KR100651960B1 - optical recording medium and method for assignment limit of spare area in the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a rewritable optical recording medium and a method of limiting the spare area allocation of the optical recording medium. In particular, the number of expansion of the outer spare area is determined whenever an outer spare area having a variable size is allocated to the optical recording medium to which the inner spare area is allocated. By recording, the expansion of the outer spare area is limited. In addition, since the number of expansion of the outer spare area is recorded, the system can easily check the size of the outer spare area that is expanded, and since the expansion of the outer spare area is limited, there is no problem such that the spare area is infinitely expanded. Can increase performance.

Description

Optical recording medium and method for assignment limit of spare area in the same}

The present invention relates to a rewritable optical record carrier and a method for limiting the spare area allocation of the optical record carrier.

In general, optical recording media are classified into three types, such as a read-only ROM type, a write once type Worm type, and a rewritable type that can be repeatedly recorded, depending on whether repeat recording is possible. Lose.

Among them, freely and repeatedly rewritable discs include a rewritable compact disc (CD-RW) and a rewritable digital versatile disc (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW).

In the case of such a rewritable optical recording medium, the recording / reproducing operation of information is repeatedly performed due to its use characteristics, and thus, the mixing ratio of the mixtures constituting the recording layer formed for recording information on the optical recording medium is increased. It becomes different from the mixing ratio and loses its characteristics, resulting in an error in recording / reproducing information.

This phenomenon is called deterioration, and the deteriorated area appears as a defect area when the format, recording, and reproducing command of the optical recording medium is executed.

In addition to the deterioration phenomenon, defect areas of the rewritable optical recording medium may be generated due to scratches on the surface, dust such as dust, errors in production, and the like.

Therefore, in order to prevent data from being recorded / reproduced in the defective areas formed due to the above reasons, it is necessary to manage the defective areas.

To this end, as shown in FIG. 1, a defect management area (hereinafter referred to as DMA) is provided in a lead-in area and a lead-out area of the optical recording medium. The defect area of the optical recording medium is managed. The data area is divided and managed by zones, and each zone is divided into a user area in which actual data is recorded and a spare area for use when a defect occurs in the user area.

In general, four DMAs exist in one disk (eg, a DVD-RAM), two DMAs exist in a lead-in area, and the other two DMAs exist in a lead-out area. Each DMA consists of two blocks, totaling 32 sectors.

Here, the first block of each DMA (called a DDS / PDL block) includes a Disc Definition Structure (DDS) and a Primary Defect List (PDL), and the second block of each DMA (called an SDL block) is an SDL (Secondary). Defect List).

In this case, PDL means main defect data storage, and SDL means defect data storage.

In general, the PDL stores entries created during the disc creation process and entries of all defective sectors that are identified during initializing, ie, initializing and re-initializing the disc. Here, each entry is composed of an entry type and a sector number corresponding to a defective sector.

On the other hand, the SDL is listed in units of blocks, and stores entries of defective areas that occur after the format or defective areas that cannot be stored in the PDL during the format. Each SDL entry consists of an area storing the sector number of the first sector of the block in which the defective sector has occurred and an area storing the sector number of the first sector of the replacement block to replace it.

In this case, the defective areas (ie, defective sectors or defective blocks) in the data area should be replaced with normal areas, and there are a replacement method such as a slipping replacement method and a linear replacement method.

The sleeping replacement method is applied when a defective area is registered in the PDL. If a defective sector exists in a user area in which actual data is recorded, the defective sector is skipped. The data is recorded by being replaced by a good sector. Then, the user area in which data is recorded occupies a spare area as much as the defective sector skipped and eventually skipped. In addition, the linear replacement method is applied when a defective area is registered in the SDL. If a defective block exists in the user area, the linear replacement method is replaced with a replacement area in units of blocks allocated to the spare area. Record it.

On the other hand, as a method of allocating the spare area, a method of allocating only one zone of the data area or a part of the data area in addition to FIG. 1 described above has been proposed.

