JP3552280B2 - Information transfer device and information recording device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to various information recording devices having a recording medium with a non-uniform writing speed, and an information transfer device suitable for use when transferring information to these various information recording devices at high speed. .
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application Nos. 4-304706 and 5-21729, the applicant of the present application has been able to transfer information such as voice from an information providing device to a recording device or a recording / reproducing device incorporating a semiconductor memory at high speed. Has proposed an information transfer means for transferring the information to the Internet.
[0003]
FIG. 10 shows an appearance of an embodiment of an information recording / reproducing apparatus 200 based on such a technique.
[0004]
10 is provided with an information transfer device coupling terminal 201, through which information can be copied from the information transfer device to a recording medium installed in the information recording / reproducing device 200.
[0005]
Further, the device 200 of FIG. 10 is provided with a display means 202 and a reproduction selection means 203, and the display means 202 can display the contents of information recorded in the recording medium. The user of the apparatus 200 can selectively reproduce necessary information by using the reproduction selection means 203 such as a button switch based on the contents displayed here. The content of the information includes text information, audio information, video information, a computer program, and the like, and is not particularly limited. Here, the reproduction of the program means that the program is executed. In this case, the user may input information as needed at the time of execution. If the reproduced signal is text information or a video signal, it can be displayed on the display means 202 constituted by a liquid crystal device or the like. If the reproduced signal is audio information, the reproduced signal is output to the earphone 204 or the like. can do.
[0006]
Although not illustrated in the example of FIG. 10, a speaker may be provided instead of the earphone 204 or in addition to the earphone 204. In this case, a reproduction result of audio information is output to the speaker. Can be.
[0007]
Further, although not shown in the example of FIG. 10, the reproduced signal may be connected to an external display device, a speaker, or the like using an external terminal. There is no particular limitation on the type of recording medium, but it is convenient to use a semiconductor memory that can be copied at high speed, is easily accessed at random, and has excellent portability.
[0008]
FIG. 11 is an external view of another configuration example using the above-described technology. In this example, the information recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 10 is physically separated into an information recording apparatus 210 and an information reproducing apparatus 220. ing. However, since data and control signals need to be transmitted and received between the information recording device 210 and the information reproducing device 220 at the time of reproducing, the information recording device 210 and the information reproducing device 220 are provided with terminals for coupling them. In addition, the information transfer device connection terminal 211 and the information reproduction device connection terminal 212 of the information recording device 210 may be configured such that one terminal is actually switched and used. In the example of FIG. 11, the information from the information recording device 210 can be transmitted to the information reproducing device 220 by inserting the information recording device 210 into the insertion / ejection port 221 of the information reproducing device 220. it can.
[0009]
Next, FIG. 12 is an external view of a specific example of the information transfer device 230 using the above-described technology. A recording medium is installed in the information transfer device 230, and information is recorded in the recording medium. Although not shown in FIG. 12, it is convenient that the information to be recorded is transmitted by a wired or wireless information transmitting means. However, needless to say, a recorded recording medium may be directly installed in the apparatus.
[0010]
Further, the device of the specific example of FIG. 12 includes a display unit 232 for displaying the content and price of the recorded information, and an output selection unit 231 for selecting which information is output from the information transfer device 230. The information is displayed on the display unit 232, and the output selection unit 231 makes a selection so that a person who wants to obtain information can select desired information. The information can be obtained by inserting the information recording / reproducing device or the information recording device owned by the user into the insertion / ejection port 234 of the information transfer device 230 and receiving a copy.
[0011]
FIG. 13 is an external view of another specific example of the information transfer device using the above-described technology. In this specific example, the insertion port 241 and the discharge port 242 are separated from each other at a distance, and the information acquisition applicant H can obtain information while walking (moving in the direction of arrow A in the figure). That is, in this case, the information recording device 243 inserted from the insertion port 241 is transported in the device 240 by the moving means (not shown) in the information transfer device 240 in the direction shown by the arrow a in the figure. At this time, the information is copied from the information transfer device 240 to the information recording device 243, and then is discharged from the discharge port 242. The example of this device is convenient for quickly providing information to many people.
[0012]
FIG. 14 is a block circuit diagram showing a specific configuration example when information is transferred from the information transfer device 230 of FIG. 12 to the information recording device 210 of FIG.
[0013]
Here, the information read from the recording medium 111 incorporated in the information transfer device 230 is transferred to the write control means 121 in the information recording device 210 through the transfer control circuit 112. Next, the write control unit 121 completes the transfer of the information from the information transfer device 230 to the information recording device 210 by sequentially writing the transferred information to the recording medium pieces 131 to 133. . Note that the reproduction of the information is realized by the read control unit 141 reading the information from each of the recording medium pieces 131 to 133 and sending the information to the reproducing apparatus via the terminal 103.
[0014]
FIG. 15 shows an example of a state of recording on each of the recording medium pieces 131 to 133 in FIG.
