JP2002216426A - Information recording system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information recording system which can easily distinguish the reliability of recording data to record the data on a recording medium. SOLUTION: The information recording system is provided with a setting means to set reliability in a plurality of stages for each divided area of a disk 1, a storage means to store information indicating the relation between each area of the disk 1 and the set reliability, a selection means to select a reliability area according to recorded data by referring to a storage means, and a recording means to record data on a area selected by the selection means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording system for recording information on an information recording medium such as a hard disk.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a hard disk drive (HDD)
For example, data (user information) is recorded or reproduced on a hard disk in response to a command from a host computer such as a personal computer. By the way, H
In DD, in addition to data on the disk, drive control,
System information necessary for management is recorded. When recording and reproducing information, the system information is read, and recording and reproduction of information are performed based on the system information.

Conventionally, since system information is important information, high reliability is required for system information.
Several techniques have been proposed for that purpose. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-222830 describes that reliability is improved by setting a system area for recording system information at the center of a disk having a relatively good error rate.

On the other hand, in recent years, it has been required to use a hard disk for storing images, and in such a case, there is information that requires reliability in data other than the error rate of system information. For example, in the case of an MPEG2 video file used for a DVD (Digital Video Disc) or the like, if retry occurs frequently when reading an application information file for reproducing the content, a delay occurs in the video information to be reproduced. Required. Video data can be designed without any problem if an appropriate error rate can be ensured.

[0005]

In recent years, it has been demanded that data requiring reliability be recorded among data as described above. However,
Since the conventional hard disk is designed so that the error rate is constant over the entire data recording area of the disk, the demand cannot be satisfied. Also, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-222830, since only the system area for recording system information is set at the center of the disc, no consideration has been given to improving the reliability of data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide an information recording system capable of easily recording data on a recording medium while distinguishing the reliability of the recorded data. is there.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a setting means for setting reliability in a plurality of stages for each divided area of an information recording medium, Storage means for storing information indicating a relationship with the set reliability, and means for selecting a reliability area according to the importance of recording data among recording areas of the recording medium with reference to the storage means; Recording means for recording data in an area selected by the selection means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus comprising: a host computer; and an information recording apparatus connected to the host computer and recording data on an information recording medium under the control of the host computer. In a recording system, setting means for setting reliability in a plurality of stages for each divided area of the recording medium, and storage means for storing information indicating a relationship between each area of the recording medium and the set reliability. Means for selecting a reliability area according to the importance of the recording data among the recording areas of the recording medium with reference to the storage means, wherein the information recording apparatus comprises: The data is sorted and recorded on the basis of the result selected by the user.

In the present invention, since the reliability is set in a plurality of stages for each divided area of the recording medium, the recording area can be selected and recorded according to the importance of the recording data. Therefore, for example, important data can be sorted in the same recording medium, such as a highly reliable area, and data that does not require reliability is a normal reliability area.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the information recording system of the present invention. In the following embodiment, an HD is used as an information recording device.
D (hard disk device) is used. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a disk as an information recording medium, 2 denotes a spindle motor (SPM) for rotating the disk 1, 3
Is a head for recording and reproducing data on the disk 1. The head 3 includes a slider on which a write head for writing data to the disk 1 and a read bed for reading data from the disk 1 are mounted.

The head 3 is mounted on an actuator 4 and is configured to be movable in a radial direction of the disk 1 by driving a VCM (voice coil motor) 5. The SPM / VCM driver 6 is a drive circuit that drives the SPM 2 and the VCM 5 under the control of the CPU 9. The amplifier 7 amplifies a reproduction signal read from the read head of the head 3, and the R / W (read / write) circuit 8 performs predetermined signal processing using the reproduction signal reproduced from the disk 1. This is a circuit that performs a decoding process for reproducing the original data and an encoding process for encoding the write data transferred from the host computer 12 for recording.

The CPU 9 is a microprocessor circuit constituting a main control circuit, and controls each unit in the apparatus to control data read / write processing for the disk 1. An HDC (hard disk controller) 9 is a circuit for controlling data transfer between the disk 1 and the host computer 12, and an EEPROM 10 is an electrically rewritable nonvolatile memory, which is used for controlling the CPU 9. The host computer 12 is a higher-level control device, and the information recording device records and reproduces data on and from the disk 1 under the control of the host computer 12.

