JP5603142B2 - Recording apparatus and recording method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a medium replaceable recording apparatus such as an optical disk drive, and more particularly to a recording apparatus and a recording method that guarantee a recording speed.

  The amount of data handled in recent computer systems tends to increase rapidly. For this reason, data storage services that provide online data storage services are increasing. In the data storage service in the prior art, it is proposed that the data storage cost is set according to the life cycle of the data, and the less important data is automatically moved to the low cost storage to reduce the data storage cost. Yes.

As a recording medium that achieves both data storage cost and ease of use such as random access performance, there is an exchangeable recording medium used for a medium replacement recording apparatus such as an optical disk. Hereinafter, the removable recording medium is referred to as a recording medium in the present specification. In order to record a large amount of data on a recording medium, for example, as described in Patent Document 1, various discs are automatically replaced from a storage unit storing a plurality of disc-shaped recording media, A disk autochanger that can perform continuous recording and / or reproduction over time can be used.
Patent Document 2 discloses a method for efficiently transferring and recording data using a disk autochanger. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes as a problem “To obtain a video server system that can use a large-capacity file suitable for multimedia data such as moving image data at high speed.” A video server that stores and distributes data as a file, and a changer device that is connected to the video server as a storage device for the file and mounts a plurality of storage media that can be exchanged for writing and reading data; The server manages a part or all of a plurality of storage media of the changer device as a single storage device as a file system of the operating system of the video server, and a unit storage logically managed by the file system. Consecutive data arrays are reordered under certain conditions It has been described as. "To the video server system including control means for storing the media.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-144211 JP 11-306190 A

In the prior art, as described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to hide complicated processing and guarantee continuous reading of data during reproduction, but another processing called rearrangement (rearrangement) occurs during writing. . For this reason, there is a problem that the startup time of the device is increased and the power consumption cost is increased.
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a recording method that guarantee a minimum recording speed in a recording apparatus having a plurality of devices.

In order to solve the above problems, a recording apparatus according to the present invention includes an internal bus that interconnects devices in the apparatus, a CPU that controls operation of the entire apparatus, and a memory that temporarily stores data input from HOSTPC A storage I / F, an external I / F that controls connection between the storage I / F and the HOSTPC, and a plurality of recording devices that record on a recording medium set in the storage I / F. A recording device,
The storage I / F responds to the control of the memory and a write request from the external I / F, and the data input to the recording medium set in any of the plurality of recording devices and held in the memory Record
The storage I / F is
A virtual command response unit that virtually responds to the HOSTPC as a single recording device, a device port that records input data held in the memory on a recording medium set in the plurality of recording devices, and An address control unit that converts an address accessed from a virtual command response unit into a logical address for each recording device, and is virtually allocated to the recording medium when the free capacity of the recording medium becomes less than a predetermined value. A remaining amount management unit that instructs the address control unit to change the address allocation method of the address,
The address control unit changes the address allocation method so that addresses are not allocated to recording devices on which a recording medium having a free capacity less than a predetermined value is set in accordance with the instruction, and addresses are allocated to the remaining recording devices. It is.

The storage I / F of the recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a virtual command response unit that virtually responds to the HOSTPC as a single recording apparatus, and data that is input and held in the memory to the plurality of recording devices a device port to be recorded in the set recording medium, and an address control unit for converting the address to be accessed from the virtual command response unit to the logical address of each of the recording device, the free space of the recording medium is less than a predetermined value A remaining amount management unit for instructing the address control unit to change the address allocation method of the address virtually allocated to the recording medium when the address control unit is configured, and the address control unit performs the address allocation method according to the instruction. Is to change.

Changing the address assignment method of the address control unit of the recording apparatus of the invention, which free space is to change the address allocation method to stop recording of said device into said recording medium is less than a predetermined value It is.

Said address control unit of the recording apparatus of the invention, when the free space to stop the recording of the recording device to the recording medium is less than a predetermined value, to assign an address to only the remaining recording device The address assignment method is changed.

