JPH03286474A - Information recording/reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make good use of a recording area by providing a recording control means which controls so as to record the information of variable capacity successively from the block of a small block number, and on the other hand, record the information of fixed capacity successively from the block of the large block number. CONSTITUTION:A recording/reproducing controller 13 to fill the role of the recording control means is provided, and picture information recording areas 11, 12,... in which the picture information of the fixed data capacity is recorded are arranged successively from an outer circumference side in an information recording area 1b, namely, from the side of the large block number. On the other hand, sound information recording areas A1, A2,... in which the sound information of the variable data capacity is recorded are arranged successively from the inner circumference side in the information recording area 1b, namely, from the side of the small block number. Accordingly, a blank area is generated only at one place between the picture information recording areas 11, 12,... and the sound information recording areas A1, A2,.... Thus, the using efficiency of the information recording area 1b can be raised. Namely, the information is efficiently recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a method for recording information on a rewritable recording medium such as various types of rewritable optical disks, including a group of information having a constant capacity and a group of information having a variable capacity. The present invention relates to an information recording and reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces a mixture of information.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, so-called compact discs (hereinafter referred to as CDs) on which continuous information such as music information is recorded as digital signals using optically detectable minute pits have been widely used. This CD is played back by a playback-only CD player.

FIGS. 10 and 11 are schematic diagrams for explaining the signal format used in CDs. As shown in FIG. 10, one frame 31a of the recording signal includes a frame synchronization signal 31b indicating the beginning of the frame, a subcode 31c (details will be described later) which is additional information of data, and 24 which is main information.
It is composed of a data field 31d in which a parity code for error detection and correction is added to hide data. Note that the data in the data field 31d is C.
IRC (Cross Interleaved Re)
Errors are detected and corrected using an error detection and correction method with non-conclusive interleaving called ED SolomonCode.

As shown in FIG. 11, 98 frames (one sector 32a
(Constituting one sub-coding frame) sub-codes 31c are one sub-coding block 32
This sub-coding block 32c indicates track numbers (called song numbers when the data is music information), absolute address information on the disc, and the like. Note that the frame synchronization signal 32b and the data field 32d are respectively the frame synchronization signal 31b in FIG.
This shows a state in which 98 frames of data field 31d and data field 31d are assembled.

The length of one sector 32a, that is, the sector length is, for example,
If it is 13.3 (ms), 75 sectors equals 1 second.

At this time, the sector number on the disk is “
minute":second":"sector number within one second (i.e. 00-74
can be expressed by a combination of
This sector number constitutes continuous time information and position information that increase sequentially from the innermost circumference of the disk.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of areas on a CD disc. The disk 33 has a main information recording area 33a that includes main information such as music information and sector numbers based on the subcodes, and additional information regarding each piece of main information recorded in the main information recording area 33a, such as track numbers and track numbers. The recording start sector number, etc. of T is indicated by a subcode.

C (Table Of Contents) area 33b
It is made up of.

With the above friendship mat, in a CD player,
By reading the subcode information in the TOC area 33b when loading the disc 33, the number of each piece of main information (corresponding to the number of songs in the case of music information) and the sector number of the recording start position are recognized, and subsequent playback is performed. Access to the desired track in response to the instruction is promptly executed by comparing the subcode information read from the TOC971 area 33b with the sector number according to the subcode recorded in the main information recording area 33a. be done.

The above CD records at a constant linear velocity (CLV).
Since the recording is performed using the ant Linear Velocity) method, the recording density is constant at any radial position on the disk 33, thereby making it possible to improve the recording capacity. In an actual CD player, during playback, the rotation of the disk 33 is controlled so that, for example, the interval between frame synchronization signals in the playback signal from a CD recorded in the above signal format becomes a reference length. CLV control is realized.

On the other hand, when recording and using various information such as music information or computer information on rewritable optical disks such as magneto-optical disks, which have been developed in recent years, conventional CDs or C
D-ROM (Compact Disk Read
It is desirable to provide a compatible information recording and reproducing device by standardizing the reproduction method between the two.

In this case, especially for unrecorded optical discs, the C
Since there is no frame synchronization signal that can be used for absolute address or CLV control using subcodes in the D signal format, access operations to arbitrary sector positions prior to recording cannot be performed, and Necessary CLV control becomes impossible.