[0015]
In this example, each information D for 186 information blocks as shown in FIG. ₀ ~ D ₁₈₅ Are recorded on the three recording medium pieces 131, 132, and 133. Here, the information block indicates a unit of information, and, for example, one information block is 512 bytes of information. Each of the recording medium pieces 131, 132, and 133 of this example has a recording area (memory blocks M0 to M63) for storing information of 64 information blocks as shown in FIGS. And information D from the 0th information block to the 63rd information block in FIG. ₀ ~ D ₆₃ Are stored in the 0th memory block M0 to the 63rd memory block M63 of the recording medium piece 131, and the information D from the 64th information block to the 127th information block is stored. ₆₄ ~ D ₁₂₇ Is stored in the 0th memory block M0 to the 63rd memory block M63 of the recording medium piece 132, and the information D from the 128th information block to the 185th information block is stored. ₁₂₈ ~ D ₁₈₅ Are stored in the 0th memory block M0 to the 57th memory block M57 of the recording medium 133.
[0016]
By the way, by using a non-volatile memory that does not require backup of information by a battery as a semiconductor memory built in an information recording device that requires portability, there is no inconvenience that recorded information is lost. convenient. Examples of such a non-volatile memory include “Large-capacity non-volatile memory” by Ito et al. (Toshiba Review 1990 Vol. 45 No. 11 pp. 870-873) and “4 Mbit with a minimum chip area” by Masuoka. An EEPROM described in "NAND EEPROM" (Electronic Technology 1992-11 pp. 23-27) can be used.
[0017]
However, since a general EEPROM requires a longer time for writing than a volatile memory, a method of sequentially recording information sent from an information transfer device requires a longer information transfer time. Disadvantage. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned EEPROM, the characteristics of the memory elements constituting the EEPROM vary, and writing to each memory element is not always completed in a fixed time.
[0018]
In order to compensate for the above-mentioned drawbacks, the applicant of the present application has disclosed in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 5-90233 that an information recording apparatus composed of a plurality of recording medium pieces is used in parallel with information. A means for transferring the information to an information recording device at a high speed by performing appropriate writing is proposed. By using this means, the transfer of information can be completed at a very high speed even when a recording medium having a significantly different writing time is used for each memory element.
[0019]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, when information is written in parallel from an information transfer device to an information recording device composed of a plurality of recording medium pieces as described above, the interface between the information transfer device and the information recording device is as simple as possible. Desirably, it is desirable to be able to support recording media of various configurations.
[0020]
However, in the method shown in the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 5-90233, it is necessary to always transmit information specifying an information unit to be transmitted from an information recording device to an information transfer device. Complex control must be performed as a whole. Furthermore, since the order of information to be transferred varies depending on the writing characteristics of the recording medium in the information recording device, the information transfer device must have the ability to transfer information in a random order.
[0021]
As described above, the information transfer apparatus and the information recording apparatus have a configuration in which control information is transmitted and received for each information transfer operation, thereby increasing the cost of control means and transmission / reception means. Become. Further, there is a problem in that the recording medium in the above-mentioned information transfer device becomes expensive because a recording medium that can be accessed at high speed and can be accessed at random is used.
[0022]
The recording density of the semiconductor memory is improving year by year, and as the recording density increases, an information recording apparatus having the same storage capacity can be configured with a smaller number of recording medium pieces. Therefore, it may not be possible to sufficiently cope with various uses in which information transfer is easily performed using various types of recording media.
[0023]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides an information transfer apparatus that can easily provide information to an information recording apparatus using recording media having various configurations. The purpose is.
[0024]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An information transfer device of the present invention has been proposed to achieve the above-described object, and includes an information recording medium on which information is recorded, and an information transfer request signal for receiving an information transfer request signal from the information recording device. Input means, transfer control means for dividing the information into information blocks according to the information transfer request signal and transferring information, information output means for outputting transfer information to the information recording apparatus, and the information recording apparatus Transfer control information input means for receiving more transfer control information, the transfer control information is a signal for the information recording apparatus to write in parallel to a plurality of recording medium pieces, The transfer control means performs information transfer based on the transfer control information so that a continuous information block of the information is continuously recorded in each of the recording medium pieces. Writing speed is it possible to perform the information recording device constituted by different recording medium, a high speed information transfer with a simple control I.
[0025]
Here, the transfer control means specifically performs the following. First, information indicating the number of recording medium pieces for recording the transferred information, information indicating the size of all information to be transferred, or each record in the information recording device is transmitted to the transfer control information input means. The amount of information recorded on the medium piece is transmitted from the information recording device, and if necessary, the information indicating the number of the first transfer information is changed by the number of recording medium pieces for recording the transferred information. It is transmitted to the recording device. Thereafter, information transfer control is performed using the information transfer request signal, for example, one pulse signal.
[0027]
Further, the information recording apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of recording medium pieces capable of recording information, information input means for receiving information from the information transfer apparatus, and information from the information transfer apparatus to the recording medium piece. The information input means receives transfer information divided into information blocks from the information transfer device, and the control means, in the plurality of recording medium pieces, In the information transfer device, the transfer information is written in parallel to the plurality of recording medium pieces so that a continuous information block of the information is continuously recorded in each of the recording medium pieces. .
