JP2000200444A - Information storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase data transfer speed by providing a data format with a recording medium constituted of plural spiral tracks and thereby reducing the access frequency of a recording reproducing element. SOLUTION: Two spiral data tracks are formed from the center of disk medium towards the outer periphery, recording and reproduction and performed by using a multi-head against the recording medium having such n-turn spiral format. In a device having a concentric format and a recording/reproducing element, after one round portion of the disk is transferred from the sector 1 to sector n in the track N, the recording/reproducing element seeks the next track N+1, to have a rotational delay until the target sector n+1 appears, and transfers data as the sector n+1, sector n+2,.... In the combination of a single spiral format and a recording/reproducing element, are continuously transferred in order the sector 1, sector 2,... sector n without the need of seek for each round and a rotational delay.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information storage device, and more particularly to an information storage device in which a recording medium has a plurality of spiral tracks.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Magnetic disk devices and optical disk devices, which are typical information storage devices, use a rotating disk medium as a recording medium. The format of the data track of the recording medium in the magnetic disk drive is
A plurality of tracks are formed concentrically (track pitch). On the other hand, in the format of a data track of a recording medium in many optical disk devices, spiral continuous tracks are formed with a track pitch. In such an information storage device, a recording / reproducing element is moved by a positioning mechanism in a radial direction of a disk with respect to a recording medium, and is accurately sought to a target data track, thereby recording and reproducing information.

[0003]

When continuous data transfer is considered, in a concentric format disk medium, it is necessary to move to the next track for each round of a track. Since the tracks are continuous without interruption from the outer periphery to the innermost periphery, there is no inter-track movement for each rotation.
Therefore, the spiral format can reduce the number of times of movement of the head between the tracks, so that the access time is shorter than that of the concentric format which always requires an access time (seek time + rotation waiting time for moving to the next track) for each round of the track. It is shortened and is suitable for high-speed data transfer.

However, in order to greatly increase the transfer speed, n recording / reproducing elements (n
Is an integer).
In the double spiral format, seek of the head is always required. Therefore, even if n multi-heads are used for a single spiral format disk medium, an n-fold transfer speed cannot be obtained.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an information storage device capable of increasing the data transfer speed by reducing the number of accesses to a recording / reproducing element.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an information storage device having a recording medium whose data format is a plurality of spiral tracks. Further, an information storage device having a plurality of recording / reproducing elements and a plurality of positioning mechanisms for one recording medium surface of a recording medium having a data format of a plurality of spiral tracks.
Further, assuming that the number of the recording / reproducing elements is n, the recording / reproducing element moves m × n (m is an integer) tracks when seeking and idling on the recording medium. Further, it is assumed that the rotation direction of such a spiral track is different on the front and back of the recording medium.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows a data format of a disk medium according to an embodiment of the present invention. Disk medium 1
Two spiral data tracks a12 and data tracks b13 are formed from the center of 1 toward the outer periphery. Although the double spiral format is shown here, the number of spiral data tracks is generally not limited to two, but is composed of n.

FIG. 2 shows a multi-head used in combination with the disk medium shown in FIG.

When an n-fold spiral format is used for a recording medium, a multi-head in which a composite recording / reproducing element is composed of n elements is used. FIG. 2 shows a composite recording / reproducing element A21 and a composite recording / reproducing element B2 in which a recording element and a reproducing element are integrated.
2 shows a multi-head in which 2 are arranged at an interval d. The multi-head refers to a head having a plurality of recording / reproducing elements on one magnetic head slider. Is the angle between the composite recording / reproducing elements 21 and 22 and the center of the data tracks 12 and 13 of the disk medium.

In the information storage device of the present invention, recording and reproduction are performed on a recording medium having an n-fold spiral format as shown in FIG. 1 using a multi-head as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an information storage device according to another embodiment. In the information storage device according to the present embodiment, n heads 34 each having one composite recording / reproducing element are used instead of the multi-head of FIG. 2 for the disk medium 31 having the n-fold spiral format. Therefore, n head positioning mechanisms 32 are provided.

Next, the operation of the information storage device according to the present invention will be described.

The fact that the data transfer speed can be increased by using a multi-head or a plurality of heads will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. FIG. 4 compares a known information storage device with a sector sequence during continuous data transfer according to the present invention. In an apparatus having a concentric circular format and one recording / reproducing element, after transferring one round of the disk from sector 1 to sector n in track N, the recording / reproducing element seeks to the next track N + 1 until the target sector n + 1 appears. Wait for rotation, sector n + 1,
Data is transferred to sectors n + 2,. In the combination of the single spiral format and one recording / reproducing element, sector 1,
The transfer is performed continuously in the order of sector 2,..., Sector n, and does not require the above-described seek and rotation wait for each round of the disk at all. Single spiral format and read / write element 2
In this combination, if the head 1 corresponds to the track N and the head 2 corresponds to the track N + 1, and two heads alternately transfer the respective sectors of the two tracks, one round of the disk as in the concentric format. Each time, it is necessary to always seek and wait for rotation. However, according to the combination of the double spiral format and the two recording / reproducing elements of the present invention, each sector is continuously transferred, and the above-described seek for one rotation of the disk and waiting for rotation are not required at all.

