JP2004281052A - Data recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently record and reproduce continuous data at a high rate on a disk like recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A data recording device is provided with a disk recording medium of large capacity which is divided into a first region where continuous data are recorded, a second region where discontinuous data are recorded and a third region where data management information of the data is recorded to perform recording of the continuous data at high speed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a data recording device that requires continuous and high-speed data transfer to a recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been provided a consumer data recording device that converts video and audio signals into continuous digital data and records the data on a hard disk in a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) or a magnetic tape such as a digital VTR. In particular, the hard disk takes advantage of the advantage that the data can be accessed in a random manner and that the data to be handled is a digital signal and the video and audio signals have little deterioration in repeated editing and copying. Digital editing such as video and audio using a hard disk is performed.

For the purpose of further improving the quality of the video and audio signals to be handled, digital encoding means such as Moving Picture Experts Group 2 (hereinafter referred to as MPEG2) or Motion Joint P
It is in the direction of using hotgraphi coding Expert Groupe (hereinafter referred to as MJPEG) coding means. With the improvement in the quality of the video and audio signals, it is necessary to increase the data amount of the data to be handled and increase the data amount to be transferred per second. In order to satisfy these specifications, expensive high-spec type hard disks, for example, have a storage capacity of 25 GB per unit, an interface transfer speed of 33 MB / s between the PC and the hard disk, and a disk rotation speed of 10,000 rpm. And is used in some high-end markets.

As for a method of reading and writing a relatively large data file from a hard disk, there is a data reading method that includes a memory means and performs an access sector number in ascending or descending order in order to minimize a read seek operation of the data file. Yes, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1.

JP-A-10-63432

However, the above-mentioned known example has a large-capacity memory means and is effective for batch reading of a relatively large data file, but does not disclose arbitrarily accessing the data file. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned known example, a large-capacity memory means is indispensable, and control is complicated and expensive.

In order to perform high-quality digital editing of the above-mentioned video signal and audio signal by, for example, MPEG2 or MJPEG, a speed for continuously compensating for recording or reproduction on a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a sustain rate). Is important.
Hereinafter, the recording medium will be described using a hard disk, but is not limited to the hard disk.

The transfer speed currently described in the specification of the hard disk is the maximum transfer speed of the hard disk interface portion and the PC interface, and has a transfer rate of, for example, 33 MB / s. However, the sustain rate is determined by the recording density of the hard disk, the rotational speed of the disk, and the seek speed of the head. For example, a low-end hard disk is substantially about 12 to 7 MB / S. Further, the hard disk is recorded in units of recording blocks (hereinafter referred to as sectors) of the hard disk by file management software in the PC.
Since file management is scattered and fragmented, discontinuous empty sectors are scattered during repeated deletion and addition of files. Therefore, when the continuous data is recorded on the hard disk, the recording is performed while sequentially performing the seek operation of the head of the hard disk to the scattered free logical sectors, so that the sustained rate is further reduced and the continuous high rate is maintained. Data recording is not possible. Further, the high-end type hard disk is expensive and not practical.

In the PC, file management is performed by file management software or operation system software (hereinafter referred to as OS) for managing data files of the hard disk. Therefore, there is an upper limit on the hard disk capacity handled on the PC by the file management software or the OS, or a limit on the number of additional hard disks. For example, when the file management software complies with FAT16, there is a limitation that a maximum of 2 GB is provided per single partition and the number of additional hard disks is 26. Even in a simple calculation, the upper limit of the maximum hard disk recording capacity is up to 52 GB. Therefore, it is impossible to record the data on a 100 GB hard disk, for example.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and secures a sustained rate of the disk-shaped recording medium, eliminates an upper limit of a hard disk recording capacity, and eliminates an upper limit of the number of connected units. It is an object of the present invention to provide a data recording apparatus provided with a recording method of a disk-shaped recording medium suitable for recording of the data.

  In order to solve the above problems, a data recording device of the present invention has the following configuration.

Input means for externally inputting data, and recording means for recording the data on a recording medium, wherein the recording means, when the input data is continuous data, in a first area of the recording medium,
In the case of discontinuous data, the data is divided and recorded in the second area of the recording medium. Furthermore, the recording means records management information of data recorded in the first area or the second area in a third area of the recording medium.

The first area and the second area of the recording medium are each composed of a plurality of recording blocks, and the recording means sequentially stores the continuous data in recording blocks arranged continuously in the first area. Was recorded.

A disk-shaped recording medium is used as the recording medium, and each area of the recording medium is divided into regions in the radial direction, and the first area is arranged on the outermost peripheral side of the disk-shaped recording medium. .

Copying means for copying data recorded in the first area to the second area.
The copying means copies the data recorded in the first area to the second area in parallel with the operation of the recording means for recording in the first area.

The recording means includes recording block setting means for setting a plurality of recording blocks on the recording medium, and sequentially records the continuous data on recording blocks arranged continuously in a first area of the recording medium. Then, the number of the recording block in the first area where the continuous data is recorded is recorded in the third area.

The recording device further comprises means for detecting a defective recording block of the recording medium, wherein the recording means records the number of the defective recording block in the third area and records the continuous data in the first area. The defective recording block is recorded by jumping. Further, a means for detecting a defective recording track from among the concentric tracks of the disk-shaped recording medium,
The recording means records the number of the defective recording track in the third area, and, when recording the continuous data in the first area, jumps and records the defective recording track.

