JP2000122923A - Recording device and method, reproducing device and method, recording medium, and program recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To write data at high speed. SOLUTION: This recording medium 1 is constituted of plural flash memories. In a recording medium control part 42, the recording states of the plural flash memories are managed in a unit called as a block. The recording medium control part 42 constitutes not less than one parallel block constituted of not less than one block based on the minimum number of blocks being the minimum value of the number of blocks for writing data in parallel to the plural flash memories constituting the recording medium 1, so that waiting time when data is written into the recording medium 1 is reduced and writes data in parallel with the blocks constituting the parallel block as an object.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method, a reproducing apparatus and a reproducing method, a recording medium and a program recording medium. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording method, a reproducing apparatus and a reproducing method, a recording medium, and a program recording medium that can be performed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has disclosed, for example,
No. 1371 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,570), Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-215010, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-30
No. 1601 (corresponding to US Pat. No. 5,717,953)
For example, data is transferred from an information providing apparatus that provides data (particularly digital data) such as video, audio, characters, and computer programs to a portable user terminal having a built-in recording medium such as a semiconductor memory. , A system that provides various services,
Proposed earlier.

[0003] According to such a system, the user:
For example, a user can carry a user terminal, go to a place where an information providing device is set, receive audio data or the like from the information providing device, and play back the music on the user terminal to listen to music. That is, in this case,
The user can use a CD (Compac
t Disc) or magnetic tape, without having to buy a song, and if you get tired of that song,
By receiving the audio data of a new song, it becomes possible to listen to the new song.

[0004]

Since the above-mentioned user terminal is required to be portable, it is necessary to retain data without using a backup medium such as a battery as a recording medium used for the user terminal. Preferably, a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory is used.

However, the flash memory requires a relatively long program time for actually writing the input data to the cells of the flash memory with respect to the data input time for inputting the data to be written therein. Therefore, if the amount of data to be written is larger than the amount that can be input to the flash memory at one time, at least the program time wait time from the end of inputting data to the flash memory until the next data is input Occurs. The occurrence of the above-mentioned waiting time for writing data requires a lot of time to provide data to one user. On the other hand, since an information providing apparatus is used by many users, it takes a lot of time to provide data to one user, which causes other users to wait. Then, the number of users who receive the service is reduced.

Therefore, the applicant of the present application has proposed a recording method (hereinafter, referred to as a “memory”) for shortening the time required for writing data by using a plurality of chips in a flash memory and writing data to the plurality of chips in parallel. Where appropriate, referred to as a parallel recording method).

In the parallel recording method, for example, data is input to one chip of a plurality of flash memories, and when the input is completed, the next data is input to another chip.
When the input is completed, the next data is further input to another chip, that is, while the data input thereto is being written to the memory cell in one chip, the next data is input. Is input to another chip, so that the next data can be input without waiting for the programming time of one chip. As a result, the time required for writing data can be shortened. Can be achieved.

By the way, the writing by the parallel recording method is performed, for example, by using, for example, a flash memory of a plurality of chips.
When performing two chips, one chip
A predetermined amount of data is input, and after the input is completed, a predetermined amount of data is input to another chip. And
After the input is completed, a predetermined amount of data is again input to one chip. At this time, the writing of the previously input predetermined amount of data to one chip has been completed. There may not be. In this case, the input of the data to be input this time to one chip is waited until the writing of the previously input data is completed, which hinders the speeding up of writing.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and aims to maximize the effect of increasing the speed of writing by the parallel recording method.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus, wherein data is written to one or more blocks of a recording medium in parallel, and the number of blocks for minimizing a waiting time is minimized. Based on the minimum number of blocks, which is a value, a configuration unit that configures one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks, and a writing unit that writes data in parallel with respect to the blocks that configure the parallel blocks. It is characterized by having.

According to the recording method of the present invention, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks of a recording medium, the minimum number of blocks is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Based on the configuration steps for configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks, and for the blocks configuring the parallel blocks,
A writing step of writing data in parallel.

A recording medium according to claim 38, wherein data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, based on a minimum number of blocks that is a minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Data is written in parallel to blocks constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks.

The recording medium according to claim 55, wherein when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time, or It is characterized in that information necessary for obtaining the minimum number of blocks is recorded.

[0015] According to a 56th aspect of the present invention, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, based on the minimum number of blocks which is the minimum value of the number of blocks minimizing the waiting time, A read unit for reading data from a recording medium on which data is written in parallel is provided for a block constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks. It is characterized by the following.

[0015] In the reproducing method according to claim 58, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the data is written based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Data is read from a recording medium on which data is written in parallel with respect to blocks constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks. I do.

A program recording medium according to claim 59, wherein when writing data to one or more blocks of the recording medium in parallel, the minimum block is a minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Based on the number, a program is recorded which includes a configuration step of configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks, and a writing step of writing data in parallel with respect to the blocks configuring the parallel blocks. It is characterized by having.

In the program recording medium according to the present invention, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the program recording medium is based on the minimum number of blocks which minimizes the waiting time. From a recording medium on which data is written in parallel with respect to a block constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks;
A program having a step of reading data is recorded.

[0018] In the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, when the data is written in parallel to one or more blocks of the recording medium, a minimum value of the number of blocks for minimizing a waiting time is provided. Based on the minimum number of blocks
One or more parallel blocks composed of the above blocks are configured, and the writing unit is configured to write data in parallel to blocks constituting the parallel blocks.

[0019] In the recording method according to the twenty-first aspect,
When data is written in parallel to one or more blocks of a recording medium, one or more blocks composed of one or more blocks are based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Of the parallel blocks, and for the blocks constituting the parallel blocks,
It is designed to write data.

In the recording medium according to the thirty-eighth aspect, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the data is written based on the minimum number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. Data is written in parallel to blocks constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks.

In the recording medium according to claim 55, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time, or Information necessary for obtaining the minimum number of blocks is recorded.

In the reproducing apparatus according to claim 56,
When the reading means writes data to one or more blocks in parallel, the reading means comprises one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. The data is read from the recording medium in which the data is written in parallel with respect to the blocks constituting the parallel blocks obtained by configuring the above parallel blocks.

[0023] In the reproducing method according to claim 58,
When writing data to one or more blocks in parallel, one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks, which is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time Is read from a recording medium on which data is written in parallel with respect to the blocks constituting the parallel blocks obtained by configuring.

In the program recording medium according to claim 59, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks of the recording medium, the minimum value is the minimum number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time. A program recorded includes a configuration step of configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the number of blocks, and a writing step of writing data in parallel with respect to the blocks configuring the parallel blocks. Have been.

[0025] In the program recording medium according to the present invention, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the minimum number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time is set to the minimum number of blocks. On the basis of a block constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks, from a recording medium in which data is written in parallel,
A program including a step of reading data is recorded.

[0026]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A parallel recording system to which the present invention is applied will be described below. Regarding the parallel recording method, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-7408 (US application 09/065630 filed in the United States on April 24, 1998, European Patent Application 0874368) filed by the present applicant earlier. (Corresponding to the official gazette), the details of which are disclosed, and therefore, will be briefly described here. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-7408 is directed to a recording medium in which writing is performed in units called pages and erasing is performed in units larger than pages called blocks, but the scope of the present invention is as follows. It is not limited to such a recording medium.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a recording medium on which data is written by the parallel recording method.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the recording medium 1
It is composed of one recording medium piece 1A to 1D. Note that each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D is basically
For example, it corresponds to one chip of the memory, but it is also possible to divide the recording area of one recording medium into four recording areas and correspond to each of the four recording areas.

The recording medium piece 1A is composed of, for example, 16 pages with 512 bytes as one page. Further, in the present embodiment, one block is composed of four pages. Therefore, the recording medium piece 1A is composed of four blocks (= 16 pages / 4 pages). The other recording medium pieces 1B to 1D have the same configuration as the recording medium piece 1A.

Here, a block means a unit for erasing data on a recording medium, and a page means a unit for writing data on a recording medium.

Here, in the present embodiment, the physical address of the recording medium 1 is represented as follows.

That is, here, the physical address is represented using three units of a chip number c (Chip), a block number b (Block), and a page number p (Page). Chip number c
Is for specifying the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D,
The recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are C [0] to C
It is represented by [3].

The block number b corresponds to the recording medium pieces 1A to 1
D to identify the block in each,
For example, the first to fourth blocks from the bottom in each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are represented by B [0] to B [3], respectively. The lowermost block of the recording medium piece 1A is represented as CB [0: 0] using the chip number c and the block number b. Also, a recording medium piece 1A
Is represented by CB [0: 1], the third block from the bottom is represented by CB [0: 2], and the top block is represented by CB [0: 3]. It is represented by Similarly, the first to fourth blocks from the bottom of the recording medium piece 1B are represented by CB [1: 0] to CB [1: 3], respectively, and the first to fourth blocks from the bottom of the recording medium piece 1C are , CB [2: 0] to CB [2: 3], and the first to fourth blocks from the bottom of the recording medium piece 1D are respectively represented by CB [3: 0] to CB [3: 3]. Is done.

The page number p is used to specify a page in each block. The first to fourth pages from the bottom of each block are represented by P [0] to P [3], respectively. The bottom page of the bottom block of the recording medium piece 1A is represented as CBP [0: 0: 0] using the chip number c, the block number b, and the page number p. The second page from the bottom of the lowermost block of the recording medium piece 1A is represented by CBP [0: 0: 1], and the third page from the bottom is CBP [0: 0:
2], and the top page is CBP [0:
0: 3]. Pages of other blocks of the recording medium 1A, and pages of blocks of the other recording media 1B to 1D are similarly represented.

Therefore, for example, if the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are respectively referred to as first to fourth chips, the p-th page from the bottom in the b-th block from the bottom of the c-th chip is , CBP [c-1: b-
1: p-1].

In this case, one page has 512 bytes, but this corresponds to FAT (File Allocation Ta).
ble) In order to easily cope with a file system or the like, the capacity is set to 512 bytes which is the capacity of one sector (however, the capacity of one page is not limited to this).

In FIG. 1, FS [f: s] described on the pages of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D corresponds to the recording medium 1
, Represents a file number for specifying a file, and s represents a sector number for specifying a sector. Therefore, in FIG. 1, for example, the uppermost page (the page represented by the physical address CBP [0: 3: 3]) of the recording medium piece 1A includes
Data FS [2:12] specified by the file number 2 and the sector number 12 is recorded. Also, for example, the lowest page (physical address C) of the recording medium piece 1D
BP [3: 0: 0]) has data FS specified by file number 0 and sector number 2
[0: 2] is recorded.

In FIG. 1 (the same applies to FIGS. 4 to 6 to be described later), a hatched portion (block) is a portion in which data cannot be written (prohibited at that time). (Including the case). That is, for example, a hatched portion is a block that has been damaged from the beginning of manufacturing or due to excessive rewriting (hereinafter, referred to as an invalid block as appropriate), or a block that has been secured as a so-called system area or spare area (hereinafter, referred to as a block). (Referred to as a system block as appropriate).

The data recorded on the recording medium 1 of FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, it is managed in file units and block units.

That is, FIG. 2 shows a file management information storage unit 2 for storing file management information for managing data recorded on the recording medium 1 on a file-by-file basis.
2 shows a configuration example of a block management information storage unit 3 that stores block management information for managing in block units.

In FIG. 2, the file management information storage unit 2
Has entries corresponding to four physical addresses M [0] to M [3]. In one entry, file management information on one file can be stored. Therefore, in the embodiment of FIG.
A maximum of four files can be stored (recorded) in the file management information (however, the file management information storage unit 2 stores the file management information of a number of files other than four). It is also possible to configure so that it is possible.

Here, the file management information includes information for specifying the file (for example, file name), the size of the file, and the block management information storage unit 3.
Is made up of a pointer to the entry in which the block management information is stored. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the file name (File) is F [n] (n is, for example,
File size), the size (Size) is the number of sectors (equal to the number of pages in the present embodiment), and the pointer (BAT) to the entry is represented using the chip number c and the block number b. They are represented by physical addresses T [c: b] of the block management information storage unit 3, respectively.

According to the file management information stored in the file management information storage unit 2 of FIG. 2, the following can be recognized.

That is, first, three files specified by the file names F [0] to F [2] are recorded on the recording medium 1, and their logical order is
[1], F [2], and F [0]. Second, the sizes of the files F [0] to F [2] are 12
This is an amount corresponding to sectors (pages), 23 sectors, and 13 sectors, respectively. Third, in the recording medium 1, the first blocks in which the files F [0] to F [2] are recorded have physical addresses T [1: 0] and T [1], respectively.
Block CB corresponding to an entry in the block management information storage unit 3 represented by [1: 1] and T [0: 3], respectively.
[1: 0], CB [1: 1], CB [0: 3].

In FIG. 2, -1 stored at the physical address M [3] of the file management information storage unit 2
Indicates that the file management information is not stored therein.

Next, the block management information storage unit 3 has entries corresponding to the blocks of the recording medium 1, that is, the four blocks of each of the four recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, that is, a total of 16 blocks. In each entry, block management information of a corresponding block is stored.

Here, the physical addresses of the entries constituting the block management information storage section 3 are the recording medium pieces 1A to 1A.
D is represented by T [c: b] using a chip number c of a block having a block corresponding to the entry and a block number b of the corresponding block. Accordingly, in the block management information storage unit 3, the entry whose physical address is represented by T [c: b] is a block of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D whose chip number is c but whose block number is b. Is stored (recorded).

Specifically, for example, if the physical address is T
The entry represented by [0: 0] includes the recording medium piece 1A.
Block management information on the lowest block (B [0]) in (C [0]) is stored. In the entry whose physical address is represented by T [0: 1], block management information on the second lowest block (B [1]) in the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]) is stored. ing. Further, in the entry whose physical address is represented by T [0: 2], block management information on the third bottom block (B [2]) in the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]) is stored. And the physical address is T
The entry represented by [0: 3] includes the recording medium piece 1A.
Block management information on the top (fourth from the bottom) block (B [3]) in (C [0]) is stored. Hereinafter, similarly, each entry stores the block management information of the corresponding block. Therefore, the top entry of the block management information storage unit 3, that is, the physical address is T [3: 3]. In the entry represented by, the block management information on the top block (B [3]) in the recording medium piece 1D (C [3]) is stored.

Hereinafter, a table composed of all block management information stored in the block management information storage unit 3 will be referred to as a BAT (Block Allocation Table) as appropriate.
Each entry of the block management information storage unit 3 constituting the BAT is called a BAT entry.

The block management information in each BAT entry is composed of necessary status flags and link information.