[0029]
Further, the information recording apparatus of the present invention further includes a recording medium piece selecting means, and selects a recording medium piece to be written by the control means from among the plurality of recording medium pieces. Furthermore, it has an information transfer request signal output means and can transmit an information transfer request signal to the information transfer device, and can perform information transfer at high speed with simple control. .
[0030]
Here, the control means specifically performs the following. First, prior to the information transfer, information indicating the number of recording medium pieces for recording the transfer information, information indicating the size of the transfer information recorded on each of the plurality of recording medium pieces, or information from the transfer control information output means. Transfer control information including information indicating the size of an information block in transfer is transmitted to the information transfer device. Thereafter, control is performed by transmitting an information transfer request signal, for example, one pulse signal to the information transfer device.
[0033]
In other words, the information transfer apparatus of the present invention can be used in an information recording apparatus including a recording medium having a non-uniform writing speed for each recording unit, such as a flash memory, in a regular order for a plurality of recording medium pieces. By performing writing in parallel, highly efficient information transfer can be realized with simple control. Further, the present invention can easily cope with an information recording device composed of various recording media.
[0034]
This makes it possible to use the device of the present invention to transfer information to various recording media with a simple configuration, at low power and at high speed, and to easily realize information management after transfer.
[0035]
[Action]
Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, in an information recording apparatus configured with a recording medium having a non-uniform writing speed for each recording unit, such as a flash memory, writing is performed in parallel on a plurality of recording medium pieces in a regular order. This realizes highly efficient information transfer with simple control. Further, the present invention can easily cope with an information recording device including various recording media.
[0036]
【Example】
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0037]
First, a schematic configuration of an information recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 which shows an information transfer apparatus according to the present invention.
[0038]
In the information recording device 2 shown in FIG. 1, information transfer is started when an input / output control circuit 21 installed in the device 2 transmits an information transfer request signal to the information transfer device 1.
[0039]
Next, the information transfer device 1 transmits the information block to the information buffer 22 via the input / output control circuit 21 based on the request. The information of the information block temporarily recorded in the information buffer 22 is written by the write control circuit 23 into a plurality (1 to N) of recording medium pieces 31. ₁ ~ 31 _N Are written in parallel. Here, the information block indicates a group of information transferred in response to one information transfer request signal.
[0040]
By the way, the time required to write the above-mentioned recording medium piece into each memory block varies, and it is not always guaranteed that correct writing is completed after a certain time. However, it is possible to verify the success or failure of writing by reading the written contents after writing and checking whether or not the written contents match the information to be written. The method of improving the reliability of writing by repeating writing and verification up to the number of times is described in the above-mentioned document “Large-capacity nonvolatile memory” and “4 Mbit NAND-type EEPROM with minimum chip area”. I have.
[0041]
In the present embodiment, the above-described function is built in each recording medium piece, and information on whether or not correct recording has been completed is stored in each recording medium piece 31. ₁ ~ 31 _N To the write control circuit 23.
[0042]
Further, the write control circuit 23 records the record information as to whether or not the information block of each memory block of each recording medium piece is valid in the record information recording means 41. For example, when writing to the recording medium piece fails, the data of the information block is recorded in another memory block, and indicates that such an exceptional writing has been performed, as described later. Information is recorded in the recording information recording means 41. Then, when the writing of the data of the information block to the recording medium piece is completed, the write control circuit 23 records the information of the memory block number to be written next in the recording medium piece in the control register 24. Therefore, the input / output control circuit 21 issues an information transfer request to the information transfer device 1 based on the state of the control register 24.
[0043]
The above operation is repeated until the transfer of all the requested information is completed.
[0044]
Further, at the time of reproducing information, the read control circuit 51 reads out each of the recording medium pieces 31 based on the recording information recorded in the recording information recording means 41. ₁ ~ 31 _N The information is read out and transmitted to the information reproducing apparatus via the output terminal 3 for reproduction.
[0045]
Next, a, b, and c in FIG. 2 indicate that information of 186 information blocks as shown in FIG. ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ FIG. 3 shows an example of recording information recorded in the recording information recording means 41 of the information recording apparatus 2 in that case.
[0046]
In this example, information of 186 information blocks similar to that of FIG. ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ Has been recorded over. Here, the recording medium piece 31 ₂ No. 1 memory block M1 and recording medium piece 31 ₃ No. 0 memory block M0 indicates a memory block that could not be written correctly. Also, the recording medium piece 31 ₁ No. 62 memory block M62 and No. 63 memory block M63 and recording medium piece 31 ₂ No. 62 memory block M62 and recording medium piece 31 ₃ No. 62 memory block M62 is a memory block in which no information is written. Furthermore, each recording medium piece 31 in this example ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ Can store information for 64 blocks, and the information from the 0th information block to the 185th information block as in FIG. ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ As long as writing can be correctly performed on the three recording medium pieces 31 ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ Are recorded in an order that traverses the vertical axis. In the example of FIG. 2, each recording medium piece 31 ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ The number of the information block recorded in the sequence is continuous, but the advantage of recording in such an order will be described later.