Therefore, as an absolute address recording method to replace the above-mentioned subcode recording, after bi-phase mark modulation of the absolute address, the guide groove of the optical disc is moved in the disc radial direction depending on whether each bit is "0" or "°1". It has been proposed to bias the guide groove inward or outward, or to change the width of the guide groove (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-39632).

In that case, the frequency band of the absolute address by biphase mark modulation and E F M (Eight t.

(Fourteen Modulation) By making the frequency band of the recorded information that has been modulated different, it is possible to reproduce the two separately from each other, and even in areas where there is no recorded information, recording can be performed by biasing the guide groove, etc. An access operation is possible using the above absolute address. or,
As for CLV control, accurate speed control is possible by using the reproduced carrier component of the above-mentioned absolute address, and this CLV control can be performed even during recording.

The above-mentioned rewritable optical discs, which are compatible with CDs, are used as information recording media that can record a wide variety of information such as music information, text information, and image information at high density, especially in general households. You can expect it.

For example, it is conceivable to use the above-mentioned rewritable optical disc as a recording medium for an electronic still camera that can record audio information.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electronic still cameras that use a so-called floppy disk as a recording medium are known as electronic still cameras having a recording function for recording comments and the like on each still image. Therefore, even when using a rewritable optical disc as a recording medium, it is conceivable to use a configuration similar to that of a floppy disc regarding the arrangement of image and audio information on the disc.

In that case, the 12th method for arranging image and audio information is
As shown in the figure, there is an image information recording area ■1・I in the recording area.
2...(Capacity is converted into time, for example 3 to 1 screen name)
About 4 seconds and audio information recording areas A1, A2... (for example, about 10 seconds per screen name) are alternately recorded, and the audio information recording area At-A2... per screen name is recorded alternately.
It is conceivable to keep the capacity of .

However, in that case, the actual audio information may be shorter than the audio information recording areas A1, A2, etc., resulting in a decrease in recording area usage efficiency, or conversely, the audio information to be recorded may be shorter than the audio information recording areas A1, A2, etc.・Problems such as not being able to fit within the space tend to occur. Especially if you do not record any audio information,
Utilization efficiency will drop significantly.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
・I2... and audio information recording areas A1, A2... are arranged alternately, and audio information recording areas Al-A2
It is also conceivable to vary the capacity of . . . so that a desired length of audio information can be recorded for each still image.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in this case, although the efficiency of recording area usage is improved, when rewriting the audio information, it is necessary to protect the image information recorded later, so it is not possible to make the audio information longer than the original audio information. This constraint arises.

In addition, when audio information is no longer needed and deleted, the length of the blank area that was originally audio information recording area A1, A2, etc. is not constant, so if this area is temporarily used for recording image information. However, there are problems in that usage efficiency decreases and address management becomes complicated.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an information recording and reproducing device according to the present invention has a rewritable recording medium that has a variable capacity and is made up of a plurality of blocks that are assigned block numbers that gradually increase from one end. In an information recording and reproducing apparatus that records and reproduces a certain group of information (for example, audio information in an electronic still camera) and a group of information that has a constant capacity (for example, image information in an electronic still camera), the capacity is variable. The present invention is characterized in that it is equipped with a recording control means that performs control such that information is recorded sequentially from blocks with a small block number, while information having a constant capacity is recorded sequentially from blocks with a large block number.

[For production]

According to the above configuration, a group of information whose capacity is variable is recorded continuously, and a group of information whose capacity is constant is recorded continuously, so that, for example,
If only a group of information whose capacity is variable is deleted all at once,
Continuous blank areas occur. Therefore, then fill in the blank area above! can efficiently record certain information.

Also, information whose capacity is variable is recorded sequentially from the block with the smallest block number, and information whose capacity is constant is recorded so that it gradually moves from the block with the largest block number to the block with the smallest block number. , a blank area occurs only at one location between an information group of variable capacity and an information group of constant capacity, and as a result, effective use of the recording area can be realized.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

As shown in FIG. 7, a magneto-optical disk 1 as a rewritable recording medium is provided with a TOC area 1a at the inner edge thereof, and most of the area closer to the outer edge than the TOC area 1a. is defined as the information recording area 1b. In the information recording area 1b, for example, image and audio information are recorded, while in the TOC area 1a, additional information regarding each piece of information recorded in the information recording area 1b, such as the start block position and end of each piece of information, is recorded. Block positions etc. are recorded.