  The storage I / F of the recording apparatus according to the invention further includes a medium switching control unit for exchanging the recording medium of the recording device whose free capacity is less than a predetermined value.

Preferably, in the recording apparatus of the above invention , there is a remaining recording device that continues recording with respect to the recording device that stops recording.
Preferably, in the recording apparatus of the invention, the management information of the address control unit is recorded on one specific recording medium of the recording device.

Further, the recording method of the present invention is a recording method for recording data input from HOSTPC in a recording device connected to each of a plurality of device ports.
The free space of the recording medium set in the recording device is monitored, and when the free space becomes less than a predetermined threshold, the recording of the data on the recording device of the recording medium having a free space that is smaller than the predetermined threshold is performed. Controlling the plurality of device ports to stop
Responding virtually to the HOSTPC as a single recording device, associating addresses virtually allocated to recording media set in the plurality of recording devices, and having less space than the predetermined threshold When the recording of the data is stopped on a recording device having a capacity recording medium, the association of the allocated addresses is changed, and the recording device having a recording medium having a free capacity that is smaller than the predetermined threshold is set. No address is assigned to the address, and the address is associated with the remaining recording devices.

  In the recording method of the above invention, the HOST PC is virtually responded as a single recording device, the addresses virtually allocated to the recording media set in the plurality of recording devices are associated, and the predetermined In the case of stopping the recording of the data to the recording device of the recording medium having the free capacity that is smaller than the threshold value, the association of the allocated address is changed to record the free capacity that is smaller than the predetermined threshold value. Addresses are associated only with the remaining recording devices excluding the recording device of the medium.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to guarantee the recording speed at the time of recording without using data rearrangement or a large-capacity buffer. Therefore, even a recording apparatus having a changer mechanism can directly record long-time continuous data such as video / audio data, thereby reducing peripheral devices and power costs.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a storage I / F of the recording apparatus of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the external I / F of one Example apparatus of the recording device of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the address allocation method of one Example of the recording device and recording method of this invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation procedure when the remaining amount is reduced during recording in an embodiment of the recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention.

  A recording apparatus and a recording method of the present invention are a recording apparatus including a plurality of recording drives, and include an address control unit that manages a recording medium, an address notified to a host PC connected to the recording apparatus, and a recording medium. Performs data transfer recording control, a medium switching control unit for setting or removing from a plurality of devices, a virtual command response unit for virtually responding to the command from the host PC as a single device with the configuration of the recording device A buffer control unit, and the remaining amount of a plurality of recording devices to which the medium switching control unit is connected is monitored, and when the remaining amount reaches a predetermined threshold, the address control unit 101 switches the address allocation method to control the medium switching. Department exchanges media. At this time, recording is performed while maintaining the recording speed corresponding to the number of recording devices obtained by subtracting the number of apparatuses exchanging media from the number of recording devices.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the following description is for describing one embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art can employ embodiments in which these elements or all of the elements are replaced with equivalent ones, and these embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of each drawing, the same reference numerals are assigned to components having a common function, and duplication of description is avoided as much as possible.

First, the configuration of the recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the overall configuration of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes a host PC (HOSTPC), and 1 denotes a recording device for writing data input from the HOSTPC2. In the recording apparatus 1, 103 is an external I / F (interface) with data input from an external data apparatus such as HOSTPC 2, 106 is an internal bus of the recording apparatus 1, 100 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), 101 is a memory, Reference numeral 102 denotes a storage I / F (interface), and 104 and 105 denote ODDs (optical disc drives).
The recording apparatus 1 of the present invention is a recording apparatus that is connected to the HOSTPC 2 and records data.

In the recording apparatus 1 of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 100, the memory 101, the storage I / F 102, and the external I / F 103 are connected to each other via an internal bus 106. An ODD 104 and an HDD 105 are connected to the storage I / F 102. The recording apparatus 1 is connected to the HOST PC 2 via the external I / F 103.
The CPU 100 controls the overall operation of the recording apparatus 1.
The memory 101 is used as a program area or a temporary work area of the CPU 100 that is the main controller. Data input from the HOST PC 2 via the external I / F 103 is temporarily held in the memory 101 before being input to the storage I / F 102.

