JP2000030413A - Recording/reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely, easily and continuously record the data on another record medium when a free area exists in another record medium even when the free area is not left in the record medium while recording by providing a memory for storing control information of plural record media housed in a device at a device initialization time. SOLUTION: At a system initialization time, a system controller 11 controls a stage controller 33, a loading controller 34, etc., and loads successively MD (MiniDisk) 1a-1e onto a player box 32, and reads TOC information and the head part data recorded on the MD 1a-1e to store them in a RAM 12. After the initialization, the system controller 11 finds what amount of free areas exist in some address position in some MD from the TOC information stored in the RAM 12, and surely and beforehand selects the MD to be recorded continuously next in a very short time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention can store a plurality of recording media such as an MD (mini-disc) for recording or reproducing information such as music, and select an arbitrary recording medium from the plurality of recording media to transfer information. The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus or a reproducing apparatus such as an MD changer system for recording or reproducing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A disk changer system such as an MD changer system has been put to practical use, in which a plurality of disks such as MDs can be stored, and information can be recorded or reproduced by selecting an arbitrary disk from the plurality of disks. .

In addition, digital data to be recorded on a disk or digital data read from a disk
A method of improving the operability of recording or reproduction by writing to a memory such as M and reading from the memory has also been considered.

[0004]

Conventionally, in the above-described disk changer system, when data is recorded on a disk, if there is no free space on the disk being recorded, no free space is left on another disk. Even if there is an area, there is an inconvenience that recording must be stopped.

Therefore, according to the present invention, even when there is no free space in a recording medium during recording, if there is a free space in another recording medium, data is reliably and easily continuously recorded on another recording medium. It is something that can be done.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in a recording / reproducing apparatus which can store a plurality of recording media, and mounts a selected recording medium at a predetermined position to perform recording / reproduction, the recording / reproducing apparatus performs the recording / reproducing when the apparatus is initialized. A memory is provided for storing management information of a plurality of recording media housed in the apparatus.

[0007] In the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, at the time of initialization of the apparatus, for example, when the apparatus is powered on, management information of a plurality of recording media stored in the apparatus is stored in the memory. Can be Therefore, in the device after the initialization, it is possible to know, from the management information stored in the memory, how much free space exists at which address position of which recording medium without exchanging the recording medium. Even if there is no free space on one storage medium while data is being recorded on a certain storage medium, if there is free space on another storage medium, data can be reliably and easily continuously transferred to another storage medium. Can be recorded.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described for the case where the present invention is applied to an MD changer system.

[Basic Configuration of System] FIG. 1 shows the functional configuration of an MD changer system according to this embodiment. The MD changer system is roughly divided into a disk box 31 capable of storing, for example, five MDs 1a to 1e.
And a player box 32 for reproducing one of the MD1s (in the figure, MD1a in the disc box 31 is indicated by a broken line as MD1a), and moving the MD between the disc box 31 and the player box 32 And a loading controller 34.

The stage controller 33 mounts any MD in the disc box 31 to the player box 32 and mounts it in the player box 32 according to an instruction from the system controller 11 constituted by, for example, a microcomputer in the player box 32. The loading controller 34 determines which stage in the disc box 31 the MD1 is returned to, and the loading controller 34 attaches the MD to the player box 32, removes the MD from the player box 32, and A mechanism, such as a loading motor, not shown in the figure, for returning to the disk box 31 is controlled.

The MD 1, which is a magneto-optical disk, mounted at a predetermined position in the player box 32 is driven to rotate by a spindle motor 2. At the time of recording, the optical head 3 drives the MD 1 to heat the recording track to the Curie temperature. At the time of reproduction, the optical head 3 irradiates the MD 1 with a relatively low-level laser beam for reading information from reflected light by the magnetic Kerr effect.

The optical head 3 includes an optical system including an objective lens 3a, a polarizing beam splitter, and the like, in addition to a laser diode that outputs laser light, a two-axis actuator 4,
And a light detector for detecting the reflected light from the MD1.

The objective lens 3a includes a biaxial actuator 4
Thereby, it is possible to move in the radial direction of MD1 and in the direction approaching MD1 or moving away from MD1. Further, the entire optical head 3 is moved by the thread mechanism 5 to M
It is movable in the radial direction of D1.