One of them is a method of positioning a spare area at the top of the data area, as shown in FIG. 2, and the spare area at this time is called a primary spare area (SA-pri). That is, the remaining data area except the main spare area becomes a user area.

The primary spare area is an area allocated during the initial formatting process, and is not assigned a logical sector number (LSN). That is, the primary spare area may be allocated when the disc manufacturer manufactures the optical disc or may be allocated when the user formats the blank disc for the first time.

In this case, the size of the main spare area may be variously allocated according to the size of the first user area. For example, 26MB (GB is Giga Byte) to set the initial data recording capacity (that is, the first user area) to 4.7 GB (GB is Giga Byte). MB may allocate Mega Byte).

Then, if defective sectors are registered in the PDL by initial or reformatting, data is not recorded in the defective sectors, thereby reducing the recording capacity. Therefore, the main spare area is slipped to the user area by the defective sectors registered in the PDL during formatting to maintain the initial data recording capacity. That is, the physical sector number (PSN) to which the logical start position LSN = 0 of the user area is given changes according to defective sectors registered in the PDL at the time of formatting.

On the other hand, when the first spare area is to be made full by sleeping replacement or linear replacement, a new spare area is allocated again near the end of the user area as shown in FIG. The spare area at this time is called a supplementary spare area (SA-sup).

That is, since important data is copied at the end of the user area, the outer spare area is allocated near the end rather than the end of the user area.

In addition, when the auxiliary spare area is to be full, the auxiliary spare area may be expanded as shown in FIG.

At this time, an opinion is proposed that the expansion of the auxiliary spare area is made to increase by a certain size (eg, 32 MB).

However, when the auxiliary spare area is extended indefinitely, the disk use efficiency is rather reduced, and in particular, it is not meaningful to expand it unconditionally because it is limited by the DMA condition.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical recording medium which records the number of expansion of the outer spare area to limit the expansion of the outer spare area.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for allocating a spare area allocation of an optical recording medium that does not allow the expansion of the outer spare area when the number of extension of the outer spare area exceeds the limit.

It is still another object of the present invention to limit the spare area allocation of the optical recording medium that does not allow the expansion of the outer spare area if the size of the current outer spare area determined by the number of expansion of the outer spare area exceeds the maximum allowable outer spare area. In providing a method.

Another object of the present invention is to not allow the expansion of the outer spare area if the extension number exceeds the limit even if the size of the current outer spare area determined by the number of expansion of the outer spare area is smaller than the maximum allowable outer spare area. A method of limiting spare area allocation of an optical record carrier is provided.

The optical recording medium according to the present invention for achieving the above object is provided with an inner spare area and an outer spare area allocated for defect management, the outer spare area has a variable size, the outer spare area is And a management area in which information indicating the number of expansions of the outer spare area is recorded each time it is allocated.

The extension number information may be applied to an optical recording medium having a limited number of times.

The extension number information may be applied to an optical recording medium having a maximum allowable size of the outer spare area.

The extension number information may be applied to an optical recording medium having a limited number of times and a maximum allowable outer spare area.

The management area is characterized in that the defect management area.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of allocating a spare area allocation to an optical recording medium, the method comprising: checking an extension number of a peripheral area having a variable size, determining whether the extension number determined in the step exceeds a preset limit number; If it is determined in the above step that the number of expansions exceeds the limit number, it is characterized in that it comprises the step of not allowing the expansion of the outer spare area.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for allocating an outer spare area to an outer recording area according to the present invention, the method comprising: checking an expansion count of a variable sized outer spare area, and using the expansion count determined in the step, the size of the currently allocated outer spare area. Calculate and compare this to the preset maximum allowable outer spare area size, and if it is determined that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area exceeds the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area, assign the outer spare area. Characterized in that it comprises a step that does not allow.

If it is determined in the comparing step that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area does not exceed the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area, allocating the outer spare area with an increase of a predetermined predetermined size and recording the increased number of extension information. It is characterized in that it further comprises.