A buffer means for storing the continuous data; and a buffer capacity detecting means for detecting that a predetermined capacity of data has been stored in the buffer means, wherein the recording means, based on a result of the buffer capacity detecting means, The continuous data is recorded on a plurality of recording blocks arranged on concentric tracks on a disk-shaped recording medium.

Means for additionally connecting a plurality of recording media in addition to the recording medium; means for securing the first area and / or the second area in the additionally connected recording medium; and means for securing the first area and the second area. And a means for setting the area size of the area to an arbitrary size.

The continuous data is video and / or audio data, and data obtained by digitally compressing the video signal and / or the audio signal is stored in at least the recording block of the recording medium.
A structure for recording frames is provided.

The disk-shaped recording medium is configured to record using a medium that is annularly recorded such as a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a phase-change optical disk.

According to the present invention described above, the hard disk has a sequential sequential recording area suitable for continuous data recording, a random recording area suitable for discontinuous data recording, a logical sector number for marking in each of the above areas, and a linked logical sector number. By dividing the data into areas for recording file information, the effect of linking with data managed by a conventional PC and recording high-rate continuous data on a hard disk is great.

Further, the sequential recording area and the random recording area can be reproduced at random, and the target reproduction data can be reproduced immediately. The sequential recording area can be endlessly recorded, and the data of the endless recording area can be copied to another area in parallel with the recording operation, so that one data recording apparatus can handle a plurality of data simultaneously. The effect is great.

Further, it is possible to add a first area of the hard disk suitable for continuous data recording,
Since the first area is an area in which file management software and / or OS software is not directly involved, there is an advantage that there is no upper limit on the number of additional hard disks and there is no upper limit on the capacity per hard disk. It is possible to add more. Especially this is a long-time AV
It is suitable for data recording of a surveillance camera or the like where data recording is required. For example, by connecting four 25 GB hard disks, it is possible to record a video of 2 frames / second for one month.

Further, by means for detecting a bad sector of the hard disk and means for storing and recognizing the bad sector number, continuous data can be recorded by skipping the bad sector. Further, even in a defective sector, the same recording as that of the sector located before the defective sector is performed, and the control is not performed to temporarily stop the recording operation, thereby greatly improving the data throughput. Further, a means for recognizing a cylinder number including the bad sector is provided, and by continuously recording data by skipping the cylinder number, a cylinder unit which is a data recording unit on a hard disk can be maintained. The effect of improving the throughput is great.

Further, by using continuous data as data using a video compression signal and / or an audio signal using a digital compression code, continuous recording and random reproduction of video and / or audio can be performed, and high-quality recording can be performed. Further, since the recording data and the reproduction data can be processed in parallel, the effect of reproducing the video signal and / or the audio signal without stopping the recording operation of the video signal and / or the audio signal is great.

Advantages of the disc-shaped recording medium include that random access is possible and that the recording / reproducing data rate for the disc-shaped recording medium is as high as several MB / s. Currently, hard disks built in PCs and the like mainly perform one-time repeated writing and reading of data or files, and the fragmentation problem of the hard disk is not a major obstacle. To explain an example of a fragment, for example, 1000 files each having a size of 32 Kbytes are written to a hard disk, and then 300 files are randomly written.
Assume that 960 Kbytes have been erased in terms of capacity. That is, in this state, discontinuous empty areas are scattered in the hard disk. Then one more 960
When a K-byte file is recorded on the hard disk, the file management program running on the PC records the 960-Kbyte file in a distributed manner over the scattered free areas. . Therefore, in the hard disk, the search, recording, and verifying operations of the distributed free area are sequentially repeated, and the throughput of the hard disk is conspicuously reduced.

One-shot, short files or data whose data to be recorded / reproduced on the hard disk is handled by the PC,
Or, in application software, even if the above-mentioned fragment was generated, it did not cause a serious problem. For example, a video signal or an audio signal (hereinafter, referred to as an AV signal) is converted into digital data, and large-capacity and continuous data is In the case of recording / reproducing data on / from the hard disk, the conventional file management method performed on a PC increases the overhead of the hard disk, making it impossible to secure a data throughput (hereinafter, referred to as a sustain rate). The data of the AV signal is, for example, approximately 1 when it is an MJPEG stream.
A sustain rate of about 0 Mbps is required. It is also possible to handle a plurality of data, and a sustain rate higher than the above will be required in the future.

