JP2005202942A - Information recording medium, data processor and data processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information recording medium effective for defragmentation of data, for example, a data processor and a data processing method that achieve data processing at high speed and prevention of shortening of the life of memory. <P>SOLUTION: The recording medium (100) comprises a logical-physical conversion table (140) for storing correspondence between a logical address and a physical address of each block of a memory area (130). The recording medium (100) further has a function of replacing the correspondence between the logical address and the physical address in the logical-physical conversion table (140) for a group of logical addresses upon receipt of a predetermined replacement command. The data processor (200) issues a replacement command to the recording medium (100) so that data are located at contiguous areas in a logical address space, thereby executing defragmentation on the logical address space. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recording medium for storing digital data, a data processing apparatus and a data processing method for performing movement processing of data stored in the information recording medium.

  In recent years, semiconductor memories such as an SD memory card (registered trademark), a memory stick (registered trademark), and a compact flash (registered trademark) have become widespread as recording media capable of reading and writing digital data.

  Data processing devices that process data using these semiconductor memories are diverse, including electrical appliances such as personal computers, audio equipment, video equipment, mobile phones, and digital cameras.

  In many cases, data stored in a semiconductor memory uses a file system to manage addresses, sizes, and the like in a file format. For example, in the case of an SD memory card (registered trademark), a FAT (file allocation table) file system is employed.

  In such a case, the management information of the FAT file system is fragmented by repeatedly writing and deleting files of different sizes to the semiconductor memory. That is, each file storing data and free space exists in a discrete state on the logical address space. Since management information becomes complicated due to fragmentation, problems such as an increase in overhead of reading a file and an increase in search time of a free area for writing a file occur. Furthermore, some semiconductor memories have data written at a certain size to speed up the writing process. However, when fragmentation occurs, it is not possible to secure the certain size of free space. This causes a problem that the writing process is slow.

  For example, complication of management information due to fragmentation causes a reduction in processing speed as follows. A data processing apparatus that writes and reads data to and from a semiconductor memory reads and uses information (for example, link information) related to the file system of the semiconductor memory on a RAM. Normally, the data processing apparatus does not load all file system information into the RAM due to the limitation of the RAM capacity, but partially loads the file system information onto the RAM for use. If the information necessary for data access does not exist on the RAM, the portion including the necessary information is loaded again. Therefore, if the degree of fragmentation is large in the logical address space, it is necessary to reload partial information of the file system to the RAM one after another when tracing the link information loaded on the RAM. Incurs a decline.

  Therefore, as a method of eliminating this fragmentation, there is a defragmentation process in which data is rearranged so that data is arranged in a continuous recording area (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Defragmentation is a process that rearranges the data and free space of each file that is discrete in the address space so as to become a continuous region, and generally requires time to perform data movement processing in the physical address space. It takes. Further, since the number of times of reading and writing is generally limited in the semiconductor memory, there is a problem that the data movement processing by the defragmentation process decreases the life of the semiconductor memory.

Therefore, a method for starting this defragmentation process at an appropriate timing (for example, see Patent Document 2), or a method for avoiding frequent defragmentation processing for a semiconductor memory (for example, see Patent Document 3). Has been proposed.
JP 2000-305818 A JP-A-8-339318 JP 2000-322307 A

  In the methods disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3 described above, when the defragmentation process is executed, the data is actually moved on the physical address space of the recording area of the semiconductor memory and the data rearrangement is performed. It takes a long time, and there is a problem that the life of the semiconductor memory is reduced.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize an information recording medium that realizes high-speed data processing and suppresses a decrease in memory life, and is effective in eliminating data fragmentation, for example. The present invention also provides a data processing apparatus and a data processing method for such an information recording medium.

  The information recording medium according to the present invention can be read and written by a data processing device. The information recording medium has a recording area for storing data, and communicates between a data storage unit that stores a logical-physical conversion table that stores a correspondence relationship between a physical address and a logical address of the recording area, and a data processing apparatus. A host interface unit to perform, and a control unit to control the data storage unit and the host interface unit. When the control unit receives a predetermined replacement command from the data processing device via the host interface unit, the control unit replaces the physical address for the logical address in the logical-physical conversion table between the plurality of logical addresses specified by the replacement command. .

  A data processing apparatus according to the present invention reads and writes data on the information recording medium. The data processing apparatus includes a slot into which an information recording medium is mounted, an input / output processing unit that inputs / outputs data to / from the information recording medium mounted in the slot, and processing of data that is input to and output from the recording medium through the input / output processing unit And a data processing unit that performs predetermined control. The data processing unit has a function of issuing a replacement command to the recording medium.

  A data processing method according to the present invention has a recording area for storing data, and is stored in an information recording medium for storing a logical-physical conversion table for storing a correspondence relationship between a physical address and a logical address of the recording area. It is a method for moving data. In the data processing method, the physical address corresponding to the logical address in the logical-physical conversion table is replaced between the areas before and after the movement without rewriting the data on the recording area of the information recording medium.