FIG. 5 compares a known information storage device with the transfer speed of the present invention. In an apparatus having a concentric format and one recording / reproducing element, an access time (seek time + rotation waiting time) is always required for each rotation of the disk. That is, the data transfer speed is reduced by the access time. Since there is no access in the combination of the single spiral format and one recording / reproducing element, the transfer speed does not decrease. With a combination of a single spiral format and two recording / reproducing elements, the transfer rate during data transfer is 2
Although the access time is doubled, an access time is required, so that the transfer speed is reduced accordingly. On the other hand, the present invention having a double spiral format and two recording / reproducing elements can realize a higher transfer speed because access is not required for each rotation. By using a multi-head in which the n-fold spiral format of the present invention and n recording / reproducing elements are integrated,
The transfer speed is n times as large as that when the single spiral format and one recording / reproducing element are used in combination, and an extremely high data transfer speed can be continuously realized.

In the above description, the case of continuous data transfer has been described as an example. However, even when recording and reproducing an arbitrary data length by random access, only the overhead at the track switching portion in the conventional example does not occur. The present invention can achieve higher transfer.

Next, referring to FIG. 6, a method of moving the head in the information storage device of the present invention will be described. That is, when performing data transfer by accessing an arbitrary radius position, or in a state where the apparatus is waiting for data transfer (idling),
The seek of the head moves on m × n (m is an integer) tracks, and the head element A always accesses the spiral track a and the head element B always accesses the spiral track b. By performing such head access, the interval between the spiral tracks a and b can be reduced to the radial interval between the head elements A and B, and the track density can be increased.

FIG. 7 shows a disk format when both sides of a disk medium are used as still another embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, the rotation directions of the data tracks 72 and 73 in the double spiral format on the disk medium are different between the upper surface and the lower surface of the disk medium. For example, the upper surface is clockwise (CW) and the lower surface is counterclockwise (CCW). In the present embodiment, an information storage device is configured by stacking a plurality of such disk media. FIG. 8 shows the order of data transfer to a plurality of disk surfaces in the form of a zone sequence. Here, two discs and four recording surfaces are taken as an example. Now, data transfer starts from zone 1 on the upper surface of the disk 1, and when this zone ends, seek is performed to zone 1 on the lower surface of the disk 1 to start transfer. Thereafter, data is transferred by sequentially seeking disk 2, upper surface, zone 1, disk 2, lower surface, zone 1, disk 1, upper surface, zone 2, and so on. By switching the head for each zone on each disk surface, it is possible to avoid using a specific head and to distribute the load evenly to all the heads.

[0019]

According to the combination of the n-fold spiral format of the present invention and the multi-head in which n heads are integrated, continuous transfer is performed for each sector, and access time (seek time and rotation wait time) is applied to continuous data. Time). Transfer speed is single spiral format and head 1
It becomes n times as many as the combination of the number. By using a multi-head in which an n-fold spiral format and n heads are integrated, it is possible to continuously realize a higher data transfer rate than in the past.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a double spiral format of a disk medium according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multi-head in which two recording / reproducing elements are integrated on one head slider.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an information storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a comparison diagram of a sector sequence during data transfer.

FIG. 5 is a comparison diagram of a data transfer speed.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of a head seek on a double spiral format recording medium.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a double helix format in still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram of a zone sequence of the information storage device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11, 31, 61, 71 ... disk medium, 12, 62,
72 spiral track a, 13, 63, 73 spiral track b, 21 composite recording / reproducing element A, 22 composite recording / reproducing element B, 32, 64 head positioning mechanism 33
... Positioning actuator, 34 ... Head, 62 ... Spiral track a, 63 ... Spiral track b, 64 ... Magnetic head, 71 ... Magnetic disk, 72 ... Spiral track a, 73
... spiral track b.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An information storage device having a recording medium whose recording data format is a spiral track, wherein said spiral track comprises a plurality of spiral tracks. 2. An information storage device comprising: a recording medium whose recording data format is a spiral track; and a recording / reproducing element for recording / reproducing to / from the recording medium. 2. The information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the information storage device has a plurality. 3. An information storage device having a recording medium whose recording data format is a spiral track, a recording / reproducing element for recording / reproducing on / from the recording medium, and a positioning mechanism for seeking the recording / reproducing element to the spiral track. 2. The information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the information storage device includes a plurality of the positioning mechanisms. 4. A recording medium whose recording data format is a spiral track, n recording / reproducing elements for recording / reproducing on / from the recording medium, and information having a positioning mechanism for seeking the recording / reproducing element to the spiral track. In the storage device, when the recording / reproducing element seeks, m × n
2. The information storage device according to claim 1, wherein (m is an integer) tracks. 5. An information comprising a recording medium having a recording data format of a spiral track, n recording / reproducing elements for recording / reproducing on / from the recording medium, and a positioning mechanism for seeking the recording / reproducing element to the spiral track. 2. The information storage device according to claim 1, wherein in the storage device, when the recording / reproducing element is waiting for data transfer (idling), it moves m × n (m is an integer) tracks. 6. The information storage device according to claim 1, wherein in the information storage device having a recording medium whose recording data format is a spiral track, the rotation direction of the spiral track format is different between the front and back of the recording medium. apparatus.