[0047]
Here, if the recording of a certain memory block is not completed within a predetermined time, the information of the information block to be recorded in the memory block is written in another memory block, and such information is written in another memory block. The fact that the exceptional writing has been performed is recorded in the recording information recording means 41 as shown in FIG.
[0048]
As described above, information indicating that exceptional writing has been performed is recorded in the recording information recording means 41. For example, even and odd addresses of the storage area in the recording information recording means 41 The information of the position of the memory block where the information of the information block should be originally recorded and the information of the position of the memory block where the information of the information block is actually written are recorded.
[0049]
In the example of FIG. ₃ The information of the 124th information block to be written in the 0th memory block M0 of the ₃ Is recorded in address 0 m1 and address m1 of the storage area of the recording information recording means 41. ₂ The information of the 63rd information block to be written in the 1st memory block M1 of the ₂ The fact that the data has been written to the 63rd memory block M63 is recorded at addresses 2 and 3 of the storage area of the recording information recording means 41. Further, an exceptional write is performed for these two memory blocks. Information e indicating that only _-1 (For example, information of -1) is recorded at address m4 of the recording information recording means 41.
[0050]
Such exceptional writing information is recorded in the recording information recording means 41 at the time when such recording is performed. In this example, when writing is performed in an exceptionally different location from the original recording position, recording is performed in order from the end of the empty area, thereby making it possible to write information without wasting the recording area. This is convenient because the recording position can be determined regardless of the length. Various other methods can be considered in the case where writing to each recording element is not performed correctly. Such an example is described in Japanese Patent Application No. It is described in the specification and drawings of 5-90233.
[0051]
Next, FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining the functions of the control register 24 and the information buffer 22 used by the input / output control circuit 21 and the write control circuit 23 in the information recording apparatus 2 of FIG. .
[0052]
In this example, as the control register 24, as shown in FIG. ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ , An S register including an S1, S2, and S3 register for holding an information block number at which writing is started; ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ And a P register including a P1 register, a P2 register, and a P3 register for designating an information block number to be written next, ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ , A Q register including a Q1, Q2, and Q3 register for holding an information block number to be transferred next, and a T register indicating whether a transfer request is made.
[0053]
Here, when the information transfer request signal is output from the device 2 to the information transfer device 1, for example, 0 (TRUE = 0) is set as a TRUE state in the T register. When it is no longer necessary, for example, 1 (FALSE = 1) is set as the FALSE state in the T register.
[0054]
Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the information buffer 22 is a so-called ring buffer in which information of the information block transmitted from the information transfer device 1 is cyclically recorded. In this example, the buffer length L = 12, and it can be considered that the four buffers 61 to 64 having the buffer length L = 3 have a continuous configuration. That is, as described above, the information of the information block transferred from the information transfer apparatus 1 is stored in the three recording medium pieces 31. ₁ , 31 ₂ , 31 ₃ Before being written into the information buffer 22, the information block temporarily stored in the information buffer 22 after being stored at the address 11 (b11) of the information buffer 22 is again addressed to the address 0 (b0). Will be stored. In this example, the recording medium pieces 31 are stored at addresses 0 (b0), 3 (b3), 6 (b6) and 9 (b9) of the information buffer. ₁ To book Come
Information of the information block to be inserted (D ₂₂ , D ₂₃ , D ₂₄ , D ₂₁ ) Are stored in the information buffer 22 at addresses 1 (b1), 4 (b4), 7 (b7), and 10 (b10). ₂ Information block information (D ₈₄ , D ₈₅ , D ₈₆ , D ₈₃ ) Are stored in the information buffer 22 at address 2 (b2), address 5 (b5), address 8 (b8) and address 11 (b11). ₃ Information block information (D ₁₄₆ , D ₁₄₇ , D ₁₄₄ , D ₁₄₅ ) Are stored respectively.
[0055]
Here, among the information of the information blocks stored in the information buffer 22, the information of the information block shaded in FIG. 5 has already been written into the corresponding recording medium piece ( Information D ₁₄₅ , D ₈₃ , D ₂₁ , D ₁₄₄ , D ₂₃ , D ₁₄₆ , D ₂₂ Has been completed), and as shown in FIG. ₁ Contains information of information blocks 0 to 23, the recording medium piece 31 ₂ Information of the information blocks from the 62nd to the 83rd, the recording medium piece 31 ₃ Indicates that the writing of the information of the information blocks from No. 124 to No. 146 has been completed, and the values (R0 and R24, and R0 and R24) in the S1 register to the S3 register and the P1 to P3 registers of the S register and the P register R62 and R84, and R124 and R147).
[0056]
The information buffer 22 has a recording medium piece 31. ₁ Up to the 24th information block to be written into the _Two The information block for the recording medium piece 31 up to 86 _Three It can be recognized from the values (R25, R87, R148) in the Q1 register to the Q3 register in the Q register that the information blocks up to 147 are already stored.
