order to check whether or not there is data actually allocated to the block in the cluster having the cluster number C, the cluster correspondence table T3
It is checked whether or not the flag set to the address R in the table indicates the use state (S22).

[0111] The flag "1" indicating the use status is shown at the corresponding location of the address R in the cluster correspondence table T3.
Is set, the video data is read from the block at the address R (S61).

On the other hand, if the flag is set to "0" which is an empty state in S22, black screen data is returned as data (S24).

Finally, the intermediate driver 601 returns the data length specified from the top of the block to the IO manager 301.

By performing the above operation by the intermediate driver 601, when reading or writing one frame of video data from the IO manager 301, the intermediate driver 601 reads / writes data from / to the disk in accordance with the block size. Issuing a command improves read and write performance.

{Fourth Embodiment} FIG. 15 shows a data structure used in the fourth embodiment.

Here, for example, there is a DVCPRO25 / 50 (product name) as a laptop editor. In this apparatus, the size of one frame of video data differs for each model, and the size of one frame in the DVCPRO25 is In contrast to 120,000 bits, the size of one frame in DVCPRO 50 is 2
40,000 bits.

When transmitting these video data to the video server device, the DVCPRO 25 and the DVC
It is not known which of the PRO 50 will receive the edited video data.

Thus, in the fourth embodiment, when video data is recorded, the configuration is such that the data size of one frame of the video data dynamically changes depending on the model.

The other parts are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

[Data Structure] The cluster correspondence table T2 and the intra-cluster use state tables T31 and T shown in FIG.
32 is a file placed on the management information disk 602 in order to change to a frame size.

FIG. 15 shows how video data is allocated to the cluster correspondence table T2 'and the intra-cluster use status tables T31 and T32.

The cluster correspondence table T2 'provides information on the correspondence between video data and clusters, as in the first embodiment. However, DVCPRO25 /
In order to cope with the difference between models such as 50, two cluster use status tables T31,
Cluster numbers (pointers) C1 and C2 to T32 are given. For example, since the size of one frame in DVCPRO50 is 240,000 bits, C
While the two pointers 1 and C2 are used simultaneously, the size of one frame in the DVCPRO 25 is 1
Since it is 20,000 bits, only the pointer of C1 is used, and the pointer of C2 does not point at all. Also in the case of the fourth embodiment, when the cluster number (pointer) is “0”, it indicates that no video data is stored in any block indicated by the cluster number. .

The intra-cluster use status table T3
1, T32 stores data (flag) indicating whether or not actual video data is written for each block indicated by each cluster number. Here, when the flag is “0”, no video data is stored in the block, indicating an unused state. When the flag is “1”, it indicates that video data has already been stored in the block and the block is already in use.

(Recording) The flowchart in FIG. 16 is a flowchart when data D is written to the frame number N of the video data.

First, when writing the video data of the frame number N to the disk 107, it is checked whether a cluster number is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 'corresponding to the frame number N (S71). Cluster correspondence table T for frame number N in this case
The address A of 2 ′ is given by the above equation.

"0" is set as the cluster number C1 or C2 at the corresponding address A in the cluster correspondence table T2 '.
If an integer other than is written, a cluster has already been allocated. If "0" is written in the cluster number C1 or C2, the cluster management table T1
The clusters are examined in order from the top of FIG. 9 and, if there is an empty flag “0”, this is changed to a used flag “1” and its cluster number C is changed to the cluster correspondence table T2 ′. Is written to the corresponding address A (S72).

Subsequently, the video data is written to the blocks in the cluster thus selected (S73). Which address R (R = 1 to 16) data is to be written in each block included in this cluster is determined based on the above-described formula.

At this time, if it is DVCPRO25, data is written only to the blocks included in the cluster indicated by C1 as the cluster number. In the case of DVCPRO50, data is written to a block included in a cluster indicated by both C1 and C2 as a cluster number.
(S73).

Next, the intra-cluster use status table T3
At 1 and T32, a flag is set to "1" at the corresponding location of the addresses R1 and R2 of the block in which the data is written to indicate the use state (S74).

Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the frame number N included in the cluster corresponding to the cluster number C1 is the last block in the cluster (S75). If the frame number N is the last block, the process proceeds to S76.

In S76, it is checked whether the cluster C2 is used. This can be done by checking whether all the columns of the intra-cluster use status table indicated by C2 are empty. If C2 is not used, the process proceeds to S77 and C2 is released. This is because the flag is set to “0” in order to indicate the empty state of the position of the cluster number C2 in the cluster correspondence table T2 ′, and C2 in the cluster management table T1 (FIG. 6).
Is set to a flag "0" indicating an empty state (S77).

(In the case of reproduction) The flowchart in FIG. 17 is a flowchart when the video data of the frame number N is read.

First, when reading the video data of the frame number N, it is checked whether the cluster number C1 is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 'corresponding to the frame number N (S81).

If "0" has already been written as the cluster number C1 of the cluster correspondence table T2 ', there is no data, so the previously recorded black screen data is read out as frame data (S24).