As the status flag, here, va
There are seven types of flags, lid flag, invalid flag, system flag, first flag, next flag, last flag, and loop flag. The valid flag indicates that the corresponding block is a writable block (including a free area (even if some data is recorded, but may be overwritten)), and the invalid flag indicates that the corresponding block is invalid Indicates a block. The system flag indicates that the corresponding block is a system block. The first flag or last flag indicates that the corresponding block is a block in which the beginning or end of the file is recorded, and the next flag and loop
The flag indicates that data following the data recorded in the corresponding block exists (that is, data following the data recorded in the corresponding block is recorded in another block). Note that the loop flag also indicates that the end of data constituting a parallel block described later is recorded in the corresponding block (the corresponding block is the last block constituting the parallel block).

The link information indicates the link state of the blocks constituting the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D. That is, here, as the link information, the physical address of the BAT entry corresponding to the block in which data subsequent to the data recorded in a certain block is recorded. Therefore, the link information is the BAT in which the link information is recorded.
Since it is recorded when there is a block in which data subsequent to the data recorded in the block corresponding to the entry is recorded, it is recorded together with any one of the first flag, the next flag, and the loop flag.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, for example, BAT entry T [1: 0] corresponding to block CB [1: 0]
Stores the physical address T [2: 0] of the BAT entry corresponding to the block CB [2: 0] as link information. In the BAT entry T [2: 0], the physical address T [3: 0] of the BAT entry corresponding to the block CB [3: 0] is stored as link information.

Further, BAT entries T [1: 0], T
[2: 0] and T [3: 0] store a first flag, a next flag, and a last flag, respectively, as status flags. From the above, blocks CB [1: 0],
In CB [2: 0] and CB [3: 0], continuous data in that order is recorded in parallel, and further, the block CB
[1: 0] or CB [3: 0] records the data at the beginning or end of the file. Therefore, the data composed of these three blocks constitutes one file. I understand.

In FIG. 2, the pointer to the BAT entry T [1: 0] in which the first flag is stored is stored in the entry M [2] of the file management information storage unit 2, and accordingly, the block CB [1: 0], CB [2:
0] and CB [3: 0] are managed as a third file F [0] in the file management information storage unit 2.

According to the above-described file management information and block management information, the recording state of the file on the recording medium 1 can be recognized as follows.

That is, for example, if attention is paid to the file F [1], the file F
In [1], it can be recognized that the logical order is stored as the first file, and that the size is 23 sectors. In addition, file F
Regarding [1], it can be seen that the recording state on the recording medium 1 can be recognized by referring to the block management information recorded in the BAT entry group linked from the BAT entry T [1: 1]. .

In the BAT entry T [1: 1], T [2: 2] is recorded as link information.
Therefore, it is found that the BAT entry is linked to the BAT entry T [2: 2]. The BAT entry T [2: 2] has T [3: 1] as link information, the BAT entry T [3: 1] has T [0: 1] as link information,
The BAT entry T [0: 1] has T as link information.
[1: 2] and T [3: 2] are recorded as link information in the BAT entry T [1: 2], respectively, so that the BAT entries T [1: 1] and T [2: 2]. ], T
[3: 1], T [0: 1], T [1: 2], T [3:
2], the data of the file F [1] is divided into blocks CB [1: 1], CB
[2: 2], CB [3: 1], CB [0: 1], CB
It can be seen that recording was performed in the order of [1: 2] and CB [3: 2].

Further, the first flag is recorded in the BAT entry T [1: 1], so that the head data of the file F [1] is recorded in the corresponding block CB [1: 1]. You can see that it is. Also, B
The BAT entry T [2: 2] linked to the AT entry T [1: 1] has a next flag, and the BAT entry T [3: 1] linked to it has a next flag. BAT entry T [0:
1], loop plugs are respectively recorded. Therefore, BAT entries T [1: 1], T [2: 2], T [
Blocks CB [1: 1], CB [2: 2], CB [3: 1], C corresponding to [3: 1] and T [0: 1], respectively
In B [0: 1], data of file F [1] is recorded in parallel, that is, blocks CB [1: 1], C
It can be seen that four blocks of B [2: 2], CB [3: 1] and CB [0: 1] constitute a parallel block.

The BAT entry T [0: 1] linked to the BAT entry T [1: 2] has a next flag, and the BAT entry T [3:
2], the last flag is recorded, and accordingly, the blocks CB [1: 2] and CB [3: 2] corresponding to the BAT entries T [1: 2] and T [3: 2], respectively.
Also, data of the file F [1] is recorded in parallel, that is, blocks CB [1: 2] and CB [3: 2].
It can be seen that these two blocks constitute a parallel block. Further, it can be seen that the last data of the file F [1] is recorded in the block CB [3: 2] corresponding to the BAT entry T [3: 2] in which the last flag is recorded.

Therefore, although not described above, when the physical address of the BAT entry is recorded, the first flag is added to the block corresponding to the BAT entry in which the first flag is recorded. This indicates that the first data is recorded and that there is data following it. Further, the last flag indicates that the last data of the file is recorded in the block corresponding to the BAT entry in which the last flag is recorded, and also indicates that the block is the last block of the parallel block. .

Next, in the parallel recording method, first, blocks are selected one by one from one or more (basically, a plurality) of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, and one block is selected from those blocks. A parallel block is configured. Now, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that a block is selected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D. For example, in FIG. : 1], CB [1: 1], CB
[2: 2] and CB [3: 1] are extracted, and these four blocks constitute a parallel block. Then, the blocks CB [0: 1], CB constituting this parallel block
Data is written in parallel for [1: 1], CB [2: 2], and CB [3: 1].

That is, the file to be written is
Assuming that the file F [1], the first sector (first sector) FS [1: 0] of the file F [1] is input to, for example, the recording medium piece 1B, and the block CB constituting the parallel block therein [1: 1] (FIG. 1). Note that, as described above, since data is written to the recording medium 1 for each page, the first sector FS [1: 0] is, for example, the bottom of the block CB [1: 1]. Page, that is, page CBP [1: 1:
0].

The first sector FS [1:] of the file F [1]
0] is input to the recording medium piece 1B,
Sector (first to second sector) FS [1: 1]
For example, the data is input to the recording medium piece 1C, and is written to the block CB [2: 2] constituting the parallel block therein (FIG. 1). In this case, as in the case described above,
The second sector FS [1: 1] is a block CB [2: 2]
, The bottom page, that is, page CBP [2: 2: 0]
Is written to.

The second sector FS [1:] of the file F [1]
1] is input to the recording medium piece 1C, and then the third
The sector FS [1: 2] is input to, for example, the recording medium piece 1D, and the block CB constituting a parallel block therein is input.
[3: 1] (FIG. 1). Note that, also in this case, as in the case described above, the third sector FS [1: 2].
Is written to the bottom page of block CB [3: 1], that is, page CBP [3: 1: 0].

The third sector FS [1:] of the file F [1]
2] is input to the recording medium piece 1D, and the next fourth
The sector FS [1: 3] is input to, for example, the recording medium piece 1A, and the block CB constituting a parallel block therein is input.
[0: 1] (FIG. 1). In this case, as in the case described above, the fourth sector FS [1: 3] is used.
Is written to the bottom page of block CB [0: 1], that is, page CBP [0: 1: 0].

The fourth sector FS [1:] of the file F [1]
3] is input to the recording medium piece 1A, and the next fifth
The sector FS [1: 4] is again input to the recording medium piece 1B, and the block CB constituting the parallel block therein is input.
[1: 1] (FIG. 1). In this case,
The fifth sector FS [1: 4] is a block CB [1: 1]
, The second page from the bottom, that is, page CBP [1:
1: 1].

Hereinafter, similarly, the file F [1] is
Blocks CB [0: 1], CB constituting a parallel block
[1: 1], CB [2: 2], and CB [3: 1] are written in a page unit while being interleaved. If the data amount of file F [1] exceeds four blocks, block CB
[0: 1], CB [1: 1], CB [2: 2], CB
After the writing to [3: 1] is completed, the remaining data (sectors) are written to the parallel block composed of other blocks.

According to the above-described parallel recording method, as described above, the recording medium 1 has the following characteristics with respect to the data input time.
Eliminate the wait time that occurs when the program time is relatively long, for example, when configured with flash memory,
Alternatively, it can be shortened.

That is, for example, it is now assumed that the data input time in each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D is t _input and the program time is t _prog . Then, for example, when data is written without interleaving only for the recording medium 1A, as shown in FIG. 3A, at time t0, the recording medium 1A (C [0]) , The data input time t after inputting the first sector
_At time t1 when only _{input has} elapsed, the input ends.
Thereafter, the writing of the first sector for which the input has been completed is started, and a time t after a lapse of the program time t _prog has elapsed.
At 4 ', the writing ends. And the recording medium 1
Input of the second sector is started for A (C [0]), and thereafter, data is similarly written to the recording medium 1A.

As described above, when writing data without interleaving, it is necessary to wait until the program time t _prog elapses after inputting data and then start inputting the next data. There is. Therefore, although writing of one sector requires only the time obtained by adding the data input time t _input and the program time t _prog , when writing data of, for example, 6 pages without interleaving, FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the time Ts (= 6 × (t), which is six times the time required to write one sector, is used.
_input + t _prog )).

On the other hand, as described above, for each parallel block composed of a total of four blocks extracted one by one from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D (C [0] to C [3]), for example, , Recording medium pieces 1A, 1B, 1C, 1
When data is written while interleaving in the order of the blocks of D, as shown in FIG.
At time t0, for example, the recording medium piece 1A (C
[0]), the input is terminated at time t1 after the data input time t _{input has} elapsed since the input of the first sector. Thereafter, in the recording medium piece 1A, writing of the input first sector is started, and the writing ends at time t4 'after the lapse of the program time t _prog . This is the same as the case in FIG.

However, the recording medium piece 1B (C
With respect to [1]), the input of the second sector can be started from the time when the input of the first sector to the recording medium piece 1A is completed, and therefore, the second sector to the recording medium piece 1B can be started. Input of a sector is started from time t1. After that, at time t2 when the data input time _{tinput has} elapsed, the input is completed, and writing to the second sector where the input has been completed is started in the recording medium piece 1B, and the program time t
_{After prog} , the writing ends.

Hereinafter, similarly, the recording medium piece 1C (C
The input of the third sector with respect to [2]) can be started from the time t2 when the input of the second sector to the recording medium piece 1B is completed. Further, the recording medium piece 1D (C
[3]), the input of the fourth sector is also started from the time t2 when the input of the third sector is started, and the data input time t
It can be started from the time t3 when the _input has elapsed.

Then, for example, the program time t
_{If the prog} is about three times less than the data input time t _input , as shown in FIG. 3B, the data input time t input starts from the time t 3 when the input of the fourth sector is started.
_The time t4 at which the _input has elapsed, that is, the time t4 at which the input of the fourth sector ends, is the time at which the time t4 'at which the writing of the first sector ends in the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]) has elapsed. Thus, for the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]), the input of the fifth sector can be started from time t4 when the input of the fourth sector to the recording medium piece 1D is completed. Similarly, for the recording medium piece 1B (C [1]), from the time t5 when the input of the fifth sector to the recording medium piece 1A is completed (the time elapsed from the time t4 by the data input time t _input ), The input of the sixth sector can be started.

Therefore, when data is written while interleaving, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the waiting time caused by the program time t _prog becomes 0, and as a result, for example, the data of 6 pages The writing time Tp (= 6) is shorter than the time Ts required for writing without interleaving shown in FIG.
× t _input + t _prog ). That is, according to the parallel recording method, even if the recording medium 1 has a relatively long program time with respect to the data input time,
Data can be written at high speed.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the recording medium 1 on which data is written by the parallel recording method as described above.
The file management information storage unit 2 and the block management information storage unit 3 are shown, and the data recorded in this manner is read, for example, as follows.

That is, for example, when the file F [0] is to be read, the file F [0] is referred to by referring to the file management information storage unit 2 (FIG. 2).
The file management information of [0] is recognized. Then, from the file management information of the file F [0], the physical address of the BAT entry that manages the block in which the head data is recorded, that is, in the embodiment of FIG.
T [1: 0] is recognized.

The BAT entry T [1: 0] manages the block CB [1: 0] from the above, and the BAT entry T [1: 0] is stored in the block management information storage unit 3 in the block CB [1: 0]. The corresponding BAT entry T [1:
0] includes block CB [2: 0] as link information.
Physical address T [2: 0] of the BAT entry corresponding to
Is stored. Also, the BAT entry T [2: 0]
Stores the physical address T [3: 0] of the BAT entry corresponding to the block CB [3: 0] as link information.

Further, BAT entries T [1: 0], T
[2: 0] and T [3: 0] store a first flag, a next flag, and a last flag, respectively, as status flags. From the above, blocks CB [1: 0],
For a parallel block composed of CB [2: 0] and CB [3: 0], while interleaving in that order,
It is recognized that the data of the file F [0] has been recorded in parallel. As described above, when the order in which the data is written to the parallel blocks and the blocks constituting the parallel blocks is recognized, the data is written to the parallel blocks in the same order as the order in which the data was written. Data is read out while interleaving (deinterleaving). The last flag recorded in the BAT entry T [3: 0] managing the block CB [3: 0] which is the last block constituting the parallel block, and the size of the file F [0] is 12 sectors (page)
Therefore, it is recognized that the data recorded in the last page CBP [3: 0: 3] of the block CB [3: 0] is the last of the file F [0], and this page CBP [ When the data of [3: 0: 3] is read, the reading of the file F [0] ends.

By the way, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, it is assumed that the program time t _prog is about three times less than the data input time t _input . In this case, the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is set to four. By doing so, the effect of increasing the writing speed by the parallel recording method can be maximized.

That is, the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D (C [0]
To C [3]), for example, three recording medium pieces 1
When a parallel block is composed of a total of three blocks extracted one by one from each of A to 1C,
As described with reference to FIG. 3B, the recording medium piece 1B (C
The input of the second sector to [1]) is the recording medium piece 1A.
After the input of the first sector to (C [0]), the input of the third sector to the recording medium piece 1C (C [2]) is performed after the input of the second sector to the recording medium piece 1B (C [1]). Each can be done. When the parallel block is composed of the above three blocks, the fourth sector is input to the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]), but the recording medium piece 1C (C [2]). At the time t3 when the input of the third sector to the recording medium piece 1A (C
Since the time before the time t4 'at which the writing of the first sector to [0]) ends, the input of the fourth sector to the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]) after the input of the third sector ends. Need to wait at least for time t4'-t3.

Further, the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D (C
[0] to C [3]), for example, a total of 2 extracted one by one from each of the two recording medium pieces 1A and 1B.
In the case where one block constitutes a parallel block, as described in FIG. 3B, the recording medium piece 1B (C
The input of the second sector to [1]) is the recording medium piece 1A.
This can be performed after the input of the first sector to (C [0]). When the parallel block is composed of the above two blocks, the third sector is the recording medium piece 1A (C
[0]), the recording medium piece 1B
The time t2 at which the input of the second sector to (C [1]) ends is a time before the time t4 'at which the writing of the first sector to the recording medium piece 1A (C [0]) ends is completed. After the input of the second sector is completed, the recording medium piece 1A
The input of the third sector to (C [0]) must wait at least for the time t4'-t2 (>t4'-t3).