  In the above data processing method, a destination list that is a list of destinations of data determined to be stored in a continuous area in the recording area of the information recording medium is further created, In order to eliminate data fragmentation, the area before and after the movement is determined based on the movement destination list, and the physical address corresponding to the logical address on the logical-physical conversion table is replaced with the area before and after the movement. You may do it.

  According to the present invention, in the data movement process in the information recording medium, the data movement is performed only on the logical-physical conversion table without performing the rewriting process on the data recording area. It becomes possible. In addition, since the data is not rewritten on the recording area, it is possible to suppress a decrease in the memory life. In particular, by applying the present invention when executing data fragmentation elimination processing (defragmentation processing), it is possible to perform defragmentation processing at high speed while suppressing a decrease in memory life.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, an information recording system will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information recording system. As shown in the figure, the information recording system comprises an information recording medium (hereinafter simply referred to as “recording medium”) 100 for storing data, and a data processing device 200 for writing and reading data on the recording medium 100. Is done. First, details of the recording medium 100 will be described.

1. Information recording medium (configuration of information recording medium)
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording medium 100 includes a host interface unit 110, a control unit 120, and a data storage unit 150.

  The host interface unit 110 exchanges information with the data processing apparatus 200 which is a host device that performs reading, writing, and other control of data with respect to the recording medium 100.

  The control unit 120 controls the operation of the recording medium 100 and controls the host interface unit 110 and the data storage unit 150.

  The data storage unit 150 includes a recording area 130 and a logical / physical conversion table 140. The recording area 130 is an area where digital data can be stored and digital data can be read and written from the data processing device 200. The recording area 130 is composed of a flash memory, and the unit of writing is called a “block”. The recording area 130 includes a plurality of blocks (blocks # 0 to #N). Each block is assigned a physical address which is an address indicating a physical position.

  The logical-physical conversion table 140 is a table for converting the logical address and physical address of each block in the recording area 130. Here, the “logical address” is an address that is recognized by the data processing apparatus 200 that is a host device, and is an address that is used when designating a block from which data is read or written. Although logical addresses may be assigned to all blocks, in this embodiment, it is assumed that logical addresses are not assigned to some blocks. From the data processing apparatus 200, a block to which no logical address is assigned cannot be specified. The “physical address” is an address of the recording area 130 recognized by the control unit 120 of the recording medium 100. The control unit 120 specifies an access area in the actual recording area 130 using the physical address. The physical address is assigned to all blocks in the recording area 130.

  In the present embodiment, a FAT file system is used as a file system in order to manage the size and address of data stored in an area to which a logical address is assigned on the recording medium 100.

  When a logical address is specified from the data processing device 200, the control unit 120 of the recording medium 100 refers to the logical-physical conversion table 140 to obtain a physical address from the logical address, thereby determining a block to be accessed in the recording area 130. decide.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data structure and a data example of the logical / physical conversion table 140. The logical-physical conversion table 140 manages the correspondence between logical addresses and physical addresses for each block. In the example of FIG. 2, the logical address L0 corresponds to the physical address P972, the logical address L1 corresponds to the physical address P424, and the logical address L2 corresponds to the physical address P100.

  Further, for the blocks that physically exist but are not assigned logical addresses, the values of S0, S1, and S2 are assigned to the respective physical addresses (P507, P130, P881,...). .

  Next, the operation of each part of the recording medium 100 will be described.

(Data read processing)
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence when the recording medium 100 receives a Read command that is a data read request from the data processing device 200.

  When receiving the Read command from the data processing device 200, the host interface unit 110 notifies the control unit 120 (S301). Here, it is assumed that the Read command stores at least a logical address and a size to be read.

  Note that the control unit 120 may notify the data processing device 200 via the host interface unit 110 that the Read command has been received.

  The control unit 120 refers to the logical-physical conversion table 140 and obtains a physical address corresponding to the logical address specified in the Read command received in step S301 (S302).

  The control unit 120 reads data at the obtained physical address (S303). The read data is transmitted to the data processing device 200 via the host interface unit 110 (S304).

  It is determined whether or not transmission of data for the size specified in the Read command received in step S301 has been completed to the data processing device 200 (S305). If the transmission is complete, the process ends. If the transmitted data is less than the specified size, 1 is added to the current logical address and the process proceeds to step S302 in order to read the data stored in the next block.

(Data writing process)
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence when the recording medium 100 receives a Write command that is a data write request from the data processing device 200.

  When receiving the Write command from the data processing device 200, the host interface unit 110 notifies the control unit 120 (S401). Here, it is assumed that at least a logical address and a size for writing are stored in the Write command.

  Note that the control unit 120 may notify the data processing device 200 via the host interface unit 110 that the Write command has been received.

  The control unit 120 refers to the logical-physical conversion table 140 and obtains a physical address corresponding to the logical address specified in the Write command received in step S401 (S402).

  The control unit 120 performs a preparation process for writing (S403). Here, the write preparation process is, for example, the following process. The flash memory constituting the recording area 130 of the present embodiment needs to be erased before writing. For this reason, the erasing process of the data stored in the physical address calculated in step S402 is performed as a preparation process for writing.