Therefore, the present invention proposes a recording method for securing a sustain rate of a hard disk. Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disk recording / reproducing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a disk-shaped recording medium, which will be described below by taking a hard disk as an example in this embodiment, but the disk-shaped recording medium is not limited to a hard disk. 2 is a hard disk recording / reproducing head, 3 is an RD / WR signal processing unit for recording / reproducing on the hard disk, and 4 is a spindle motor (hereinafter referred to as SPM) for rotating the hard disk.
5 is an SPM drive unit for driving the SPM, 6 is a voice coil motor (hereinafter referred to as VCM), 7 is a VCM drive unit, 8 is a drive system control unit, 9 is a Disk interface unit, and 10 is a Disk It is a mechanical unit. Reference numeral 11 denotes a digital stream input terminal, 12 denotes a digital input processing unit, 13 denotes a WR buffer unit for temporarily storing recording data, and 14 denotes a disk I / O.
Protocol unit, 15 a digital output processing unit, 16 an RD buffer for temporarily storing a reproduced data stream, 17 a digital output terminal, 18 an operation unit, 19 a disk central control unit, 2
0 is a logical sector controller of the hard disk, 21 is a physical sector controller of the hard disk, 2
Reference numeral 2 denotes a file management unit, 23 denotes a file area reservation unit, 24 denotes a file management table, 25 denotes a continuous sector control unit, 26 denotes a continuous sector area reservation unit, and 27 denotes a sector number management table.

Data input from the input terminal 11 is input to the digital input processing unit 12. In order to explain the operation of the present invention, the following data is obtained by digitizing the AV signal, for example, MJPEG.
In the following, an example will be described in which data subjected to image compression is continuous data requiring a high transfer rate, but the image compression means is not limited to MJPEG.

In the digital input processing unit 12, input data is added with delimiter information for each frame of video (hereinafter referred to as a frame), divided into data blocks of a predetermined size, and temporarily stored in the WR buffer unit 13. The WR buffer unit 13 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor memory, and operates so as to sequentially store data input from the digital input processing unit. When the data stored in the WR buffer unit reaches a predetermined capacity, the data is sequentially input to the Disk I / O protocol unit via the digital input processing unit.

In the Disk I / O protocol section, a data protocol conforming to the IDE interface used in the hard disk will be described below for explaining the operation of the present invention.
It is not limited to the interface, but SCSI protocol of other protocol means, USB standard, IEEE1
The present invention may be configured using the 394 standard or the like.

The Disk I / O protocol section has a minimum recording block (hereinafter, sector) unit of 5
While transferring the data every 12 bytes and performing a handshake with the hard disk, Di
Input to the sk interface unit 9.

Here, the mechanism section 10 of the hard disk will be described. A plurality of magnetically evaporated glass disks 1 of a hard disk are rotationally driven on the same axis of the SPM, and recording / reproducing heads 2 are mounted on both sides of the disk. The head is moved in the radial direction of the disk by the VCM 6, and records or reproduces data in concentrically arranged sectors.

The rotation speed of the SPM 4 is controlled by the SPM drive unit 5, and the VCM 6 is driven by the VCM drive unit 7 to perform positioning control in the radial direction corresponding to the recording sector position.
The drive control of the VCM drive unit 7 and the SPB drive unit 5 is performed by the drive system control unit 8. Further, the drive system control unit 8 is controlled based on the recording position information from the disk interface unit 9. In the RD / WR signal processing unit, editing and demodulation processing for recording and reproducing data on the disk via the head 2 and error correction processing for data are performed.

Next, sectors concentrically arranged on the plurality of disks will be described. Here for explanation 1
A hard disk with a storage capacity of 6.4 GB per unit will be described below as an example.

Eight logical disks 1 are mounted (one of them is single-sided recording / reproducing), and a total of 15 logical recording / reproducing heads (hereinafter referred to as heads) 1 are provided for each disk surface, concentric circles per one surface of the disk. The hard disk has a configuration in which the number of logical sector groups (hereinafter referred to as logical cylinders) is 13320, the number of logical sectors in one cylinder is 63, and the recording capacity per sector is 512 Bytes. The storage capacity is calculated.

512Byte x 63Secter x 13320Cyrinder x 15Head = 6444748800Byte (Equation 1)
The number of sectors of the entire hard disk is calculated by (Equation 2).

63Secter × 13320Cylinder × 15Head = 12587400Secter (Equation 2)
The logical sector number is uniquely determined by determining any one of the head numbers 1 to 15, the cylinder numbers 0 to 13319, and the sector numbers 1 to 63. Designate the head number, cylinder number, and sector number as described above, call the target sector that accesses the target sector a physical sector, number all the sectors in the above equation 2 continuously, and specify the sectors to be treated as continuous sectors. This is called a logical sector. The logical sectors can be freely numbered on the disk. For example, the head 2 can be numbered so that the disk surface 15 is used in parallel from the outer periphery.
There is a logical sector numbering means that can switch and access each disk with a minimum moving amount. Here, the logical sector number is LSN, the sector number is SEN, the cylinder number is CYN,
When the head number is HEN, the number of sectors in one cylinder is SPT, and the total number of heads is NOS, the logical sector number is calculated by equation (3).

LSN = SPT × (HEN + NOS × CYN) + SEN-1 (Equation 3)
The numbering of the logical sectors is particularly suitable for recording and reproducing continuous data. In the above (Equation 3), logical sectors are numbered for the entire disk in the hard disk. However, logical sectors may be numbered for a specific disk, or the logical sectors may be numbered in a plurality of systems. It may be prepared and is not limited to the above (Equation 3).

The data read from the hard disk is input to the Disk I / O protocol unit via the Disk interface according to the Disk I / O protocol. The read data is divided in the digital output processing unit 15 into data blocks of a predetermined size length based on the delimiter information, and is temporarily stored in the RD buffer unit 16. The RD buffer unit 16 is formed of, for example, a semiconductor memory, and operates to sequentially store data to be read. The RD
Each time the data stored in the buffer reaches a predetermined capacity, the data is sent to the digital output terminal 1
7 is output.