As is apparent from FIG. 3B, the waiting time t generated when the parallel block is composed of two blocks.
4'-t2 is larger than the waiting time t4'-t3 when the parallel block is composed of three blocks, and therefore,
When the number of blocks making up the parallel block decreases,
Latency increases.

From the above, it is desirable that the number of blocks constituting the parallel block be equal to or more than a predetermined number in order to maximize the effect of increasing the writing speed by the parallel recording method.

Therefore, here, the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is set to the minimum number of blocks which is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time when writing is performed in parallel on the recording medium 1. Limit to I _min or higher. Specifically, the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is limited to the minimum block number I _min represented by the following equation.

I _min = ceil (t _prog / t _input ) +1 (1) where the function ceil (x) means a minimum integer equal to or _larger than x.

Here, the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is equal to the number of blocks to be written while data is interleaved, and is hereinafter also referred to as the number of interleaves as appropriate.

Next, in the case described above, there is no particular limitation on which of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D is to be used for the block constituting the parallel block. Medium pieces 1A to 1
In the case of arbitrarily selecting from D, the number of writable blocks (the size of the free area) is biased while writing data (the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are different), In some cases, shortening of the recording time by the parallel recording method is prevented.

That is, for example, it is assumed that the recording states of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are as shown in FIG. Here, in FIG. 4, the hatched portions are
As described with reference to FIG. 1, a block in which data cannot be written represents a block in which data can not be written. Therefore, a portion without hatching is a writable block (writable block).
Is represented.

In the case where the recording states of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the first and second files having a data amount of six blocks are recorded in parallel. It is assumed that data is written by a method.

Here, the minimum block number I _min
By not limiting the number of interleaves,
Assuming that a parallel block is formed from as many blocks as possible and a block located at the lower left is preferentially selected in FIG. 4 to form a parallel block. Is written from the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D from the writable blocks CB [0: 0], CB [1: 0],
CB [2: 0] and CB [3: 0] are selected, a first parallel block composed of these four blocks is formed, and a writable block CB [0: 1] is recorded from each of the recording media 1A and 1B. Alternatively, CB [1: 1] is selected, and a second parallel block composed of these two blocks is configured. In this case, the first four blocks of data of the first file are written to the first parallel block, and then the remaining two blocks of data are written to the second parallel block.

When the writing of the first file is completed, only the block CB [0: 3] in the recording medium piece 1A, and the blocks CB [2: 1] and CB [2: 2] in the recording medium piece 1C. However, in the recording medium piece 1D, the block C
B [3: 1], CB [3: 2], and CB [3: 3]
However, each remains as a writable block, and no writable block exists in the recording medium piece 1B.

Therefore, in this case, to write the second file for six blocks, three parallel blocks each composed of 3, 2, and 1 blocks are formed.

That is, first, the recording medium pieces 1A, 1
From each of C and 1D, a writable block CB
[0: 3], CB [2: 1], and CB [3: 1] are selected, and a first parallel block composed of these three blocks is configured. At this point, no writable block exists in the recording medium piece 1A. For this reason, each of the recording medium pieces 1C and 1D
B [2: 2] and CB [3: 2] are selected, and a second parallel block composed of these two blocks is configured. At this point, the writable block does not exist in the recording medium piece 1C, and therefore, the writable block CB [3: 3] is selected only from the recording medium piece 1D, and the third block composed of this one block is selected. A parallel block is configured.

Then, the second file data is sequentially written into the parallel blocks composed of 3, 2, and 1 blocks configured as described above.

As described above, when the number of blocks constituting the parallel block decreases, the waiting time basically increases. When a parallel block is configured and a certain file is written to the parallel block, the time required for selecting and managing the parallel block increases as the number of configured parallel blocks increases. The time it takes to record a file increases.

Therefore, when the recording medium 1 is composed of four recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, when writing six blocks of data, from the viewpoint of shortening the recording time, only two parallel blocks are used. And each parallel block should be composed of a number of blocks equal to or greater than the minimum block number I _min , between the data input time t _input and the program time t _prog , for example, as described in FIG. When writing the second file for six blocks to the related recording medium 1, three parallel blocks are configured as described above, and the three parallel blocks are further written. The numbers are 3, 2, 1 respectively
This hinders the shortening of the recording time by the parallel recording method.

Thus, when writing the second file, instead of two parallel blocks as in the first file, three more parallel blocks are formed, and thereby one parallel block is formed. The number of blocks constituting the small number of recording medium pieces 1A to 1A
This is due to the bias in the number of writable blocks in each of D.

That is, in the case described with reference to FIG. 4, as described above, when the writing of the first file is completed, the block CB [3: 1],
Although three writable blocks CB [3: 2] and CB [3: 3] remain, the recording medium piece 1B has
No writable blocks remain. Therefore, after that, there is no room to select a block constituting the parallel block from the recording medium piece 1B, and it becomes impossible to form a parallel block for shortening the recording time.

Therefore, here, the number of interleaves is
In addition to limiting the number to the minimum block number I _min or more represented by the formula (1), the parallel blocks are set so that the number of writable blocks (and therefore the size of the writable area) in each of the recording media 1A to 1D is not biased. Is extracted (selected).

Next, as described above, the parallel recording is performed while configuring the parallel blocks so that the number of interleaves is limited to the minimum number of blocks I _min or more and the number of writable blocks on the recording medium 1 is not biased. The method (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a new parallel recording method) will be described in detail.

In the parallel recording method, as shown in FIG. 5A, in each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, a portion where the writable blocks are physically continuous is defined as one free area. Manages writable areas. That is, a free list, which is a list of free areas, is created for each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D.

In FIG. 5A, the free lists 6A to 6D manage the free areas of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, respectively, and each entry has the address of the first writable block constituting the free area. When,
The number of writable blocks constituting the free area is stored.

That is, the free list 6A of the recording medium piece 1A
"CB [0:" stored in the entry FL [0] of the
0], 2 "is the block CB in the recording medium piece 1A.
Starting from [0: 0], it indicates that there are two blocks of free areas. Further, “CB [0:” stored in the entry FL [1] of the free list 6A.
3], 1 "indicates a block CB in the recording medium piece 1A.
Starting from [0: 3], it indicates that a free area of one block exists. Therefore, free list 6A
Is a block CB [0:
0], CB [0: 1], and CB [0: 3] represent writable blocks.

"CB [1: 0]," stored in entry FL [0] of free list 6B of recording medium piece 1B.
2 ”is a block CB [1:
0] at the top, indicating that there are two blocks of free areas. "-1" stored in the entry FL [1] of the free list 6B indicates that the content is invalid. Therefore, the free list 6B includes the block CB in the recording medium piece 1B.
Two blocks of [1: 0] and CB [1: 1] are writable blocks.

Similarly, the free list 6 of the recording medium piece 1C
C is a block CB [2:
0], CB [2: 1], and CB [2: 2] represent writable blocks,
The free list 6D of the recording medium piece 1D is the recording medium piece 1D
In blocks CB [3: 0] to CB [3: 3]
Indicate that the four blocks are writable blocks.

[0108] Note that, by describing, in each entry of the free lists 6A to 6D, the head address constituting the free area and the number of blocks constituting the free area, as described above, the recording media 1A to 1D In addition to being able to recognize each writable block,
By counting the number of valid entries (entries not set to −1), the number of free areas of each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D can also be recognized.

In the new parallel recording method, as described above,
While managing the writable area, configure a parallel block as follows and target the parallel block.
Write data in parallel.

That is, in the new parallel recording method, first, the expression
According to (1), the minimum number of blocks I _minIs calculated
You. Note that the minimum number of blocks I_minIs the recording medium 1
Use, for example, if you know the flash memory,
Data input time t as its characteristic _inputAnd blog
Ram time t_progSo you can find it in advance,
It may be recorded on the recording medium 1.

After the calculation of the minimum block number I _min , the interleave number I _i, which is the number of blocks constituting the parallel blocks used for recording the file (data) to be written, is calculated based on the minimum block number I _min , for example. , So that the following equation is satisfied.

L _f = ΣI _i (2) I _min ≦ I _i ≦ N (3) where L _f is the minimum necessary for recording the file to be written (the file to be written). When the data amount of a file to be written is represented by C _f and the block size (capacity) is represented by C _b , the expression L _f = c
eil (C _f / C _b ). Further, N represents the number of recording medium pieces 1A to 1D of the recording medium 1 having a writable area, and in the present embodiment,
At most, 4. Further, i is a suffix for specifying a parallel block used for recording the write target file, and takes an integer (1, 2,..., L _c ) of 1 or more and _Lc or less. Here, L _c represents the total number of parallel blocks used when recording the write target file. That is, if as an example a case of recording the first and second file described in FIG. 4, for the first file, the first and second two parallel block is formed, L _c is 2, the second file, the first to third three parallel block is formed, L _c is 3. I _i represents the number of blocks (interleave number) constituting the i-th parallel block (i-th parallel block). Further, equation (2)
Represents a summation for _i (sum of I _{i when i} is changed from 1 to L _c ).

When the data input time t _input or the program time t _prog is, for example, 60 microseconds or 100 microseconds, respectively, the minimum block number I _min is 3 according to the equation (1). Therefore, the minimum required number of blocks L _f of the write target file, for example, assuming that a 4, parallel blocks from equation (2) and (3), and L _c = 1 and I _i = 4, i.e., 4
Only one parallel block consisting of one block is configured. Here, as described above, N = 4.

Here, in the above case, for example,
Assuming that L _c = 2, two parallel blocks may be configured. Then, in order to configure two parallel blocks for the write target file having the required minimum block number _Lf of 4, it is necessary to divide the 4 blocks into one block and three blocks, or two blocks. However, if the four blocks are divided into one block and three blocks, that is, if two parallel blocks are respectively composed of one block and three blocks, interleaving in a parallel block composed of three blocks is performed. The number I _i (= 3) satisfies Expression (3), but the number of interleaves I in the parallel block composed of one block
_i (= 1) does not satisfy equation (3). Further, when the two parallel blocks are each configured by two blocks, the interleave number I _i (= 2) in any of the parallel blocks does not satisfy Expression (3).

Therefore, as described above, N = 4, I _min =
When 3, L _f = 4, one parallel block composed of four blocks is configured as a parallel block satisfying Expressions (2) and (3).

Next, for example, N = 4, I _min = 3, L _f =
In the case of 5, the required minimum number of blocks L _f (= 5) is
The number N of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D included in the recording medium 1 (=
Since there are more than 4), two or more parallel blocks are configured. Now, for example, if two parallel blocks are configured, the required minimum number of blocks _Lf is 5 blocks, 1 block and 4 blocks, or 2 blocks and 3 blocks.
Can be divided into blocks.

If the five blocks are divided into four blocks and one block, that is, if two parallel blocks are composed of four blocks and one block, respectively, the parallel block composed of four blocks is used. The interleave number I _i (= 4) in the block satisfies Expression (3), but the interleave number I _i (= 1) in the parallel block composed of one block does not satisfy Expression (3). On the other hand, if the two parallel blocks are composed of two blocks and three blocks, respectively, the number of interleaves I in the parallel block composed of three blocks
_i (= 3) satisfies equation (3), but the number of interleaves I _i (=
2) does not satisfy equation (3).

Therefore, in either case, one of the two parallel blocks does not satisfy Equation (3). In such a case, the number of blocks (the number of interleaves) constituting the parallel block that does not satisfy Expression (3) is
As possible close to the minimum number of blocks I _{mi n,} constituting the parallel block. That is, in the above case, 2
One parallel block is composed of two blocks and three blocks, respectively.

Here, the reason why the parallel blocks are configured such that the number of blocks constituting the parallel blocks that do not satisfy the expression (3) is as close as possible to the minimum block number I _min is as follows. That is, when the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is equal to or more than the minimum block number _Imin , the program time t
_There is no waiting for data input due to _prog . on the other hand,
When the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is less than the minimum block number I _min , as described above, the waiting time increases as the number of blocks constituting the parallel block decreases. Therefore, when the number of blocks constituting the parallel block is less than the minimum block number I _min , the greater the number, the shorter (shorter) the waiting time can be.

Next, for example, N = 4, I _min = 2, L _f =
In the case of 6, the required minimum number of blocks L _f (= 6) is
The number N of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D included in the recording medium 1 (=
4), the parallel block is composed of two or more. Now, for example, when two parallel blocks are configured, the required minimum number of blocks _Lf is 6
1 block and 5 blocks, 2 blocks and 4 blocks
It can be divided into blocks or three blocks.

In this case, when the 6 blocks are divided into 2 blocks and 4 blocks, or when divided into 3 blocks, that is, when two parallel blocks are composed of 2 blocks and 4 blocks, respectively. , Or when each block is composed of three blocks, Equation (3) is satisfied. Therefore, two parallel blocks are configured by any one of the division methods. However, from the viewpoint of simplicity of processing and the like, it is more preferable to configure two parallel blocks by three blocks than to configure two parallel blocks by two blocks and four blocks.

In this case, for example, when three parallel blocks each composed of two blocks are formed, the expression (3) is satisfied. However, the increase in the number of parallel blocks depends on the data write and read operations. Therefore, it is preferable that the number of parallel blocks is small because the control for the control and the management of the blocks are complicated.

Next, a method of selecting (extracting) blocks constituting a parallel block from the recording medium 1 in the new parallel recording method will be described. Here, the minimum block number I _min is, for example, three.

Now, the first file to be written is
Assuming that the required minimum number of blocks L _f is, for example, 6, for each of the two files, the first and second files are expressed by the following equations (1) to (3). In each case, two parallel blocks each consisting of three blocks, that is, two parallel blocks having an interleave number of 3, are formed. The blocks forming the parallel blocks have the size of the writable area from the recording medium 1. Are selected so as not to be biased.

[0125] That is, first, from the respective recording medium pieces 1A through 1D, a number of several L _c of the parallel block formed for writing file, a free area comprised in the nearest number of blocks in the L _c , Free list 6
It is detected by referring to A to 6D.

More specifically, in the case of writing the first file, the free area constituted by the block closest to 2 is the number _Lc of 2 or more, which is the number Lc of the parallel blocks constituted therewith. Are the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D
Detected from each.

Therefore, for example, when the first file is written on the recording medium 1 in the recording state shown in FIG. 5A, the block CB [0: 0] and the block CB [0:
1] is detected. Also,
From the recording medium piece 1B, the block CB shown in (7)
[1: 0] and block CB [1: 1] shown in (10)
Is detected. Further, from the recording medium piece 1C, the block CB [2:
0], a free area composed of a block CB [2: 1] shown in (5) and a block CB [2: 2] shown in (11) is detected. From the recording medium piece 1D, (1)
The block CB [3: 0] indicated by (4), the block CB [3: 1] indicated by (4), and the block CB [3: indicated by (8)]
2] and a free area composed of blocks CB [3: 3] shown in (12) is detected.