  Alternatively, preparation may be performed by the following method in order not to concentrate writing to the same block in the flash memory. That is, in the logical-physical conversion table 140 of FIG. 2, an erasure process is performed on one of the blocks to which logical addresses such as S0, S1, S2,... Are not allocated (this is referred to as “block X”). If not, the erasure process is performed. Thereafter, the logical-physical conversion table 140 is rewritten to replace the erased block X with the block obtained in step S402. As a result, a block in which data has been written until now becomes a block to which no logical address is assigned, and conversely, since a logical address is assigned to block X and becomes a block to be written, a concentrated block for a specific block can be obtained. Writing can be avoided.

  After the preparation process, the control unit 120 receives data to be written from the data processing device 200 via the host interface unit 110 (S404). When the size of the data specified by the received Write command is larger than the size that can be received at once by the recording medium 100, the data divided into an appropriate size is received in multiple times. . In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the size that can be received at one time is data for one block.

  The control unit 120 may notify the data processing device 200 via the host interface unit 110 that the data for writing has been received.

  The control unit 120 writes the write data received in step S404 to the block prepared for writing in step S403 (S405).

  It is determined whether or not all data of the size specified in the received Write command has been received from the data processing device 200 (S406). If the reception is completed, the process ends. If the size of the data that has been written is less than the size specified by the Write command, 1 is added to the current logical address to return to the next block in order to write more data to the next block, and the above processing is performed. (S402 to S405) are repeated.

(Address replacement process)
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an operation sequence when the recording medium 100 receives a logical address replacement command according to the present invention from the data processing device 200. The replacement command is a command for instructing replacement of a physical address for a logical address on the logical-physical conversion table 140 between logical addresses specified by the command.

  When receiving the replacement command from the data processing device 200, the host interface unit 110 notifies the control unit 120 (S501). In the replacement command, at least one set of logical addresses to be replaced is designated.

  The control unit 120 may notify the data processing apparatus 200 via the host interface unit 110 that the replacement command has been received.

  The control unit 120 refers to the logical-physical conversion table 140 and acquires each physical address for each address of the logical address set to be replaced (S502). Then, in the logical-physical conversion table 140, the values of the physical addresses of each other are replaced (S503). At this time, only replacement of the physical address on the logical-physical conversion table 140 is performed, data is read from a data area 310 shown in FIG. 7 described later, and data is not rewritten to a different address in the data area 310.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of data in the logical-physical conversion table 140 before and after the replacement process by the replacement command. When the logical address L3 and the logical address L6 are replaced with the logical-physical conversion table 140 shown in FIG. 6A, the physical address values for those logical addresses are replaced as shown in FIG. 6B. The

  Returning to FIG. 5, when a plurality of logical address pairs are specified in the received replacement command, the processes in steps S502 and S503 are repeated until replacement is completed for all logical address pairs (S504). .

  As described above, in this embodiment, each block in the recording area 130 to which a logical address is assigned by the logical-physical conversion table 140 is replaced with a logical address from the data processing device 200 in addition to data reading and data writing. Is possible. In particular, when receiving a replacement command, the recording medium 100 replaces the data of each block to which a logical address is allocated, instead of rewriting the actual data, instead of using the address information on the logical-physical conversion table 140. Realized only by replacement. As described above, since rewriting of data in the data area 310 is not required, high-speed processing can be realized and a reduction in memory life can be suppressed.

(FAT file system)
As described above, in this embodiment, the FAT file system is used to manage the size and address of data stored in the area to which the logical address on the recording medium 100 is assigned. The outline of the FAT file system will be described below.

  FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the FAT file system. In the FAT file system, the management information area 300 exists at the head of the logical address in the area to which the logical address is allocated in the recording area 130, and subsequently the data area 310 for storing data in the file and the like exists.

  The management information area 300 includes a master boot record / partition table that stores information for dividing and managing the information recording area into areas called partitions, a partition boot sector that stores management information in one partition, and a file 1 includes a FAT table 1 and a FAT table 2 indicating physical storage positions of data included in the file, files existing immediately under the root directory, and a root directory entry for storing directory information. Here, two FAT tables exist because important information is stored and the same information is duplicated.

  The data area 310 is divided into a plurality of logical blocks called “clusters” and managed, and each cluster stores data included in a file. A file or the like for storing large data uses a plurality of clusters, and the connection between the clusters is managed by link information stored in the FAT table 1 and the FAT table 2.

  A more specific example of storing file data by the FAT file system will be described with reference to FIG.

  A directory entry 401 for storing a file name, a file size, and the like as shown in FIG. 8A is stored in the root directory entry of the management information area 300 and a part of the data area 310. The data area 310 that is the file data storage destination is managed in cluster units, and each cluster is assigned a uniquely identifiable cluster number. In order to identify the cluster in which the file data is stored, the directory entry 401 stores the cluster number (starting cluster number) of the cluster that stores the head portion of the file data. The example of the directory entry 401 in FIG. 8A indicates that data is stored from the cluster number 31 for a file having the name “FILE001.TXT”.