[0057]
In this state, the addresses in the information buffer 22 where the information of the information block transferred next from the information transfer device 1 should be stored are (Q1-S1), (Q2-S2) and (Q3-S1) of the control register 24. Assuming that the value of the Q register at which S3) is the largest and the recording medium piece number is the largest is X, and the address of the information buffer 22 storing the (X-1) information block is A, the address (A + 1) is Yes, that is, in this example, the information of the 148th information block is stored at the address 8 (b8).
[0058]
Further, in this state, the value of the P register in which (P1-S1), (P2-S2) and (P3-S3) of the control register 24 are the minimum value and the recording medium piece number is the minimum is Y, and Y Assuming that the address of the information buffer 22 in which the address information block is stored is B, the writing of the information block of the address (B-1), that is, the information block of the address 0 in this example, has already been completed. ing. Therefore, new information can be transferred and stored in the information buffer 22 from the continuous address (A + 1) to the address (B-1). In other words, in this example, the information buffer 22 has the 148th information block and the 25th information in the addresses 8 (b8), 9 (b9), 10 (b10), 11 (b11), and 0 (b0) of the information buffer 22, respectively. The information of the block, the 87th information block, the 149th information block, and the 26th information block can be transferred from the information transfer device 1 and stored.
[0059]
Next, processing in the input / output control circuit 21 of the information recording apparatus 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0060]
First, a user of the information recording device 2 selects information to be transferred from the information transfer device 1. Here, as a method of this selection, for example, as described in the information transfer apparatus of FIG. 12, the user can use an output selection unit or the like provided in the information transfer apparatus 1.
[0061]
Further, the information transfer apparatus 1 has memory management information such as a start position and an information amount of information corresponding to the selected information, and records the start position S1 and the information amount I of the transfer information by the selection. Transmit to the device 2. Accordingly, in response to the transmission of the information transfer device 1, the input / output control circuit 21 receives the start position S1 and the information amount I in step S101.
[0062]
In the next step S102, the parallel degree M of information transfer control is transmitted from the device 2 to the information transfer device 1. here. The parallelism M indicates the number of recording medium pieces required to record the transfer information.
[0063]
Thereby, in the information transfer apparatus 1 and the information recording apparatus 2, the information amount I of the selected transfer information and the number M of the recording medium pieces required for recording the transfer information are determined in each of the recording medium pieces. The information amount J to be recorded can be obtained as the information amount obtained by dividing the information amount I by the parallelism M. Therefore, in step S103, the information amount J is calculated from the information amount J and the start position S1 of the selected transfer information. , M (i = 1, 2,..., M), which is the number of the first transfer information in each recording medium piece. However, the information amount J does not exceed the information amount obtained by subtracting the above-described exceptional writable area capacity from the recording capacity of each recording medium piece.
[0064]
That is, in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, the information recording device 2 transmits M = 3 to the information transfer device 1 after receiving S1 = 0 and I = 186 from the information transfer device 1, thereby performing the information transfer. In both the device 1 and the information recording device 2, J = 62 can be obtained. Therefore, S1 = 0, S2 = S1 + J = 62, and S3 = S2 + J = 124 can be obtained. Also, the same processing can be performed by transmitting the previously obtained information amount J to the information transfer apparatus 1 instead of the parallelism M.
[0065]
Further, at the time of initial setting, by transmitting the size of the information block in the information transfer to the information transfer device in advance, it is possible to cope with various information recording devices configured with various recording media. It is convenient.
[0066]
In subsequent steps S104 and S105, Qi, which is the number of the next transfer information for each recording medium piece, is initialized as Qi = Si (i = 1, 2,..., M) and transferred as T = TRUE. Start control.
[0067]
In the next step S106, it is checked whether or not the information at the address (A + 1) in the information buffer 22 in which the next transfer information from the information transfer device 1 is to be stored has already been written to the corresponding recording medium piece. I do. This can be understood by checking whether (Qi-Pi) is smaller than (L / M) in the corresponding recording medium piece i. That is, in the example of FIGS. ₁₄₄ Indicates that Q3-P3 = 1 is smaller than 12/3 = 4, which means that writing to the recording medium piece i = 3 has already been completed, and the next transfer information can be stored. If it is determined in step S106 that the storable area is not secured in the information buffer 22 (No), step S106 is repeated until the storable area is secured. In the meantime, as described later, the write control circuit 23 executes the writing of the information block from the information buffer 22 to the recording medium piece, and as a result, a storable area is secured in the information buffer 22 (Yes). In the next step S107, the information transfer apparatus 1 is requested to transfer an information block.
[0068]
Thus, the information transfer device 1 transfers the Qi-th information block to be written to the recording medium piece i from the storable area. In the next step S108, the transferred information block is received. In the following step S109, it is determined whether or not the received information block is a transfer end code. If not, the process proceeds to step S110. After storing the information block in the information buffer 22, the Qi value is updated in the next step S111, and the process returns to the step S106 to repeat the above processing.
[0069]
That is, in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5, the information block 148 transferred by the transfer request is stored in the address 8 of the information buffer 22 as described above, and the Q3 value is updated to 149.
[0070]
On the other hand, if the transfer end code is received in step S109 (Yes), the content of the T register is changed to FALSE in step S112, and it will be described later that new information will not be transferred in the future. After allowing the write control circuit 23 to recognize, the write control ends.