Further, a magnetic head 6 for applying a magnetic field modulated by data to the MD 1 at the time of recording is arranged at a position facing the optical head 3 with the MD 1 interposed therebetween.

(Reproduction Operation) First, the reproduction operation will be described.
At the time of reproduction, information read from the MD 1 by the optical head 3 is supplied to the RF amplifier 7, and the RF amplifier 7 performs arithmetic processing on the reproduced RF signal, tracking error signal, focus error signal,
Groove information (absolute position information recorded as a pre-groove (wobbling groove) in MD1) is obtained.

The groove information from the RF amplifier 7 is decoded by an address decoder 10 and the address decoder 10 obtains absolute position information. The address information recorded on the MD 1 as data is transmitted to the RF decoder 8.
Is extracted by The absolute position information and the address information are supplied to the system controller 11 and used for various controls.

A tracking error signal and a focus error signal from the RF amplifier 7 are supplied to a servo circuit 9 together with a track jump command, an access command, rotation speed detection information, and the like from the system controller 11, and various types of signals are sent from the servo circuit 9. Is obtained, the two-axis actuator 4 is controlled by the servo control signal to perform tracking control and focus control, and the sled mechanism 5 is controlled to move the optical head 3 in the radial direction of the MD 1. , MD1 is controlled to rotate at a constant linear speed.

The reproduced RF signal from the RF amplifier 7 is RF
The decoder 8 performs processing such as EFM demodulation and CIRC decoding, and outputs the disk data output 20 after the processing.
The system controller 11 writes the data as a memory data input 21 to a RAM (random access memory) 12 as described later.

The data written in the RAM 12 is sent to the memory data output 22 by the system controller 11.
As will be described later, after being read from the RAM 12 and slightly adjusted by the system controller 11,
The audio decoder input 23 is supplied to the audio decoder 13.

In the audio decoder 13, a process is performed such that the audio decoder input 23 is subjected to inverse orthogonal transformation and data expansion, and a linear audio output 24 is obtained. This linear audio output 24 is converted into an analog audio signal 25 by the D / A converter 14, and the analog audio signal 25 is output to the audio output terminal 15.
Is derived.

(Recording Operation) During recording, the analog audio signal 26 from the audio input terminal 41
It is converted to digital data by the converter 42 to obtain a linear audio input 27, and the linear audio input 2
7 is supplied to the audio encoder 43. In the audio encoder 43, the linear audio input 27 is orthogonally transformed, and as a result, the data is compressed to about 1/4, and the recording data generation output 28 is obtained.

The recording data generation output 28 is subjected to some adjustment processing by the system controller 11, and then, as a memory data input 21, is used as an RA data as will be described later.
M12 is written.

The data written in the RAM 12 is sent to the memory data output 22 by the system controller 11.
Is read from the RAM 12 as described later, and R
After being processed by the F encoder 44 such as CIRC encoding and EFM modulation, it is supplied as a recording signal 29 to the magnetic head drive circuit 45.

In the magnetic head drive circuit 45, a magnetic field having a strength along the voltage of the recording signal 29 is applied to the MD1 from the magnetic head 6, and the magnetic field is applied to the MD1 from the optical head 3 described above.
The audio data is recorded on the MD 1 by the high-level laser light applied to the.

[Basic Configuration of Memory] FIG.
An example of the configuration will be described. In this example, the RAM 12 has memory addresses from 000000 to FFFFF, and an address area from 000000 to 7FFFF is set as the main memory area 12M.

The main memory area 12M further contains 000
TOC (Table Of Co.) described later as disc (MD) management information in the address area from 00 to 0FFFF.
ntents) TOC memory area 12M1 in which information is stored
And of the address area from 10,000 to 4FFFF,
The disk memory area 12M2 in which the memory data input 21 is stored is set.

At the time of reproduction, the memory data input 21, which is the disk data output 20, is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 while the last input address in the past is incremented. As a result, when the input address reaches 4FFFF, the next address returns to the lower order and is stored continuously from the address 10000. That is, the disk memory area 12M2 has a so-called ring buffer configuration.

