JPH02179951A - Memory medium and external memory device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the external memory device having the higher expandability by providing one surface which allows optical memory by High Sierra format and the other surface which is formed with a magnetic coating and using the same as the magnetic memory type hard memory medium which allows a memory medium exchange. CONSTITUTION:The other surface, i.e. nonoptical memory surface (surface A) is not used with the format of a CR-ROM. The surface A of this memory medium is formed with the direct magnetic coating or is stuck with a flexible memory medium formed already with the magnetic coating and is used as the memory medium. Namely, the surface A of this memory medium is provided with the functions equal to the function of the magnetic memory medium. Further, the one surface (surface B) is equiv. to the conventional optical memory surface and is, therefore, subjected to reading of an optical system. The DC reproducing device having the two functions to allow the writing and reading out of the magnetic memory medium surface equiv. to the writing and reading of the magnetic memory type external memory device is used in such a manner. The external memory device which has a large capacity and is inexpensive and with which changes of the DRAW, attribute addition, etc., of data are possible is obtd. in this way.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a storage medium and an external storage device used in information processing devices such as personal computers and search systems.

External storage devices used in large-scale data processing devices such as conventional technology search systems include magnetic hard disks, MT (magnetic tape), optical storage disks, and the like.

Magnetic hard disks are characterized by their high access speed and ability to read and write, but they are disadvantageous in terms of cost relative to capacity.

Although MT is very advantageous in terms of cost, it has the disadvantage of long access time because reading and writing operations can only be performed sequentially.

Optical storage disc (hereinafter referred to as CD).

This is a relatively new technology that has been in the spotlight in recent years.

Its characteristics are that its storage capacity is extremely large compared to the size of the storage medium, that it is inexpensive if used as a read-only memory, and that it can easily construct large-capacity databases.

Among them, the CD, which was initially developed as a format for music reproduction, has expanded its use and is now used as a large-capacity read-only memory (commonly known as CD-ROM).

CD-ROM is a compact disc for music playback (hereinafter referred to as compact disc digital audio).
D-DA), the physical format is developed based on that format.

A CD-ROM has one sector of 2352 bytes, and has two modes, mode 1 and mode 2, as formats within the sector. Other,
Mode O exists, but is mainly used as a header.

FIG. 6 shows the data format -X of the CD media. 600 is a data format for music playback, 601
is the CD-ROM (7) data format.

601 has three modes, 602 mode O
is a mode mainly used as a header, and the data part is zero. 603 mode 1 and 604 mode 2 are:
This is a data format when used as a CD-ROM.

The data format includes subcode 605 and sink section 6.
06, a header 607, and a user area 608.

The difference between modes 1 and 2 is that a part of this user area has an error correction code 609 of 4 bits and an error correction code 610 of 284 bits, which provides an error correction function and improves the integrity of information. Therefore, it is suitable for databases that require high precision in character fonts and data.

Mode 2 opens the 288-byte area to user data, so it can be used for image data that requires a large amount of information.

On the other hand, magnetic storage disks are inferior to CD-ROMs in terms of storage capacity, but they have relatively fast access times, low cost, and are readable and writable.
Widely popular.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above-mentioned conventional CD-ROM is based on the premise that image data and audio data stored in advance are read out, and it is not possible to add new data or to read data that has already been input. such as rewriting data or adding attributes.
It could not be used as a rewritable storage device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a more effective external storage device and storage medium by using both a CD-ROM and the above-mentioned magnetic storage hard disk.

Means for Solving the Problems In the DC-ROM format, the other side, that is, the non-optical storage side (hereinafter referred to as A side) is unused.

The present invention focuses on this point and realizes a novel storage medium in which side A of the storage medium is directly magnetically coated, or a flexible storage medium that has already been magnetically coated is attached.

By using this storage medium, side A of the storage medium has the same function as a magnetic storage medium, and one side, that is, side B, is equivalent to a conventional optical storage surface, so it can be used as an optical storage medium. It performs reading and writing on the magnetic storage medium surface, which is equivalent to conventional magnetic storage type external storage devices.
By using an external storage device having two read functions, such as a well-known CD playback device, a large-capacity, inexpensive external storage device in which additional data can be written, attributes can be easily changed, etc. can be realized.