Then, from the free areas detected as described above (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as detected free areas), those which constitute a parallel block are selected.

That is, among the detection free areas detected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, only three of the detection free areas having the larger size are preferentially selected, the number being equal to the number of interleaves. Therefore, in the embodiment of FIG. 5, first, blocks (1), (4), (8), (12)
Is selected, and then a detection free area including blocks (2), (5), and (11) is selected.

Here, in FIG. 5, the detection free area composed of blocks (3) and (6) and the detection free area composed of blocks (7) and (10) are both composed of two blocks. There is no difference in size.

In this case, among the pieces of the recording medium in which the two detection free areas have been detected, the detection free area detected from the one with the larger number of free areas is selected. Therefore, in this case, the recording medium piece 1A in which the detection free area including the blocks (3) and (6) is detected has two free areas from the free list 6A, and the blocks (7) and (10). In the recording medium piece 1B in which the detection free area is detected, there is one free area from the free list 6B. Therefore, the blocks (3) and (6) detected from the recording medium piece 1A having more free areas. Is selected preferentially.

Therefore, finally, the detection free area including the blocks (1), (4), (8) and (12) in the recording medium piece 1D, and the blocks (2) and (5) in the recording medium piece 1C. , A detection free area consisting of (11),
In addition, three detection free areas of the blocks (3) and (6) in the recording medium piece 1A are selected.

A parallel block is formed from the selected three detection free areas.

That is, from each of the three detection free areas, for example, the blocks are assigned L
_c , that is, in this case, two are selected. The detection free area, if it has a greater number of blocks than L _c, for example, and the smaller ones of the physical address is selected.

Therefore, first, the blocks (1) and (4) are selected from the detection free area consisting of the blocks (1), (4), (8) and (12) selected first. Further, the next selected block (2), (5),
Blocks (2) and (5) are selected from the detection free area composed of (11), and blocks (3) and (6) are selected from the detection free area composed of the blocks (3) and (6) selected next. ) Is selected. Then, the selected six blocks (1) to (6)
Form two parallel blocks for the first file.

That is, for example, assuming that a group of one or more parallel blocks configured for a file to be written is a parallel block group, the blocks (1), (4), and (2) selected as described above. ) And (5), and (3) and (6), for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), a parallel block group sequentially arranged from the one selected with priority is assumed. Here, assuming that the number of interleaves is I ₁ = I ₂ =... = I _Lc = I, the parallel block group is composed of I × L _c blocks in width × length.

In the parallel block group, for example, three blocks (1) to (3) in the first row (lowest row) from the bottom are:
The three blocks (4) to (6) in the second row from the bottom (the top row in FIG. 5B) are determined as the first parallel block of the two parallel blocks for the first file.
Is determined as the second parallel block of the two parallel blocks for the first file.

Further, with respect to the first file, first, writing is performed on the first parallel block consisting of blocks (1) to (3) by the parallel recording method described with reference to FIGS. After that, writing is performed on the second parallel block composed of blocks (4) to (6). Thereafter, the file management information and the block management information described with reference to FIG. 2 are updated. Further, the free lists 6A to 6D shown in FIG.
Are also updated as needed.

After the writing of the first file is completed, the recording state of the recording medium 1 and the free list 6A
6A to 6D are as shown in FIG.

That is, the recording medium piece 1A has a free area consisting of only the block CB [0: 3] shown in (9), and the recording medium piece 1B has the free area CB [1:
0] and a free area consisting of blocks CB [1: 1] shown in (10), and a free area consisting only of blocks CB [2: 2] shown in (11) on the recording medium piece 1C.
The recording medium piece 1D includes a block CB [3:
2] and a free area consisting of blocks CB [3: 3] shown in (12) remains.

Then, for the free area, the second
In this case as well, the free area composed of the blocks closest to 2 is the number _Lc of 2 or more, which is the number Lc of the parallel blocks configured for the second file, in this case, too. It is detected from each of the pieces 1A to 1D.

In this case, from the recording medium pieces 1B and 1D,
Although a free area consisting of two blocks is detected, it is not detected from the recording media 1A and 1C because there is only a free area consisting of one block.

[0143] Thus, if the number of interleaves I more memory chips can not detect the free area, the new parallel recording method decrements the L _c by 1, in that after decrementing L _c A free area composed of a block that is one or more and is closest to one is detected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D.

In this case, from the recording medium piece 1A, the free area constituted by the block (9) is changed to the recording medium piece 1B.
, A free area composed of blocks (7) and (10) is transferred from the recording medium piece 1C to the block (1).
The free area composed of blocks (8) and (12) is detected from the recording medium piece 1D.

Then, from the free areas detected as described above (detected free areas), those forming a parallel block are selected in the same manner as described above.

That is, among the detection free areas detected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, only three of the detection free areas having the larger size are selected with priority equal to the number I of interleaves. Therefore, in the embodiment of FIG. 6, two free areas, a detection free area consisting of blocks (8) and (12) and a detection free area consisting of blocks (7) and (10), are preferentially selected. . Note that the detection free area composed of blocks (8) and (12) and the detection free area composed of blocks (7) and (10) have the same size. In such a case, FIG. 6 (FIG. 5)
For example, it is assumed that the detection free area of the recording medium piece on the left side is preferentially selected. Therefore, here, the detection free area including the blocks (7) and (10) is selected first, and then the detection free area including the blocks (8) and (12) is selected.

Here, in FIG. 6, since the detection free area consisting of block (9) and the detection free area consisting of block (11) are each composed of one block, the size is superior. Absent. further,
The free area in the recording medium piece 1A having the detection free area consisting of the block (9) and the block (1)
Each of the recording medium pieces 1C having the free area 1) has one free area, and thus the number of free areas included in the recording medium piece is not inferior. In such a case, any one of the detection free area consisting of the block (9) and the detection free area consisting of the block (11) may be preferentially selected. Similarly to the case, the detection free area of the recording medium piece on the left side in FIG. 6 (FIG. 5) is preferentially selected. That is, in this case, the detection free area including the block (9) is preferentially selected.

Therefore, finally, the detection free area consisting of the blocks (7) and (10) in the recording medium piece 1B and the blocks (8) and (12) in the recording medium piece 1D
And the detection free area consisting of the block (9) in the recording medium piece 1A are selected.

Then, a parallel block is formed from the selected three detection free areas.

That is, from each of the three detection free areas, for example, the blocks are assigned L
_c , that is, one by one in this case. If the detection free area has a larger number of blocks than _Lc , as described above, the area having the smaller physical address is selected.

Therefore, first, the block (7) is selected from the detection free area consisting of the blocks (7) and (10) selected first. Further, from the detection free area consisting of the blocks (8) and (12) selected next,
Block (8) is selected, and block (9) is selected from the detection free area consisting of block (9) selected next. Then, the selected three blocks (7) to (9) constitute the first parallel block of the two parallel blocks for the second file.

Thereafter, the same processing is repeated by regarding the number of times that the original L _c (here, 2) has been decremented (here, 1) as a new L _c .

That is, at this stage, no free area remains on the recording medium piece 1A, and the free area formed of the block (10) is recorded on the recording medium piece 1B, and the block (10) is formed on the recording medium piece 1C. The free area consisting of 11)
In the recording medium piece 1D, a free area including the block (12) remains.

Then, for the free area, the second
A second parallel block for writing this file is formed.

[0155] That is, also in this case, a number of more than L _c, the free area consists of the closest block to the L _c is detected from the respective recording medium pieces 1A through 1D.
In this case, from the above, since L _c is 1,
A free area that is a number greater than or equal to 1 and that is composed of blocks closest to 1 is detected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D.

Therefore, the free area is not detected from the recording medium piece 1A, and the free area constituted by the block (10) is changed from the recording medium piece 1B to the recording medium piece 1C.
From, a free area composed of block (11) is detected, and a free area composed of block (12) is detected from recording medium piece 1D.

Then, from the free areas detected as described above (detected free areas), those forming a parallel block are selected in the same manner as described above.

That is, among the detection free areas detected from each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, only three of the detection free areas having the larger size are preferentially selected, the number being equal to the interleave number I. Therefore, the detection free area consisting of the block (10), the detection free area consisting of the block (11), and the detection free area consisting of the block (12) are preferentially selected. In this case,
Since there is no difference in size among these three detection free areas, the detection free area of the recording medium piece on the left side is preferentially selected as described above. Therefore, the detection free area including the block (10), the detection free area including the block (11), and the block (1)
The selection is performed in the order of the detection free area consisting of 2).

At this stage, the interleave number I
Since three detection free areas equal to are selected, a parallel block is formed from the three detection free areas.

[0160] That is, the three detection free area, respectively, in the order in which they are preferentially selected, block, L _c number, that is, in this case, are selected one by one.

Therefore, first, the block (1) is moved from the detection free area consisting of the block (10) selected first.
0) is selected. Further, the block (1) is moved from the detection free area consisting of the block (11) selected next.
1) is selected and the next selected block (12)
The block (12) is selected from the detection free area consisting of. Then, the selected three blocks (1
0) to (12) constitute a second parallel block of the two parallel blocks for the second file.

As described above, for the second file, as shown in FIG. 6B, the first parallel block composed of blocks (7) to (9) and the blocks (10) to (10) A parallel block group constituted by the second parallel block constituted by (12) is constituted.

Then, with respect to the second file, first, writing is performed on the first parallel block consisting of blocks (7) to (9) by the parallel recording method described with reference to FIGS. After that, writing is performed on the second parallel block composed of blocks (10) to (12). Thereafter, the file management information and the block management information described with reference to FIG. 2 are updated. Further, the free lists 6A to 6D shown in FIG. 5B are also updated as necessary.

As described above, the free area having the number of blocks equal to or larger than the number of parallel blocks (the number of parallel blocks constituting the parallel block group) and the number of blocks closest to the number of parallel blocks is used. By selecting the constituents of the blocks, fragmentation (fragmentation) of the writable blocks in each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D can be suppressed, and the recording area of the recording medium can be effectively used.

Furthermore, in this case, in the recording medium piece,
The blocks constituting the first parallel block and the blocks constituting the second parallel block are secured in physically continuous areas, that is, for example, writing of the first file described in FIG. For example, the recording medium 1A
In the example, the block (3) is secured as a block constituting a first parallel block, and a block (6) adjacent thereto is secured as a block constituting a second parallel block. In the recording medium 1C, The block (2) is secured as a block constituting a first parallel block, and a block (5) adjacent thereto is provided.
Is secured as a block constituting the second parallel block, and in the recording medium 1D, the block (1) is secured as a block constituting the first parallel block, and a block (4) adjacent thereto is secured as a block (4). Since it is secured as a block constituting the second parallel block, management and control of the recording medium 1 are facilitated.

Specifically, when each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D is constituted by, for example, a flash memory,
In the flash memory, when data of a certain page is read after reading data of a certain page, the data may sometimes be read without giving an address of the page. Therefore, when attention is paid to a certain recording medium piece, the blocks constituting the parallel blocks of the parallel block group for recording one file are secured in a physically continuous area in the recording medium piece,
An address is given only when reading the data of the first page, and the data of the subsequent pages can be read without giving an address.

When selecting a parallel block from the detection free areas, a block having a large size is preferentially selected. Further, when the sizes of the detection free areas are the same, the selection is made. Among the pieces of recording medium in which detection free areas of the same size have been detected, the detection free area detected in descending order of the number of free areas is preferentially selected. It is possible to suppress the occurrence of a bias in the size of the writable area in the interval, thereby reducing the number of recording medium pieces having the writable area due to the bias in the size of the writable area. , It can be suppressed that the number of blocks becomes smaller than the minimum block number I _min .

As a result, the effect of increasing the speed of writing by the parallel recording method can be maximized.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, when writing the first file, blocks (3) and (6)
And the detection free area consisting of blocks (7) and (10), the one detected from the recording medium piece 1A having a large number of free areas, that is, blocks (3) and (6). ) Is preferentially selected. At this time, the detection free area consisting of blocks (7) and (10) detected from the other, that is, the recording medium piece 1B having a small number of free areas, is selected. When an area is selected, the following problem occurs when writing the second file.

That is, in this case, the first file is composed of a first parallel block composed of blocks (1), (2) and (7) and blocks (4), (5) and (10). A parallel block group composed of the second parallel block is configured. Therefore, first, the blocks (1), (2),
Writing by the parallel recording method is performed on the first parallel block composed of (7), and after that, writing is performed on the second parallel block composed of blocks (4), (5), and (10). Is performed.

As a result, after the writing of the first file is completed, the block (3) is stored in the recording medium piece 1A.
And (6), a free area consisting of block (9), a free area consisting of block (11) in recording medium piece 1C, and a free area consisting of block (11) in recording medium piece 1D.
The free area consisting of the blocks (8) and (12) remains, but the free area of the recording medium piece 1B disappears.

Therefore, the recording medium piece 1B cannot be subjected to writing by the parallel recording method.
Hereafter, the configuration of the parallel block includes the recording medium pieces 1A, 1C,
This is performed for three IDs.

In this case, the first file for the second file
, The block (3) of the recording medium 1A, the block (11) of the recording medium 1C, and the block (8) of the recording medium 1D are selected and configured. At this stage, there is no free area on the recording medium 1C. Therefore, hereinafter, the configuration of the parallel block is performed for the two recording medium pieces 1A and 1D.

Furthermore, in this case, N
However, since it becomes smaller than I _min, it becomes impossible to secure the interleave number I satisfying the expression (3). That is,
In this case, N in the equation (3) is 2 which is the number of the recording medium pieces 1A and 1D having the free area. Therefore, the interleave number I is 2 at the maximum.

Now, assuming that the interleave number I is 2, which is the maximum possible value, the second file has
The block (6) of the recording medium 1A and the block (12) of the recording medium 1D are selected, and a parallel block including the two blocks is configured as a second parallel block. At this stage, there is no free area on the recording medium 1D. Therefore, the configuration of the parallel block will be performed for only one of the recording medium pieces 1A.

In this case, the interleave number I is at most the number of recording medium pieces 1A having a free area.
Becomes Therefore, in this case, for the second file, the block (9) of the recording medium 1A is selected, and
Is configured as a third parallel block.

From the above, for the second file, 3
A first parallel block made up of blocks, a second parallel block made up of two blocks, and a third parallel block made up of one block are formed, and are made up of blocks smaller than 3 which is the minimum number of blocks I _min. 2nd and 3rd
In the writing by the parallel recording method for the parallel blocks, a waiting time due to the program time t _prog is generated, and the speeding up of writing is hindered.

On the other hand, when writing the first file, the free area of the detection free area consisting of blocks (3) and (6) and the detection free area consisting of blocks (7) and (10) Blocks (3) and (6) detected from recording medium piece 1A having a large number of areas
In the case where the detection free area is preferentially selected, such waiting time does not occur.