Further, if the input address reaches the output address of the memory data output 22 during the process, the system controller 11 sets the disk memory area 12M
Stop the accumulation of data in 2. The system controller 11 reads and takes in the memory data output 22 from the area 12M3 in which data is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 while incrementing the output address from the lower order.

In the case of MD, the memory data output 22 is incremented at a rate of 1/4 or less of the memory data input 21. Therefore, even if an error occurs in the reproduced data due to an external impact or the like, the music can be reproduced and output for a certain period of time by using the data stored in the storage area 12M3. By performing recovery, continuous reproduction can be guaranteed.

At the time of recording, the memory data input 21 which is the recording data generation output 28 is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 of the ring buffer configuration while the last input address in the past is incremented, and the memory data input 21 is stored in the disk memory area 12M2. From the area 12M3 where data is stored, the memory data output 22 is read while the output address is incremented from the lower order,
It is taken in by the system controller 11.

The memory data output 22 at the time of recording is incremented at a rate of at least four times the recording time ratio of the RF encoder 44. Therefore, even if an error occurs in the recorded data due to an external impact or the like, the storage area 12M
The error can be recovered by re-recording with the data stored in No. 3, and stable recording can be guaranteed.

T stored in TOC memory area 12M1
The OC information is disc management information stored in the disc box 31 such as the title, time, and recorded address of the music recorded on each MD, and is used to initialize the system as described later. Sometimes, it is read from each MD in advance and stored in the TOC memory area 12M1, and is used by the system controller 11 for disk access or the like.

[Setting of Head Memory Area and Initialization of System] Further, in the MD changer system of this embodiment, even if the MD is exchanged at the time of reproduction at the request of the user, the MD requested by the user remains at the head. Immediately after, the sound is reproduced continuously without interruption.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The address area from 80000 to FFFFF is set as the head memory area 12S. However, the main memory area 12M and the head memory area 12S may be separate memories instead of being separate areas of one memory as shown in FIG.

When the system is initialized, such as when the system is powered on, the system controller 11
The stage controller 33 and the loading controller 34 are controlled, and the MDs 1a to 1e are sequentially mounted on the player box 32, and the TOC information recorded in the innermost peripheral portion of each of the MDs 1a to 1e is sequentially stored. The head data is read.

The read TOs of the MDs 1a to 1e are read.
The C information is stored in the TOC memory area 12M1, and the head data of the MDs 1a to 1e is processed in the same manner as during reproduction, and is displayed by the system controller 11 as the head data Da to De in FIG. Address areas 12Sa to 12Se in the head memory area 12S
Is stored in

Each of the address areas 12Sa to 12Se is 3.2 Mbits, which corresponds to about 14 seconds in the case of MD. Therefore, the address areas 12Sa to 12Se have 3.2 Mbits and about 14 seconds of leading data, respectively. Da ~
De will be stored.

However, at the time of system initialization, if the user has requested reproduction of a specific MD, first, the MD requested by the user is mounted on the player box 32 and the MD requested by the user is loaded. The head data is stored in the head memory area 12S and read from the head memory area 12S, and the data following the head data of the MD requested by the user is written to the disk memory area 12M2 and read from the disk memory area 12M2. As a result, the MD requested by the user is promptly reproduced from the beginning.

Then, after all the data following the head data of the MD requested by the user is stored in the disk memory area 12M2, other MDs are sequentially stored in the player box 32.
And the head data of another MD is sequentially stored in the head memory area 12S.

At the time of system initialization, even if the user requests reproduction of a specific MD,
The MD mounted on the player box 32 or the MD on the stage to be loaded
May exist, the head data of the MD may be stored in the head memory area 12S, and then the MD requested by the user may be processed.

As described above, at the time of system initialization, while the MD requested by the user is promptly reproduced from the head, the head data Da to D of all MDs 1a to 1e are concurrently reproduced.
e is stored in the head memory area 12S.

[Reproduction after System Initialization] In the reproduction after system initialization, as described above, even if the MD is exchanged in response to the user's request, the MD requested by the user remains the same.
Immediately from the beginning, the sound is reproduced continuously without interruption.

For example, in an on-vehicle MD changer system, the user plays the first MD 1a while driving a car, and wants to know the contents of a different MD, and selects the second MD 1b. The case is shown as an example.

