JPH0785638A - Disk device and disk reproducing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate repair and correction of an error without working on a disk device by attaining the automatic alternation of a control program with only playing the disk wherein the altered contents are recorded. CONSTITUTION:By a pickup 3, the reading, i.e., data read is performed against the disk 1, and the control information is read by a CPU 6 and written into a RAM 9. At this time, patch data, i.e., the altered contents are stored in a specified area 9d, and a flag F of the address is made '1'. The flag F is read by the address A3 read in the RAM 9 and sent to a comparator 10, then the decision is made whether the flag F is '1', and when it is '1', the existence of the altered data, i.e., patch data is concluded, then these data D4 are fetched. After that, the control program in a system RAM 8 is altered by these data, and the control is made for reproduction in accordance with the altered new control program. When the flag F is not '1', the music is reproduced similarly as before.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a disc device for playing an optical disc such as a CD (compact disc) or a magneto-optical disc such as an MD (mini disc) to reproduce information recorded on the disc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A CD player, which is a disk device for playing a CD on which information such as music is recorded, is widely known. In addition, in recent years, an MD smaller than a CD and capable of recording as well as reproduction has been developed, and MD players, which are disk devices for playing this MD, are gradually being sold. In these disk devices, performance control is performed by a CPU provided in the device.

Such performance control is performed based on a predetermined control program stored in advance in the memory. A mask ROM, which is a read-only memory, is generally used as such a memory. The reason why the mask ROM is used is that it can be mass-produced at a low cost and that a pattern corresponding to a control program to be stored is printed on an IC substrate by an exposure mask, so that it has stable environment resistance and usage conditions. This is because the system of the device is simple and can be easily constructed.

In addition, a writable and readable RAM for storing data is provided in the disk device, and the control program in the ROM is stored (loaded) in the RAM when the power of the device is turned on. . CPU is RAM in response to user's operation command or automatically
Based on the control program stored in, the disk performance and other device control operations are performed.

On the other hand, in addition to an area for recording information such as music on the disc, a TOC (T
able of contents) is recorded. In the TOC, the title of the disc, the title of the recorded music, the track number (song number), the playing time of each song and the address on the disc indicating the absolute playing time are recorded. It is, so to speak, equivalent to the "table of contents" of the book, and when the address is specified, the position corresponding to the address can be specified. The contents of this TOC are automatically read when the disc is mounted in the device and stored in the RAM.

Therefore, when a specific music piece is designated from the operation unit, the CPU is based on the control program and is RAM.
By searching for the beginning address of the specified song by referring to the TOC stored in, it becomes possible to perform the cue performance of the target song, specify the playing order of the song, or randomly. You can play.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional disk device, when there is an error in the control program or when a change such as a version upgrade is made, the error or change is small. Also, a new mask ROM must be manufactured and incorporated in the disk device. In the case of an error in the control program, in order to perform such work, the disk device must be collected at the manufacturing factory, which requires a great deal of time and cost for the manufacturer to mass-produce the mask ROM and modify the device. there were. Further, in the case of version upgrade, a disk device as a new product will be released, and there is a problem that users will be dissatisfied.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem and makes it possible to change the control program very easily without making any changes to the disk device for some errors or corrections of the control program. An object is to provide an excellent disk device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a disk device according to the present invention has a reading means for reading a reproduction signal carrying the information and control information from a disk to be played, and a signal for processing the reproduction signal. Processing means, storage means for storing the control information extracted by the signal processing means, and determination for determining whether or not the stored control information includes a change content for changing the predetermined control program. And a control means for playing the disc based on the control program changed by the change content when the determination means determines the existence of the change content.

In order to achieve the above object, the disc reproducing method according to the present invention records control information including change contents for changing a control program on the disc and reproduces the disc when the disc is reproduced. The control program relating to the reproduction control stored in the disc device is changed to reproduce the disc.

[0011]

Therefore, according to the disc apparatus or the disc reproducing method of the present invention, the control program can be automatically changed only by playing the disc on which the changed contents are recorded. Regarding the correction, the error can be repaired and corrected very easily without modifying the disk device.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a disk device according to the present invention. The disc played by this disc device may be a CD or an MD, but here, the disc device playing the MD will be described. In such a disc device, a signal processing technique unique to the MD system is used. This is ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform A
With a signal processing technique called coustic coding, digital information can be band-compressed to about one-fifth, recorded, and expanded at the time of reproduction to obtain characteristics comparable to a CD.

In order to perform this band compression and expansion, an encoder and a decoder are used, as well as a DRAM that stores the compressed data read from the MD and a memory controller that controls the writing and reading of this DRAM. However, such components are omitted in FIG. 1 because they are not directly involved in the present invention. For the same reason, an EFM decoder that demodulates 14-bit data into 8-bit data is not shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, 1 is information such as music and TO
A disc (MD) in which C is recorded is a disc used for realizing the disc reproducing method according to the present invention. In this disc 1, patch data for changing a control program stored in advance in the disc device is recorded in the TOC. Reference numeral 2 is a spindle motor (SM) that rotationally drives the disk 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a pickup as a reading unit that irradiates a light beam on a disk 1 which is driven to rotate by a spindle motor 2, receives the light beam reflected by the disk, converts the light beam into an electric signal, and outputs a read signal S1. is there. 4 is a spindle motor 2
And a servo circuit section for sending drive signals C1 and C2 for driving the pickup 3. A signal processing unit 5 waveform-shapes the read signal S1, performs signal processing such as EFM demodulation, writing and reading to and from DRAM, decompression of compressed data, and DA conversion, and outputs a reproduction signal S2.