As shown in FIG. 8, T O in the magneto-optical disk 1
In the CSi area 1a and the information recording area 1b, spiral guide grooves 2, 2, . . . (shown by hunting for convenience) are formed in advance at predetermined intervals in the disk radial direction. Then, the absolute address (address) on the disk is determined whether each bit is “1” or “0” after pi-phase mark modulation.
Recording is performed by biasing the guide grooves 2, 2, . . . toward the outside or inside in the radial direction on the magneto-optical disk. The above absolute address represents the position on the disk and is also used as rotation control information when performing CLV control and the like. Incidentally, since the absolute address in this embodiment corresponds to each sector in the above-mentioned CD format, the absolute address will hereinafter be referred to as a physical sector number.

The information recording and reproducing apparatus of this embodiment is used by being incorporated into an electronic still camera capable of recording audio information. In the block diagram of FIG. 6, the information recording and reproducing apparatus includes a spindle motor 3 that supports and rotates the magneto-optical disk 1, an optical head 4 that irradiates the magneto-optical disk 1 with a laser beam during recording and reproduction, and a recording/reproducing apparatus. sometimes magneto-optical disk 1
It is equipped with a coil 5 that applies a magnetic field to.

This information recording and reproducing apparatus is configured to perform recording using a so-called magnetic field modulation method, and is also capable of performing an override in which new information is recorded on top of already recorded information. The information recording and reproducing device has an input terminal 6a for inputting image information from an image sensor (not shown), an input terminal 6b for inputting audio information from a microphone (not shown), and an output for outputting image and audio information, respectively. It is provided with terminals 6C and 6d, and a terminal 6e for inputting and outputting control signals between the information recording and reproducing apparatus and a host controller that controls each part of the electronic still camera, such as the image pickup device and microphone.

When recording image (still image) information, the image information input from the input terminal 6a to the interface 18 is sent to the switching circuit 19 as digital data f. In the switching circuit 19, the digital data f from the interface 18 and the additional data e from the sector data generation circuit 20
(described later), and digital data h obtained by adding additional data e to digital data f is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7.

In the recording signal processing circuit 7, parity for error detection and correction is generated and added to the digital data h, subcode information from the subcode generation circuit 17 is added, EFM modulation is performed, and a frame synchronization signal is added. is added and supplied to the coil driver 8. Based on the supplied signal, the coil driver 8
Signals are recorded by driving the coil 5 and simultaneously irradiating the magneto-optical disk 1 with laser light from the optical head 4. Note that the signal format here is, for example, the conventional example shown in FIGS. 10 and 1.
It can be similar to that shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when recording audio information, the audio information input from the input terminal 6b is supplied to the switching circuit 19 as digital data f via the interface 18, and in this case, additional data from the sector data generation circuit 20 is e is not added, and the digital data f is supplied as it is to the recording signal processing circuit 7 as digital data h, and thereafter recording processing is performed in the same procedure as above.

Further, the image or audio information reproduced by the optical head 4 is amplified by a reproduction amplifier 10 and sent to a pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 and a reproduction signal processing circuit 15. The pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 includes, for example, a band-pass filter and a PLL, and the PLL generates a synchronized clock with respect to the pre-recorded information in the reproduced signal extracted by the band-pass filter. . Then, a clock synchronized with the pre-recorded information consisting of an absolute address bi-phase mark modulation signal is supplied to the CLV control circuit 9.

The CLV control circuit 9 compares the synchronized clock from the prerecorded information detection circuit 11 with an internally held reference frequency, and uses the difference signal to control the rotation of the spindle motor 3. . This allows accurate C
LViIII is realized. Furthermore, the pre-recorded information in the reproduced signal extracted by the pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 is supplied to the address detection circuit 12.

The address detection circuit 12 includes, for example, a bi-phase mark demodulation circuit and an address decoder, and after performing bi-phase mark demodulation of the pre-recorded information extracted by the pre-recorded information detection circuit 11, the address decoder performs position information on the disc. That is, it is decoded into a physical sector number (absolute address), and this physical sector number is supplied to the recording/reproducing controller 13.

The reproduced signal processing circuit 15 performs EFM demodulation from the magneto-optical signal component in the reproduced signal supplied from the reproduced amplifier 10, and further performs error detection and correction processing using parity for error detection and correction. Then, the reproduced image or audio information is transferred to the interface 18 and the output terminal 6c or 6.
The signal is output to a display and an audio output section of a TV screen or the like via d.