In this case, at the time of the user's selection operation, the MD1a is mounted on the player box 32, and the MD1a is mounted.
Since a is reproduced, the latest data of MD1a is stored in the storage area 12M3 in the main memory area 12M.

In this state, if there is a request for reproduction of MD1b,
The system controller 11 determines the output address of the memory data output 22 from the last read address of the memory data output 22 of the storage area 12M3 to the address area where the head data Db of the MD1b in the head memory area 12S is stored. The start address is changed to 12Sb start address 90000, and the start data Db of MD1b is read.

The read head data Db is processed by the audio decoder 13 as a memory data output 22 in the same manner as the memory data output read from the storage area 12M3. Converted to a signal. Therefore, immediately after the user's selection operation, the head of MD1b requested by the user is reproduced. Since the head part data Db is about 14 seconds, the head part is reproduced without interruption for about 14 seconds.

At the same time, the system controller 11
From the loading controller 34
Removes the MD 1a from the player box 32 and returns the MD 1a to the original position of the disc box 31. The time required for this is about 1 second.

Next, in response to a command from the system controller 11, the stage controller 33 moves the disk box 31 by one stage in this case. The time required to move the disk box 31 depends on the amount of movement, and is about 4 to 8 seconds. In this case, since it is moved by one stage, it is about 4 to 5 seconds.

Further, in response to a command from the system controller 11, the loading controller 34 stores the MD 1b in the disc box 31 in the player box 3
Attach to 2. The time required for this is about 1 second.

In this way, the MD1 requested by the user
b is mounted on the player box 32 at a predetermined position.
The time required for this is 6 to 10 seconds.

Thereafter, at the time of system initialization, the system controller 11 obtains the MD from the TOC information stored in the TOC memory area 12M1 in advance as described above.
A position offset by 10000 from the head position of the disk, which is a continuation address of the head data Db of 1b, is calculated, and the optical head 3 is made to access the position. The time required for this is about 1 second.

After the access is completed, the system controller 1
1 is the data from the accessed location, ie, M
The data after the head data Db of D1b is stored as the memory data input 21 in the disk memory area 12M2 of the main memory area 12M from the head address 10000.

At this time, since it is within 14 seconds from the time of the user's selection operation, the RAM 12 reads the MD1b from the address area 12Sb in the head memory area 12S.
Is read out as the memory data output 22.

Then, about 14 hours from the time of the user's selection operation
Seconds later, when all the head data Db of the MD 1b is read, the system controller 11 outputs the memory data output 2
2 is changed from the final address 9FFFF of the address area 12Sb to the head address 10000 of the disk memory area 12M2, and the data after the head data Db of the MD 1b is read.

Therefore, from the head of the MD requested by the user to the subsequent part, the sound is continuously reproduced without interruption. Subsequent processing is the same as in the conventional system in which the head data is not stored in the memory.

[Continuous recording and continuous reproduction over a plurality of MDs] In the MD changer system of this embodiment,
Further, at the time of recording, while data is being recorded on a certain MD, the M
Even if there is no free space in D, if there is a free space in another MD, data can be reliably and easily continuously recorded on another MD, and at the time of reproduction,
Data continuously recorded on a plurality of MDs in this manner is
It is possible to reliably and easily perform continuous reproduction in the recording order at the time of recording.

(First Example) As described above, at the time of recording, the linear audio input 2
7 is orthogonally transformed, and as a result, the data is compressed to about 1/4, and the obtained recording data generation output 28 is subjected to some adjustment processing by the system controller 11, and then, as a memory data input 21, a disk memory Area 12M2
In the meantime, the last input address in the past is stored while being incremented, and when the input address reaches 4FFFF, the next returns to the lower order and is stored continuously from the address 10000.

Then, the system controller 11 reads and takes in the memory data output 22 from the area 12M3 in which the data is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 while incrementing the output address from the lower order, and outputs it to the RF encoder 44. .

In this process, if the output address of the memory data output 22 has reached within the minimum recording unit (one cluster) with respect to the address at which the recording data generation output 28 was last written, the system controller 11
Stops outputting the memory data output 22 to the RF encoder 44 and stops recording.