[0071]
Next, processing in the write control circuit 23 of the information recording apparatus 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0072]
First, in step S201, the write control circuit 23 selects a recording medium piece i (i = 1, 2,..., N) for writing. The selection of the recording medium pieces may be simply performed continuously in the order of the recording medium piece numbers, or may be a recording medium piece on which no information is recorded or on which unnecessary information is recorded.
[0073]
In the next step S202, using Si (i = 1, 2,..., M) obtained in the same manner as step S103 of the input / output control circuit 21 as described above, this is selected in the previous step S201. This is set as the information block number to be written first in each recording medium piece.
[0074]
That is, in the examples of FIGS. 4 and 5 described above, first, all three recording medium pieces are selected (M = 3), and then, of the information blocks recorded on the recording medium in the information transfer apparatus 1, , 0, 62 and 124 are the first information blocks in each recording medium piece. That is, in step S202, the P register is set with P1 = 0, P2 = 62, and P3 = 124. Of course, it is also possible to select only two of the three recording medium pieces (M = 2). In this case, in step S201, the register corresponding to the non-selected recording medium piece is invalidated. At the same time, power consumption is suppressed by lowering the voltage applied to the unselected recording medium piece. Note that the above-described control of lowering the applied voltage is effective even at the time of an operation of reading information, and it is possible to suppress power consumption in a recording medium piece that is not subject to read control.
[0075]
In the next step S203, it is checked whether or not there is a recording medium piece in a writable state among the recording medium pieces selected in step S201, and if not (No), a writable state is determined. Step S203 is repeated until.
[0076]
On the other hand, if there is a recording medium piece in a writable state (Yes), in a succeeding step S204, a recording medium piece to which writing is actually performed is determined. This is performed by using a register Pi corresponding to each selected recording medium piece. (I = 1, 2,..., M) may be checked, and the recording medium piece i corresponding to Pi having the minimum value may be selected.
[0077]
In the next step S205, the selected Pi value is compared with the corresponding Qi value. If the Pi value is smaller than the Qi value (Yes), it indicates that the information block indicated by Pi has already been stored in the information buffer, and in the next step S206, the recording medium corresponding to i is determined. Write to one side. After the writing is completed, Pi is updated in step S207, and the process returns to step S203 to repeat the above processing.
[0078]
On the other hand, if the Pi value is equal to or greater than the Qi value in step S205 (No), it is determined that the information block to be written has not yet been transferred to the information buffer 22, and in step S208, the information transfer will be performed in the future. Whether or not new information is transferred from the device 1 is checked by the T register.
[0079]
Here, if T = TRUE (Yes), there is a possibility that new information will be transferred in the future, so the process returns to step S203 and the above processing is repeated. On the other hand, if T = FALSE (No) Since there is no possibility that new information will be transferred in the future, in the next step S209, it is checked whether or not all the information blocks stored in the information buffer 22 have been written to the corresponding recording medium pieces. .
[0080]
In step S209, when it is determined that the writing has been completed (Yes), the writing control is ended. On the other hand, when there is an unwritten information block remaining (No), the process returns to step S203. Repeat the above process.
[0081]
Here, in FIGS. 6 and 7, at the start of step S102 and at the end of step S201, at the end of step S105 and at the end of step S202, at the end of step S103 and at the start of step S203, synchronization is established. It is assumed that they are in place, but such synchronization is not difficult.
[0082]
In particular, although the input / output control circuit 21 and the write control circuit 23 are separately illustrated in FIG. 1, it is needless to say that the control means having a hardware-integrated configuration may have the above functions. Yes, this allows easy synchronization between the input / output control circuit 21 and the write control circuit 23.
[0083]
The most important feature of the present invention is that the transfer order of information blocks is regular. This eliminates the need for the information recording device 2 to specify which number of information blocks to transmit to the information transfer device 1 for each transfer. Therefore, the information transfer request signal from the information recording device 2 to the information transfer device 1 can be realized, for example, only by transmitting a 1-bit pulse signal. This is also effective when the memory configuration of the information recording device 2 is different. Therefore, the method of the present invention can efficiently realize information transfer to various information recording devices.
[0084]
Further, another important feature of the present invention is that information can be transferred to a required minimum number of recording medium pieces by selecting a recording medium piece to be written at the time of information transfer. As a result, the number of chip select operations required for a recording medium piece can be reduced, and information transfer can be performed in a shorter time as compared with a case where transfer information extends over many recording medium pieces. Can be. Further, as a result, for example, in a flash EEPROM, as a necessary erasing operation before writing information, the ratio of the number of times of chip erasing is larger than that of block erasing, so that the erasing time can be shortened. The time required for the transfer can also be reduced. At the same time, the power consumption of the information recording apparatus can be reduced by setting the non-selected recording medium pieces to a low power consumption state, that is, a so-called sleep mode.