Next, FIG. 7 shows an external configuration example of a first embodiment of a user terminal (recording / reproducing apparatus) which performs writing according to the above-described new parallel recording method.

In this embodiment, on the front,
An operation unit 11 composed of buttons and the like operated when giving various inputs, and displaying various information such as characters and images;
For example, a display unit 12 including a liquid crystal panel or the like is provided. That is, the user terminal has a built-in recording medium 1 (not shown in FIG. 7). For example, by performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit 11, the data recorded on the recording medium 1 is read out. If the data is text or images,
The information is displayed on the display unit 12.

Further, the user terminal includes an earphone 13
When the data read from the recording medium 1 is audio data, the sound is output from the earphone 13.

It is also possible to provide a speaker in the user terminal in place of or together with the earphone 13, and to output sound from the speaker. When the data read from the recording medium 1 is, for example, a computer program, the user terminal executes the computer program to perform various processes.

The two terminals 14 are provided on the left side of the user terminal.
And 15 are provided. The terminal 14 is for inputting various data provided from the information providing apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 described later, and the data input from the terminal 14 is stored in the recording medium 1 built in the user terminal. Be recorded. The terminal 15 is for outputting data reproduced from the recording medium 1, and the data recorded on the recording medium 1 can be output from the terminal 15 and supplied to an external display, speaker, or the like. It has been made like that. The data recorded on the recording medium 1 is transmitted to the terminal 1
4 can also be output.

Next, FIG. 8 shows an example of the external configuration of a second embodiment of a user terminal that performs writing by the new parallel recording method. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to portions corresponding to the case in FIG.

In this embodiment, instead of terminals 14 and 15, a slot 20 for mounting a memory card 21 is provided on the left side surface of the user terminal.

The memory card 21 has the built-in recording medium 1, and the user terminal inserts the memory card 21 into the slot 20 and mounts the memory card 21 in the same manner as in the first embodiment of FIG. In addition, data recorded on the recording medium 1 can be used.

That is, a terminal 22A is provided on the front surface of the memory card 21. When the memory card 21 is inserted into the slot 20, the terminal 22A comes into contact with a terminal (not shown) in the slot 20. Thus, the memory card 21 and the user terminal are electrically connected. When the user terminal and the memory card 21 are electrically connected as described above, the user terminal is in a state where the user terminal can use data recorded on the recording medium 1 built in the memory card 21. That is, data recorded on the recording medium 1 incorporated in the memory card 21 is read (reproduced) via the terminal 22A.

On the front of the memory card 21, a terminal 22B is provided in addition to the terminal 22A. Terminal 22
B inserts the memory card 21 into a slot 33 of the information providing apparatus shown in FIG.
The terminal is in contact with a terminal (not shown) inside, so that the memory card 21 and the information providing device are electrically connected. When the information providing device and the memory card 21 are electrically connected in this manner, the information providing device is in a state where data can be recorded on the recording medium 1 built in the memory card 21. That is, the data provided by the information providing device is supplied to the memory card 21 via the terminal 22B, and is recorded on the recording medium 1 incorporated therein.

As shown in FIG. 8, for the user terminal,
In a case where the memory card 21 is configured to be detachable, data can be provided by bringing only the memory card 21 to a place where the information providing device is installed. Figure 7 with built-in
It is more convenient to carry as compared with the case of the embodiment.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8, a terminal 22A for outputting data recorded on the recording medium 1 and a terminal 22A for inputting data to be recorded on the recording medium 1 are supplied to the memory card 21. 22B, two terminals are provided on the memory card 21, but only one terminal is provided on the memory card 21, and the one terminal is used to output data recorded on the recording medium 1; In the case where data to be recorded in No. 1 is input, the data may be electrically switched and used.

Next, FIG. 9 shows an example of the external configuration of a first embodiment of an information providing apparatus for providing data to the user terminal of FIG. 7 or the recording medium 1 built in the memory card 21 of FIG. Is shown.

This information providing device has a display section 31 on its front panel for displaying the contents and price of data to be provided to the user, and a display section 31 for selecting data displayed on the display section 31. Operation buttons 3 to be operated
2 are provided. In the embodiment of FIG. 9,
Six combinations of the display unit 31 and the operation buttons 32 are provided, so that six types of data can be provided.

Further, a slot 33 for attaching and detaching the user terminal shown in FIG. 7 and the memory card 21 shown in FIG. 8 is provided on the front panel.

A user who wishes to provide data first
The user terminal of FIG. 7 and the memory card 21 of FIG. Thereby, the terminal 1 of the user terminal
4 or the terminal 22B of the memory card is electrically connected to the information providing device.

Then, the user looks at the display unit 31 and operates the operation button 32 corresponding to the desired data. As a result, the data corresponding to the operated operation button 32 is transferred and recorded (copied) to the recording medium 1 built in the user terminal or the memory card 21 inserted in the slot 33.

That is, the information providing apparatus includes a recording medium on which data corresponding to the six display units 31 provided on the front panel is recorded, and a control required for copying the data recorded on the recording medium. And a copy control unit (not shown). Then, in the information providing apparatus, when the operation button 32 is operated, under the control of the copy control unit, the data is read from the recording medium on which the data corresponding to the operation is recorded, and the data is stored in the slot 33. User terminal or memory card 2 inserted in
The data is transferred to and recorded on a recording medium 1 incorporated therein.

Note that the information providing apparatus can be connected to a data management center or the like that manages data to be provided via a wired or wireless communication line.
In this case, in the information providing device, from the data management center,
It is possible to receive the data corresponding to the operated operation button 32 via the communication line and provide the data to the user. In this case, the information providing device records the data to be provided to the user. It becomes unnecessary to provide a recording medium. Alternatively, by updating the recording content of a recording medium incorporated in the information providing apparatus with data transmitted through a communication line, the information providing apparatus can be manually provided every time data is updated. It is possible to save the trouble of exchanging the recording medium built in the apparatus. Further, in this case, once the data is recorded on the recording medium, the data can be provided from the recording medium without receiving the data again from the data management center. It is possible to provide the latest data while suppressing the above.

Next, FIG. 10 shows an example of an external configuration of an information providing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

In this embodiment, the memory card 21 is provided on the upper surface of the information providing apparatus having a height about the waist of the user.
Insertion slot 31A for inserting the
And an ejection slot 31B for ejecting the memory card 21 inserted therefrom.

A user who wishes to provide data inserts the memory card 21 into the insertion slot 31A and walks in the direction indicated by arrow D in the figure. The information providing device moves the memory card 21 from the insertion slot 31A to the ejection slot 3A.
It has a built-in transfer device (not shown) for transferring to 1B.
Data is recorded on the memory card 21 during (or during) the transport. The transfer time of the memory card 21 from the insertion slot 31A to the discharge slot 31B by the transfer device is substantially the same as, for example, the time during which the user walks from the insertion slot 31A to the discharge slot 31B, and accordingly, After the user inserts the memory card 21 into the insertion slot 31A, the arrow D
When the user walks in the direction shown by the arrow and arrives at the position of the ejection slot 31B, the memory card 21 on which data is recorded is ejected from the ejection slot 31B.

When the information providing apparatus is configured as described above, data can be provided to many users more quickly.

In the embodiment of FIG. 10, data is provided to a user terminal having a built-in recording medium 1 as shown in FIG. 7 by devising a transport device built in the information providing device. It is also possible to do so.

The information providing apparatus shown in FIG. 10 can record data on the memory card 21 in a physically contacted state or in a non-contacted state.
It is also possible to use electromagnetic induction. However, when recording data in the memory card 21 in a non-contact state, it is necessary to incorporate an antenna or the like in the memory card 21.

Next, FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of the user terminal shown in FIG.

The recording medium 1 is, for example, as described above,
It has a plurality of four recording medium pieces 1A to 1D and records data. The recording medium piece 1
The type of A to 1D is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use a semiconductor memory that can perform recording (storage) at a relatively high speed to some extent, is randomly accessible, and has excellent portability. desirable. Here, the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D are non-volatile memories that do not require backup by a battery among semiconductor memories.
For example, a NAND flash memory is used. More specifically, as the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Era) described in “32 Mbit NAND Flash Memory”, Electronic Materials, June 1995, pp. 32 to 37, etc.
sable and Programmable Read Only Memory) can be used.

It is to be noted that the number of pieces of the recording medium constituting the recording medium 1 needs to be ceil (t _prog / t _input ) +1 or more. Therefore, in the NAND flash memory (EEPROM), for example, the program time t
_prog is, there are such ones is about 10 times the data input time _t inpu t, such flash memories, when used as a memory chip, the recording medium 1
Must be configured using eleven or more recording medium pieces.

The file management information storage unit 2 or the block management information storage unit 3 stores the file management information or the block management information described with reference to FIG. 2, respectively. The recording medium management unit 4 includes a recording medium piece 1A constituting the recording medium 1 (
To 1D) data input time t _input as characteristic information
And the program time t _prog . Note that the recording medium management unit 4 may store the minimum number of blocks I _min calculated from Expression (1) instead of the data input time t _input and the program time t _prog. .

In the case where the user terminal is configured so that the memory card 21 is detachable as shown in FIG. 8, the memory card 21 may be, for example, the above-described recording medium 1 and file management. It comprises an information storage unit 2, a block management information storage unit 3, and a recording medium management unit 4.

The free area search section 5 searches the free area of the recording medium 1 by referring to the free list management section 6, and supplies the search result to the recording medium control section 42. The free list management unit 6 creates and manages a free list by referring to block management information stored in the block management information storage unit 3. That is, the free list management unit 6 creates and manages the free lists 6A to 6D described in FIG. 5 for the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1, and the free area search unit 5 By referring to the free lists 6A to 6D, the recording medium 1
The free area of each of A to 1D is searched.

The operation unit 11 is operated by the user,
A signal corresponding to the operation is supplied to the transfer control unit 41, the recording medium control unit 42, and the reproduction control unit 43. The display unit 12 is configured to display data (displayable) output by the reproduction control unit 43.

The transfer control section 41 controls the transfer of the data supplied from the terminal 14 to the recording medium control section 42 and the transfer of the data supplied from the recording medium control section 42 to the terminal 14. It has been done.

[0212] The recording medium control section 42 records (writes) the data supplied from the transfer control section 41 on the recording medium 1, reproduces (reads) the data recorded on the recording medium 1, and controls the transfer control. The information is supplied to the unit 41 or the reproduction control unit 43.

That is, the recording medium control unit 42 stores the information stored in the file management information storage unit 2, the block management information storage unit 3, and the storage medium management unit 4, and the information supplied from the free area search unit 5. Based on this, control for recording data on the recording medium 1 by the new parallel recording method is performed. Further, the recording medium control unit 42 controls reproduction (reading) of data recorded on the recording medium 1 based on information stored in the file management information storage unit 2 and the block management information storage unit 3.

The recording medium control unit 42 rewrites the file management information or the block management information stored in the file management information storage unit 2 or the block management information storage unit 3, controls the erasing operation of the recording medium 1, and the like. Has also been made to do.

[0215] The reproduction control unit 43 controls the reproduction of data from the recording medium control unit 42. That is, when the data from the recording medium control unit 42 is encoded, the reproduction control unit 43 decodes the data. If the decoded result can be displayed, it is supplied to the display unit 12, and if it can be output as sound, it is supplied to the earphone 13. Further, the reproduction control unit 4
If the decoding result is an executable computer program, the computer 3 executes the predetermined process by executing the computer program.

As a method of encoding video data and audio data, for example, MPEG (Moving)
Picture Experts Group). Further, data obtained by performing decoding in the reproduction control unit 43 can be output from the terminal 15 to the outside.

Here, each block constituting the user terminal shown in FIG. 11 includes hardware, a physical mechanism,
A PU (Central Processing Unit) or the like is realized by executing a computer program.

Next, FIG. 12 shows the NAN as each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1 of FIG.
1 shows a configuration example of a D-type flash memory.

The flash memory is large, and the register 5
1 and a memory cell array 52, into which data, commands, and addresses to be recorded can be inputted. The flash memory outputs data recorded therein and a Ready / Busy signal indicating an internal state.

When data is recorded in the flash memory configured as described above, a command (input command) for instructing input of the data to be recorded and an address for recording the data, as well as the data to be recorded. In page units (here, as described above, 51
2 bytes). In this case, the data to be recorded is
The data is input to the register 51 and temporarily stored in response to the input command. Thereafter, when a command (write command) for instructing recording is given to the flash memory, the data recorded in the register 51 is transferred to the memory cell array 52 in response to the write command, and supplied together with the input command. It is stored (held) at the address.

On the other hand, when data is read (reproduced) from the flash memory, a command for instructing reproduction (read command) and an address where data to be reproduced are recorded are given. In this case, in response to the read command, data is read from an address of the memory cell array provided with the read command, supplied to the register 51, and temporarily stored. Then, the data stored in the register 51 is output from the flash memory.

Note that the Ready / Busy signal becomes, for example, the L level of the H (High) and L (Low) levels when a command can be received (hereinafter, the L level Ready signal is appropriately set). The / Busy signal is called a Ready signal. When the command cannot be received, the H level is set to the H level (hereinafter, the H level Ready / Busy signal is appropriately changed to the Bus level).
sy signal).

Although not shown in FIG. 12, a chip select signal is also supplied to the flash memory together with the address (the chip select signal is included in a part of the address). Can be considered).

Next, the operation of the user terminal shown in FIG. 11 will be described.

First, when data is recorded on the recording medium 1, for example, a signal instructing to record data from the information providing apparatus shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. Is supplied to the recording medium control unit 42 via the terminal 14 and the transfer control unit 41. When the recording medium control unit 42 receives the recording instruction signal, the recording medium control unit 42 Lets you search for an area. Further, the recording medium control unit 42
Is the data input time t of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1 stored in the recording medium management unit 4.
_{From the input} and t _prog , a minimum block number I _min is obtained. Then, the recording medium control unit 42 determines the minimum block number I
Based on the _min and the free area, a parallel block is configured according to the above conditions.

Here, the free area search unit 5 searches for a free area by referring to the free lists 6A to 6D of the free list management unit 6, but the free list management unit 6 includes the free area search unit 5 It is also possible to cause the free lists 6A to 6D to be created when the user comes to reference, and to create the free lists 6A to 6D when the user terminal is turned on. It is also possible.

Further, in the case described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D
Independently, the free lists 6A to 6D are stored, but identification information for identifying which of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D is the free list is also stored in the entry for storing the free list. By doing so, the free list for each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D can be collectively stored in one free list.