In the case of MD, the memory data output 22 is read at an uncompressed rate, and is incremented at a rate four times or more that of the recording data generation output 28 as the memory data input 21. Even if a recording error occurs due to, for example, the use of the data stored in the storage area 12M3, the continuous recording can be temporarily stopped, and the data can be re-recorded at the corresponding disk address. The recording data generation output 28 input during re-recording is stored in the disk memory area 12M.
By storing the data in the empty area 2 and re-recording it, and reading out and outputting the stored data as the memory data output 22, continuous recording can be guaranteed.

However, when data is being recorded on a certain MD and there is no free space in that MD, in order to continuously record data in the free space of another MD, it is necessary to exchange MDs 7 to 11 in order to record data. The memory data output 22 is supplied to the RF encoder 44 during a time period of 9 to 13 seconds, which is approximately 1 second, which is required to control the position of the magnetic head 6 before and after the exchange of the MD. Cannot be output to

During this time, the address at which the recording data generation output 28 from the audio encoder 43 is written is sequentially incremented.
The memory data output 22 cannot exceed the last read address.

Therefore, the time for storing the memory data input 21 which is the recording data generation output 28 depends on the size of the disk memory area 12M2.
In the example, the recording time is about 50 seconds at the maximum, but at the time of recording, an area for re-recording when a recording error occurs and an area for holding the recording data generation output 28 input during writing are necessary. In practice, about 40 seconds is an effective time.

On the other hand, in a conventional system in which TOC information is not stored in a memory in advance, in order to continuously record data on a plurality of MDs, first, the MD that ends recording is used.
About 2 seconds for rewriting the TOC portion, about 1 second for controlling the position of the magnetic head 6, and 6 to 10 seconds for exchanging the MD by the stage controller 33 and the loading controller 34.
It takes 9 to 13 seconds in total.

Further, if the MD after the exchange is recordable, it takes about 2 seconds to read the P-TOC information in the pit area and the U-TOC information in the rewrite area, and about 2 seconds to access the recordable free area. It takes about one second and about one second to control the position of the magnetic head 6, for a total of about four seconds. Therefore,
It takes a maximum of 17 seconds to start recording on the MD after the first exchange.

If the replaced MD cannot be recorded due to the setting of the recording inhibit switch of the cartridge, the MD
It takes a maximum of 13 seconds to detect recording failure at the time of completion of replacement.

If there is no free area in the replaced MD or if the free area of the replaced MD is shorter than a preset time, the P-TOC information of the pit area and the U-TOC information of the rewriting area are used. It can be determined after reading, but it takes up to 15 seconds to read it.

If the MD after the first exchange is not recordable, or if there is no free space in the MD after the first exchange,
Alternatively, if the empty area of the MD after the first exchange is shorter than the preset time, the MD is exchanged for the next MD continuously, but the exchange takes a maximum of 10 seconds. After that, the P-TOC information in the pit area and the U-
Since it takes about 2 seconds to read the TOC information, it takes up to 12 seconds before it can be determined whether or not it can be recorded on the MD after replacement.
This will take seconds.

Since the MD after the second exchange is not recordable, or the MD after the second exchange has no free area, or the empty area of the MD after the second exchange is longer than a preset time. Because it is short, the next M
In the case of exchanging for D, 15 seconds for the first exchange, 12 seconds for the second exchange, 12 seconds for the third exchange, 1 second for accessing a recordable free area, and 1 second for controlling the position of the magnetic head 6. One second, a total of 41 seconds, may exceed the storage time of substantially 40 seconds of the disk memory area 12M2 described above.

Therefore, in the conventional system, when the exchange of the MD is required three times or more, data may not be continuously recorded in the empty area of another MD.

On the other hand, in the MD changer system according to the above-described embodiment, all the M
The TOC information of D1a to 1e is stored in the TOC memory area 12M1.
Is stored in Therefore, after initialization, the system controller 11 sets the TOC memory area 12M
From the TOC information stored in No. 1, it is possible to know which MD, at which address position, and how much free space is available, and the MD to be recorded next in advance can be reliably determined in a very short time. Can be selected.