The minimum unit of recording or reproduction of the hard disk is for each sector (for example, 512 bytes). However, if the continuous data is stored in the WR buffer for each sector and recording is performed for each sector of the hard disk in the Disk I / O protocol, the head number, cylinder number, and sector number for the target sector are used. And the overhead due to the head seek of the rear part 10 of the Disk machine becomes too large, which is inconvenient for continuous data access. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to maintain the maximum sustain rate of the hard disk, recording and reproduction of the hard disk are performed with a data size suitable for continuous data.

In this embodiment, recording and reproduction of continuous data to and from the hard disk are performed on a cylinder basis. By accessing the hard disk in cylinder units, it is possible to absorb the overhead of waiting for the rotation of the disk when accessing a single sector, and reduce it to only the overhead of moving the head in the radial direction of the disk. Further, when the data rate is increased (for example, 10 Mbps or more), control is performed so that a plurality of cylinders are collectively recorded and reproduced. With the above configuration, the hard disk throughput can be maintained to the maximum.

Further, in the present embodiment, the storage capacity of at least the RD buffer and the WR buffer is configured to have a capacity in cylinder units for accessing the hard disk or more than the capacity. For example, if the hard disk capacity is 6.4 GB, the number of sectors in a cylinder is 6
Assuming that the number of cylinders for accessing the hard disk is 30 cylinders, each of which has three sectors, a RD buffer and a WR buffer of 966680 bytes are provided. Actually, the fractional memory is rarely present, and is provided with 1 Mbyte of memory.

Next, the most important area division of the hard disk according to the present invention will be described below. As described above, the hard disk is written discontinuously by the file management software operating on the PC for each of a plurality of logical sectors (for example, four sectors are defined as one block, and this is hereinafter referred to as a cluster), and reading is repeated. The fragment ratio as a unit increases, and the sustain rate of the hard disk decreases. To continuously record at the maximum sustain rate of the hard disk, the consecutive logical sector numbers are recorded in sequence, and the head movement amount for access is kept to a minimum of one cylinder in the radial direction of the magnetic disk. Need to be controlled.

Therefore, in the present invention, a first area for recording and reproducing continuous data on one hard disk or a plurality of hard disks, and a second area for recording and reproducing data managed by a file on a conventional PC. The present invention provides a recording method suitable for recording and reproducing continuous data by dividing the region into a third region where management information of the continuous data and single-shot data is recorded.

FIG. 2 shows an internal structure diagram in which the hard disk is divided into the three areas. In FIG. 2, 30 is a hard disk, 31 is a FAT of a table area for managing files, 32 is an area in which a file name group of continuous data or single file data recorded on the hard disk is recorded, and 33 is a file attribute. An area for recording, 34 is an area for storing a time stamp for each file, and 35 is an area for recording a logical sector number corresponding to an index of a continuous logical sector. 38 is the third area, 39 is the second area, 40 is the first area.
Area. Sectors for recording data are a first area and a second area, each of which is characterized by data to be recorded.

The first area has a configuration in which continuous recording is sequentially performed on sectors in the area, and partial erasure and partial writing of the logical sector are not performed. The shaded portion of the first area in FIG. 2 indicates a recorded area. In the first area where erasure and partial recording are not performed, recording of the continuous data is exclusively performed. The continuous data is mainly digital data such as AV data, and the logical sector number corresponding to the data recording start point, end point, or index point is stored in the logical sector number management table 27 in FIG.

When a data reproduction selection specified by the operation unit 18 is input, the logical sector of the selected data is quoted from the logical sector number management table by the disk central control unit 19, and the continuous sector control unit 25 reads the first sector of the hard disk. The reproduction operation is performed by randomly designating the logical sectors in the area of. The sectors to be accessed sequentially during recording by the logical sector control unit 20 are designated by the physical sector control unit 21 in the dimension of the physical sector, and the head number, cylinder number, The sector number is determined and input to the Disk I / O protocol 14, and the head 2 of the Disk mechanism is positioned at the target sector to write or read data.

A practical example of the use of the first area of the hard disk according to the present invention is, for example, recording of continuous AV data for monitoring. In the world of surveillance, it is necessary to record video and audio for a long time, and in particular, it is necessary to record continuous video and audio when an incident or the like occurs (hereinafter referred to as an alarm).