The external I / F 103 in the recording apparatus 1 in FIG. 1 controls connection between the storage I / F 102 and the HOST PC 2. The configuration of the external I / F 103 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the external I / F of an embodiment of the recording apparatus of the present invention. In the external I / F 103 of FIG. 3, 302 is a host port (HP), 301 is a host port control unit (HP control unit) that controls the host port (HP), and 303 is serial ATA (Serial AT Attachment). STAT I / F to be converted into a standard.
The serial ATA standard has a function called a port multiplier (PMP), and a plurality of devices can be connected to one serial ATA port. In this specification, a port connected to the HOSTPC side is called a host port (HP), and a port connecting a plurality of devices is called a device port (DP: Device Port). Although devices other than recording devices, such as playback devices, can be connected to the DP, only the recording device will be described in this specification.

  A storage I / F 102 in the recording apparatus 1 in FIG. 1 is a storage control unit that controls a connected recording device and controls data input from the HP to be recorded in the DP. That is, the storage I / F 102 controls the DP and the storage medium such as the memory 101 included in the recording apparatus 1 and responds to a write request from the DP external I / F 103. The configuration of the storage I / F 102 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the storage I / F of the recording apparatus of the present invention. In the storage I / F 102 of FIG. 2, 201 is an address control unit, 202 is a medium switching control unit, 203 is a virtual command response unit, 204 is an ATAPI (AT Attachment Packet Interface) control unit, and 206 and 207 are DP (device ports). 205 is a buffer control unit, 208 is a remaining amount management unit, and 250 is a bus. A bus 250 is an internal bus that connects the address control unit 201, the medium switching control unit 202, the virtual command response unit 203, the ATAPI control unit 204, the buffer control unit 205, and the remaining amount management unit 208.

  The ATAPI control unit 204 controls the device port. For example, in FIG. 2, DP206 and DP207 are provided so that two devices can be connected. An ODD 104 is connected to the DP 206, and an ODD 105 is connected to the DP 207. The ATAPI control unit 204 receives a write instruction from the address control unit 201, which will be described later, and issues an ATAPI command to the ODD 104 and ODD 105 via the DP 206 or DP 207 to transfer data.

The medium switching control unit 202 controls a changer mechanism (not shown) that can exchange a plurality of recording media (not shown) for the two ODDs 104 and ODD 105 connected to the storage I / F 102. The plurality of recording media can be inserted into, for example, a rack in which a plurality of disks called magazines can be managed as one lump. Preferably, a plurality of disks in one lump cannot be attached or detached, and data management is performed based on management information (described later).
The virtual command response unit 203 makes a virtual command response to the HOST PC 2 connected to the recording apparatus 1 of the present invention as one recording apparatus. Specifically, the recording apparatus 1 manages one magazine as one recording medium. The present invention is not limited to the configuration of one magazine and one recording medium. For example, one magazine can be configured as a plurality of recording media.

The address control unit 201 associates each of a plurality of recording media inserted in one magazine with virtually allocated addresses, and converts an address accessed from the virtual command response unit 203 into a logical address for each recording medium. Then write the data.
Here, a recording method when the address control unit 201 records data will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an address assignment method according to an embodiment of the recording apparatus and the recording method of the present invention. (A) shows the host address of the ODD 104 in which the medium # 1 is set, and (b) shows the medium address of the ODD 104 in which the medium # 1 is set. Similarly, (c) shows the host address of the ODD 105 in which the medium # 2 is set, and (d) shows the medium address of the ODD 105 in which the medium # 2 is set.
As described above, in FIG. 4, the medium # 1 and the medium # 2 are set in the ODD 104 and the ODD 105, respectively. In the present invention, the type of medium is not limited, but there are CD, DVD, BD, and the like.