  In the case of a file in which data is stored in a plurality of clusters, link information is stored in the FAT table. FIG. 8B shows an example of the FAT table. The FAT table 402 stores a FAT entry indicating link information of each cluster. The FAT entry stores the cluster number of the next linked cluster. In the example of FIG. 8B, since “32” is stored as the FAT entry corresponding to the cluster number “31”, the cluster with the cluster number “31” is linked to the cluster with the cluster number “32”. Will be. Similarly, “34” is stored in the FAT entry corresponding to the cluster number “32”, “35” is stored in the FAT entry corresponding to the cluster number “34”, and the cluster numbers “31”, “32”, “ 34 "and" 35 "are linked in this order. The FAT entry corresponding to the cluster number “35” stores “FFF” indicating the end of the link. Therefore, the link starting from the cluster number “31” terminates in four clusters “31”, “32”, “34”, and “35”. Therefore, data having a file name “FILE001.TXT” is stored in order in clusters # 31, # 32, # 34, and # 35 in the data area 310 as shown in FIG. 8C. Note that “0” stored in the FAT entry corresponding to the cluster number “33” means that the cluster is not allocated to a file and is a free area.

  By repeatedly writing and erasing files of different sizes, the link information of the FAT entry becomes complicated. That is, the individual file data is stored in a discrete state in the data area 310. Similarly, empty areas that are unused areas exist in a discrete state. This is called “fragmentation” of data.

  In order to simplify the following description, in the present embodiment, it is assumed that the clusters correspond one-to-one with the blocks in the recording area 130, and the boundaries between the clusters coincide with the boundaries between the blocks. To do.

2. Data Processing Device Next, details of the data processing device 200 that accesses the recording medium 100 will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the data processing device 200.

  The data processing device 200 includes a slot 210, an input / output processing unit 220, a data processing unit 230, a user input processing unit 240, and a display processing unit 250.

  The slot 210 is hardware for mounting the recording medium 100.

  The input / output processing unit 220 delivers information such as commands and data to the recording medium 100 mounted in the slot 210. The input / output processing unit 220 includes means for issuing a logical address replacement command to the recording medium 100.

  The data processing unit 230 processes data stored in the recording medium 100 or data to be stored in the future, and performs central processing of the data processing apparatus 200. For example, if the data stored in the recording medium 100 is audio data or video data, the data processing unit 230 reads the data via the input / output processing unit 220 and performs a reproduction process. The data processing unit 230 writes the recorded / edited data to the recording medium 100 via the input / output processing unit 220. The data processing unit 230 implements the functions described below by executing a predetermined program.

  In the present embodiment, the data processing unit 230 has a function of eliminating (defragmenting) fragmentation of data stored in the recording medium 100. That is, the data processing unit 230 includes means for data rearrangement processing for making the file data discretely stored in the data area 310 of the recording medium 100 continuous.

  The data processing unit 230 includes a memory (not shown) that is a temporary storage area used during data processing, and can store data read from the recording medium 100.

  The user input processing unit 240 receives input from the user. The display processing unit 250 notifies the user of the processing result of the data processing unit 230 and the progress status of each processing. In FIG. 9, the user input processing unit 240 and the display processing unit 250 shown by broken lines indicate that these components are not essential.

3. Operation of Entire System Hereinafter, the operation of each part constituting the recording medium 100 and the data processing device 200 will be described with reference to the drawings.

(Defrag processing)
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation sequence of processing (hereinafter referred to as “defragment processing”) for the data processing apparatus 200 to eliminate fragmentation of data stored in the recording medium 100.

  The data processing unit 230 of the data processing device 200 reads and analyzes the FAT table, each directory entry, and the like from the recording medium 100 mounted in the slot 210 via the input / output processing unit 220, and stores them in the data area 310. The cluster information used by each file being collected is collected (S1001).

  The data processing unit 230 determines the destination of the data stored in each cluster based on the cluster information used by each collected file (S1002). In this embodiment, the migration destination is determined so that all files and free areas are stored in a continuous cluster. The destination can be determined by a known method.

  In the determination of the migration destination in step S1002, the data processing unit 230 generates a migration destination list 500 storing information on the migration destination of the data of each cluster on the internal memory of the data processing unit 230. FIG. 11 shows a data example of the movement destination list 500. In the example of FIG. 11, the data stored in the cluster with the current cluster number “1” is stored in the cluster with the cluster number “32” after the movement, and the data of the cluster with the current cluster number “2” is after the movement. This indicates that the data is to be stored in the cluster with the cluster number “3”.

  Based on the destination list 500, the data of each cluster is moved (S1003). In the present embodiment, clusters are sequentially determined from the cluster number “1”, and data is moved to the determined clusters. This process is realized by exchanging data between clusters on the logical address space. For example, when data is moved based on the movement destination list 500 in FIG. 11, first, a cluster number whose movement destination cluster number is “1” is searched. The cluster number whose destination cluster number is “1” is “4”. Therefore, the cluster with the cluster number “1” and the cluster with the cluster number “4” are determined as replacement targets. The data processing unit 230 issues a replacement command to the recording medium 100 by designating a logical address corresponding to the cluster number “1” and the cluster number “4”. Details of this movement process will be described later. Thereafter, the migration destination cluster number is sequentially incremented, and data migration processing is performed.