It is set so that AV continuous data from the surveillance camera is recorded in the first area of the hard disk, and the logical sector number at the time of occurrence of the alarm is stored in the sector number management table 27. By performing the ranking search by the disk central control unit 19 and designating the alarm point, the logical sector in the first area is designated and the reproduction can be performed randomly. In addition, endless recording can be performed by designating a limited capacity of a hard disk (first area) to a logical sector endlessly. Furthermore, in parallel with the operation of recording data in the logical sector of the first area only for a predetermined section after the occurrence of the alarm, the data of any logical sector in the first area is reproduced, It is also possible to carry out copying to the area of the second area.
V data can be secured.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the above processing contents. In FIG. 5, the process starts from the ENTRY of a process 60, a process 61 performs continuous recording of continuous data in a first area of the hard disk, and a process 62 determines whether or not a predetermined range of data of the first area is secured. Is selected by an operation input, and the process returns to the step 61 if the data portion is not secured. If the data is to be partially reserved, the process proceeds to step 63, where the start logical sector number and end logical sector number of the first area corresponding to the data reserved portion are read. Next, in step 64, in parallel with the endless recording operation to the first area, data is read from the first logical sector and the end logical sector of the first area, and the data is recorded in the second area. Do. The operation of copying data from the first area to the second area is continued up to the end sector number. Further, the endless recording operation in the first area is not stopped by the copying operation, and the endless recording is performed by giving priority to the process. The hard disk can handle a plurality of data simultaneously as described above, and is particularly effective in the field of monitoring that does not stop the recording operation.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration in which a plurality of data can be handled in the hard disk in the first area.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The WR buffer 13 and the RD buffer 16 of FIG. 1 are provided for the above purpose, and the reproduction data during the recording operation of the hard disk outputs the data stored in the RD buffer, and the recording data during the reproduction operation of the hard disk. Are stored in the WR buffer 13. For example, the data rate recorded in the first area of the hard disk is 6 Mbps,
It is assumed that the data rate for reading the alarm sector in the area is 6 Mbps, the data rate for recording the alarm sector number in a specific sector in the first area is 6 Mbps, and the sustain rate for the hard disk is 40 Mbps. There is no problem as long as the speed of writing and reading data to and from the hard disk is equal to or higher than the sum of the multi-data rates handled at the same time.
Actually, the reproduction operation can be performed in parallel with the recording operation under the above conditions without any problem even if the overhead including the head seek and the timing waiting time is added.

The second area is a hard disk area where file management is performed by a conventional PC or the like, and is an area where random recording and erasing are allowed. The shaded area shown in the second area in FIG. 2 indicates a recorded area, and single-shot data is splintered and recorded while generating fragments.

Since the data recorded in the second area is scattered and recorded in the second area, the connection status of the sectors and the directory hierarchical structure information are managed by the file management unit 22 in FIG. It is stored in the management table 24.

In the present embodiment, the first area to the third area are divided in the radial direction on the magnetic disk, and the first area for which a sustain rate is to be particularly secured is arranged outside the magnetic disk. ing. FIG. 6 shows a conceptual image of the area division of the disk. 6, 66 is a first area, 67 is a third area, 68 is a second area, 69 to 71 are disks of the same type, 72 to 74 are head seek arms, and 75 is a head.

For example, in the case of a 3.5-inch hard disk, the maximum radius of the recording surface of the magnetic disk is approximately four.
. 5 cm and the minimum value is about 2.0 cm, and the number of sectors in the cylinder is substantially proportional to the radius of the magnetic disk. Therefore, the sustain rate increases as the cylinder is positioned on the outer periphery. For example, in a 3.5-inch hard disk with a magnetic disk rotation speed of 5400 rpm, the outermost sustain rate is 3 MB / s, while the innermost sustain rate is 3 MB / s.
1.5MB / s. In the present invention, the data throughput can be maintained by arranging the first area for recording continuous data near the area where the maximum sustain rate of the disc can be secured.

Next, the first area and the second area are secured in the initial state of the hard disk (in the unrecorded state) by designating the capacity of the first area and the second area for the hard disk by the operation unit 18 respectively. Enter the operation to specify the capacity of the area. The Disk central control unit recognizes the operation command, and the file area reservation unit 23 and the continuous sector area reservation unit 26 reserve the logical sector number of the hard disk for each of the above-mentioned area divisions and divide the hard disk. Perform the operation.

Next, the contents of the file management table 24 and the continuous logical sector number management table are recorded in the third area of the hard disk. The management information is read from the hard disk, temporarily stored in the file management table 24 and the continuous logical sector management table 27, and operates so as to update the management information of the third area every predetermined period. The third area includes, for example, a file name 32, a file attribute 33, a time stamp 34 for the first and second areas, respectively.
A connected logical sector number 35, directory hierarchical structure information 36, user information 37, and the like are recorded.

Further, in the operation unit 18, it is possible to designate either the first area or the second area in the hard disk for data to be recorded, and if the continuous AV (30 frames / sec) data, It is also possible to designate to record in the first area and record a still image or the like in the second area. Alternatively, the same image data can be recorded in an arbitrary area. Further, since the data recorded in the first area is the sequence recording, even when the third area is destroyed due to a crash of the hard disk or the FAT information is partially destroyed, the data is reproduced and rescued. There is a feature that can be easily performed.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the hard disk includes a sequential recording area suitable for continuous data recording, a random recording area suitable for discontinuous data recording, a logical sector number serving as a marking in each of the above areas, and a connection. By dividing the logical sector number and the area for recording the file information into an area for recording the logical sector number and the file information, it is possible to link with the data managed by the conventional PC and to record high-rate continuous data on the hard disk.

Further, the data recording device of the present invention is suitable for recording digital data such as video and / or audio of a surveillance camera, endlessly recording a sequential area sequentially to the logical sector, and performing the recording operation in parallel with the recording operation. This data can be copied to another area of the hard disk, and one data recording device can handle a plurality of data at the same time.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 3, the description of the same functional blocks as in FIG. 1 is omitted. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 10a denotes an additional hard disk mechanism, and 50 denotes an additional hard disk controller.