Effects The present invention can be further expanded by adding new data, changing the weighting of the frequency of used data, etc. with the above-described configuration, and furthermore, by using the storage medium as an exchangeable magnetic storage type hard storage medium. EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a CD-ROM external storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention together with an associated CD drive device.

FIG. 2 is an outline diagram of a CD used in the CD-ROM external storage device of the present invention.

A storage medium (hereinafter referred to as a disk) is housed in a special case so as not to be touched by hand, and when operated, the case is inserted into a reader and taken out inside the reader.

FIG. 1 (7) The optical head 104 includes the head moving mechanism section 1
03, and the magnetic head 105 seeks by the magnetic head moving mechanism 106. Motor control circuit 101 conforms to DC format, optical head 10
The rotation is determined by the seek amount of 4 and the linear velocity is constant. Therefore, the relative velocity of the optical head 104 with respect to the disk is always constant, and the angular velocity is variable.

Optical storage/reading section 1 consisting of an optical head 104, an optical signal conversion circuit 102, and an optical head moving mechanism section 103
The basic operation of No. 11 complies with the CD-ROM standard.

The magnetic storage control section 112 includes a magnetic head 105, a magnetic head moving mechanism section 106, and a magnetic signal conversion circuit 113.
The digital signal input from 10 is converted so that it can be written on the magnetic storage surface of compact disk 107 by magnetic head 105. Alternatively, this magnetic signal conversion circuit 113 converts the signal read from the magnetic storage surface by the magnetic head 105 into parallel data and sends it to the data processing processor 108.

When operating as a magnetic storage external storage device, the motor control circuit 101 determines that storage control has been transferred from the optical reading unit 111 to the magnetic storage control unit 112, and determines the seek amount of the optical head 104 until then. The angular velocity of the disk, which had previously been maintained, is fixed at the angular velocity required for magnetic storage operation, and magnetic storage control operates at a constant angular velocity. Since this rotational speed is not particularly limited, the format is such that it is fixed at a certain angular speed within the range in which the optical storage reading operation is performed.

Although it depends on the control method, the rotational speed at the innermost track during optical readout is appropriate.

Data read from the magnetic head 105 is converted into serial data as a digital signal by a magnetic signal conversion circuit 113, processed into parallel data by a data processing processor 108, and outputted from a data input/output port 10. A write operation performed on the magnetic storage control unit 12 is performed by converting data input to the data input/output port 110 into serial data by the data processing processor 108, converting it into a magnetic storage signal format by the magnetic signal conversion circuit 113, and converting the data into a compact format. It is stored on the magnetic storage surface of disk 107.

Conversely, from the magnetic storage control section 112 to the optical storage reading section 11
1, the motor control circuit 101 determines that storage control has been transferred to the optical storage reading unit 111, and changes the rotation control of the disk, which was rotating at a constant angular velocity, to the amount of movement of the optical head 104. Shifts to rotation control at a constant linear velocity, where the rotation is determined by .

Further, in data processing, only reading processing in which data is transferred from the optical head 104 to the optical signal conversion circuit 102, the data processing processor 108, and the input/output port 110 is performed.

This magnetic storage control section 112 and optical storage reading section 111
The transfer of control to and from the initiator is controlled by a command input from the data input/output port 110 and issued by the initiator.

An initiator is an initiator that secures a bus and obtains the authority to issue commands to targets and slaves as a result of path arbitration.
Computer System Interface
e) Comply with standards.

When the initiator performs a read operation from the external storage device of the present invention, the procedure is performed in the flowchart of FIG. 4.

For read operations, access the magnetic storage data section,
It is assumed that a search is made to determine whether the desired data exists in the magnetic storage unit or whether attributes or the like have been added, and then the optically stored data is accessed.

A reading operation is started at step 400 in FIG. 4, and as a result, since it has been decided to read from the magnetic storage surface, the rotation control of the disk is made constant at the angular velocity at step 401. (The rotational speed is within the range of 200 to 600 ppm of the rotational speed used for accessing the optical storage surface).