When a recordable MD exists in the system, the system controller 11
It is possible to exchange to the recordable MD by exchanging the times. The time required for this one exchange is P-TOC
17 seconds including the time required for reading the information and the U-TOC information, accessing the recordable free area, and controlling the position of the magnetic head 6, the disk memory area 12M
There is a sufficient margin as compared with the storage possible time of 2 which is substantially 40 seconds. Therefore, when there is a free space in another MD, data can be continuously and reliably recorded on the other MD.

As described above, the TOC information of the MD on which the data is continuously recorded includes the “UT” of the MD sector structure so that it can be easily identified that the data is continuously recorded.
"Disc" of the corresponding track included in "OC sector 2"
The value of “rec date and time” is set as follows and recorded in the U-TOC portion of the MD.

The "Disc r" of the corresponding track of the first MD
As shown in FIG. 3A, the date and time when the recording was started is set in “ec date and time”. "Disc r" of the corresponding track of the second MD for recording data following the first MD
In the “ec date and time”, a value obtained by adding 1 second to the numerical value of “Disc rec date and time” of the first MD is set as shown in FIG. Further, when data is recorded subsequent to the third MD, “Disc rec date and time” of the corresponding track of the third MD includes, as shown in FIG. "Disc rec date" of the second MD
Set the value obtained by adding 1 second to the value of "and time". The same applies to the case where data is subsequently recorded on the fourth and subsequent MDs.

The track "UT" of the track thus recorded is
"MakerCode" and "Model" included in "OC sector 2"
Needless to say, "Code" matches.

As described above, data is continuously recorded, and a plurality of MDs in which TOC information is set are stored in the MD1.
When the MD changer system included as any of a to 1e is initialized at the time of turning on the power to the system or the like, as described above, the TOC information of each MD is sequentially read from the MD, and the TOC memory is read. Area 1
Stored in 2M1.

At the time of reproduction, the system controller 1
1 examines the “U-TOC sector 2” of each track in the TOC information stored in the TOC memory area 12M1, finds that the “Maker Code” and “Model Code” are the same, and “Disc rec date”. If there are tracks that differ by one second from each other, the data of each track is determined to have been recorded consecutively in ascending order of “Disc rec date and time”, and the system determines “continuously”. In this case, the data of each track is continuously reproduced.

According to the setting and determination of the management information, in practice, a plurality of Ms in which data are recorded continuously without being confused with recording tracks under other conditions are practically used.
Data can be continuously reproduced from D.

(Second Example) In the first example described above, immediately after the power is turned on, or when a new MD is stored in the disk box 31 and recording is started without going through the system initialization, the system is connected to the system. TO of all stored MD
When the C information has not yet been stored in the TOC memory area 12M1, at which address position of which MD,
Since it is not possible to completely know how much free space is available, it is not possible to select the next MD to be recorded next in advance, and to find a recordable MD,
Disk exchange area 1
Since it takes a longer time than the substantial storage possible time of 2M2, it may not be possible to actually record data continuously on a plurality of MDs.

Therefore, in the second example, in addition to the disk memory area 12M2, the head memory area 12S is used for storing the recording data generation output 28. Accordingly, in the example of FIG. 2, the storable time of the recording data generation output 28 is a time obtained by adding the time of the head memory area 12S to the time of 40 seconds of the disk memory area 12M2. In the second example, the TOC information of the TOC memory area 12M1 is made complete during the storage time that is obtained by adding the time of the head memory area 12S.

A second example will be described with an example in which recording is started immediately after power-on. Immediately after power-on, TOC information and data are not stored in any of the TOC memory area 12M1, the disk memory area 12M2, and the head memory area 12S.

In the second example, the audio encoder 43
The linear audio input 27 is subjected to an orthogonal transformation, and as a result, the data is compressed to about 1/4. The obtained recording data generation output 28 is subjected to some adjustment processing by the system controller 11, and then the memory data input 21 First, as shown in FIG. 4, the data is stored not in the disk memory area 12M2 but in the head memory area 12S from the head address 80000.

At this time, since information on which MD and at which address position and how much free area is available is not obtained, the system controller 11 cannot put the player box 32 into the recording state. The memory data output 22 cannot be read from the RAM 12 and captured.