On the other hand, when receiving the recording instruction signal supplied from the terminal 14, the transfer control section 41 outputs the recording instruction signal to the recording medium control section 42, and thereafter, transfers the recording instruction signal shown in FIG.
The data to be recorded, which is supplied via the terminal 14 from the information providing apparatus 0, is fetched according to the lower transfer protocol and transferred to the recording medium controller 42. Here, as the lower transfer protocol, for example, SCSI (Small Co
ANSI (Ameri) called mputer System Interface
can National Standards Institute) X3.131-
1986 standard, IEEE (Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers) 1394 standard, PCMC
IA (Personal Computer Memory Card International
A standard including a physical layer, such as a PC Card standard of the Association) can be adopted. In addition, other proprietary standards can be adopted as the lower-order transfer protocol. However, by adopting the standardized interface as described above, the user terminal can be made highly scalable. Can be.

[0229] The recording medium control unit 42 constitutes a parallel block, and upon receiving the data transferred from the transfer control unit 41 as described above, the recording medium control unit 42 converts the data by the new parallel recording method as the upper transfer protocol. ,
The data is transferred to the recording medium 1 and recorded.

That is, the recording medium control unit 42
Among the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D as the flash memory configured as shown in FIG. 12, a chip select signal is given to one to which data is to be written, and together with data for one page to be recorded, Give the address and input command to record the data. Thereby, after the data input time t _input has elapsed, the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D to which a chip select signal is given (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a selected recording medium piece) correspond to the input command. , One page of data is input to and stored in the register 51. After that, the recording medium control unit 42 gives a write command to the selected recording medium piece, whereby the data stored in the register 51 is stored in the memory cell array 5 in the selected recording medium piece.
It is supplied to the 2, after the elapse of program time t _{pr og,} are recorded in a given address. The selected recording medium piece outputs a Busy signal from the time when the write command is given to the time when one page of data stored in the register 51 is recorded in the memory cell 52.

The above-described processing is performed by appropriately using a recording medium piece having blocks constituting the parallel blocks as a selected recording medium piece. Here, since data is recorded by the new parallel recording method, the recording medium control unit 4
The input of data from the storage medium 2 to the recording medium piece 1 (therefore, the input of data from the transfer control unit 41 to the recording medium control unit 42) is basically performed without waiting for the program time t _prog .

Thereafter, when the writing of the data constituting one file is completed, the recording medium control unit 42 sets the file management information storage unit 2 or the block management information storage unit 3 in accordance with the result of writing the data to the recording medium 1. The file management information or the block management information stored in each is updated.

Here, the data recording capability (how quickly data can be recorded) of the entire user terminal depends on the fact that the transfer control unit 41 stores the data in the recording medium control unit 4.
2 or the ability of the recording medium control unit 42 to record data on the recording medium 1, whichever is lower, the recording medium control unit 42 increases the data transfer capability of the transfer control unit 41. It is desirable to have the ability to write data to the recording medium 1 without loss, but the new parallel recording method is particularly useful for the recording medium control unit 42 that requires such ability. is there.

When writing data to the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D which are flash memories, if the data at the address to which the writing is to be performed has not been erased, the recording medium control unit 42 erases the data. After that, data is written.

Next, when reading (reproducing) the data (file) recorded on the recording medium 1, for example, the user operates the operation unit 11 to reproduce the data. An operation signal corresponding to this operation (hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a reproduction instruction signal) is supplied to the recording medium control unit 42. When the recording medium control unit 42 receives the reproduction instruction signal from the operation unit 11, it stores the file management information. The file name of the file recorded on the recording medium 1 is displayed by referring to the file management information stored in the section 2 and controlling the display section 12 via the reproduction control section 43. Then, when the user refers to the file name displayed on the display unit 12 and operates the operation unit 11 to specify what is read from the recording medium 1, the instruction of the file name is transmitted to the recording medium control unit 42. Supplied. When receiving the instruction of the file name of the file to be read from the operation unit 11, the recording medium control unit 42 refers to the file management information and the block management information of the file so that the address at which the file is recorded, the file Recognize the full capacity of
Further, the recording medium control unit 42 reads out data of the file specified by the operation unit 11 from the recording medium 1 by executing an upper transfer protocol (reading of data recorded by the parallel recording method).

That is, the recording medium control unit 42
Among the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D serving as flash memories configured as shown in FIG. 12, a chip select signal is given to the one from which data is to be read (selected recording medium piece). A read command and an address at which data to be read are recorded are given to one of the pieces. Thereby, in the selected recording medium piece,
After a lapse of a predetermined time (time required for transferring data from the memory cell array 52 to the register 51 in the flash memory), one page of data is read from a given address (address of the memory cell array 52). And stored in the register 51. Then, the data stored in the register 51 is transferred to the recording medium control unit 42.
, Thereby completing the reading of one page of data. The selected recording medium piece outputs the Busy signal from the time the address is given to the time the transfer of one page of data from the memory cell array 52 to the register 51 is completed as described above. .

The above-described processing is appropriately performed using a recording medium piece having a block in which a file instructed to be read is recorded as a selected recording medium piece.

Then, the recording medium control unit 42
The data read from is supplied to the transfer control unit 41 or the reproduction control unit 43. It should be noted that the data read from the recording medium 1 is supplied to either the transfer control unit 41 or the reproduction control unit 43 by operating the operation unit 11.

When the data read from the recording medium 1 is supplied to the transfer control unit 41, the transfer control unit 41 outputs the data from the terminal 14 by executing the lower transfer protocol. .

When the data read from the recording medium 1 is supplied to the reproduction control unit 43, the reproduction control unit 43
Supplies the data to the display unit 12 or the earphone 13 for display or output, or outputs the data from the terminal 15 to the outside. When the data is a computer program, the reproduction control unit 43 executes the computer program.

Next, the processing (write processing) of the recording medium control unit 42 in FIG. 11 when recording data will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

When data is recorded, a recording instruction signal is given from the transfer control section 41 to the recording medium control section 42 as described above. Accordingly, the recording medium control unit 42 recognizes that the operation of writing the data of the file (the file to be written) transferred from the transfer control unit 41 to the recording medium 1 should be performed in step S1.

In the recording medium control section 42, in step S2, information on the file to be written, for example, its file name, data amount (capacity)
Are recognized. The information on the file to be written is supplied from the information providing apparatus shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, for example, together with a recording instruction signal.

Thereafter, the flow advances to step S3, where the recording medium control unit 42 sets the minimum necessary number of blocks (the minimum required number of blocks) in which the file to be written can be recorded.
_Lf and the minimum number of blocks _Imin are calculated.

That is, the recording medium control unit 42 determines in step S
Data amount C of write target file recognized in 2_f,
And block size C_bAs described above using
And the expression L _f= Ceil (C_f/ C_b), The minimum
Limit block number L_fAsk for. Further, the recording medium control unit 4
Reference numeral 2 denotes a record constituting the recording medium 1 from the recording medium management unit 4.
Characteristics of Flash Memory as Recording Medium Pieces 1A to 1D
Data input time t as information _inputAnd during programming
Interval t_progAnd read the minimum block according to equation (1).
Number I_minIs calculated.

[0246] Then, proceeding to step S4, the recording medium control unit 42 acquires the free lists 6A to 6D by controlling the free area search unit 5, and writes by referring to the free lists 6A to 6D. the number of writable blocks only capable of recording the object file (empty block), whether or not they exist in the recording medium 1, i.e., the minimum number of blocks L _f or more free blocks obtained in step S3 It is determined whether or not exists.

If it is determined in step S4 that there are no free blocks equal to or _larger than the minimum block number Lf, the file to be written is stored in the recording medium 1 as it is.
Since it is not possible to write to
In order to secure a free block, a free block securing process for erasing an existing file is performed, and the process returns to step S4.

If it is determined in step S4 that there are free blocks equal to or _larger than the minimum block number Lf, the process proceeds to step S6, where the total number of parallel blocks used for recording the file to be written (the parallel block group is the number of parallel blocks constituting) L _c, and number of interleaves I _i (i = 1, 2 of each parallel block (each parallel block constituting the parallel block group),
.., L _c ) are determined under the above-mentioned conditions, and the number of parallel blocks L _c and the number of interleaves I _{i are} determined. In step S6, the number of parallel blocks L _c
When the interleave number _Ii is obtained, the process proceeds to step S7, where the recording medium control unit 42 controls the free area search unit 5 to perform the free list 6A to 6D.
To get.

Then, in step S8, the recording medium control unit 42 refers to the free lists 6A to 6D and
Interleave number I _i obtained in step S6
A parallel block consisting of
_Is secured by the number of parallel blocks L _c obtained in
A parallel block group securing process for securing a parallel block group necessary for writing the write target file on the recording medium 1 is performed, and the process proceeds to step S9.

[0250] In step S9, the securing process of the parallel blocks in step S8, ensure parallel block comprising a block of interleaved number I _i obtained in Step S6, also only parallel block number L _c determined in step S6 Then, it is determined whether or not the necessary parallel block group has been secured. If it is determined that the parallel block group cannot be secured, the process returns to step S6. In this case, step S
In 6, parallel block number L _c and interleaving number I _i
Of the combination is different from the already determined value under the above-described conditions, and the same processing is repeated thereafter.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S9 that a necessary parallel block group has been secured,
That is, the interleave number I _i obtained in step S6
A parallel block consisting of
When the number of parallel blocks Lc obtained in step ( _c) can be secured, the process proceeds to step S10, and a parallel block to be written is selected from the parallel blocks constituting the parallel block group secured in step S8. (Here, the selected parallel block is hereinafter referred to as a noted parallel block as appropriate), and the process proceeds to step S11. FIG.
And the case described in FIG. 6 as an example, step S1
At 0, the parallel blocks in the lower row of the parallel block group are sequentially selected as the parallel block of interest.

In step S11, one of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1 having a block constituting the parallel block of interest is selected as a selected recording medium piece. Thus, a chip select signal is supplied. Here, step S11
Then, for example, a recording medium piece having a block preferentially selected when forming a parallel block group is still
Priority is given to selection as a selected recording medium piece.

After that, the flow advances to step S12 to determine the state of the selected recording medium piece. In step S12,
If it is determined that the selected recording medium piece is in the Busy state in which the Busy signal is being output, the process returns to step S12 because the selected recording medium piece cannot be accessed. Here, immediately after the start of the writing process, the recording medium piece initially selected as the selected recording medium piece is usually Bu
Although it should not be in the sy state (it is in the Ready state), if the empty block securing process is performed in step S5, it may be in the Busy state to erase the file. .

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S12 that the selected recording medium piece outputs a Ready signal and is in the Ready state, that is, if the selected recording medium piece can be accessed, the flow advances to step S13 to perform recording. 1 of the target file
A page write process is performed in which data for a page is written to a page in a block constituting a parallel block of interest in a selected recording medium piece.

In the course of performing the loop processing from step S11 to step S14, which will be described later, in step S13, writing of one page of data to a certain block is performed sequentially from the head address of the block. Will be done. That is, for example, in a case where the parallel block is composed of the first to fourth four blocks, and each block is composed of the first to fourth four pages from the start address, such a parallel block is , When writing data, the first block of the first block
, The first page of the second block, the first page of the third block, and the first page of the fourth block in that order. And then
Second page of first block, second page of second block
, The second page of the third block, the second page of the fourth block, data is written in this order, and so on, until the fourth page of the fourth block. Data is being written. Further, step S
13, the data is written in the number of interleaves of the parallel block (the number of blocks constituting the parallel block) I
_{As long as i} satisfies the equations (2) and (3), the processing is performed without waiting for the program time t _prog .

After writing one page of data in step S13, the flow advances to step S14 to determine whether data writing to the entire parallel block of interest has been completed. If it is determined in step S14 that the writing of the data to the entire parallel block of interest has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S11, and the next recording medium piece is selected in the priority order as described above. And a chip select signal is supplied. That is, for example, when the parallel block of interest is composed of the first to fourth four blocks, and when a parallel block group including the parallel block of interest is configured, the selection is preferentially performed in the order of the first to fourth blocks. If performed, step S1
In 1, first, a recording medium piece having a first block is preferentially selected, and thereafter, a recording medium piece having second to fourth blocks is sequentially selected. And
After the recording medium piece having the fourth block is selected, if data recording for the entire first block has not been completed yet, the recording medium piece having the first block is selected again. Similarly, step S11
In, until the data is recorded in the entire parallel block of interest, the selection of the recording medium pieces having the blocks constituting the parallel block of interest is sequentially performed.

If it is determined in step S14 that the writing of data to the entire parallel block of interest has been completed, the flow advances to step S15 to determine whether or not recording of all the data of the file to be written has been completed. If it is determined in step S15 that the recording of all the data of the file to be written has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S10, and the writing is performed from the parallel blocks constituting the parallel block group secured in step S8. A parallel block that is not targeted
A new parallel block of interest is newly selected, and the same processing is repeated thereafter.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S15 that the recording of all the data of the write target file has been completed, the process proceeds to step S16, where the block management information is based on the parallel block group in which the data of the write target file has been written. The information is updated, and the process proceeds to step S17.
In step S17, the file management information is updated based on the file to be written, and the writing process ends.

Next, the free block securing process in step S5 in FIG. 13 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In the free block securing process, in order to secure a writable area in which a file to be written can be recorded, the already recorded file is erased. (Hereinafter, appropriately referred to as a file to be deleted) is determined. In other words, the recording medium control unit 42 determines, for example, the temporally or logically oldest file as the file to be deleted. Alternatively, for example, the recording medium control unit 42 causes the display unit 12 to display the file name of the file recorded on the recording medium 1 and allows the user to input the file name of the file to be deleted to the operation unit. 11 is designated, and the designated file is determined as a file to be deleted.

Then, proceeding to step S22, the recording medium control unit 42 searches for block management information, acquires block management information for the file to be erased, and proceeds to step 23. In step S23, based on the block management information on the file to be erased, the parallel block configured for the file to be erased is recognized.
That is, the recording medium control unit 42 detects the first flag from the block management information of the file to be erased, further searches (refers to) the link information, and detects the loop flag or the last flag. The parallel block is recognized (this recognized parallel block is hereinafter appropriately referred to as a recognized parallel block).

Thereafter, the flow advances to step S24 to select one of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D having the blocks constituting the recognition parallel block from the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D as the selected recording medium piece. The chip select signal is supplied to one of the pieces. Here, also in step S24, for example, step S1 in FIG.
1, when writing the file to be erased, the recording medium piece having the block preferentially selected when forming the parallel block group is
It is designed to be selected as a selected recording medium piece.
In this case, the block preferentially selected when forming the parallel block group can be recognized from the link information in the block management information.

After the selection of the selected recording medium piece, step S2
Then, as in step S12 of FIG. 13, the state of the selected recording medium piece is determined. Step S2
In 5, when it is determined that the selected recording medium piece is in the Busy state, since the selected recording medium piece cannot be accessed, the process returns to step S25. Here, immediately after the start of the free block securing process, the recording medium piece initially selected as the selected recording medium piece should not normally be in the Busy state (it is in the Ready state).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S25 that the selected recording medium piece is in the ready state, the flow advances to step S26 to erase the data recorded in the block constituting the recognition parallel block in the selected recording medium piece. You.