[0085]
Further, another important feature of the present invention is that, as a result of the information transfer, the information block numbers are consecutive in each recording medium piece, so that the information reading operation, the erasing operation, the editing, etc. of the information recording device after the information transfer are performed. In this control, memory management can be easily performed. In other words, the fact that the information block numbers are consecutive in each recording medium piece enables information to be read out at high speed by the necessary minimum number of chip select operations. The low power consumption state enables low power consumption. Therefore, even when information is further transferred to another information recording apparatus, high-speed information transfer can be performed.
[0086]
Here, the usefulness of the information buffer will be described. If the information recording device is not equipped with an information buffer, the information transferred in a regular order will be directly written on the recording medium piece. Here, if the writing time to a certain recording medium piece is longer than usual, there arises a problem that information to be written next to the recording medium piece and information after that cannot be transferred from the information transfer device.
[0087]
Therefore, by providing the information buffer as described above, it is possible to solve the above-described inconvenience that occurs when information is written to a large number of recording medium pieces in parallel. That is, in the information recording device, before the writing to the recording medium piece corresponding to the information block of a certain number is completed, the information block of the number or later is already received from the information transfer device and stored in the information buffer. Therefore, writing to another recording medium piece can be performed in parallel.
[0088]
On the other hand, when the information buffer becomes full, the transfer of information is interrupted. For example, in the case of an EEPROM, the variation in the writing time is relatively small in most of the memory elements. When the average is considered for all the blocks, writing can be performed in a substantially uniform time. Therefore, when the information buffer has a capacity sufficient to absorb the variation in the writing time, the interruption of the information transfer is reduced, and the writing time as a whole, that is, the transfer time can be shortened.
[0089]
By the way, the information buffer 22 may have various configurations other than the configurations shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and FIG. 8 shows a configuration example when another information buffer 22 is used.
[0090]
In this example, the information buffers 311, 312 and 313 are individually provided corresponding to the respective recording medium pieces 321, 322 and 323. Each information buffer is a so-called FIFO (First In First Out) buffer, and information is output in the input order. However, the control performed by the input / output control circuit 301 and the write control circuit 303 using the control register 302 is similar to the method described above.
[0091]
Here, the input / output control circuit 301 allocates the information block transferred from the information transfer device to each of the information buffers, and determines which information block is allocated to which information buffer by the number of the information block, that is, the information block. Can be easily determined by the order in which they are transferred.
[0092]
As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the order in which information is transferred to various information recording devices having various memory configurations is always regular, and therefore, the recording medium in the information transfer device is previously determined. It is possible to read information from and store it in a buffer memory. Therefore, as a large-capacity recording medium built in the information transfer device, a recording medium with a relatively low speed of reading is used in parallel, and information read from the recording medium is held in a buffer memory capable of high-speed reading and writing. Thereafter, the data can be transferred from the buffer memory to the information recording device with a simple control.
[0093]
Next, an embodiment of an information transfer device equipped with the above buffer memory will be described with reference to FIG.
[0094]
In FIG. 9, the control register 414 includes the information block number A to be transferred to the information recording device 2 next, the information block number B to be written to the information buffer 412 next, and the size C of all information to be transferred. Holding.
[0095]
First, prior to information transfer, the numbers A and B are reset to zero. Next, the identification information for identifying the information to be transferred from the information transfer device 1 to the information recording device 2 transmitted from the information recording device 2 is received, and the input / output control circuit 413 transmits the information corresponding to the identification information. Is recorded in the control register 414 as C. Subsequently, information indicating the degree of parallelism of information transfer is received from the information recording device 1, and a regular transfer order is determined based on the information.
[0096]
Thereafter, the input / output control circuit 413 checks the control register 414 every time there is an information transfer request signal from the information recording device 2, and if the A-th information block stored in the information buffer 412 has not been transferred, This is transmitted to the information recording device 2 to update the value of A. Further, the read control circuit 411 checks the control register 414, and if there is a free space in the information buffer 412, reads the No. B information block from the recording medium 401 or 402 and stores it in the information buffer 412. Update the value. The above control is repeated until the transfer of the entire information amount C to be transferred is completed.
[0097]
When the information buffer 412 is installed in the information transfer apparatus 1 as shown in FIG. 9, the information buffer in the information recording apparatus 2 shown in FIG. The information block transferred from the information transfer device 1 based on the information transfer request signal can be directly written into each recording medium piece.
[0098]
In FIGS. 1 and 9, transmission / reception information between the information transfer apparatus 1 and the information recording apparatus 2 indicates the number of signal lines for transmitting information between the information transfer apparatus 1 and the information recording apparatus 2 by transmitting / receiving in a time-division manner. It is possible to reduce it.
[0099]
This embodiment is applicable to all of FIGS. 10 to 13, and the above description is directed to a case where audio information is transferred from an information transfer apparatus to an information recording apparatus as shown in FIG. However, the present invention can be applied to a case where information is transferred from a general information transfer device to an information recording device, and the content thereof is not necessarily limited to audio information, and they are included in the present invention. Needless to say. Furthermore, for example, it is also possible to regard an information recording device that has once received information transfer as a new information transfer device, and to transfer information from this device to another information recording device. In this case, by using the information buffer for both writing and reading, the cost of the apparatus can be advantageously reduced.
