JPH011186A - information recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Yf] The present invention provides an information recording device using a write-once information recording medium;
Or it relates to a data management method in a recording/reproducing device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in card-type additional recording media, especially optical cards, in order to efficiently process large amounts of information, a file data section in which data is recorded and a way to manage it have been developed. An index section is usually provided on the medium.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the conventional management method, in which the file data section DA (Data ar
ea ) and the index section I A (
Index area) (7) There is also a note showing the layout.

When recording information, index data was recorded sequentially from a to b on the recording medium, and file data was recorded sequentially from b to a.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the example of FIG. 5, when the distance between a and b is large during recording, that is, when the medium has a large capacity,
After recording the file data, the recording head is moved to the index section IA and the predetermined index data is recorded. Therefore, the time for moving the recording head (hereinafter referred to as seek time) becomes long, and the throughput during recording increases. The disadvantage was that it decreased.

In addition, during playback, all the information in the index section IA is recorded in the internal memory of the recording/playback device or the memory in the host before playing back the desired track. Therefore, even when a small portion of the recording medium is to be reproduced, the entire index section IA must be read, resulting in a disadvantage that the throughput during reproduction is reduced.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In view of the problems of the prior art described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an information recording device equipped with an information management method that can improve the throughput of information during recording or reproduction. do.

The purpose of the above is to provide an information recording device that records information on a write-once information recording medium by dividing it into information blocks each having a file data section and an index section having index data for managing the file data section. This is achieved by an information recording device characterized in that the index section includes a chain index having information for logically connecting a plurality of index sections.

Note that the information recording apparatus of the present invention can also be an information recording/reproducing apparatus having a function of reproducing recorded information, and generally an apparatus having both functions is common.

[Operation] According to the information recording device as described above, the index information corresponding to each data is recorded for each information block, and both are close to each other on the recording medium, so that the index information corresponding to each data is recorded for each information block. The seek time of the first and second keys is minimized. In addition, in order to solve the difficulty of access due to the dispersion of each information block, each index section is related to a plurality of index sections in terms of position on the recording medium, etc.
Know one index part. By doing so, the position of the next index section can be known, and throughput can be improved, especially in applications such as information recording and reproduction, where file data of different characteristics is different for each information block.

Embodiments] Hereinafter, the information recording device of the present invention will be described in detail based on specific embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of how to use a recording medium in an information recording apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an information recording medium such as an optical card, and DAI
, DA2 is a file data section, and IAI and IA2 are index sections having index data for managing the data recording section.

IAI and DAI, and IA2 and DA2 are each paired, and the index data of DAl is recorded in IAl. Each of these sets constitutes an information block.

Further, each of the index sections IAI and IA2 includes information for logically combining a plurality of index sections. If this information area is referred to as chain index CII in FIG. 1, this CII has the purpose of improving throughput in recording or reproduction processing.

This method will be explained below using a recording operation as an example.

Part 2 is a diagram schematically showing a host computer 2 and a recording/reproducing device (hereinafter referred to as a drive) 3 in a recording device.

When an unrecorded recording medium 1 is set in the drive 3,
The drive 3 records an area index Sll indicating the area of the index portion IAI in FIG. 1 on the track 1 in accordance with the command from the host 2.

The area index SII includes information that can be distinguished from other index data and information indicating the size of the area of the area index, such as the number of tracks. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the area index SII.
, index data Dll to DIn, and a chain index C11. In the same figure, lO
is an area for recording the name of each index, 11 is an area for storing its track number, and 12 is an area for recording the recorded 11
Attachment 1 This is an area for recording time, etc. Note that the SII track number is the physical track number where the first file data is written, or the track number indicating the range of IAI, or DIl.
``The DIn track number is the logical track number where file data is written, and the CII track number is the physical track number where the next area index is placed.

Also, area index SI1. Data indexes DII, DI2..., D I'n are both named after files, but area index SII is index data DII to DIn.
It is possible to easily distinguish by configuring a character string other than a character string that can be used for index data. Of course, it is also possible to configure any bit in the index data as an identification bit.

During subsequent recording or reproduction, the beginning of the file data area can be easily obtained by referring to the information in the area index SII.

When recording file data on the medium on which only the SII is recorded, the drive 3 reproduces the index information and stores the write start position of the file data in the internal memory of the drive 3.

Here, when a recording command is transmitted from the host 2 to the drive 3, the drive 3 becomes the SII tracker shown in FIG.

500) Record the file data from the rack, and record the recording start track number and the number of recorded tracks in the internal memory.

After recording the file data, the host 2 transfers information for managing the file data, such as file name, date, time, etc., to the drive 3 as index data information, and the drive 3 stores the transferred information in the index data area DII. to be recorded.

After the drive 3 records the index data DII,
The current track position and the track number of SIl are compared, and if (track number of Sll - current track position)>, it is determined that the index information area set in the index unit IAI has not been consumed yet, and.