  As a result of moving the cluster data in step S1003, when the information in the FAT table or directory entry is changed, the data processing unit 230 updates these values stored in the recording medium 100 (S1004). At that time, the movement result is also reflected in the movement destination list 500. FIG. 12 is a diagram reflecting a result of completion of replacement of data of cluster number “1” and data of cluster number “4” in the movement destination list 500 of FIG. Due to the movement, the data of the cluster number “4” becomes the data stored in the cluster of the cluster number “1” before the movement, and the movement destination cluster number is “32”.

  The migration destination list 500 is referred to and it is determined whether or not data migration has been performed for all clusters (S1005). If the migration process is completed, the process ends. If there is still data to be moved, the process returns to step S1003 to perform the data movement process for the next cluster.

  As described above, when the migration process is performed with reference to the migration destination list 500, all files and free areas are finally rearranged in the continuous cluster on the FAT table of the recording medium. Will be.

(Cluster data move processing)
Next, cluster data movement processing in step S1003 of FIG. 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Hereinafter, a case where data is exchanged between the cluster A and the cluster B as the movement process will be described.

  Prior to the description of the data movement process of the present embodiment, a conventional data exchange process will be described with reference to FIG. In the conventional method, first, data of cluster A (data A) is read from the recording area of the recording medium and saved in the memory (S1301). Next, the data of cluster B (data B) is read and saved in the memory (S1302). The logical address designated for the recording medium when reading the data of cluster A and cluster B is calculated from the information in the management information area. Thereafter, the saved data B of cluster B is written at the position of cluster A (S1303), and the saved data A of cluster A is written at the position of cluster B (S1304).

  As described above, in the conventional data replacement process, the data processing apparatus reads the data of two clusters that are the targets of the replacement process, and then writes the data to each cluster. On the other hand, in the data movement (replacement) process according to this embodiment described later, data replacement is realized simply by issuing a logical address replacement command. The replacement command only updates the logical-physical conversion table 140 of the recording medium 100, and does not perform data write processing to the data area. The details of the data replacement process (step S1003) according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

  In FIG. 13B, the data processing unit 230 calculates the logical addresses of the cluster A and cluster B to be replaced from the information in the management information area 300 (S1310).

  Next, the data processing unit 230 issues a replacement command for switching the logical address of the cluster A and the logical address of the cluster B to the recording medium 100 mounted in the slot 210 via the input / output processing unit 220 (S1311). . When the recording medium 100 receives the replacement command from the data processing device 200, the recording medium 100 executes the processing shown in FIG. 5, and the correspondence between the physical addresses and logical addresses corresponding to the clusters A and B on the logical-physical conversion table 140 Is replaced.

  As described above, the data processing apparatus 200 according to the present invention uses the replacement command for instructing replacement of the correspondence relationship between the logical address and the physical address when moving the data stored in the recording medium 100 in the defragmentation process. As a result, the data can be rearranged without writing the data in the recording area 130, so that the defragmentation process can be performed at high speed and the lifetime of the flash memory is suppressed, which is very effective. In addition, since the defragmentation processing according to the present embodiment is continuously linked on the FAT, the number of times of reloading is reduced when the FAT information is read out and used on the RAM of the data processing device 200.

(Specific example of defragmentation)
A state of movement of the cluster by the above defragmentation process will be described with a specific example. In the following description, the cluster having the cluster number “m” is represented as “cluster #m”. Consider a case where the data storage state in the recording medium 100 is as shown in FIG. 14A shows the contents of the directory entry 401, FIG. 14B shows the contents of the FAT table 402, and FIG. 14C shows the link state between clusters in the data area 310.

  As shown in FIG. 14A, the recording medium 100 stores two files “FILE100.TXT” and “FILE200.TXT”. “FILE100.TXT” is linked with cluster # 41 → cluster # 45 → cluster # 203 → cluster # 42, and “FILE200.TXT” is linked with cluster # 43 → cluster # 205 (FIG. 14B). ) And (c)).

  FIG. 15A shows an example of the destination list 500 generated for the defragmentation process in the case shown in FIG. FIG. 15B shows the logical-physical conversion table 140 of the recording medium 100 in the state shown in FIG.

  In the data storage state shown in FIG. 14, data migration processing to cluster # 42 by defragmentation processing will be described. The data processing device 200 refers to the movement destination list 500 and searches for a cluster number whose movement destination cluster number is “42”. From FIG. 15A, since the cluster number whose destination cluster number is “42” is “45”, it can be seen that the cluster replaced with cluster # 42 is cluster # 45. The data processing device 200 issues a replacement command for replacing the cluster # 42 and the cluster # 45 to the recording medium 100. At this time, the logical addresses of cluster # 42 and cluster # 45 are designated as logical addresses in the replacement command. As a result, as shown in FIG. 17B, for cluster # 42 and cluster # 45, the physical addresses for the logical addresses corresponding to the respective clusters are replaced. Also, as shown in FIG. 17A, the destination cluster number in the destination list 500 is replaced between the cluster # 42 and the cluster # 45.