[0100]
When a semiconductor memory medium or a disk medium that can be randomly accessed is used as a recording medium in the information recording apparatus, the effect of high-speed information transfer can be obtained. Further, by using a nonvolatile memory, a power supply for holding information can be provided. This is unnecessary, and the size of the device can be further reduced. Furthermore, information can be easily rewritten by using an electrically rewritable non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. The same can be said for the recording medium in the information transfer device. However, a read-only recording medium can be used. For example, by using an optical disk or the like, the cost of the device can be reduced.
[0101]
【The invention's effect】
As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in an information recording apparatus including a recording medium having a non-uniform writing speed for each recording unit, such as a flash memory, a rule is applied to a plurality of recording medium pieces. By performing writing in parallel in a specific order, it is possible to realize highly efficient information transfer with simple control. Further, it is possible to easily cope with an information recording device constituted by various recording media. That is, according to the present invention, it is possible to transfer various information to a recording medium having various configurations at high speed with a simple configuration, and to easily manage the transferred information in the information recording / reproducing apparatus.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an information recording device and an information transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram (memory map) for explaining a method of recording information in the information recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram (memory map) for explaining an operation of a recording information recording unit of the information recording apparatus of the embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an operation of a control register of the information transfer device of the present embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation of an information buffer of the information transfer device according to the embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing in an input / output control circuit of the information recording apparatus of the present embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of processing in a write control circuit of the information recording apparatus of the present embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a block circuit diagram showing another configuration of the information buffer of the information recording apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a block circuit diagram illustrating a configuration of an information recording device and a detailed information transfer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is an external view of an information recording / reproducing device.
FIG. 11 is an external view of an information recording device and an information reproducing device.
FIG. 12 is an external view of an information transfer device.
FIG. 13 is an external view of another information transfer device.
FIG. 14 is a block circuit diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional information recording device and information transfer device.
FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a conventional information recording method.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Information transfer device
2 Information recording device
21,301,413 I / O control circuit
22,311,312,313,412 Information buffer
24, 302, 414 Control register
23,303 Write control circuit
31,321,322,323 Recording medium pieces
41 Recorded information recording means
51,411 read control circuit
401, 402 recording medium

Claims (18)

An information recording medium on which information is recorded,
Information transfer request signal input means for receiving an information transfer request signal from the information recording device,
Therefore, the information transfer request signal, a transfer control unit that divides the information into information blocks, performs information transfer,
Information output means for outputting transfer information to the information recording device,
An information transfer device having transfer control information input means for receiving transfer control information from the information recording device ,
The transfer control information is a signal for the information recording device to write in parallel to a plurality of recording medium pieces,
The transfer control means performs information transfer based on the transfer control information so that a continuous information block of the information is continuously recorded in each of the recording medium pieces. Information transfer device. The transfer control information, the information transfer apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an information indicating the number of memory chips for recording the transferred information. The transfer control information, the information transfer apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an amount of information recorded in each recording medium pieces in said information recording apparatus. The transfer control information, the information transfer apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an information indicating the size of the information block in the information transfer. It said transfer control means, the second transfer control information including information indicating the size of all the information to perform the information transfer, the information transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting to the information recording apparatus. 6. The information transfer apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the second transfer control information includes information indicating a start position of information to be transferred. Transfer information selecting means for selecting the transfer information; inputting identification information for identifying information to be transferred; inputting information indicating the size of the entire information and indicating the start position based on the input information; information transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein obtaining information. A plurality of recording medium pieces capable of recording information,
Information input means for receiving information from the information transfer device;
Control means for writing information from the information transfer device to the recording medium piece ,
The information input means receives transfer information divided into information blocks from the information transfer device,
The control means may store the transfer information in the plurality of recording medium pieces so that a continuous information block of the information is continuously recorded in the recording medium pieces in the information transfer device. An information recording apparatus for performing writing on a recording medium piece in parallel . The recording medium strip selecting means for selecting one of a plurality of recording medium pieces is provided, according to claim 8, wherein the selecting the memory chips to be written by the control means among the plurality of recording medium pieces Information recording device. 9. The information recording apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising information transfer request signal output means for outputting an information transfer request signal, and transmitting the information transfer request signal to said information transfer apparatus. The information recording apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the information transfer request signal is one pulse signal. 9. The information recording apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising transfer control information output means for outputting transfer control information, and transmitting the transfer control information to said information transfer apparatus. 13. The information recording apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the transfer control information is transmitted to the information transfer apparatus before starting information transfer. 13. The information recording apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the transfer control information includes information indicating the number of recording medium pieces for recording the transfer information . 13. The information recording apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the transfer control information includes information indicating a size of the transfer information recorded on each of the plurality of recording medium pieces. 13. The information recording apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the transfer control information includes information indicating a size of an information block in information transfer. 9. The information recording apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising transfer control information input means for receiving, from the information transfer apparatus, second transfer control information including information indicating the size of all information to be transferred. . 18. The information recording apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the second transfer control information includes information indicating a start position of information to be transferred.

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