If it is determined in the comparing step that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area does not exceed the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area, and it is determined that the size of the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is smaller than a preset increment, It is characterized by allocating only the size to the outer spare area and recording the increased number of extension information.

If it is determined in the comparison step that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area does not exceed the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area, it is determined whether the extension number exceeds the preset limit number, It further comprises the step of not allowing the assignment.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention is to limit the expansion of the outer spare area by recording the extension number information each time the outer spare area having a variable size is allocated and expanded.

To this end, each time the auxiliary spare area is allocated or extended to the recording area as shown in FIG. 4, the number of expansion of the outer spare area is increased by one. The extended number information recording area may use DMA, in particular, an unused area of SDL or DDS.

For example, if the number of expansions is 0, it means that only the inner spare area is allocated to the optical recording medium and the outer spare area is not allocated. In addition, when the outer spare area is allocated, the number of expansion increases by one, and thereafter, the number of expansion increases by one each time the outer spare area is expanded.

The extension count is reset at the time of initial formatting, and at the time of reformatting, the reset is determined according to the presence or absence of an outer spare area. In other words, if the outer spare area is reassigned to the user area by reformatting, the extension number is reset. If the outer spare area is maintained, the extension number is not reset.

Meanwhile, in order to limit the allocation of the outer spare area using the extension number information, the limit number may be set, the maximum allowable outer spare area may be set, and both the limit number and the maximum allowable outer spare area may be set. Can also be set.

5 to 7 are flowcharts illustrating methods of limiting allocation of an outer spare area using the extension number, which will be described by dividing into first to third embodiments.

First embodiment

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the method for limiting the spare area allocation of the optical recording medium according to the present invention, in which the limit number is set in advance and the expansion of the outer spare area is limited.

If it is determined that the outer spare area is necessary due to the occurrence of the defective block (step 501), the extension number information recorded in the extension number information recording area of the outer spare area as shown in FIG. 4 is read (step 502).

Then, it is determined whether the extension number is smaller than the preset limit number (step 503). In this case, if it is determined in step 503 that the number of expansions is smaller than the preset limit number, it means that a user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area remains. Therefore, the outer spare area is allocated in a predetermined increment. Then, the extension number of the information recording area extension number of the outer spare area is increased by one (step 505).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 503 that the number of expansions is greater than or equal to the preset limit number, it means that no user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area remains, and thus, the expansion of the outer spare area is not permitted (step 506).

For example, if the increase is set to 32MB and the limit is set to 4, the number of expansions is increased by allocating 32MB each time the outsourcing spare area needs to be expanded. Can't. In addition, if the increment is set to 1 MB and the limit is set to 120, the number of expansions is increased by allocating 1 MB each time the outer spare area needs to be expanded, but when the expansion number reaches 120, the outer spare area cannot be extended anymore. .

Second embodiment

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the method for limiting the spare area allocation of the optical recording medium according to the present invention, in which the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area is set in advance to limit the expansion of the outer spare area.

Here, the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area may vary depending on the DMA condition, and may also vary according to the size of the inner spare area and the size of the initial user area.

For example, if the DMA condition is equal to the following Equation 1, the maximum allowable outer spare area may be set to about 120 MB.

[Equation 1]

Here, S _PDL is the number of sectors used to hold the PDL entries, S _SDL is the number of sectors used to hold the SDL entries, E _PDL is the number of PDL entries, and E _SDL is the number of SDL entries. And, Denotes the largest integer not greater than P.

That is, the total number of sectors that can be used for the PDL and the SDL cannot exceed 16 sectors, and the PDL alone or the SDL alone cannot exceed 15 sectors.

At this time, according to the above equation 1, the defect area that can be managed by the DMA to the maximum becomes about 145MB (= 121MB + α). For example, since a defect area that SDL 1 sector can manage is 8 MB and a PDL 1 sector can be managed 1 MB, adding SDL 15 sectors (= 120 MB) to PDL 1 sector (= 1 MB) becomes 121 MB. In consideration of the defect in the spare area, α is added to 145MB. That's about 3% of 4.7GB. That is, up to about 3% of the spare area can be allocated.