In the address assignment method of the recording apparatus of the present invention, data is written in parallel on each recording medium in order to improve the recording speed. In the embodiment of FIG. 4, even addresses of host addresses are stored in medium # 1, and odd addresses of host addresses are stored in medium # 2. That is, it was recorded in the host address which is continuous with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,. For data, the data recorded at even addresses 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16,. , 7, 8,. Similarly, the data recorded in the odd addresses 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17,... Are stored as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on the medium # 2. , 7, 8,.
In this way, a single piece of data can be recorded at a high speed by recording a single piece of data separately on two replaceable recording media (medium # 1 and medium # 2). In the case of two recording media, recording can be performed at about twice the speed. Note that the address of which recording medium the host address is recorded in this way is temporarily stored in a memory (not shown) in the address control unit 201, and the recording medium inserted in the magazine is stored in the memory. One is recorded as management information. In the management information, at least which input host address data is written to which address of which magazine of which magazine is written is recorded. For this reason, each recording medium and magazine is given a unique ID associated with the management information.

In FIG. 2, the buffer control unit 205 performs a series of controls such as temporarily storing data sent from the HOST PC 2 and the address control unit 201 converting and recording the address.
The remaining amount management unit 208 monitors the free space of the ODD 104 and the recording medium inserted into the ODD 105, and when the free space becomes smaller than a predetermined threshold value specified in advance, it corresponds to the address control unit 201. Instructs the address allocation method to change so as to stop recording on the medium. In response to this instruction, the address control unit 201 changes to the address assignment method. In addition, the medium switching control unit 202 replaces the disk of the drive whose recording has been stopped. As described above, the address control unit 201 changes the address assignment method, so that the data scheduled to be recorded in the stopped drive is not lost even during medium replacement, and recording can be continued on the other medium. Thereby, the recording speed for one recording device can be secured.

Next, the operation when the free space of the ODD 104 or ODD 105 medium is reduced will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation procedure when the remaining amount is reduced during recording in the embodiment of the recording apparatus and recording method of the present invention.
The storage control unit 201 controls the entire processing operation procedure according to a processing procedure registered in a memory (not shown). That is, the storage control unit 201 controls each device via the bus 250.
In step S501, the remaining amount management unit 208 checks the remaining amount (free capacity) of the ODD 104 or ODD 105.
In step S502, the remaining amount management unit 208 determines whether the remaining amount is less than a predetermined threshold for disk replacement. If the remaining amount is greater than the predetermined threshold value, the remaining amount confirmation (step S501) is repeated. If the remaining amount is less than a predetermined threshold, the address control unit 201 is notified to change the address allocation method.

In step S503, the address control unit 201 changes the address assignment method. The change of the address allocation method is to change the allocation method from the address allocation method of even and odd allocation to two media as described in FIG. 4 to the method of recording on one recording device. As a result, access to the recording device in which the recording medium whose remaining amount is smaller than the predetermined threshold is stopped, so that both the replacement of the recording medium and the continuation of recording to the other (remaining) recording device are compatible. Can do.
That is, the address control unit 201 controls the medium switching unit 202, the ATAPI control unit 204, and the memory 101 so as to record data only at the addresses of the recording media set in the remaining recording devices that are not exchanged. To do.
The predetermined threshold value of the remaining amount set for the replacement of the recording medium is set to a value at which the other recording medium does not overflow during the medium replacement. That is, the address control unit 201 determines a threshold value for changing the address conversion method so as to guarantee the minimum recording speed of the entire recording apparatus. For example, the recording speed of the medium may be monitored, the threshold value may be calculated from the history of medium replacement time, and updated in real time.
When the remaining amount of the two media reaches a predetermined threshold almost simultaneously, one of the recording media that stops access is stopped according to a predetermined priority order, and the other is not stopped. For this reason, the remaining amount threshold is preferably set to a value that can be recorded on the other medium for a sufficient time until one medium is replaced and recording can be started.

As described above, continuous data such as long-time video / audio data can be stably recorded without reconstructing the recording contents of the recording medium.
In the above-described embodiments, the present invention has been described as a recording apparatus. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a recording / reproducing apparatus.
In the above embodiment, ATAPI is used as the device port control interface. However, other control interfaces may be used.