At the same time, the MD specified by the user or the MD set in advance in the system (for example, the minimum or maximum MD of the stage number, or the system controller 11 is mounted on the player box 32 at the start of the processing). The MD that is loaded or the MD that is on the stage to be loaded at the start of the processing, etc.) is mounted in the player box 32.

When the stage needs to be moved, it takes 4 to 8 seconds to move the stage, and it takes about 1 second to mount it from the disc box 31 to the player box 32. Alternatively, it takes a maximum of 9 seconds to mount the first MD set.

After the first MD is mounted on the player box 32, the system controller 11 sends the P-TOC information of the pit area of the MD and the U-TOC of the rewrite area.
The information is read and the necessary part of the U-TOC information is
Write to the corresponding position in the C memory area 12M1. This takes about 2 seconds. Therefore, the time required so far is 11 seconds at the maximum. At this point, the recording data generation output 28 is stored in the head memory area 12S.

After that, in order to obtain the TOC information of the next MD, the system controller 11 controls the loading controller 34 to remove the first MD mounted on the player box 32 from the player box 32, and Return to position 31. The time required for this is about 1 second.

Next, the system controller 11 controls the stage controller 33 to
Move 1 The time required for this depends on the amount of movement, but is about 4 to 8 seconds.

Further, the system controller 11 controls the loading controller 34 to mount the next MD from the disc box 31 to the player box 32. The time required for this is about 1 second.

Thereafter, as in the previous case, in a time of about 2 seconds,
P-TOC information in pit area and U-TO in rewrite area
C information is read and the necessary part of the U-TOC information is
Write to the corresponding position in the OC memory area 12M1.

With the above processing, the TO of the second MD
C information is obtained. The time required for this is 8 to 12 seconds, and the time from power-on is 23 seconds at the maximum. By the same processing, the time required to obtain the TOC information of all MDs is 47 seconds at the maximum from the time of turning on the power. 47 seconds after the power is turned on, the recording data generation output 28 is stored near the address B4000 in the head memory area 12S.

At that time, the MD to which data is to be recorded and the recording start position thereof can be determined from the TOC information of all the MDs stored in the TOC memory area 12M1.

In accordance with the determination, the system controller 11 removes the MD mounted on the player box 32 from the player box 32 and returns it to the original position of the disc box 31 as necessary, and moves the disc box 31 if necessary. Then, the MD for recording data is mounted from the disc box 31 to the player box 32. After that, a vacant area where recording is possible is accessed, and the position of the magnetic head 6 is controlled. The total time required for these is up to 14 seconds. Therefore, the time required to start recording is a maximum of 61 seconds from the time when the power is turned on.

As described above, when the recording state is set immediately after the power is turned on, initialization (in this case, the head memory area 1 of the liquid crystal) is performed.
It takes a maximum of 61 seconds before the recording is started after the writing of the TOC information to the TOC memory area 12M1 is completed without including the writing to the 2S).
In the method in which only the disk memory area 12M2 is used for storing the recording data generation output 28 as in the first example, continuous recording cannot be guaranteed in all cases because the storable time is about 40 seconds.

Thereafter, the system controller 11 can set the player box 32 to the recording state, and start from the head address 80000 of the head memory area 12S.
The recorded data generation output 28 is read out and taken in as the memory data output 22, and after a slight adjustment process,
Output to the F encoder 44.

The memory data output 22, which is the recording data generation output 28, output to the RF encoder 44, as described above, is subjected to processing such as CIRC encoding and EFM modulation by the RF encoder 44, and then to a recording signal 29.
Is supplied to the magnetic head drive circuit 45 and is recorded on the MD 1 by the magnetic head 6 and the optical head 3.

At 70 seconds after the power is turned on, the address where the recording data generation output 28 of the head memory area 12S is written reaches CFFFF. When the input address reaches CFFFF, the system controller 11
Stores the following recording data generation output 28 in the disk memory area 12M2 in the main memory area 12M from the start address 10000. At this time, about 9 seconds have elapsed since the start of recording, and the output address of the memory data output 22 is near A4000.

After a further 10 seconds, the output address of the memory data output 22 reaches CFFFF. When the output address reaches CFFFF, the system controller 11 changes the output address to the head address 10000 of the disk memory area 12M2, and reads out and reads the recording data generation output 28 as the memory data output 22. At this time, the address where the recording data generation output 28 is written is around 94,000.