Reference numeral 6 is a CPU as control means for controlling the entire disk device, 7 is a read-only mask ROM storing a control program and initial value data for the CPU 6 to perform control operation, and 8 is data to be processed. It is a writable system RAM for storing. This CPU6
When the power of this disk device is turned on, the address A1 is activated and the data D of the mask ROM 7 is
1 is read and the control program is loaded with the initial value data. Further, the address A2 is activated, and the initial value data and the control program are written into the write data D.
2 is stored in the system RAM 8.

Reference numeral 9 is a RAM as a storage means for storing the TOC, and the TOC extracted by the control signal C4 given from the CPU 6 to the signal processing unit 5 is stored in the RAM.
9 is stored in the data area 9b corresponding to the address 9a. The address of the data area for storing the patch data in this address is predetermined, and the address is provided with the flag bit 9c for storing the flag F of "1" or "0". When the patch data is not stored, the flag F is "0", but when the patch data is stored, the flag F is "1".

Reference numeral 10 supplies the comparison output "1" to the CPU 6 when the flag F is "1" and the comparison output "0" when the flag F is "0". That is, the comparator 10 is a discriminating means for discriminating whether or not there is a change content for changing the control program in the stored TOC. Note that the flag F may be detected directly by the CPU 6 as indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 1, instead of by the comparator 10.

Next, the operation of this disk device will be described. When the CPU 6 receives a performance command from an operation unit (not shown), it gives a performance command signal C3 to the servo circuit unit 4 based on a control program in the RAM 8. The servo circuit unit 4 reads the lead-in area of the disk 1 and sends a read signal S1. The read signal S1 is supplied to the signal processing means 5, converted into a digital signal of a predetermined format, and the extracted TOC is stored in the RAM 9.

The CPU 6 controls performance by the TOC stored in the RAM 9. As mentioned above, the disk 1
It is a disk in which the contents of change for the manufacturer to change the control program which is the software of the CPU 6 are added to the TOC of the disk as patch data and recorded.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a disc reproducing method performed by the disc device of FIG. 1 when reproducing the disc on which the patch data is recorded. In FIG. 2, the pickup 3 reads data from the disk 1 (data read) (step S1). The CPU 6 reads the TOC from the signal processing unit and writes it in the RAM 9 (step S2). At this time, the patch data, that is, the changed content is stored in the predetermined data area 9d, and the flag F of the address becomes "1".

Then, the read address A3 is sent to the RAM 9, the flag F is read and supplied to the comparator 10 (step S3). Based on the comparison result in the comparator 10, it is judged whether or not the flag F is "1" (step S
4) If it is "1", it is determined that there is change data (patch data), and the patch data D4 is fetched (step S5).

Thereafter, the control program in the RAM 8 is changed by this patch data, control is performed according to the changed new control program, and reproduction is performed (step S).
5). If the flag F is not "1" in step S4, the tune is reproduced according to the contents of the TOC just read (as in the conventional case) (step S6).

As described above, the change contents for changing the control program stored in the disk device are recorded on the disk as patch data and reproduced, so that the control can be performed without modifying the mask ROM 7 or the like. With respect to some errors and corrections of the program, the control program can be changed very easily without modifying the disk device.

In the above embodiment, the MD is taken as an example of the disc. However, in the case of the MD, the user TOC (UTOC) is provided as the user use area, and the changed contents should be recorded in this UTOC. According to this, the present invention can be realized. However, even in the case of a CD, the present invention can be realized by utilizing the TOC area.

Further, as a storage means for storing the patch data, a battery-backed RAM or EEPROM is used.
By storing the data in a writable non-volatile ROM such as the above, the patch data can be stored even after the power is turned off. Therefore, it is only necessary to play the disc on which the patch data is recorded once, and the patch data is changed thereafter. The reproduction operation based on the control program becomes possible.

[0026]

According to the disk device or the disk reproducing method of the present invention, the control program can be automatically changed only by playing the disk in which the changed contents are recorded. With respect to the correction and the correction, the error can be repaired and corrected very easily without modifying the disk device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a disk device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a disc reproducing method according to the present invention, which is performed by the disc device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 disk 3 pickup (reading means) 5 signal processing section 6 CPU (control means) 7 mask ROM 9 RAM (storage means) 10 comparator (discrimination means)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A disc device for reproducing information by playing a disc on which information and control information related to this information are recorded, based on a predetermined control program, and which carries the information and control information from the disc to be played. Reading means for reading a reproduction signal, signal processing means for processing the reproduction signal, storage means for storing the control information extracted by the signal processing means, and the predetermined control program in the stored control information. A discriminating means for discriminating whether or not there is a change content for changing, and a control means for playing the disc based on the control program changed by the change content when the discriminating means judges the existence of the change content. A disk device comprising: 2. The disk device according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a writable nonvolatile memory. 3. The disc according to claim 1, wherein the control information is a TOC recorded in a lead-in area of the disc, and the changed contents are present in a user use area provided in the TOC. apparatus. 4. A method of reproducing information by playing a disc carrying information and control information related to the information, wherein control information including change contents for changing a control program is recorded on the disc, When reproducing the disc, the disc reproducing method is characterized in that a control program relating to a reproduction control stored in the disc device is changed according to the change contents to reproduce the disc.