The subcode information EFM-demodulated by the reproduction signal processing circuit 15 is supplied to the subcode detection circuit 16, and the subcode information recognized by the subcode detection circuit 16 is sent to the recording/reproduction controller 13, which serves as a recording control means. supplied to The recording/reproducing controller 13 is connected to the terminal 6e and the interface I from the above-mentioned upper controller.
8 to receive recording/playback instructions. Further, the recording/reproducing controller 13 receives the physical sector number from the address detection circuit 12, recognizes the position of the optical head 4 on the magneto-optical disk 1, and detects the position of the optical head 4 and the coil 5.
The optical head 4 and the coil 5 are moved by a moving mechanism (not shown).
It has an access function to move the device to a predetermined position.

Furthermore, the recording/reproducing controller 13 selects the subcode information supplied from the subcode detection circuit 16 and selects the subcode information supplied from the subcode detection circuit 16 to
C memory 14, or information related to the TOC contents from the higher-level controller given via the interface 18 is stored in the TOC memory 14, or
The contents of the OC memory 14 can be continuously updated.

Further, the subcode information in the TOC memory 14 is supplied to a subcode generation circuit 17 as necessary, where a subcode is generated, subjected to EFM modulation in the recording signal processing circuit 7, and supplied to the coil driver 8. Ru. This allows the T.O.
The subcode information in the C memory 14 is recorded in the TOC area 1a of the magneto-optical disk l.

In FIG. 1(a), the information recording area 1b of the magneto-optical disk 1 has, for example, one block for every eight sectors, and information is recorded and reproduced in block units. are assigned block numbers such as BO, B1, etc., which gradually increase from the inner circumferential side of the magneto-optical disk l (see FIG. 5).

In this embodiment, the image information recording area 11, I2, .
The audio information recording areas A1, A2, . The blocks are arranged in order from the side with the smallest block number. Note that in each of the image information recording areas 11, I2, etc., image information is recorded sequentially from the block with the smallest block number.

Due to the above information arrangement, the blank area where neither image information nor audio information is recorded is the image information recording area 11.
Since it occurs only in one place between I2... and the audio information recording areas A1, A2..., the efficiency of use of the information recording area 1b can be improved.

Furthermore, if it is desired to rewrite the recorded audio information, the audio information regarding all recorded images may be rewritten at once, as shown in FIG. 1). Here, A1"
・A2'... indicates each audio information recording area after rewriting.

Furthermore, when the audio information is no longer needed, the continuously recorded audio information group can be easily deleted all at once, and the continuous blank area created by the deletion can be used for recording image information.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, address control when image information is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 1 by this information recording/reproducing apparatus will be explained. In the figure, I indicates the block configuration of the information recording area 1b, and ■ indicates the sector configuration of each block. As shown by I in the figure, each block has B22500. B225
Block numbers such as 01, . "Sector number within 1 second (in this example, 75 within 1 second
Since sectors are included, any value from 00 to 74)”
A physical sector number consisting of a combination of The data dg of each block is composed of 8 sectors, and the block located on the innermost side of the information recording area 1b is given a block number BO (Fig. 5), and the beginning of the block with this block number BO For example, a physical sector number (01:00:00) is given to the sector.

When recording an image signal, in response to a recording command for a predetermined block number range given from the host controller to the recording/reproducing controller 13 via the interface 18, the recording/reproducing controller 13 determines that the predetermined block number range corresponds to the actual physical sector number. Perform calculations to see if it corresponds to the value of the chair tag. The explanation will be as follows using the specific example shown in FIG.

For example, if the upper controller specifies blocks with block numbers 822500 to B22563 as the image information recording area 11 for recording the image information dal of the first image, the number of sectors per block is "8". Also, as mentioned above, since it is predetermined that the physical sector number at the beginning of the block with block number BO is given as (01:00:00), the physical sector number at the beginning of the block with block number B22500 to start recording is The physical sector number is (01:00:00) + block number (225
00) x number of sectors (8) = (41:00:00), and the first physical sector number of the block with block number B22500 can be easily obtained. When the physical sector number of the block with block number B22500 is determined in this way, an access operation to the block is executed.

By the way, in this embodiment, one block is composed of eight sectors, and among these eight sectors, the actual image information da
It is the central 4 that records the valid sector dd.
Front additional data d1 and rear additional data d2 are recorded in the first two sectors and the last two sectors of each block, respectively.

The front additional data d1 and the rear additional data d2 are recorded and recorded using an incomplete ink leaf by the CIRC.
When a reproduction error occurs in the data recorded in the valid sector DD during reproduction, the dummy data includes error correction parity for detecting and correcting the error,
Front additional data d1 and rear additional data d for each block
By adding 2, the data in the effective sector dd of each block can be accurately reproduced even if information is rewritten in units of blocks.