As described above, data writing is performed in page units, but data erasing is performed in block units.

After erasing the data for one block in step S26, the flow advances to step S27 to determine whether the erasure of the data of the entire recognition parallel block is completed. If it is determined in step S27 that the erasure of the data of the entire recognition parallel block has not been completed yet, the process returns to step S24, and the next recording medium piece is selected as the selected recording medium piece in the priority order as described above. Is selected, and the same processing is repeated thereafter.

If it is determined in step S27 that the erasure of the data in the entire recognized parallel block has been completed, the flow advances to step S28 to determine whether or not all the data of the erasure target file has been completed. If it is determined in step S28 that the erasure of all the data in the erasure target file has not been completed, the process returns to step S23, and the data has not yet been erased in the parallel block group in which the erasure target file has been recorded. A parallel block is newly selected as a recognition parallel block as described above, and the processing from step S24 is repeated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S28 that the erasure of all the data in the erasure target file has been completed, the flow advances to step S29 to update the block management information of the erasure target file. Is written, and the process proceeds to step S30.
In step S30, the file management information of the file to be deleted is updated to -1 (indicating that no file management information is stored as described with reference to FIG. 2), and the free block securing process ends.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG. 15, the number L _c of parallel blocks in step S6 of FIG.
The process of determining the number of interleaves I _i (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “determination process”) will be described.

In the determination process, first, at step S4
In 1, the interleave number Ii that satisfies the conditions of the equations (2) and (3) is calculated based on the required minimum block number _Lf and the minimum block number _Imin obtained in step S3 in FIG.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S42, wherein the formula (2)
It is determined whether or not the interleave number Ii that satisfies (3) can be calculated. If it is determined in step S42 that the number of interleaves Ii satisfying the expressions (2) and (3) has been calculated, the process proceeds to step S43, and the number of interleaves Ii satisfying the expressions (2) and (3) is determined. , The minimum number of parallel blocks _Lc and the minimum number of parallel blocks _Lc are selected and the process returns.

That is, in step S41, when there are a plurality of interleave numbers Ii satisfying the equations (2) and (3), for example, the interleave numbers Ii of the plurality of divided patterns are obtained. In this case, in step S43, among the plurality of division patterns each number of interleaves Ii, as when the L _c is the minimum is the maximum value of the suffix i of Ii taking summation in equation (3), The minimum L _c is the interleave number I used to write the file to be written.
i to be selected as a parallel block number L _c.

The interleave number Ii (i = 1, 2,..., L _c ) calculated in step S41 is
The values need not be the same, and may be the same or different as long as the value is equal to or more than I _min and equal to or less than N (as long as the value satisfies the condition of Expression (3)). However, in order to avoid complicated processing, the number of interleaves Ii (i =
, _Lc ) are desirably the same value.

On the other hand, in step S42, equation (2)
And the interleave number Ii satisfying (3) is calculated.
In the case where it is determined that the operation cannot be performed, that is, the expression (2)
Interleave number Ii (i = 1, 2,...)
・, L_c) All with values in the range given by equation (3)
If not, the process proceeds to step S44 and I
_minThe number of interleave numbers Ii that is less than
(And basically one) and such I
_minIs smaller than I_{m in}Close to
The interleave number Ii and the parallel block
Number L_cIs determined and the process returns. In this case,
Interleave number Ii (i = 1, 2,..., L_c)of
At least one of them (basically one) satisfies equation (3)
However, it is always bound by the condition of equation (2).
You.

Here, in step S9 of FIG.
Interleave number I obtained in the above determination process
The parallel block consisting of _i blocks, if it is determined that could not be ensured only parallel block number L _c determined by the determining process, as described above, again, although determination process is performed, in this case determination process, a combination of parallel block number L _c and interleaving number I _i obtained in step S43 or S44 according to already performed determination process is performed except from processing. That is, in the determination processing second and subsequent combinations other than the combination of previously number of parallel blocks is sought L _c and number of interleaves Ii is obtained.

Next, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 16, the processing of securing a parallel block group in step S8 of FIG. 13 will be described.

In the parallel block group securing process, first, a predetermined variable C is initialized to 0, and the flow advances to step S52 to determine each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1 in FIG. only the number of blocks or more parallel block number L _c determined by the process to a free area of continuous, its magnitude, closest to parallel block number L _c (detected free area) is detected. Then, in step S53, of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D,
From more than number of interleaves I obtained by the determination process in FIG. 15, the detection whether the free area is detected is determined, if it is determined that not detected, the process proceeds to step S54, the parallel block number L _c 1 , And the process proceeds to step S55.

In step S55, the number of parallel blocks L _c
Is determined to be equal to zero. In step S55, if the parallel block number L _c is determined to be equal to zero, as it is impossible to secure a parallel block group necessary to record the write target file and returns. Therefore, in this case, in step S9 of FIG.
It is determined that it was not possible to ensure a parallel block group necessary, the process returns to step S6, a combination of a number of new parallel blocks L _c interleaved number I _i is determined. Thereafter, the same processing is repeated.

[0279] Further, in step S55, if the parallel block number L _c is not equal to 0, the process proceeds to step S56, the variable C is incremented by 1,
It returns to step S52. Therefore, in this case, the parallel block number L _c, while one less than the previous case, step S52 following steps are repeated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S53 that the detection free area has been detected from the interleaving number I or more among the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, the process proceeds to step S57, and the number of interleaving numbers I or more is detected. Of the detection free areas, those having a larger size are provisionally selected preferentially by the number equal to the interleave number I, and the process proceeds to step S58.

In step S58, it is determined whether or not the number of the detection free areas provisionally selected in step S57 is equal to the number I of interleaves. If it is determined that the number is equal to the number I, the number of detection free areas equal to the number I of interleaves is determined. From each of the blocks, L _c continuous blocks are selected. That is, thereby, parallel block formed of a number of blocks equal to the number of interleaves I is, L _c pieces also formed. Then, the process skips step S59 and proceeds to step S60.

If it is determined in step S58 that the number of detection free areas provisionally selected in step S57 is not equal to the number of interleaves I, that is, since there are a plurality of detection free areas having the same size, Assuming that the plurality of detection free areas are provisionally selected, the total number of detection free areas obtained as a result of the selection exceeds the interleaving number I, and if the plurality of detection free areas are not provisionally selected, the total number becomes If the number of interleaves is less than the number I, the process proceeds to step S59, and among the pieces of recording medium having a plurality of detection free areas having the same size, the detection free area having the large number of free areas is provisionally selected preferentially. Thereby, the total number of the temporarily selected detection free areas is made equal to the interleave number I. Further, in step S59, the several detection free area respectively equal to the number of interleaves I, blocks are selected for successive L _c pieces only. That is,
Thus, parallel block formed of a number of blocks equal to the number of interleaves I is, L _c pieces also formed.

Then, the process proceeds to a step S60, where it is determined whether or not the variable C is equal to zero. In step S60, when it is determined that the variable C is not equal to 0, that is, the temporary selection of the number of detection free areas equal to the interleave number I is performed by reducing the original parallel block number _Lc by 1 or more. If you are, the process proceeds to step S61, in parallel block number L _c, variable C is set and further, is initialized to the variable C is 0, the flow returns to step S52. That is, in this case, the number (count) which decrements the original parallel block number L _c at step S54, the new, the number of parallel blocks L
_{As c} , the processing from step S52 is repeated.

If it is determined in step S60 that the variable C is equal to 0, the flow advances to step S62,
The parallel block configured at that time is determined as forming a parallel block group, and the process returns.

Next, the processing (erasing processing) of the recording medium control unit 42 in FIG. 11 when erasing data recorded on the recording medium 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In the erasing process, for example, the user operates the operation unit 1
1 is operated to erase data.

That is, when the user operates the operation unit 11 to erase data, a signal instructing the data erasure from the operation unit 11 to the recording medium control unit 42 (hereinafter, an erasing instruction as appropriate). Signal). Accordingly, the recording medium control unit 42 recognizes that an operation to delete the file recorded on the recording medium 1 should be performed in step S71. Then, the recording medium control unit 4
2 displays the file name of the file recorded on the recording medium 1 on the display unit 12 by referring to the file management information. Thereafter, when the user specifies the file name of the file to be deleted (file to be deleted) by operating the operation unit 11, the recording medium control unit 42 determines in step S72 that the specified file is to be deleted. Determined as a file.

Then, the flow advances to step S73, and thereafter, in steps S73 to S81, step S73 in FIG.
The same processes as those in steps 22 to S30 are performed, and the erasing process ends.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG. 18, the processing (read processing) of the recording medium control unit 42 of FIG. 11 when reading data recorded on the recording medium 1 will be described.
Will be described.

When reading data (file) recorded on the recording medium 1, for example, the user operates the operation unit 11 to reproduce data. As a result, as described above, a reproduction instruction signal is given from the operation unit 11 to the recording medium control unit 42, and the recording medium control unit 42 should perform an operation of reading data from the recording medium 1 in step S91. It will be recognized.

Recording Medium Control Unit 4 Having Received Reproduction Instruction Signal
2, the reproduction control unit 43 refers to the file management information stored in the file management information storage unit 2 as described above.
By controlling the display unit 12 via the, the file name of the file recorded on the recording medium 1 is displayed. Then, when the user refers to the file name displayed on the display unit 12 and designates what to read from the recording medium 1 by operating the operation unit 11, the designation of the file name is sent to the recording medium control unit 42. The recording medium control unit 42 recognizes a file to be read from the recording medium 1 (read target file) in step S92.

[0292] Then, proceeding to step S93, the recording medium control unit 42 searches for block management information, acquires block management information for the file to be read, and proceeds to step S94. In step S94, based on the block management information on the file to be read, the parallel block configured for the file to be read is recognized. That is, the recording medium control unit 42 obtains the first
Detects flags and searches for link information (reference)
Then, the parallel block is recognized by detecting the loop flag or the last flag (this recognized parallel block is also referred to as a recognized parallel block as appropriate hereinafter).

After that, the flow advances to step S95 to select, from among the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1, those having blocks constituting the recognition parallel block (this selected recording medium piece is also hereinafter referred to as A chip select signal is supplied to the selected recording medium piece. Here, also in step S95, for example, as in the case of step S11 in FIG. 13, when writing the file to be read, the recording medium piece having the block preferentially selected when forming the parallel block group is read. , And is preferentially selected as a selected recording medium piece. In this case, the block preferentially selected when forming the parallel block group can be recognized from the link information in the block management information as described above.

After the selection of the selected recording medium piece, step S9 is performed.
The process proceeds to step S6, where a read command is given to the selected recording medium piece, and the process proceeds to step S97. Step S97
Then, the address of the data to be read therefrom is given to the selected recording medium piece, and the process proceeds to step S98.

[0295] In step S98, step S98 in FIG.
12, the state of the selected recording medium piece is determined. In step S98, the selected recording medium piece
If it is determined that the recording medium is in the busy state, the selected recording medium piece cannot be accessed.
Return to

If it is determined in step S98 that the selected recording medium piece is in the ready state, the process proceeds to step S99, where one page of the selected recording medium piece recorded in the block constituting the recognition parallel block is read. Data is read.

In the course of the loop processing from step S95 to step S100 to be described later, in step S99, one page of data is read from a certain block, starting from the top address of the block. Will be done. That is, for example, in a case where the parallel block is composed of the first to fourth four blocks and each block is composed of the first to fourth four pages from the start address, When reading data, the first page of the first block, the first page of the second block,
Is read out in the order of the first page of the block and the first page of the fourth block. Then, thereafter, the second page of the first block, the second page of the second block, the second page of the third block, the fourth page
The data is read out in the order of the second page of the block, and thereafter, the data is similarly read up to the fourth page of the fourth block.

The data for one page read in step S99 is transmitted from the recording medium controller 42 to the transfer controller 41.
Alternatively, it is supplied to the reproduction control unit 43. Then, the process proceeds to step S100, and it is determined whether the reading of the data of the entire recognition parallel block is completed. Step S10
0, if it is determined that the reading of the data of the entire recognition parallel block has not been completed yet,
Returning to 95, the next recording medium piece is selected as the selected recording medium piece in the order of priority as described above, and a chip select signal is supplied.

If it is determined in step S100 that the reading of the data of the entire recognition parallel block has been completed, the flow advances to step S101 to determine whether reading of all the data of the file to be read has been completed. In step S101, if it is determined that the reading of all the data of the file to be read has not been completed, the process returns to step S94, and the data has not yet been read from the parallel block group in which the file to be read has been recorded. A parallel block is newly selected as a recognition parallel block, and the processing from step S95 is repeated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S101 that reading of all data of the file to be read has been completed, the reading process ends.

As described above, the data recorded on the recording medium 1 is managed in a file unit and a block unit, and the data writing to the recording medium 1 is performed by the parallel block composed of one or more blocks. In the case of configuring and performing a configured parallel block group, the parallel block is
Since it is configured with a number of blocks that reduces the waiting time, it is possible to write data at high speed and flexibly so that the effect of speeding up writing by the parallel recording method can be maximized. Become. Further, since the parallel blocks are configured by selecting blocks so that the empty area in the recording medium 1 is not biased, fragmentation (subdivision) of the empty area is prevented, and as a result, the recording medium 1 Effective use of the recording area can be achieved.

In the present embodiment, the recording medium 1 is
Although the recording medium is composed of four recording medium pieces 1A to 1D, the number of recording medium pieces constituting the recording medium 1 is not limited to four.

In the present embodiment, the recording medium 1 is
Although the recording medium 1 is configured by using a flash memory which is a semiconductor memory, the recording medium 1 may be configured by a semiconductor memory other than the flash memory, or may be formed of a disk-shaped disk such as a randomly accessible magneto-optical disk other than the semiconductor memory. It is also possible to use a recording medium.

As the recording medium 1, a readable / writable medium or a read-only medium can be used. However, when a read-only recording medium is used as the recording medium 1, as long as such a recording medium 1 is used, the user terminal functions only as a reproducing apparatus for reproducing data.

Further, in this embodiment, the parallel blocks are configured in units of blocks which are units for managing data. However, the parallel blocks may be smaller or larger, for example, page units or other blocks. It is also possible to configure in units.

It is to be noted that the order of writing data to the blocks constituting the parallel block may be determined arbitrarily. However, data is written continuously over two or more parallel blocks. In this case, it is desirable that the order in which data is written to a block constituting a certain parallel block coincides with the order in which data is written to a block which constitutes a parallel block to be written next.

In other words, for example, one block in each of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constitutes first and second two parallel blocks composed of four blocks arranged from left to right. When writing to the second parallel block subsequent to the first parallel block, writing is sequentially performed to the four blocks constituting the first parallel block from the leftmost one to the right. In this case, it is desirable to sequentially write the four blocks constituting the second parallel block sequentially from the leftmost one to the right. This is because, for example, in the above-described case, if writing is sequentially performed to the four blocks constituting the second parallel block from the rightmost one to the left, then the first parallel block After the end of writing to the rightmost block, writing to the rightmost block of the second parallel block will be performed, that is,
In this case, writing is continuously performed on the block of the recording medium piece 1D, and when writing to the first parallel block is completed and writing to the second parallel block is started. This is because the effect of suppressing the waiting time by writing data in parallel cannot be obtained.