In this embodiment, the reliability is set in a plurality of stages for each area (for example, zone) of the disk 1. That is, by setting the reliability for each area of the disk 1, it is possible to allocate the recording area according to the data so that the data requiring high reliability is recorded in the high reliability area. As a method of relatively changing the reliability, for example, changing the recording density, ECC
(Error Correcting Code) The method of changing the length is used.

In general, when the recording density of a hard disk is reduced, an error rate is increased. Therefore, by changing the recording density depending on the location of the disk 1, the reliability of recorded data can be relatively changed. The table of format information such as recording density is EEPROM
10 is stored. Normally, the recording frequency is
Is fixed to one frequency for each zone of EEP
The parameters for each zone are stored in the ROM 10 in the case of a normal recording density and in the case of a low recording density.
Have one or more. By switching parameters at the time of disk formatting, it is possible to change the recording density for each area (for example, zone), and the reliability is set for each area in a plurality of stages. A parameter for determining a recording frequency is generally specified by a frequency division ratio.

Next, a method for changing the reliability depending on the length (the number of bytes) of the ECC will be described. ECC is data added to original data to correct data errors. Increasing the number of bytes of the ECC enhances the error correction function and consequently improves the error rate. Similarly, format information such as the number of bytes of ECC is E
It is stored in the EPROM 10.

Normally, the number of bytes of the ECC is fixed, but the parameters for each area (eg, zone) are stored in the EEPROM 10 when the number of bytes of the ECC is long.
The number of bytes of the ECC is two or more like a normal one. Similarly, by changing parameters at the time of formatting the disk, the number of bytes of the ECC can be changed. It is possible to set reliability.

Next, a method of setting parameters such as the recording density and the number of bytes of the ECC will be described. FIG. 2 shows a plurality of divided zones of the disk 1. In the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the reliability of each zone of the disk 1 is switched between two stages: a case of high reliability and a case of normal reliability. In FIG. 2, a disk 1 has a zone 0, a zone 1,...
The parameters for determining the recording frequency are determined for each zone. As shown in FIG. 2, the EEPROM 10 stores a parameter for determining a recording frequency in the case of high reliability for each zone and a parameter for determining a recording frequency in the case of normal reliability, as will be described later in detail. EEPROM10 when formatting the disk
To set the reliability of each zone with reference to.

As described above, the parameters of the recording density and the number of ECC bytes are set at the time of formatting. However, the setting of the parameters of the recording density and the number of ECC bytes are not limited to each zone. The plane may be appropriately divided and set for each of the divided areas. The present invention is not limited to this as long as the relationship between the position on the disk 1 and the reliability is known.

Next, a process for setting reliability for each zone of the disk 1 at the time of formatting will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In FIG. 3, it is assumed that a disk format process has occurred in the host computer 12 (step 301). When the disk format processing occurs, the host computer 12 specifies the first zone in which the format processing is to be executed, and at this time, specifies the zone 0 of the disk 1 shown in FIG. 2 (step 302).

Next, it is determined whether or not the reliability of the designated zone 0 is changed, that is, whether or not the zone 0 is set to high reliability (step 303). Whether or not to change the reliability of the zone may be determined according to the type of data to be recorded on the disc 1 or the like. Specifically, when there is much data requiring high reliability, for example, 30% of the entire zones are set to high reliability, and when there is little data requiring high reliability, It is determined that 10% of the total zones are set to high reliability. In addition, based on the result, a zone of high reliability is arranged on the disk 1. In this case, it is desirable that the zone of high reliability is arranged in a zone on the outer peripheral side of the disk 1 where the search is fast.

Here, in step 303, zone 0
Is to be changed (set to high reliability), the parameters for the high reliability from the EEPROM 10, that is, the recording frequency of the zone 0 as shown in FIG.
The parameters to be set to 0 are read (step 30)
4). On the other hand, if the reliability of the zone 0 is not changed (set to the normal reliability), the parameter for the normal reliability from the EEPROM 10, that is, the recording frequency of the zone 0 is set to y0 as shown in FIG. The parameters to be set are read (step 305).