On the other hand, in S81, the cluster correspondence table T
If an integer other than "0" has been written as the cluster number C1 of 2 ', the cluster has already been assigned, so the cluster number C1 is obtained, and the address R1 corresponding to the frame N in the cluster number C1 is obtained. Get
(S82). The address R1 in that case is given by the above equation.

Next, it is checked whether the cluster number C2 is assigned to the address A of the cluster correspondence table T2 'corresponding to the frame number N (S83). Then, if the cluster number C2 has been assigned, an address R2 corresponding to the frame N in the cluster number C2 is obtained (S84). The address R2 in that case is given by the above equation.

Subsequently, referring to the intra-cluster use status table T31, it is checked whether data is actually allocated to the block at the address R1 (S85). If data is not assigned to the block at the address R1, the data of the black screen recorded in advance is read as frame data (S24). On the other hand, if data is assigned to the block at the address R1, the video data is read from the lock at the address R1 (S86).

Similarly, the intra-cluster use status table T3
It is checked whether data is actually allocated to the block at the address R2 of No. 2 (S87). In this case, the block at the corresponding address R1 in one intra-cluster use status table T31 is in use, and a block number is assigned to the block at the corresponding address R2 in the other intra-cluster use status table T31. Only when both conditions are satisfied, it can be said that the block at the address R2 is in use.

When the video data is allocated to the block at the address R2, both the video data in the block at the address R1 and the video data in the block at the address R2 are returned as one data (S88). ). Otherwise, only the video data in the block at address R1 is returned.

As described above, in the fourth embodiment, as in the case of DVCPRO 25/50, one of the video data
It is possible to cope with reading and writing of a file even when the frame size is different for each model.

Since the file management means of the present invention can be made into a computer program as described in the first to fourth embodiments, the file management means of the present invention is executed by a computer. It can also be carried out by recording on a possible recording medium.

[0142]

According to the video server device of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) In the first invention, when writing video data to a disk, the block management information of the video data is placed under the control of the operating system, and the arrangement of the video data blocks is performed on the video server device. Of the file management unit can be managed.

As a result, the video data can be viewed as a file under the control of the operating system, and the arrangement of the blocks of the video data can be performed at high speed in reading and writing a file such as video data which is not interrupted.

(2) In the second aspect of the invention, when writing video data, the writing performance to the disk is improved by writing the data in a plurality of blocks at the time of writing to one disk.

(3) In the third aspect, when reading from video data, a plurality of blocks are collectively read at the time of reading from one disk, thereby improving the reading performance to the disk.

(4) In the fourth invention, when writing video data, high-speed writing is realized by setting the size of the video data to the block size of the disk.

(5) In the fifth aspect, when writing video data, a method of controlling writing to a disk without any problem even if the size of the video data is dynamically changed is realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a video server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of a video server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a file management unit of the video server device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of video data according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between clusters set for a plurality of disks and their cluster numbers in the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a cluster management table secured in a management information disk of a file management unit in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing, in the first embodiment, a cluster management table and an intra-cluster use status table secured on a management information disk of a file management unit in association with video data;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart at the time of writing video data in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart at the time of reading video data according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart at the time of writing video data in the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of a buffer used in the second embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for reading video data in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for writing video data in the third embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart at the time of reading video data according to the third embodiment;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing, in the fourth embodiment, a cluster management table and an intra-cluster use status table secured on a management information disk of a file management unit in association with video data;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart at the time of writing video data in the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for reading video data according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a file management unit of a conventional video server device.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between blocks set as storage areas of video data for a plurality of discs and their block numbers in the related art.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which video data is stored over a plurality of disks in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Video server apparatus, 101 ... MPU, 102 ... Bus bridge unit, 103 ... Main memory, 105 ... Operating system controller, 106 ... Disk controller, 107 ... Disk, 115 ... Information management disk, 2
04: File management unit, 301: IO manager, 30
2. File system driver, 303: Disk driver, 601: Intermediate driver, T1: Cluster management table, T2, T2 ': Cluster correspondence table, T3, T
31, T32 ... in-cluster use status table.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A video server device connected to at least one terminal for inputting / outputting digital data including video data in response to a command from the terminal, wherein a video data storage unit for holding the video data A disk control unit that controls input and output of video data stored in the video data storage unit, and an operating system control unit that operates an operating system that manages a plurality of programs. When reading from and writing to the video data storage unit, the video data management information is used as a management file of the operating system control unit, and the file arrangement of the video data is managed using the video data management information in the management file. A video server device characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The video server device according to claim 1, wherein when writing the video data to the video data storage unit, the video data is stored in the video data storage unit using the video data management information in a management file of the operating system control unit. A video server device, which collectively writes in a continuous area in a storage unit. 3. The video server device according to claim 1, wherein the video data is read from the video data storage unit using the video data management information in a management file of the operating system control unit. A video server device for reading out a continuous area in the video data storage unit collectively. 4. The video server device according to claim 1, wherein when writing the video data to the video data storage unit, the data size of the video data is changed and stored in the video data storage unit in block units. A video server device. 5. The video server device according to claim 1, wherein when writing the video data into the video data storage unit, the size of the frame of the video data changes, and the video data is changed in accordance with the change. A video server device for writing in a data storage unit.