In the case where the user terminal is configured as shown in FIG. 8, the above-described write processing (FIG. 1)
3) and the erasing process (FIG. 17) are performed on the memory card 21 in the information providing apparatus shown in FIGS. Therefore, in this case, the user terminal only needs to have a function of performing the reading process (FIG. 18), and does not need the function of performing the writing process and the erasing process. However, even when the user terminal is configured as shown in FIG. 8, it is not possible to perform the writing process and the erasing process with the memory card 21 inserted in the slot 20. It is possible.

Further, in FIG. 11, the file management information storage unit 2 for storing the file management information
There is no need to physically provide them. However, in this case, the file management information needs to be recorded in, for example, a system block secured in any one of the recording medium pieces 1A to 1D constituting the recording medium 1. Note that the same applies to the block management information storage unit 3 that stores the block management information.

Further, for example, the free area search unit 5, the free list management unit 6, and the recording medium control unit 42 constituting the user terminal shown in FIG. 11 can be realized by dedicated hardware. Yes, but other,
For example, a program for performing the above-described write processing, erase processing, and read processing is executed by a CPU (Central Proc.
essing unit) can be realized.

That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 19, the free area search unit 5, the free list management unit 6, and the recording medium control unit 42 include a CPU 61, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 6, and the like.
2, RAM (Random Access Memory) 63 and I / F (Inter
face) 64. In this case, the ROM 62
A program for performing the above-described writing, erasing, and reading processes.
By causing the user terminal 1 to execute the program, a write process, an erase process, and a read process are performed in the user terminal. Here, the RAM 63 stores the above-mentioned free lists 6A to 6D and other information necessary for the CPU 61 to perform the processing. The CPU 61 transmits the necessary information to the user terminal (FIG. 11) via the I / F 64. Between blocks
Exchange data and other data.

[0312] In addition to the program being stored in the ROM 62, the program is stored (recorded) in the recording medium 1, and the CPU
61 may be loaded on the RAM 63 via the I / F 64 and executed.

[0313]

According to the recording apparatus of the first aspect, the recording method of the twenty-first aspect, and the program recording medium of the fifty-first aspect, data is transferred to one or more blocks of the recording medium. When writing in parallel, one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks are configured based on the minimum number of blocks, which is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time, and the parallel blocks are configured. Data is written to the block in parallel. Therefore, data can be written in a short time.

In the recording medium according to the thirty-eighth aspect, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the data is written on the basis of the minimum number of blocks which is the minimum value of the number of blocks minimizing the waiting time. Data is written in parallel to blocks constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks. Therefore, data can be written in a short time.

In the recording medium according to the thirty-fifth aspect, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time, or Information necessary for obtaining the minimum number of blocks is recorded. Therefore, for example, by writing data in parallel to blocks constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks, Data can be written in a short time.

According to the reproducing apparatus of claim 56, the reproducing method of claim 58, and the program recording medium of claim 60, when data is written in parallel to one or more blocks. In addition, based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks for minimizing the waiting time, a block constituting a parallel block obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks is targeted. The data is read from the recording medium on which the data is written in parallel. Therefore,
Data written can be read in a short time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a data writing method using a parallel recording method.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining file management information and block management information.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a data writing method using a parallel recording method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a case where a problem occurs in the parallel recording method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a data writing method according to the new parallel recording method.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a data writing method according to the new parallel recording method.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an external configuration of the user terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an external configuration of a user terminal according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating an external configuration example of a first embodiment of an information providing apparatus that provides data to a user terminal.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating an example of an external configuration of an information providing apparatus that provides data to a user terminal according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of an electrical configuration of the user terminal shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a flash memory.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a writing process performed by a recording medium control unit 42 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process in step S5 in FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process in step S6 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating details of a process in step S8 in FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an erasing process performed by the recording medium control unit shown in FIG. 11;

18 is a flowchart illustrating a reading process performed by a recording medium control unit 42 in FIG.

19 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a free area search unit 5, a free list management unit 6, and a recording medium control unit 42 in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 recording medium, 1A to 1D recording medium piece, 2 file management information storage section, 3 block management information storage section, 4 recording medium management section, 5 free area search section, 6 free list management section, 6A to 6D free list, 11 Operation unit, 12 display unit, 13 earphones, 14, 15 terminals, 20 slots, 2
1 memory card, 22A, 22B terminals, 31
Display unit, 31A insertion slot, 31B ejection slot, 32 buttons, 33 slots, 41 transfer control unit, 42 recording medium control unit, 43 playback control unit,
51 register, 52 memory cell array, 61
CPU, 62 ROM, 63 RAM, 64 I / F

Claims (60)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus which manages a recording area of a recording medium in a predetermined block unit and records data in parallel, wherein the data is recorded in parallel with one or more blocks of the recording medium. In the case where the data is written in a sequential manner, 1
A configuration unit configured to configure one or more parallel blocks configured by the blocks described above; and a writing unit configured to write the data in parallel with respect to the blocks configuring the parallel blocks. Recording device. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the minimum number of blocks is recorded on the recording medium. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a minimum block number calculating unit for obtaining the minimum block number.
The recording device according to claim 1. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the minimum block number calculating means calculates the minimum block number based on characteristic information indicating characteristics of the recording medium. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the characteristic information is recorded on the recording medium. 6. The characteristic information includes an input time that is a time required for inputting data to be recorded to the recording medium, and an input time after the data to be recorded is input to the recording medium. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising at least a program time that is a time until the recording is completed. 7. The minimum block number calculating means calculates a value obtained by adding 1 to a minimum integer equal to or greater than a division result obtained by dividing the program time by the input time, as the minimum block number. The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein: 8. When the recording medium has a plurality of divided recording areas, and the writing unit performs writing in parallel on two or more of the plurality of recording areas, The configuration unit is configured to configure the parallel block from two or more of the plurality of recording areas so that the size of the writable area, which is a writable area, in each of the plurality of recording areas is not biased. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is selected. 9. A writable area management unit that manages the writable area in each of the plurality of recording areas, wherein the configuration unit executes the parallel block based on the management content of the writable area management unit. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the block to be configured is selected. 10. The writable area management means manages the writable area in each of the plurality of recording areas in a free area unit, which is a part where writable blocks are physically continuous. 10. The recording device according to claim 9, wherein 11. The configuration unit according to claim 10, wherein the free area is a number equal to or greater than the number of the parallel blocks capable of recording the data, and the free area including the number of blocks closest to the number of the parallel blocks. A free area detecting means for detecting from each of the plurality of recording areas, and a free area selecting means for selecting, from the free areas detected by the free area detecting means, one to configure the parallel block. 1
0. The recording device according to 0. 12. The recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the free area selecting means preferentially selects a free area having a larger size from the free areas detected by the free area detecting means. . 13. The recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the free area selecting unit preferentially selects a free area having a large number of the free areas from the plurality of recording areas. 14. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium is constituted by a plurality of recording medium pieces respectively corresponding to a plurality of recording areas. 15. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising the recording medium. 16. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is detachable. 17. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a supply unit that supplies data supplied from an external device to the writing unit. 18. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording content of the recording medium is erased for each of the blocks. 19. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording medium is a semiconductor memory. 20. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a disk. 21. A recording method for recording data in parallel by managing a recording area of a recording medium in predetermined block units, wherein the data is recorded in parallel with one or more blocks of the recording medium. In the case where the data is written in a sequential manner, 1
A configuration step of configuring one or more parallel blocks configured by the above blocks; and a writing step of writing the data in parallel with respect to the blocks configuring the parallel blocks. Recording method. 22. The recording method according to claim 21, wherein the minimum number of blocks is recorded on the recording medium. 23. The recording method according to claim 21, further comprising a minimum block number calculating step of obtaining the minimum block number. 24. In the minimum block number calculation step, based on characteristic information representing characteristics of the recording medium,
The recording method according to claim 23, wherein the minimum number of blocks is calculated. 25. The recording method according to claim 24, wherein the characteristic information is recorded on the recording medium. 26. The characteristic information includes: an input time that is a time required for inputting data to be recorded to the recording medium; and an input time after the data to be recorded is input to the recording medium. The recording method according to claim 24, further comprising at least a program time that is a time until the recording is completed. 27. The minimum block number calculating step, wherein a value obtained by adding 1 to a minimum integer equal to or greater than a division result obtained by dividing the program time by the input time is calculated as the minimum block number. The recording method according to claim 26, wherein 28. When the recording medium has a plurality of divided recording areas, and in the writing step, performing writing in parallel on two or more of the plurality of recording areas, In the configuring step, in each of the plurality of recording areas, the block configuring the parallel block from two or more of the plurality of recording areas so that the size of a writable area that is a writable area is not biased. 22. The recording method according to claim 21, wherein is selected. 29. A writable area management step of managing the writable area in each of the plurality of recording areas, wherein in the configuration step, the parallel block is managed based on the management content in the writable area management step. The recording method according to claim 28, wherein the block to be configured is selected. 30. The writable area management step, wherein in each of the plurality of recording areas, the writable area is managed in units of a free area, which is a part where writable blocks are physically continuous. The recording method according to claim 29, wherein the recording method is performed. 31. The method according to claim 31, wherein the free area includes a number of blocks equal to or more than the number of the parallel blocks capable of recording the data and the number of blocks closest to the number of the parallel blocks. A free area detecting step of detecting from each of the plurality of recording areas, and a free area selecting step of selecting a part forming the parallel block from the free areas detected in the free area detecting step. Item 30. The recording method according to Item 30, 32. The recording according to claim 31, wherein in the free area selecting step, a free area having a larger size is preferentially selected from the free areas detected in the free area detecting step. Method. 33. The recording method according to claim 31, wherein in the free area selecting step, a free area having a large number of free areas is preferentially selected from the plurality of recording areas. 34. The recording method according to claim 28, wherein the recording medium is composed of a plurality of recording medium pieces respectively corresponding to a plurality of recording areas. 35. The recording method according to claim 21, wherein the recording content of the recording medium is erased for each of the blocks. 36. The recording method according to claim 21, wherein said recording medium is a semiconductor memory. 37. The recording method according to claim 21, wherein the recording medium is a disk. 38. A recording medium in which a recording area is managed in a predetermined block unit and data is recorded in parallel, and the data is written in one or more blocks in parallel. The blocks constituting the parallel blocks obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time A recording medium, wherein the data is written in parallel. 39. The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein said minimum number of blocks is recorded. 40. The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein said minimum number of blocks is calculated based on characteristic information indicating its own characteristic. 41. The recording medium according to claim 40, wherein said characteristic information is recorded. 42. The characteristic information includes an input time which is a time required for inputting data to be recorded, and a program time which is a time from the input of the data to be recorded to the end of the recording. 41. The recording medium according to claim 40, comprising at least: 43. The recording according to claim 42, wherein the minimum number of blocks is a value obtained by adding 1 to a minimum integer equal to or larger than a division result obtained by dividing the program time by the input time. Medium. 44. A plurality of divided recording areas, wherein each of the plurality of recording areas has a writable area, which is a writable area, so that the size of the plurality of recording areas is not biased. 39. The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein the block configuring the parallel block is selected from two or more of the blocks, and the data is written in parallel for the block. 45. The writable area in each of the plurality of recording areas is managed, and the blocks constituting the parallel block are selected based on the management contents.
A recording medium according to claim 1. 46. The writable area according to claim 45, wherein in each of the plurality of recording areas, the writable area is managed in a free area unit which is a part where writable blocks are physically continuous. Recording medium. 47. A free area which is equal to or more than the number of the parallel blocks capable of recording the data and which is constituted by the number of blocks closest to the number of the parallel blocks, wherein each of the plurality of recording areas 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein a parallel block is selected from the detected free areas.
7. The recording medium according to 6. 48. In the detected free area,
48. The recording medium according to claim 47, wherein the recording medium having the larger size is preferentially selected. 49. The recording medium according to claim 47, wherein a free area having a larger number of free areas is preferentially selected from among the plurality of recording areas. 50. A recording medium comprising a plurality of recording medium pieces respectively corresponding to a plurality of recording areas.
5. The recording medium according to 4. 51. The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein the recording medium is detachable from a recording device that records the data. 52. The recording apparatus according to claim 38, wherein the recorded contents are erased for each of said blocks.
A recording medium according to claim 1. 53. The recording medium according to claim 38, comprising a semiconductor memory. 54. The recording medium according to claim 38, wherein the recording medium is configured in a disk shape. 55. A recording medium in which a recording area is managed in a predetermined block unit and data is recorded in parallel, and when the data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, A recording medium on which a minimum number of blocks, which is a minimum value of the number of blocks for minimizing a waiting time, or information necessary for obtaining the minimum number of blocks is recorded. 56. A reproducing apparatus for reproducing a data from a recording medium in which a recording area is managed in a predetermined block unit and data is recorded in parallel, wherein the data is stored in one or more blocks. By writing one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time when writing in parallel to A reproducing apparatus, comprising: a reading unit that reads the data from a recording medium on which the data is written in parallel with respect to the blocks constituting the obtained parallel block. 57. The reproducing apparatus according to claim 56, wherein the recording medium is a read-only medium. 58. A reproducing method for reproducing a data from a recording medium in which a recording area is managed in a predetermined block unit and data is recorded in parallel, wherein the data is stored in one or more blocks. By writing one or more parallel blocks composed of one or more blocks based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time when writing in parallel to A reproduction method characterized by reading the data from a recording medium in which the data is written in parallel with respect to the blocks constituting the obtained parallel block. 59. A program recording medium in which a program for performing a recording process of recording data in parallel by managing a recording area of the recording medium in a predetermined block unit and recording the data in parallel is recorded. Is written in parallel to one or more blocks of the recording medium, based on the minimum number of blocks that is the minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes the waiting time.
A program comprising: a configuration step of configuring one or more parallel blocks configured by the above blocks; and a writing step of writing the data in parallel with respect to the blocks configuring the parallel blocks is recorded. A program recording medium characterized in that: 60. A program recording apparatus in which a recording area is managed in a predetermined block unit, and a program for performing a reproducing process for reproducing the data from a recording medium in which data is recorded in parallel is recorded. A medium that, when the data is written in parallel to one or more blocks, based on a minimum number of blocks that is a minimum value of the number of blocks that minimizes a waiting time; A program comprising a step of reading the data from a recording medium in which the data is written in parallel with respect to the blocks constituting the parallel blocks obtained by configuring one or more parallel blocks configured A program recording medium characterized by being recorded.