Next, a format process for the currently designated zone 0 is performed based on the read parameters (step 306). FIG. 4 shows a change in the number of sectors when the reliability of a zone is changed from normal reliability to high reliability. The number of sectors in the zone before the change is n.
After the change, the format is performed by lowering the recording density of the zone. Therefore, the length of each sector becomes longer, and the number of sectors in the same area becomes m, and the number of sectors is reduced.

When the formatting process for zone 0 is completed, it is determined whether or not the zone is the last zone (step 30).
7) At this time, since it is not the last zone n, it moves to the next zone 1 (step 308), and the processing from step 303 is performed again. That is, the processing of steps 303 to 308 is repeated, and it is determined whether or not the reliability is changed for each zone, and accordingly, the format processing is sequentially performed for each zone such as high reliability or normal reliability for each zone. I do. When the formatting of the last zone n is completed in step 407, the formatting of all disks 1 is completed (step 309).

At this time, if the number of sectors in the zone changes with a change in the recording density (or the length of the ECC), the LBA (Logical BL) is changed accordingly as shown in FIG.
ockAddress) and end the format. For example, in the example of FIG. 5, zone 0 and zone 1 are set to normal reliability before change, zone 0 is set to high reliability after change, and zone 1 is set to normal reliability. After the change, the number of sectors in zone 0 is m since zone 0 is set to high reliability, and the number of sectors in zone 1 is n because zone 1 has normal reliability.

Since the number of sectors changes in accordance with the change in the reliability of the zone, a format end process for changing the LBA of the recording area is performed on the disk 1 accordingly. When the formatting process is completed, the host computer 12 transfers information indicating the relationship between each zone of the disk 1 and the reliability to the HDC 11 of the hard disk device, and
Numeral 9 stores the transferred information in a system area of the disk 1 or a nonvolatile memory such as the EEPROM 10.

Next, the operation for actually recording data on the disk 1 will be described in detail. First, the host computer 12 stores information indicating the relationship between each zone of the disk 1 and the reliability in the system area of the disk 1 or the EEPROM 10 as described above. This information is read from a recording device into an internal memory (not shown).
In this case, information indicating the relationship between each zone of the disk 1 and the reliability may be transferred from the information recording device to the host computer 12 when the host computer 12 is ready for information acquisition, or may be transmitted from the host computer 12 to the host computer 12. What is necessary is just to transfer from an information recording device, when the acquisition command is issued.

The host computer 12 refers to the internal memory and allocates the recording area by specifying the LBA to be recorded according to the importance of the recording data. That is,
When recording data that requires high reliability, specify the LBA of the high reliability zone. When recording good data with normal reliability, specify the LBA of the normal reliability zone. To record data on the disk 1.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a specific processing flow when data is recorded. Hereinafter, the data recording operation will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is assumed that data write processing has occurred in the host computer 12 (step 601). Host computer 1
When the writing process occurs, the data processing unit 2 determines whether the data to be recorded is important to the host computer 12 (step 602). If the importance of the data to be recorded is high, the LBA of the highly reliable zone is designated at the location where the data of the disk 1 is to be written based on the relationship between the zone previously read into the memory and the reliability (step 60).
3).

If the importance is not high, the LBA of the normal reliability zone is designated at the place where the data of the disk 1 is to be written based on the relationship between the reliability and the LBA previously read into the memory (step 604). . Next, data to be recorded as an LBA is transferred from the host computer 12 to the HDC 11 (step 605). The CPU 9 controls each unit, and records the data transferred by the write head of the head 3 at a designated location on the disk 1 (step 6).
06), the write process ends. Hereinafter, when data is recorded on the disk 1, the memory is similarly referred to, a high reliability area or a normal reliability area is selected according to the importance of the data, and the reliability according to the importance of the data is selected. Data is recorded in the area of.