As mentioned above, block number B22500 (Figure 3 (
Calculate the physical sector number of the first sector in a),
After accessing there, the front additional data di (FIG. 2(d)) and the rear additional data d2 are provided by the sector data generation circuit 20 after the sector with this physical sector number.
Additional data e (FIG. 2(b)) consisting of
The switching circuit 19 sequentially switches between the digital data f consisting of the first divided data Di ((C) in the figure) obtained by dividing the data into four sector sizes corresponding to the effective sectors dd, and desired information recording is performed. .

To explain once again the recording procedure for the block with the block number B22500 described above, first, the physical sector number (41:
The front additional data di to be recorded in two sectors starting from sector 00:00) is given by the sector data generation circuit 20, and is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7 via the switching circuit 19, and the information on the magneto-optical disk 1 is It is recorded in the recording area 1b (period tl in FIG. 3).

Subsequently, in the image information dalO provided via the interface 18, as a recording sector group of the first divided data DI corresponding to the above-mentioned effective sector ddO size,
(41:00:02) is given for four sectors, and is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7 via the switching circuit 19 and recorded (period t2).

After that, the rear additional data d2 corresponding to two sectors from the sector (41:00:06) is sent to the sector data generation circuit 2.
0, and is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7 via the switching circuit 19 and recorded (period t3).

With the above operations, recording for one block is completed, and thereafter blocks with block numbers B22501 to B22563 are continuously recorded through the operations shown at t4 to t9.

After that, when recording the second image information da2, the block range of the image information recording area I2 is such that the end block is one block before the start block of the image information recording area 11 of the first image. The number of blocks is set to be equal to the number of blocks in the image information recording area 11, and the physical sector number is calculated accordingly. 3
Regarding the image information recording area ■3, I4, etc. of the images after the first image, the blocks are arranged so that the number of blocks per image light is constant and the block number of the recorded block group gradually becomes smaller. A range is set and a physical sector number is calculated accordingly.

Regarding the area management of the recorded image information dal, the upper controller may allocate a predetermined block to the area management information itself and record it through the same operation as above, or the controller 13 and the TOC memory 1
4, the subcode generation circuit 17 converts the signal into a predetermined format, and then supplies the signal to the recording signal processing circuit 7 for recording. In the case of the latter method, the TOCel area 1a is normally used as a recording area for area management information.

By the way, when recording the image information dal, da2, etc., instead of adding the front additional data d1 and the rear additional data d2 to each block as shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. The front additional data d1 is added only to the first block of the block group in which image information da1, da2, etc. are recorded, and the rear additional data d2 is added only to the last block, and the remaining blocks are The image information da1, da2, etc. may be recorded continuously. In this case, for example, the first image information da
The recording of 1 ends at block B22532, thereby increasing the efficiency of use of the information recording area 1b.

Next, the recording operation of audio information will be explained using FIG. In FIG. 5, I indicates a block configuration, and ■ indicates a sector configuration, and as described above, one block of data dg is composed of eight sectors. Also, ■ indicates audio information to be recorded.

First, in response to a recording command from a block with a predetermined block number given to the recording/reproducing controller 13 by the upper controller via the interface 18, the recording/reproducing controller 13 performs an operation to convert it into an actual physical sector number. To explain concretely using the example of Fig. 5,
It is as follows.

For example, the audio information recording area AI (see FIG. 1(a)) that records the audio information db1 corresponding to the first image starts from the block with the smallest block number BO in the information recording area 1b. Ru. The physical sector number of the first safeter of the block with block number BO is (01
:00:00), the recording/reproducing controller 13 executes an operation to access the sector with the corresponding physical sector number.

After that, the audio information dbl inputted manually from the input terminal 6b via the interface 18 is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7 as digital data h via the switching circuit 19, whereby the physical sector of (01: 00:OO) is After the number, audio information db1 is continuously recorded. That is, when recording the audio information dbl, all eight sectors of one block become relevant sectors, and no front additional data and rear additional data are added.

The end of recording the audio information dbl is performed by giving an instruction to end recording to the recording/playback controller 13 from the higher-level controller via the interface 18 .