Therefore, if the initial recording capacity of the user area is 4.7 GB and the inner spare area is allocated 26 MB, the outer spare area can be allocated up to 119 MB.

On the other hand, if the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area is determined as described above, and it is determined that the outer spare area is necessary due to the generation of a defective block (step 601), it is recorded in the extended number information recording area of the outer spare area as shown in FIG. Read the extended number of times information (step 602).

The size of the currently allocated outer spare area is calculated using the extension number information (step 603). If the outer spare area continues to be expanded by a certain size increment, multiplying the increase by the number of expansions (= increase × number of expansions) indicates the size of the currently allocated outer spare area.

If the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is obtained in step 603, the size is compared with the preset maximum allowable outer spare area (step 604).

If it is determined in step 604 that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is smaller than the maximum allowable size, it means that a user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area remains, and thus the outer spare area is allocated in a predetermined increment. Step 605).

At this time, when the size of the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is smaller than the predetermined incremental size, only the size of the assignable user area is allocated to the outer spare area.

For example, if the predetermined incremental size is 32MB, the outer spare area is extended by 32MB. If the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is about 29MB within the maximum allowable outer spare area, only 29MB is spared. Assign it to an area.

This may occur even when the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area is not a multiple of the increment, and the data is recorded in the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area even though the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area is determined as a multiple of the increment. It can also happen if That is, at this time, the outer circumferential spare area is expanded in increments of the variable size.

Therefore, when the outer spare area is expanded to a variable size rather than a predetermined increment, the variable size should also be taken into consideration when obtaining the size of the currently allocated outer spare area.

When the outer spare area is allocated in the predetermined increment or variable size as described above, the extension number of the extension number information recording area is increased by one (step 606).

In addition, if a user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is secured due to deletion of data later, the steps 601 to 605 may be sequentially performed to expand the outer spare area again within the maximum allowable size. The number of expansions of the extended number information recording area such as 1 is increased by one.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 604 that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is greater than or equal to the maximum allowable outer spare area, the expansion of the outer spare area is not allowed (step 607).

Third embodiment

7 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of the method for limiting the spare area allocation of the optical recording medium according to the present invention, in which the limit number of times and the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area are set in advance, and only one of the two restriction conditions is shown. Even if satisfactory, the expansion of the outer spare area is limited.

At this time, the limited number of times and the maximum allowable outer spare area are applied in the same manner as the first and second embodiments described above.

Therefore, if it is determined as above that the limit number and the maximum allowable outer spare area are determined and it is determined that the outer spare area is necessary due to the generation of a defective block (step 701), the number of times recorded in the extended number information recording area as shown in FIG. The extension count information is read (step 702).

Then, the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is calculated using the extension number information (step 703). Similarly, since the method of obtaining the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is the same as that of the second embodiment described above, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Therefore, if the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is obtained in step 703, the size is compared with the preset maximum allowable outer spare area (step 704).

If it is determined in step 704 that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is smaller than the maximum allowable size, it is compared whether the extension number is smaller than the preset limit number (step 705).

If it is determined in step 704 that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is smaller than the maximum allowable size and the extension number is smaller than the preset limit number, the outer spare area is allocated in increments of a predetermined fixed size (step 706).

At this time, when the size of the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is smaller than the predetermined increment, only the size of the assignable user area is allocated to the outer spare area.

Then, the extension number of the information recording area extension number of the outer spare area is increased by one (step 707).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step 704 that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area is not smaller than the maximum allowable outer spare area, or if it is determined in step 705 that the number of expansions is not smaller than the limit, the expansion of the outer spare area is performed. Not allowed (step 708).

That is, even within the maximum allowable size, if the number of expansion exceeds the limit, the outer spare area is prohibited from expanding.

This case occurs when data is recorded within the maximum allowable size, and the outer spare area is allocated with a variable size, the number of expansions is increased by 1, and the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area is secured by deleting data again. In this case, when the number of expansions exceeds the limit, even if the user area that can be allocated to the outer spare area remains, the expansion to the outer spare area is prohibited.