  The configuration of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, examples of the recording device in which a medium connected to the storage I / F 102 can be replaced include a tape drive and an MO (Magno-Optics).

  In the above-described embodiment, the number of device ports has been described as two. However, a plurality of device ports may be used, and the larger the number, the faster the writing can be performed on the recording medium. The recording speed R at that time is the sum of the recording speeds of about (N-1) units when the number of all recording device ports is N (N is a natural number of 2 or more). That is, assuming that the recording speed of each device port is Rn, the recording speed Ra during recording on all recording media is Ra = N × Rn. Further, the recording speed Rb when one of the disks is changing is Rb = (N−1) × Rn, which is more efficient.

  In this way, a recording medium having insufficient free space is monitored, and if the recording medium becomes less than a predetermined threshold, a medium address from the host address is assigned to the device port connected to the recording device in which the recording medium is set. Instead, it is possible to provide a recording apparatus and a recording method that guarantee the minimum recording speed by assigning the medium address from the host address only to the recording devices connected to the remaining device ports.

  1: Recording device, 2: HOSTPC, 100: CPU, 101: Memory, 102: Storage I / F, 103: External I / F, 104, 105: ODD, 106: Data bus, 201: Address control unit, 202 : Medium switching control unit, 203: virtual command response unit, 204: ATAPI control unit, 205: buffer control unit, 206, 207: DP, 208: remaining amount management unit, 250: bus, 301: HP control unit, 302: HP, 303: STAT I / F.

Claims (7)

An internal bus for connecting devices in the apparatus, a CPU for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus, a memory for temporarily storing data input from the HOSTPC, a storage I / F, and an external I / F connected to the HOSTPC A recording apparatus comprising: / F and a plurality of recording devices connected to the storage I / F and recording on a set recording medium,
In response to a write request from the external I / F, the storage I / F records data input to a recording medium set in any of the plurality of recording devices and held in the memory,
The storage I / F is
A virtual command response unit that virtually responds to the HOSTPC as a single recording device, a device port that records input data held in the memory on a recording medium set in the plurality of recording devices, and An address control unit that converts an address accessed from a virtual command response unit into a logical address for each recording device, and is virtually allocated to the recording medium when the free capacity of the recording medium becomes less than a predetermined value. A remaining amount management unit that instructs the address control unit to change the address allocation method of the address,
The address control unit changes an address allocation method so that addresses are not allocated to recording devices on which a recording medium having a free capacity less than a predetermined value is set according to the instruction, and addresses are allocated to the remaining recording devices. A recording apparatus.   2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the change of the address assignment method of the address control unit is performed by stopping the recording of the device on the recording medium whose free space is less than a predetermined value. A recording apparatus characterized by changing.   3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the recording device stops recording on the recording medium whose free space is less than a predetermined value, the address control unit assigns addresses only to the remaining recording devices. A recording apparatus, wherein the address allocation method is changed so as to be allocated.   4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the storage I / F further includes a medium switching control unit that replaces the recording medium of the recording device whose free capacity is less than a predetermined value. Recording device.   5. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein there is a remaining recording device that continues recording with respect to the recording device that stops recording.   6. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein management information of the address control unit is recorded on one specific recording medium of the recording device. In a recording method for recording data input from HOSTPC in a recording device connected to each of a plurality of device ports,
The free space of the recording medium set in the recording device is monitored, and when the free space becomes less than a predetermined threshold, the recording of the data on the recording device of the recording medium having a free space that is smaller than the predetermined threshold is performed. Controlling the plurality of device ports to stop
Responding virtually to the HOSTPC as a single recording device, associating addresses virtually allocated to recording media set in the plurality of recording devices, and having less space than the predetermined threshold When the recording of the data is stopped on a recording device having a capacity recording medium, the association of the allocated addresses is changed, and the recording device having a recording medium having a free capacity that is smaller than the predetermined threshold is set. A recording method characterized by assigning addresses to the remaining recording devices without assigning addresses to them.

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