In the example of FIG. 5, recording of the audio information dbl ends at the block with block number B74. In that case, the audio information recording area A2 in which the audio information db2 for the second image is recorded starts from the block with the subsequent block number B75,
When recording in the audio information recording area A2, the physical sector number of the first sector of the block with block number B75 is calculated in the same manner as above. Note that the physical sector numbers of the leading sectors of the audio information recording areas A3, A4, etc. for the third and subsequent images are calculated in the same manner.

Regarding the area management of the recorded audio information dbl-db2..., the controllers 13 and T control the area management information according to instructions from the upper controller.

After passing through the C memory 14 and converting it into a predetermined format in the subcode generation circuit 17, it is supplied to the recording signal processing circuit 7 and recorded. In this case, the TOC area 1a is used as the area for recording area management information.

Image information dal, da2, recorded as above
. . . or the audio information dbl, db2 . After conversion to a physical sector number, necessary access operations are performed.

When playing image information dal, da2..., the second
To explain using the example shown in the figure, the reproduction signal from the optical head 4 is amplified by the reproduction amplifier 10, the reproduction signal processing circuit 15 performs EFM demodulation on the magneto-optical signal component in the reproduction signal, and furthermore, error detection and correction is performed. Error detection and correction processing is performed using parity. In the error detection and correction operation here, the second
Front additional data di recorded in the front additional sector and rear additional data d recorded in the rear additional sector in the figure
The reproduction process of the effective sector dd is also performed using the additional data e consisting of 2. Of the reproduced signal data, only the four sectors of divided data DI, D2, etc. corresponding to the effective sector dd are outputted via the interface 18 and the output terminal 6c for each block. There is.

Also, when playing audio information dbl, db2...
To explain using the example of FIG. 5, the reproduction signal from the optical head 4 is reproduced by the reproduction amplifier 10, the reproduction signal processing circuit 15 performs EFMyL adjustment on the magneto-optical signal component in the reproduction signal, and furthermore, the error After error detection and correction processing using the detection and correction parity is performed, the signal is outputted via the interface 18 and the output terminal 6d.

In the above embodiments, image information in an electronic still camera is used as information with a constant capacity, and audio information in an electronic still camera is used as information with a variable capacity. However, the information is not limited to this. The present invention is effective when recording a mixture of information and information whose capacity is variable.

Further, in the above embodiment, one block is composed of eight sectors, but this is a numerical value used for convenience of explanation, and the block size can be changed in various ways as necessary.

The absolute address (physical sector number) may be in any form, such as a pit format, as long as it is pre-recorded and recognizable information.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment has been explained using a magneto-optical disc-shaped recording medium, it is also applicable to other rewritable recording media. Even a card-shaped recording medium can be implemented without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the information recording and reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, when recording a mixture of information groups with variable capacity and information groups with constant capacity on a rewritable recording medium, Information with variable capacity is recorded sequentially starting from the block with the smallest block number.
The configuration includes a recording means for sequentially recording information having a constant capacity in blocks starting from a block with a large block number.

As a result, groups of information with variable capacity can be recorded continuously, while groups of information with constant capacity can be recorded continuously. When erased all at once, blank areas occur continuously.

Therefore, after that, information having a constant capacity can be efficiently recorded in the blank area.

Also, information whose capacity is variable is recorded sequentially from the block with the smallest block number, and information whose capacity is constant is recorded so that it gradually moves from the block with the largest block number to the block with the smallest block number. , a blank area occurs only at one location between a group of information whose capacity is variable and an information group whose capacity is constant, and as a result, it is possible to improve the utilization efficiency of the area medium.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 8 show one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1(a) is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of image and audio information in the information recording area. FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement of information when audio information is rewritten. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the block configuration and sector configuration when recording image information. FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the flow of information when recording image information. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another network configuration and sector configuration when recording image information. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the block configuration and sector configuration when recording audio information. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the information recording/reproducing apparatus. FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the magneto-optical disk. FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of the same. 9 to 13 show conventional examples. FIG. 9 is a schematic plan view of the compact disc. FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the frame signal format of a compact disc. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the sector format of a compact disc. FIGS. 12 and 13 are explanatory diagrams showing the arrangement of image and audio information in a conventional electronic still camera, respectively. 1 is a magneto-optical disk (rewritable recording medium), and 13 is a recording/reproducing controller (recording control means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rewritable recording medium consisting of a plurality of blocks to which block numbers are assigned to gradually increase from one end, a group of information having a constant capacity and a group of information having a variable capacity. In an information recording and reproducing device that records and reproduces a mixture of An information recording/reproducing device characterized by comprising a recording control means for controlling the information.