Thereafter, the memory data input 21, which is the recording data generation output 28, is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 while the input address is incremented. When the input address reaches 4FFFF, the next lower order is returned. Then, processing of a ring buffer configuration, which is continuously stored from address 10000, is performed.

Then, the system controller 11 reads out and takes in the memory data output 22 from the area where data is stored in the disk memory area 12M2 while incrementing the output address from the lower order.
It shifts to memory management at the time of normal recording.

After this point, the TOC memory area 12M
Since the TOC information of all MDs is stored in 1, data can be continuously recorded in a plurality of MDs, as in the first example.

As described above, according to the second example, by using the head memory area 12S as the storage means of the recording data generation output 28, even if initialization has not been completed, a plurality of memory areas can be easily and reliably stored. Can be continuously recorded on the MD.

[Other Embodiments] As described above, the main memory area and the head memory area may be separate memories instead of separate areas of one memory.

In the above-described embodiment, the TOC information for all MDs stored in the system is stored. However, the present invention can be effectively applied to a case where some TOC information is missing. Can be applied.

In the above embodiment, the recording medium is M
In the case of D, the present invention can be applied to a changer system for disks other than MD and recording media other than disks. The information recorded on the recording medium and reproduced from the recording medium is not limited to music, but may be an image or other information.

[0106]

As described above, according to the present invention, M
In a recording / reproducing device such as a D changer system,
Even when there is no free space in the recording medium during recording, if there is a free space in another recording medium, data can be reliably and easily continuously recorded on another recording medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of an MD changer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a memory in the MD changer system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of disc management information when data is continuously recorded on a plurality of MDs.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a case where a head memory area is used for storing data to be recorded;

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1a-1e: MD (mini disk), 2: spindle motor, 3: optical head, 6: magnetic head, 7: RF
Amplifier, 8 RF decoder, 11 System controller, 12 RAM (random access memory), 12M
... Main memory area, 12S ... Head area memory area, 21 ... Memory data input, 22 ... Memory data output, 31 ... Disk box, 32 ... Player box, 33 ... Stage controller, 34 ... Loading controller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page F term (reference) 5B082 AA00 CA03 CA08 EA01 GA01 GA20 GC04 JA12 5D066 BA03 BA06 DA07 DA12 EA24 SA07 SG11 5D072 CA17 CB01 EB12 5D077 AA30 AA38 AA40 BA14 BA18 BA30 DC11 DC12 EA12 A13 AA A13A13 AA A13AA CA16 CA32 CC08 CJ11 CK02 DA01 DA11 DA14 DA17 DB09 DB10 DE01 EA01 EA09 EB04

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A recording / reproducing apparatus capable of storing a plurality of recording media and mounting / removing a selected recording medium at a predetermined position to perform recording / reproduction. A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising a memory for storing management information of a recording medium. 2. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at the time of recording, data is continuously recorded on a plurality of recording media using management information stored in the memory. . 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the data is recorded on a plurality of recording media on which the data is continuously recorded as management information indicating respective recording dates and times according to the order of recording the data on the respective recording media. A recording / reproducing apparatus for sequentially recording information added by a minimum unit. 4. A reproducing apparatus capable of accommodating a plurality of recording media, of which a selected one of the plurality of recording media is mounted at a predetermined position for reproduction. If the data recorded on the medium has the same management information indicating the recording device and the management information indicating the recording date and time is different from each other by a minimum unit, the data recorded on the plurality of recording media , Which are successively reproduced in ascending order of the management information indicating the recording date and time. 5. A recording / reproducing apparatus capable of accommodating a plurality of recording media and mounting / removing a selected recording medium at a predetermined position to perform recording / reproduction, wherein data read from the recording medium is sequentially written and read. Main storage means, and sub-storage means for storing head data of each recording medium. During reproduction, the head data is read out from the sub-storage means and output, and the head data is read from the corresponding recording medium. By reading the data after the partial data, writing the data into the main storage means, and reading and outputting from the main storage means, the requested recording medium is reproduced, and at the time of recording, the data to be recorded is stored in the sub-storage. A recording / reproducing device, wherein the recording / reproducing device is temporarily stored in a means.