  As described above, the correspondence between logical addresses and physical addresses is replaced, so that the link state between clusters in the logical address space, that is, the data storage state changes. The data storage state after the change is shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 16B, FAT entries (“203” and “FFF”) for cluster # 42 and cluster # 45 are replaced in the FAT table 402. At the same time, the contents of the FAT entries of the cluster # 41 and the cluster # 203 linked to the cluster # 42 and the cluster # 45 to be replaced are also changed. That is, the FAT entries of the cluster # 41 and the cluster # 203 are changed from “45” and “42” to “42” and “45”, respectively. That is, in this case, four FAT entries are changed in the FAT table 402.

  By referring to the movement destination list 500 and performing data movement (rearrangement) by replacement between clusters for all clusters as described above, the data storage state that is continuously linked as shown in FIG. 18 is finally obtained. can get. That is, by the data movement, as shown in FIGS. 18B and 18C, “FILE100.TXT” is linked with cluster # 41 → cluster # 42 → cluster # 43 → cluster # 44, and “FILE200.TXT” is linked. "Is linked to cluster # 45 → cluster # 46. In this way, each file is managed in a continuous area on the FAT by the defragmentation process. Since the first cluster of “FILE200.TXT” is cluster # 45, the value of the starting cluster number of the directory entry 401 is also changed from “43” to “45”. FIGS. 19A and 19B are diagrams showing the states of the destination list 500 and the logical-physical conversion table 140 after the defragmentation processing, respectively.

  In the defragmentation process in the above example, regarding “FILE200.TXT”, the directory entry 401 is finally rewritten. Next, the data is rearranged so that the directory entry 401 is not rewritten. explain. In this case, the cluster including the top data of the file is not moved in the data rearrangement.

  For the data storage state of FIG. 14, the destination list 500 at this time is as shown in FIG. 20A. That is, the cluster number and the migration destination cluster number are the same for the cluster including the head data of the file, that is, cluster # 41 and cluster # 43. FIG. 20B shows the logical-physical conversion table 140 at this time.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a data storage state after the defragmentation process is executed according to the movement destination list 500 shown in FIG. 20A. 22A and 22B are a destination list 500 and a logical-physical conversion table 140 for the data storage state of FIG. In the case of the figure, the cluster # 43 including the head data of “FILE200.TXT” is not moved, and the cluster is continuously linked on the FAT except for this portion.

4). Although the idea of the present invention has been described based on the above embodiment, it is needless to say that the idea of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The following cases are also included in the present invention.

  (1) In the present embodiment, the logical address and size to be read in the Read command are stored, but the size may not be specified in the Read command. In this case, the data processing apparatus 200 instructs to stop reading after reading data of a necessary size. That is, the data may be continuously read from the recording medium 100 until the data processing device 200 instructs to stop reading. Furthermore, the read size may be a fixed size, or another method may be used. The same applies to the Write command.

  (2) Further, it has been explained that the logical-physical conversion table 140 may be updated when preparing for writing in the process of step S403 in FIG. 4, but the logical-physical conversion table 140 is updated in step S405. It may be performed after the data writing process is completed. At this time, even if an error occurs during the writing process and the process is interrupted, it is possible to leave the previous data as much as possible.

  It is important that the recording medium according to the present invention includes a logical address replacement means regardless of the read / write sequence.

  (3) In the present embodiment, a process for eliminating fragmentation of data stored in the recording medium 100 has been described. The idea of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to the case where data stored in the recording medium 100 is moved to another address in the recording medium 100. This is particularly effective when moving data that is an integral multiple of a block within the recording area 130.

  (4) In the defragmentation process shown in FIG. 10, the data is rearranged so that all files and free areas are stored in a continuous cluster. You may make it store in.

  For example, streaming data such as audio data and video data can easily determine the position of the next reproduction data at the time of reproduction by storing the data in an area where logical addresses are continuous. As a result, processing in the data processing apparatus is reduced, and power consumption can be suppressed. Therefore, fragmentation may be eliminated only for streaming data such as audio data and video data.

  In addition, in a data processing apparatus that records streaming data, a process for eliminating fragmentation of streaming data may be automatically performed after the recording of streaming data is completed.

  Alternatively, fragmentation of free areas may be eliminated using a logical address replacement command before recording streaming data. Thereby, it is possible to simplify the process of searching for the logical address of the free area during recording of streaming data. At this time, it is more effective if the streaming data to be recorded is also a continuous area.

  (5) Also, in the defragmentation process shown in FIG. 10, a process for rearranging data so that all files and free areas are stored in a continuous cluster has been described. An erase process for performing complete erasure may be performed.

  If there are many blocks on which erase processing has been performed, it is not necessary to perform erase processing again as preparation before writing, and therefore it is expected that the writing processing will be accelerated.

  Further, when the free area is fragmented, the logical address of the free area where the erase process is executed is designated for each free area, and the processing becomes complicated. There is an advantage that the start address and end address of the erase process can be easily specified after the empty areas are made continuous.