In recording digital data such as AV, it is expected that hard disks will require even larger capacities. For example, the MJPEG data is 10 Mbps, and the recording time on the hard disk having the capacity of 6.4 GB is only 85 minutes. Further, when the area is divided as in the present invention, the recording time is further reduced. Therefore, the present invention expands the first area suitable for continuous data recording by adding a plurality of hard disks. At present, in the PC world, expansion of hard disks is naturally supported. For example, an IDE hard disk usually has up to four hard disk expansion bays in a PC. If a SCSI interface is installed, up to seven SCs can be used.
A hard disk having an SI interface can be chain-connected. However, these additions correspond to the area 2 in which file management is performed on the PC described in the first embodiment, and do not correspond to the first area. In addition, the hard disk which is file-managed on the PC has an upper limit in capacity by file management software or OS on the PC. For example, when the file management software is FAT16, the maximum capacity per hard disk is 2 GB, and the number of expandable disks is 26, so that only a maximum of 52 GB can be handled. However, the first area described in the present invention has no upper limit on the number of additional hard disks and the capacity per hard disk because the file management software does not directly participate and the OS does not directly participate. Therefore, for example, four 25 GB hard disks can be connected, and the first area can be allocated to the entire area of the additional hard disk.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are block diagrams for realizing the above-mentioned hard disk expansion.
Here, the operation will be described using the IDE interface as an example.
It is not limited to DE. For example, SCSI interface, USB interface, IE
Any of an EE1394 interface and the like may be used.

The extension control unit in FIG. 3 includes, for example, a plurality of IDE interfaces having different addresses. The continuous sector area securing unit 26 successively connects the logical sector numbers in the first area of the hard disk of the rear part 10 of the disk machine to the logical sector numbers. The control is performed such that the third area is secured in the entire area of the hard disk in the rear part 10a of the added disk machine and the logical sector number is numbered. The address of the IDE interface is switched by the Disk I / O protocol unit 14 according to the logical sector number for the third area.

FIG. 4 shows the recording medium in the rear part 10 of the disk machine and the rear part 10a of the disk machine. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 30 denotes a recording medium in the rear part 10 of the disk machine, and 51 denotes a recording medium in the rear part 10a of the disk machine. The description of the same figure numbers as in FIG. 2 is omitted. In the recording medium 51, all areas are extended to the first area. In the disk, continuous logical block numbers are arranged, and sequential continuous recording is sequentially performed according to the logical sector block numbers.

According to the above-described second embodiment, the first hard disk suitable for continuous data recording
The first area is an area in which file management software and / or OS software is not directly involved, so that there is no upper limit on the number of additional hard disks,
For example, there is no upper limit in the capacity per first hard disk, and it is possible to increase the capacity. In particular, this is suitable for data recording of a surveillance camera or the like that requires recording of AV data for a long time. For example, by connecting four 25 GB hard disks, a video of 2 frames / second can be recorded for one month. The effect that can be done is great.

Next, a third embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. In the third embodiment, a description will be given of a recording control in which a non-recordable and / or non-reproducible sector (hereinafter, referred to as a defective sector) is detected in a first area for recording continuous data, and the defective sector is not used. . FIG.
The description of the same functional blocks as those in FIG. 1 will be omitted. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 80 denotes a test data generation unit, 81 denotes a sector RD / WR test unit, and 82 denotes a bad sector number securing unit.

When a command operation of a bad sector confirmation operation for the first area on the magnetic disk is performed from the operation unit 18, the sector RD / WR test unit 81 transmits the test data generated by the test data generation unit 80 to the specified sector. To perform a recording operation and a verify operation. At the time of verification, if the test data is different from the test data at the time of recording operation, the verify operation is further performed a predetermined number of times, and the sector number determined to be unwritable is stored in the defective sector number securing unit 82. The stored bad sector number is secured in a third area on the disk together with the data stored in the file management table 24 and the sector management table 27.

FIG. 8 shows a state of the hard disk according to the third embodiment. 8, the description of the same part names as those in FIG. 2 is omitted. In FIG. 8, 83 to 85 are bad sectors in the first area, and 86 is a bad sector information section for storing the sector number of the bad sector. According to the third embodiment, the bad sector number for the third area is detected, and the bad sector number is stored in the bad sector information recording unit. When recording continuous data, the data recording apparatus removes the defective sector, numbers logical sector numbers, and records continuous data in the same manner as described above.

In the operation in which only the bad sector is not recorded, the sector designation in which the bad sector is omitted, that is, the instruction of the head number, the cylinder number, and the sector number in the physical sector control unit in FIG. , And control not to access the bad sector is required. Therefore, when the recording reaches the defective sector, the recording operation is temporarily stopped, and subsequently, a recording instruction is sent to a sector subsequent to the defective sector, so that the data throughput may be reduced. Therefore, in the present embodiment, in order to prevent the above-described recording operation from being temporarily stopped, the same data as the data recorded in the sector that is previously located in the defective sector is also recorded in the defective sector. I am trying to respond. The bad sector number is grasped in advance by the bad sector number securing unit, and when the recording to the bad sector is reached, the Disk-I / O protocol unit 14 places the data from the digital input processing unit 12 before the bad sector. The same recording data corresponding to the sector is recorded.