If (SII track number - current track position)==, this indicates that there is no room to record the next index, so a new index section (indicated by IA2 in FIG. 1) is created. That is, the track number of SI1 becomes the offset value of the file data track number. This track number ultimately determines the size of the index section IAI. Also, before creating the index section IA2, the index section IAI and the subsequent index section IA2. A chain index CII for associating is created and recorded in the index section IAI. The chain index CII is D like the above SII.
If you give a file name different from II-Dln and SII and add the track number of S11 to the number of tracks on which the file data was recorded, it will become the final track number of the physical file data, so add 1 to this value. Track number section information (3000 in Figure 3, m in Figure 1)
). From this track number, it is possible to immediately know from which track the next index portion IA2 begins.

Furthermore, the head is sought to track number 3000, and the area index SI2 of the index section IA2 is recorded. This SI2 has the same format as SII.

At this time, the value of the track number part of SI2 may be the same as that of SII, but it is possible to use the medium effectively by having a function that calculates the free space of the medium and records a smaller track number if the free space is small. becomes possible. To further explain this, the total number of tracks on the medium is 5000, and the ratio of the file data section to the index section is approximately 10:
1 and record 5oo in the SII track number section, the final physical track number of the index data will be 4.
98 (that is, C1l is the 483rd track),
The first file data is recorded from the physical track 500. During the recording process, if the physical track number of the final file data is 2999 when index data is recorded on the 438th track, the CII will have 2999.
+ 1 = 3000, i.e. record 3000.

At this time, the number of free tracks is 5000-3000 = 200
Since it becomes 0, 2000÷10=200 is calculated from the above ratio, and 200 is given to the track number part of SI2. This allows the new file data to be transferred to the 3rd physical track.
Record from 200 (O in Figure 1).

When reproducing a medium recorded in this way, the drive first reproduces index section IA1 in FIG. 1, and if chain index C1l exists, it refers to the track number of CII and seeks to physical track 3000. From there, the index section IA2 can be reproduced and all index data can be obtained.

(Other Examples) Although the above example was applied to a card type,
The same invention can be applied to a disk-shaped medium as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, indexes and files are recorded outward from the center of the circle, but SII includes an index area as in the previous embodiment, and when the number of indexes reaches a predetermined number, SI2 is recorded. The CII containing information indicating the location where the data is stored is recorded.

It is also important that the CII is recorded not adjacent to the first file data (DAI, etc. in the figure) but at a location slightly distant from it. The reason for this is that if an error occurs during recording when the medium used is of the additional recording type, there is no room for new recording, so an extra amount is required. This also applies to the above embodiments.

Furthermore, as described in the previous embodiment, the size of the index area is not fixed, but is made variable depending on the number of remaining tracks or the size of one file data, so that the medium can be used effectively. The determination of this area amount may be performed by the drive 2 or by a command from the host 1, with the same effect.

' The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified and applied in various ways.

In the above embodiments, the index section shows a case in which the track number is indicated by a physical track as information for logically combining a plurality of index sections. It is obvious that the same applies to the position relative to the track position).

Furthermore, in a configuration in which the size of each information block changes, the position of the index section changes depending on the information handled, but in a configuration in which the position of each index section on the recording medium is determined in advance. In this recording/playback method, in applications where data with different characteristics are used for each information block, for example, program data and user file data are divided and used, only the chain index is read without reading all the indexes. It becomes possible to read the target index section at high speed. For this purpose, the index part IAI is used as in the above embodiment.
If the chain index CII is recorded immediately after the SII instead of providing the chain index CII in the last area, the chain index can also be read out at high speed.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, an optical card or the like was taken as an example, but the method of the present invention is not limited to optical recording media, but can be widely applied to information recording devices or information recording device stirrups that use write-once recording media. It is clearly possible.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the information recording device of the present invention, the six-pronged index section improves throughput because the amount of seek during recording can be reduced by making the index section distributable. By having an index that indicates the size of S, for example, by playing only SII in Figure 3, the start of the next file data section will be immediately visible, so you can easily read the first data track without playing back the entire index. Since it is possible to immediately seek up to , it has the effect of speeding up random access in applications that do not use indexes.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of how to use a recording medium in an information recording apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a host computer and a drive in the recording apparatus. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the index 7 according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional management method. IAn...Index section SII, SI2...Area index CI! ...
Chain index D A l ” D An...File data area...Recording medium agent Patent attorney Minoru Yamashita Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An information recording device that records information on a write-once information recording medium by dividing it into information blocks each having a file data section and an index section provided with index data for managing the file data section, Moreover, the information recording device is characterized in that the index section includes a chain index having information for logically connecting a plurality of index sections. (2) The information recording device according to claim 1, wherein the information for logically combining is position information on a recording medium. (3) Information recording according to claim 1, wherein the chain index is recorded when the difference between the area information in the index section and the position where the latest index data is written reaches a predetermined amount. Device.