After a series of read sequences including steps 402, 403, and 404, it is determined in step 405 whether or not to read the optical storage data, and if it is not necessary, step 41
At step 4, the reading operation ends.

If the optical storage surface is to be accessed, step 406
The rotational speed of the disk is set to the maximum rotational speed of 60° rpm, the optical head is sought to the innermost circumference in step 407, the necessary information is obtained by referring to the sector table read in steps 408 and 409, and each control is then performed. Step 4
At 10.411, the data is read out and converted into a digital signal, and the process ends at step 414. If a detailed label of the optical storage section is stored in the magnetic storage section, it is also possible to directly read out the desired optical storage data.

In the case of a write operation, the operating range is the magnetic storage control unit 11.
FIG. 5 shows the write sequence to the external storage device of the present invention.

A write operation begins at step 500, and step 5
01.502.503 to convert the write data into a magnetic signal format. At the same time, step 506,5
In step 07, the two systems that control the rotation of the disk and the seek operation of the magnetic head are performed in parallel, and when both are completed, writing is performed on the disk in step 504, and step 5
The write operation ends at 05.

The above read sequence and write sequence are the third
A series of accesses to the external storage device of the present invention is established by the initial determination routine shown in the figure and being performed continuously.

By the way, the compact disk 107, that is, the storage medium used here, is realized by pasting a magnetic disk with a certain thickness onto one side of a disk that has optical storage.

The read/write operations of this magnetic disk and the configuration of the device are the same as those of a conventionally known external storage device using a magnetic disk, so the details thereof will be omitted here.

Furthermore, since touching this embodiment disk directly with one's hand will have an adverse effect on the magnetic disk surface, it is stored in a special case 200 as shown in FIG. After loading, the mechanism automatically pulls out the disc from the loaded case and sets it.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, dictionaries, maps, publication information,
Regarding CD-ROMs, which are used as databases for large-capacity data such as symbols in CAD, it is possible to improve the drawback that in many cases they are used only as ROMs, and the data therein cannot be changed or added. can.

In addition, by adding the function of a magnetic disk external storage device, when used as a dictionary, the access data can be given a learning function by weighting, and when used as a publication information database, a new learning function can be added. It can also facilitate the expansion of stored information, such as the ability to add information published in the past.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an external storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the external shape of the storage medium and device used in the invention, and Fig. 3 is a command for the storage device according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a read operation for the storage device of the embodiment, FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a write operation of the storage device of the embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a format showing an example of the format of a CD-ROM. It is a diagram. 101...Motor control circuit, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 201, optical signal conversion circuit, optical head moving unit, optical head, 105, magnetic head, Magnetic head moving mechanism, compact disk, data processing processor, local memory, data input/output port, optical reader. Magnetic storage control unit, magnetic signal conversion circuit, 200/CD-ROM driver. ·Private case,

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) A storage medium characterized by having one surface capable of optical storage using the High Sierra format and the other surface coated with a magnetic coating. (2) An optical head that faces the one surface when the storage medium is loaded, and a magnetic head that faces the other surface simultaneously with the loading, and according to rotation of the storage medium, a moving mechanism for selectively moving one or both of the heads, the one surface being optically readable by the optical head, and the other surface being able to read magnetically. An external storage device characterized in that a surface thereof is readable and writable by the magnetic head. (3) When reading data, the read sequence consists of accessing the other magnetic storage surface, reading the necessary data, writing more data, and then reading the optical storage on the one surface. An external storage device according to claim (2). (4) reading necessary data from the other surface in order to process data in the system, and determining whether or not the data written to the one surface is necessary while processing this data; Claims (2) and (3) further comprising a data processing section having a processing sequence for reading the optically stored data on the one surface if necessary.
External storage device described in ). (5) If the data processing unit determines that it is not necessary to access the optical storage surface of the one surface in the read cycle of data stored on the other surface, only the access to the other surface is performed. According to claim No.
4) External storage device described in section 4).