Further, the present embodiment corresponds to a configuration in which a cylinder including the defective sector is not accessed as a defective cylinder. In contrast to the operation of skipping and recording only the defective sector, the operation of skipping the cylinder including the defective sector is performed in such a manner that the unit for stopping the recording operation is usually the cylinder unit of the continuous recording operation, and thus the data throughput due to the defective sector is reduced. There is not little decrease.

This will be described below with reference to FIG. The description of the same name as that in FIG. 8 is omitted. In FIG.
The cylinder numbers 86 to 93 indicate the cylinder numbers 0 to 7 and the inner cylinder 3
, Cylinders 4 and 6 show defective sectors one by one. The bad sector number is secured in advance by the bad sector number securing unit 82, and the cylinder number including the bad sector is immediately grasped by the physical sector control unit 21. The defective cylinder number recognized by the physical sector control unit 21 is removed and recognized in the continuous sector number numbering operation, and operates to record the continuous data.

In the third embodiment, the operation of detecting the defective sector number and the defective cylinder number and the hollowing-out operation have been described in the first area of the hard disk. However, in the second area and / or the third area, Can also be applied, and is not limited to the first region.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, the means for detecting a defective sector of the hard disk and the means for storing and recognizing the defective sector number can record the continuous data without the defective sector. Further, even in a defective sector, the same recording as that of the sector located before the defective sector is performed, and the control is not performed to temporarily stop the recording operation, thereby greatly improving the data throughput. Further, a means for recognizing a cylinder number including the bad sector is provided, and by continuously recording data by skipping the cylinder number, a cylinder unit which is a data recording unit on a hard disk can be maintained. The effect of improving the throughput is great.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the fourth embodiment, the continuous data is a data stream obtained by digitally compressing a video signal and / or an audio signal, for example, by performing MPEG compression or MJPEG compression, and stores the data on a disk-shaped recording medium such as a hard disk. It is characterized in that it performs a recording or reproducing operation.

10, the description of the same functional blocks as those in FIG. 1 is omitted. In FIG. 10, 100
Is a video signal input terminal, 101 is an audio signal input terminal, 102 is a video input unit, 103 is an audio input unit, 104 is a video compression processing unit, 105 is an audio compression process, 106 is a stream synthesis unit, and 107 is an audio signal output terminal , 108 is a video signal output / output terminal, 109 is an audio output processing unit, 110 is a video output unit, 111 is an audio expansion processing unit, 112 is a video expansion processing unit,
13 is a stream separation unit.

The analog video signal input from the video signal input terminal 100 is subjected to conversion into digital video signals and rearrangement of digital video signals, that is, so-called shuffling, in the video input unit 102, and is output to the video compression processing unit 104. The digital video signal subjected to the shuffling process in the video compression processing unit 104 is converted into compressed video data encoded by, for example, MJPEG encoding means and output to the stream synthesizing unit 106. The video compression processing unit 5 is not limited to the MJPEG encoding means, but may be a video compression means such as MPEG1, and is not limited to the MJPEG encoding.

The analog audio signal input from the input terminal 101 is converted into a digital audio signal in the audio input unit 103 and the digital audio signal is shuffled, and is output to the audio compression processing unit 105. The digital audio signal subjected to the shuffling process in the audio compression processing unit 105 is encoded by encoding means such as ADPCM, and the audio compressed data is output to the stream synthesizing unit 106. The stream synthesizing unit 106 time-multiplexes the compressed video data and compressed audio data into one system of data. The single data multiplexed on the time axis is input to the digital input processing unit 12, and is continuously recorded on the hard disk.

In the reproducing operation, the data output from the digital output processing unit is separated into compressed video data and compressed audio data by the stream separation unit 113, and the compressed video data is separated by the video decompression processing unit 112 by, for example, MJPEG composite means. The composited digital video data is input to the video output unit 110. In the video output unit 110, the digital video data is subjected to a deshuffling process and converted into a basic analog video signal.
Output from

The audio compression data is input to the audio output unit 109 by the audio decompression processing unit 111, for example, digital audio data that is composited by the ADPCM composite unit. Audio output unit 10
In 9, the digital audio data is subjected to deshuffling processing and converted into the original analog audio signal, and is output from the audio signal output terminal 23.