  (6) In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the recording medium 100 is a semiconductor memory and the recording area 130 is configured by a flash memory, but has functions equivalent to those of the control unit 120 and the logical-physical conversion table 140. If so, the idea of the present invention can be applied to other types of recording media. For example, the recording medium 100 may be a hard disk (HDD).

  (7) In the present embodiment, the cluster that is the management unit on the FAT and the block that is the management unit on the logical-physical conversion table 140 correspond to each other on a one-to-one basis. The present invention is effective even if a plurality of blocks correspond to one cluster.

  In the present embodiment, the area to which the logical address is assigned is managed by the FAT file system among the blocks of the recording area 130 of the recording medium. However, other file systems such as NTFS and UDF are used. Alternatively, recording addresses may be managed without using a file system.

  Since the replacement of the logical block can be executed by the replacement command in the present invention if the boundary of the managed block coincides with the boundary of the logical block such as a cluster, the present invention is effective. .

  (8) In this embodiment, the physical address and the logical address are described as being assigned to each block. However, even if a plurality of continuous physical addresses and logical addresses are assigned to one block, The present invention is effective. FIG. 23 shows a data structure and a data example of the logical-physical conversion table 140 when 16 physical addresses and logical addresses continuous are allocated to one block. At this time, the unit for replacing the logical address is 16 consecutive logical addresses. That is, the replacement unit is a block unit of the recording area 130.

  (9) In the present embodiment, the FAT information such as the FAT table and directory entry in the recording medium 100 is updated every time the cluster data replacement process is performed in the defragmentation process of FIG. In order to reduce the number of times of data writing, the writing of FAT information to the management information area 300 in the recording medium 100 may be performed collectively after the data replacement processing of all the clusters is completed.

  (10) Although the writing unit of the recording medium is defined as one block in the present embodiment, an integral multiple of the writing unit may be defined as one block.

  (11) In the present embodiment, the recording medium 100 has a function capable of processing a command for replacing two logical addresses, but can process a command for replacing three or more logical addresses together. It may have a function.

  FIG. 24 is a diagram for explaining replacement processing by a command instructing replacement of three logical addresses. When data is rearranged from the state of FIG. 24A to the state of FIG. 24C, the command for replacing two logical addresses is used to replace the data at the logical addresses L0 and L1. After changing to the state of 15 (b), it is necessary to further rearrange the data of the logical addresses L1 and L2 and rearrange them to the state of FIG. 15 (c). At this time, the recording medium 100 executes a plurality of commands including a command for replacing the logical address L0 and the logical address L1, and a command for replacing the logical address L1 and the logical address L2.

  On the other hand, according to the command for instructing replacement of three logical addresses (here, L0, L1, and L2), the data of the logical address L0 is stored in the logical address L2 and the logical address L1 in one command execution. Data can be moved to logical address L0 and data at logical address L2 can be moved to logical address L1 simultaneously.

  (12) In the present embodiment, after all the migration destinations of the data stored in each cluster are determined in the defragmentation process of FIG. 10, that is, after the creation of the migration destination list 500 for all clusters, the data migration process However, the data movement process may be started when the movement destination of some data is determined.

  Moreover, although the method of rearranging all the data by repeating the data exchange process between two clusters in the data movement process of step S1003 has been described, two or more data may be exchanged at the same time.

  (13) In the present embodiment, the recording medium 100 includes one recording area 130. However, the recording medium 100 may include a plurality of recording areas and a logical-physical conversion table corresponding to each recording area. At this time, it is assumed that at least replacement within the same recording area is possible.

  For example, in the case of a recording medium such as an SD memory card, there are a normal area that is a recording area that a user can freely access, and an authentication area that is a recording area that can be accessed only when a specific authentication process is successful. At this time, the recording medium may include two logical-physical conversion tables for the normal area and the authentication area, and may further include a replacement command for exchanging data in each recording area.

  (14) In the present embodiment, the data processing apparatus 200 has been described as knowing in advance the size of each block to be replaced by the replacement command of the recording medium 100. However, the recording medium 100 determines the size of each block as data. A notification command for notifying the processing device 200 may be provided. The data processing apparatus 200 can acquire the size of each block from the recording medium 100 using the notification command.