Here, the position is generally LBA,
When the recording position is designated, for example, the recording position may be designated by a track, a segment, a zone number, a head number (when the disc is a double-sided recording), or the like. In addition, since data requiring high reliability is important data for the host computer 12, when setting a high reliability area on the disk, the outer periphery of the disk is searched faster, so that it is higher in the upper rank. In order to convey, the higher the reliability area, the lower the LBA number (in the example of FIG. 2, the outer zone).
It is desirable to arrange them.

In the above embodiment, the case where a hard disk device is used has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this case. For example, even when an optical disk device, a magneto-optical disk device, or the like is used. Can be used.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the reliability of the zone of the disk is set in two stages. However, the present invention can be set in more stages. That is, by setting the recording density and the ECC length of the zone of the disc to more stages, the reliability can be set to more stages. When data is recorded on a disk, the importance of the data may be further subdivided and the data may be recorded in a reliability area corresponding to the importance of the data.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the reliability is set in a plurality of stages for each area of the recording medium, the reliability of the recording data is determined by the error rate, the read / write margin and the like. Recording can be performed separately, and an area can be selected and recorded according to the reliability that requires the recording data. Therefore, for example, important data can be sorted in the same recording medium, such as a highly reliable area, and data that does not require reliability can be a normal reliable area. In addition, since it is only necessary to set some areas of the recording medium to have high reliability, it is possible to suppress a decrease in recording capacity as compared with a case where all areas are set to have high reliability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of an information recording system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing parameters according to a zone division state of a disk and reliability for each zone.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing when formatting a disk according to the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a change in the reliability of a zone during formatting.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an end process at the end of a format.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing at the time of data recording in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Disk 2 Spindle Motor (SPM) 3 Head 4 Actuator 5 Voice Coil Motor (VCM) 6 SPM / VCM Driver 7 Amplifier 8 Read / Write Circuit (R / W Circuit) 9 CPU 10 EEPROM 11 HDC 12 Host Computer

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A setting means for setting reliability in a plurality of stages for each divided area of an information recording medium, and a storage for storing information indicating a relationship between each area of the recording medium and the set reliability. Means, a means for referring to the storage means, and selecting a reliability area corresponding to the importance of the recording data among the recording areas of the recording medium, and recording for recording data in the area selected by the selection means And an information recording system. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit changes a recording density of a recording area when the recording medium is formatted.
The information recording system according to claim 1, wherein reliability is set in a plurality of stages. 3. The information according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets the reliability in a plurality of stages by changing an ECC length of a recording area when formatting the recording medium. Recording system. 4. The information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit arbitrarily sets a plurality of levels of reliability areas in the recording area of the recording medium. system. 5. The information according to claim 1, wherein the setting unit sets the higher the reliability of the recording area of the recording medium, the faster the search. Recording system. 6. The information recording system according to claim 1, wherein the divided area of the recording medium is a zone or an arbitrarily divided area. 7. An information recording system comprising: a host computer; and an information recording device connected to the host computer and recording data on the information recording medium under the control of the host computer. Setting means for setting reliability in a plurality of stages for each area; storage means for storing information indicating a relationship between each area of the recording medium and the set reliability; and Means for selecting a reliability area in accordance with the importance of the recording data among the recording areas of the medium, wherein the information recording apparatus sorts the data based on the result selected by the selecting means for each recording data. An information recording system characterized in that the information is recorded. 8. The setting means changes the recording density of a recording area when formatting the recording medium,
The information recording system according to claim 7, wherein reliability is set in a plurality of stages. 9. The information according to claim 7, wherein the setting unit sets the reliability in a plurality of stages by changing the length of an ECC of a recording area when formatting the recording medium. Recording system. 10. The information recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the setting unit arbitrarily sets a plurality of levels of reliability areas in a recording area of the recording medium. system. 11. The information according to claim 7, wherein the setting unit sets the higher the reliability of the recording area of the recording medium, the earlier the search. Recording system. 12. The information recording system according to claim 7, wherein the divided area of the recording medium is a zone or an arbitrarily divided area. 13. Information indicating a relationship between each area of the recording medium and the set reliability is stored in a predetermined recording area of the recording medium or a nonvolatile memory in the information recording apparatus, and the host computer 8. The information recording system according to claim 7, wherein information indicating a relationship between each area and the set reliability is read into the storage unit before information recording.