According to the fourth embodiment, continuous data and / or audio signals are converted to data using digital compression codes, thereby enabling continuous recording and random reproduction of video and / or audio and achieving high image quality. Records can be made. Further, since the recording data and the reproduction data can be processed in parallel, the effect of reproducing the video signal and / or the audio signal without stopping the recording operation of the video signal and / or the audio signal is great.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, a hard disk is taken as an example of a recording medium in order to explain the operation. However, the present invention is not limited to a disk-shaped recording medium such as an optical magnetic disk or a phase change optical disk. Applies and is not limited to hard disks.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a data recording device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hard disk recording state in the data recording device of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a data recording device according to a second embodiment. The figure which shows the internal structure of an additional hard disk. FIG. 9 is a flowchart for copying data from a third area to a second area. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state where a disc is divided into regions. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a data recording device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a recording state of a hard disk according to a third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a recording state of another hard disk according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a data recording device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Disc-shaped recording medium 2 Recording / reproducing head 3 RD / WR signal processing unit 4 Spindle motor 5 SPM drive unit 6 Voice coil motor 7 VCM drive unit 8 Drive system control unit 9 Disk interface unit 10 Disk mechanism unit 11 Digital stream input terminal 12 Digital input processing unit 13 WR buffer unit 14 Disk I / O protocol unit 15 Digital output processing unit 16 RD buffer 17 Digital output terminal 18 Operation unit 19 Disk central control unit 20 Logical sector control unit 21 Physical sector control unit 22 File management unit 23 File area securing unit 24 File management table 25 Continuous sector control unit 26 Continuous sector area securing unit 27 Sector number management 30 Hard disk 31 FAT
32 An area in which file name groups are recorded 33 An area in which file attributes are recorded 34 An area in which a time stamp for each file is stored 35 An area in which a logical sector number is recorded 38 A third area 39 A second area 40 1 area 50 extension control section 51 an extended third area 66 third area 67 first area 68 second area 69 to 71 magnetic disk 72 to 74 magnetic head seek arm 75 head 80 test data generation section 81 Sector RD / WR test section 82 Bad sector number securing sections 83 to 85 Bad sector 86 Bad sector information 87 to 93 Cylinder 100 Video signal input terminal 101 Audio signal input terminal 102 Video input section 103 Audio input section 104 Video compression processing section 105 Audio compression process 106 Stream synthesis unit 107 Audio signal output terminal 108 Video signal Straight terminal 109 voice output processing unit 110 video output unit 111 the audio decompression process unit 112 image decompression process unit 113 stream separation unit

Claims (20)

An input unit for externally inputting data, and a data recording device including a recording unit for recording the data on a recording medium,
The recording means is characterized in that when the input data is continuous data, it is divided and recorded in a first area of the recording medium, and when the input data is discontinuous data, it is recorded in a second area of the recording medium. apparatus. The data recording device according to claim 1,
The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit records management information of data recorded in the first area or the second area in a third area of the recording medium. The data recording device according to claim 1 or 2,
The data recording device, wherein the recording medium is a disk-shaped recording medium. The data recording device according to claim 1,
The first area and the second area of the recording medium each include a plurality of recording blocks,
The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit sequentially records the continuous data in a recording block continuously arranged in the first area. The data recording device according to claim 3,
Each area of the disc-shaped recording medium is divided into areas in the radial direction,
The data recording device according to claim 1, wherein the first area is arranged on an outermost peripheral side of the disc-shaped recording medium. The data recording device according to claim 1 or 2,
The data recording device, wherein the recording means performs endless recording in the first area. The data recording device according to claim 1,
A data recording apparatus, comprising: copying means for copying data recorded in the first area to the second area. The data recording device according to claim 7,
The copying unit performs the first operation in parallel with the recording operation performed by the recording unit in the first area.
A data recording device for copying the data recorded in the area of the second area to the second area. The data recording device according to claim 2,
The recording unit includes a recording block setting unit that sets a plurality of recording blocks on the recording medium,
Recording the continuous data sequentially in a recording block continuously arranged in a first area of the recording medium;
A data recording apparatus, wherein a number of a recording block in the first area where the continuous data is recorded is recorded in the third area. The data recording device according to claim 2,
Means for detecting a defective recording block of the recording medium,
The recording means records the number of the defective recording block in the third area and jumps and records the defective recording block when recording the continuous data in the first area. Data recording device. The data recording device according to claim 3,
Means for detecting a defective recording track from among the concentric tracks of the disc-shaped recording medium,
The recording means records the number of the defective recording track in the third area, and when recording the continuous data in the first area, jumps and records the defective recording track. Data recording device. The data recording device according to claim 3,
Buffer means for storing the continuous data;
A buffer capacity detecting means for detecting that data of a predetermined capacity is accumulated in the buffer means,
The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit records the continuous data in a plurality of recording blocks arranged on concentric tracks on the disk-shaped recording medium based on a result of the buffer capacity detection unit. The data recording device according to claim 12,
The data recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage capacity of said buffer means is set for each track of said disk-shaped recording medium. The data recording device according to claim 1,
Means for additionally connecting another recording medium to the recording medium,
A data recording apparatus, comprising: means for securing the first area and / or the second area on the additionally connected recording medium. The data recording device according to any one of claims 1 to 14,
A data recording apparatus comprising: means for setting each of the first area and the second area to an arbitrary size. The data recording device according to claim 1 or 2,
The data recording device, wherein the continuous data is video and / or audio data. The data recording device according to claim 4,
The continuous data is data obtained by digitally compressing a video signal and / or an audio signal,
A data recording device, wherein one frame of video is recorded in at least one or more recording blocks of the recording medium. The data recording device according to claim 3,
The data recording device, wherein the disk-shaped recording medium is a hard disk. The data recording device according to claim 3,
The data recording device according to claim 1, wherein the disk-shaped recording medium is a magneto-optical disk. The data recording device according to claim 3,
The data recording device according to claim 1, wherein the disk-shaped recording medium is a phase-change optical disk.

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