  The present invention enables high-speed data movement processing in an information recording medium. Therefore, this is effective for an application (for example, defragmentation processing) in which data movement is frequently performed on the information recording medium. In addition, the present invention is effective for an information recording medium including a semiconductor memory with a limited number of accesses because data is not rewritten on a recording area in accordance with data movement processing.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an information recording system according to the present invention. It is the figure which showed the data structure and example of data of the logical-physical conversion table in a recording medium. It is the flowchart which showed the example of an operation | movement sequence at the time of Read command reception of a recording medium. It is the flowchart which showed the example of an operation | movement sequence at the time of Write command reception of a recording medium. It is the flowchart which showed the example of an operation sequence at the time of receiving the replacement command of a recording medium. It is the figure which showed the example of data of the logical-physical conversion table before and after substitution processing. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the FAT file system. It is the figure which showed the specific example of storage of the file data in a FAT file system. It is the block diagram which showed the structural example of the data processor in the information recording system of this invention. It is the flowchart which showed the example of an operation | movement sequence of the defragmentation process (process for eliminating the fragmentation of the data stored in the recording medium) by a data processor. It is the figure which showed the data structure and data example of the movement destination list. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure and data after completion of movement to cluster # 1 in the movement destination list of FIG. 11. (A) A flowchart showing an example of an operation sequence of data movement processing of a cluster stored in a recording medium by a data processing apparatus in the prior art, and (b) a flowchart showing an example of an operation sequence of data movement processing according to the present invention. It is. It is the figure which showed the example of storage of the file data in a FAT file system. It is the figure which showed the example of the movement destination list | wrist in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of the logical-physical conversion table in the example shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of storing file data after replacement of cluster # 42 and cluster # 45 in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of the movement destination list | wrist in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of the logical-physical conversion table in the example shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of storing file data after completion of the defragmentation process in the example shown in FIG. 14. It is the figure which showed the example of the movement destination list | wrist in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of the logical-physical conversion table in the example shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 14, it is the figure which showed the example of the movement destination list | wrist for performing a defragmentation process so that a file head data may not be moved. It is the figure which showed the example of the logical-physical conversion table in the example shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a storage example of file data after performing a defragmentation process so as not to move file head data in the example illustrated in FIG. 14. It is the figure which showed the example of the movement destination list | wrist in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the example of the logical-physical conversion table in the example shown in FIG. It is the figure which showed the data structure and data example of a logical-physical conversion table when 16 continuous physical addresses and logical addresses are allocated to one block. It is a figure for demonstrating the command which instruct | indicates substitution of three logical addresses at once.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Recording medium 110 Host interface part 120 Control part 130 Recording area 140 Logical-physical conversion table 150 Data storage part 200 Data processing apparatus (host)
210 slot 220 I / O processing unit 230 data processing unit 240 user input processing unit 250 display processing unit 300 management information area 310 data area 401 directory entry 402 FAT table 500 destination list

Claims (14)

An information recording medium from which data can be read and written by a data processing device,
A data storage unit that stores a logical-physical conversion table that has a recording area for storing data and stores a correspondence between a physical address and a logical address of the recording area;
A host interface unit for communicating with the data processing device;
A control unit that controls the data storage unit and the host interface unit,
When the control unit receives a predetermined replacement command from the data processing device via the host interface unit, the control unit applies a logical address in the logical-physical conversion table between a plurality of logical addresses specified by the replacement command. An information recording medium that replaces physical addresses.   The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the replacement command specifies two logical addresses.   The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the recording area is managed in cluster units by a file system, and a boundary of the cluster coincides with a boundary of a data management unit on the logical-physical conversion table.   The recording area is divided into a plurality of areas, each having a logical-physical conversion table for each of the plurality of divided areas, and a logical command between a plurality of logical addresses in the same logical-physical conversion table by the replacement command. The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein a correspondence relationship between an address and a physical address is replaceable.   The information recording medium according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of divided areas include an area that the user can freely access and an area that the user can access only when a specific authentication process is successful.   The information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the control unit notifies the data processing device of a size of a recording area to be replaced when a predetermined notification command is received via the host interface unit. A data processing apparatus for reading and writing data on the information recording medium according to claim 1,
A slot for mounting the information recording medium;
An input / output processing unit for inputting / outputting data to / from the information recording medium mounted in the slot;
A data processing unit that performs predetermined control including processing of data input to and output from the recording medium through the input / output processing unit,
The data processing unit has a function of issuing the replacement command to the recording medium;
Data processing device.   The data processing unit manages the recording area of the recording medium in units of clusters by a file system, and performs input / output processing so that the boundaries of the clusters coincide with the boundaries of the data management units on the logical-physical conversion table The data processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein: This is a method for moving data stored in an information recording medium having a recording area for storing data and storing a logical-physical conversion table for storing the correspondence between the physical address and logical address of the recording area. And
A data processing method for replacing a physical address for a logical address in the logical-physical conversion table between areas before and after movement without rewriting data on a recording area of the information recording medium. Creating a destination list that is a list of destinations of data determined to be stored in a continuous area in the recording area of the information recording medium;
In order to eliminate fragmentation of data in the information recording medium, determine the area before and after the movement based on the movement destination list,
The data processing method according to claim 9, wherein a physical address corresponding to a logical address on the logical-physical conversion table is replaced with the determined area before and after movement.   The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein physical erasure of data is performed on a logical empty area that occurs after data fragmentation is resolved.   When streaming data is stored in the recording area of the recording medium, the logical address of the area where the streaming data is stored is replaced on the logical-physical conversion table, and the streaming data is stored The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein the data is made continuous in a logical address space.   The data processing method according to claim 12, wherein the streaming data includes audio data and / or video data. Immediately after the audio data and / or video data is recorded in the recording area of the information recording medium, the logical-physical conversion table is replaced, and the audio data and / or video data is recorded in a logically continuous area. The data processing method according to claim 10, wherein:

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