As described above, according to the method of allocating an optical recording medium and a spare area allocation method of the optical recording medium according to the present invention, each time the outer spare area is allocated to the optical recording medium to which the inner spare area is allocated, the number of expansion of the outer spare area is recorded. By doing so, it is possible to limit the expansion of the outer spare area. In addition, since the number of expansions is recorded, the size of the outer spare area that is easily expanded by the system can be confirmed, and since the expansion of the outer spare area is limited, there is no problem such as the expansion of the spare area indefinitely, thereby improving the performance of the system. .

In particular, the limit number or the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area is determined, and the number of extension of the outer spare area exceeds the limit, or the size of the current outer spare area obtained as the extension number exceeds the maximum allowable size; or If any one of the above constraints is satisfied first, the extension of the outer spare area is not allowed.

1 is a diagram showing a structure of a general optical recording medium in which spare areas are allocated to zones.

2 shows a structure of a general optical recording medium in which a spare area is allocated to the top position of the data area;

3 (a) and 3 (b) show an example in which an auxiliary spare area is allocated to a disk having a primary spare area as shown in FIG. 2 and the auxiliary spare area is expanded.

4 is a view showing the structure of an area in which the number of expansion of the outer spare area is recorded in the optical recording medium according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of a method for limiting spare area allocation of an optical record carrier according to the present invention;

6 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of a method for limiting spare area allocation of an optical record carrier according to the present invention;

7 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of the method for limiting the spare area allocation of the optical record carrier according to the present invention.

Claims (10)

Including at inner spare area and the outer spare area allocated for defect management, wherein the outer spare area having a variable size, that each time the the outer spare area assigned to the information indicating the extension number of the outer spare area recording An optical record carrier comprising a management area. The method of claim 1, wherein the extension number information An optical record carrier, characterized in that applied to an optical record carrier having a limited number of times determined. The method of claim 1, wherein the extension number information An optical record carrier characterized in that the size of the maximum allowable outer spare area is applied to the determined optical record carrier. The method of claim 1, wherein the extension number information An optical record carrier characterized in that a limit number and a maximum allowable outer spare area are applied to the determined optical record carrier. The method of claim 1, wherein the management area is And a defect management area. In the method of allocating an outer spare area of an optical recording medium to which an outer spare area of variable size is allocated, Confirming an extension number of the outer spare area; Determining whether the number of expansions identified in the step exceeds a preset limit number; And disabling the expansion of the outer spare area if it is determined that the number of expansions exceeds the limit number of times. In the method of allocating an outer spare area of an optical recording medium to which an outer spare area of variable size is allocated, Confirming an extension number of the outer spare area; Obtaining the size of the currently allocated outer spare area using the number of expansions identified in the above step and comparing it with a preset maximum allowable outer spare area; Spare area of the optical recording medium, characterized in that obtained by when the size of the outer spare area are allocated in the step to determine going beyond the size of the maximum permissible outer spare area, a step that does not allow the allocation of the outer spare area Allocation Limitation Method. The method of claim 7, wherein Further comprising: in the comparison step the size of the currently allocated an outer spare area, records the maximum allowable outer spare areas when determined it go beyond the size group allocated to the outer spare area to increase the predetermined size is set to increase expansion information on the number of Spare area allocation restriction method for an optical record carrier, characterized in that further comprises. The method according to claim 7 or 8, If in the comparison step the size of the currently allocated an outer spare area, the maximum permissible over different determines that the size of the outer spare area and the size of the available user area allocated to the outer spare area group determination smaller than a predetermined increment of assignable user area And allocating only the size to the outer spare area and recording the increased number of extension information. The method of claim 7, wherein If it is determined in the comparing step that the size of the currently allocated outer spare area does not exceed the maximum allowable size of the outer spare area, it is determined whether the number of expansions exceeds a preset limit, and if the limit is exceeded, the outer spare area. And a step of disallowing the allocation of the spare area.