JP2007018463A - File-storing method relating to storage medium detachable from cellular telephone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for enabling a file stored in a flash memory to be easily accessed, even when using cellular telephones each using a different carrier. <P>SOLUTION: A folder for storing original files 101 to 103, and unique folders for a carrier A and a carrier B are created, in the flash memory. Alias files 101A to 103A, 101B to 103B, having link information to the original files 101 to 103, are recorded in the unique folders. The alias files are displayed in a default folder, by mounting the flash memory to the cellular telephones using each carrier, and the original files are accessed by operating the alias files by a user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a file storage technique for a storage medium such as a flash memory mounted on a mobile phone.

  A recent mobile phone can detach a storage medium such as a mini SD card, and can store an image or a sound file in the mini SD card and carry it. In addition, it is possible to store an image or moving image file taken by a camera included in the mobile phone, or an image, moving image, or audio file downloaded from the Internet in a storage medium.

  In general, each mobile phone carrier creates a unique folder in a storage medium when storing an image, a moving image, and an audio file, and stores the file in the folder. For example, a certain carrier X creates a folder “image” as a folder for storing image files, and another carrier Y creates a folder “picture” as a folder for storing image files. For this reason, when a user who uses a mobile phone supplied from the carrier X tries to refer to an image by performing a menu operation, the “image” folder is referred to as a default folder, and other folders are not referred to. Conversely, when a user who uses a mobile phone supplied from the carrier Y tries to refer to an image by performing a menu operation, the “picture” folder is referred to, and the other folders are not referred to.

  As described above, each carrier of a mobile phone creates a unique folder when storing each file. For this reason, even if an image file is stored in a storage medium using a mobile phone of carrier X, there is a problem that it cannot be referred to by a mobile phone of carrier Y. Of course, it is possible to refer to it by operating the folder structure using a personal computer etc., but you can easily exchange memory cards between mobile phones with different carriers and view images or watch audio. You ca n’t.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a technique that allows a user to easily access a file recorded on a memory card regardless of whether the memory card is mounted on a mobile phone of any carrier. .

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is a method of storing a file in a storage medium detachable from a mobile phone, and is referred to in a mobile phone supplied by a plurality of mobile phone carriers. Storing a content file desired to be enabled in a predetermined folder of the storage medium; creating a unique folder respectively defined in the storage medium when storing the content file in the plurality of mobile phone carriers; Storing a link file to the content file stored in the predetermined folder in the unique folder that is referred to when a mobile phone supplied from the plurality of mobile phone carriers accesses the content file. And.

  The invention according to claim 2 is a method of storing a file in a storage medium detachable from a mobile phone, wherein the first content file is a file format adopted in the first mobile phone carrier, The content file has a file format adopted by the second mobile phone carrier, and the first and second content files include a common data part having the same content, and the first and second content files Recording the information in the FAT of the storage medium so as to share the common data portion, and then storing the first and second content files in a predetermined folder of the storage medium; Specified when storing the first and second content files in the first and second mobile phone carriers, respectively. A second step of creating a unique folder in the storage medium, and the predetermined folder in the unique folder that is referred to when a mobile phone supplied from the first mobile phone carrier accesses the first content file; A link file to the first content file stored in the folder is stored, and the mobile phone supplied from the second mobile phone carrier accesses the second content file to refer to the original folder And a third step of storing a link file to the second content file stored in the predetermined folder.

  A third aspect of the present invention is a file storage method for a storage medium removable from the mobile phone according to the second aspect, wherein in the first step, the storage cluster positions of the first and second content files are In the recorded FAT, a different cluster position is designated at the start position of the file, and a common cluster position is designated in the common data portion.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a file storage method for a storage medium removable from the mobile phone according to the second or third aspect, wherein the first and second content files include audio data and moving image data. When the file format of the audio data or the moving image data included in the first and second content files is a multimedia file, the first step is performed using the data as the common data portion. It is characterized by.

  The present invention relates to a method for storing a file in a storage medium to be attached to a mobile phone. This method records a file entity on a storage medium, creates a unique folder prescribed by each mobile phone carrier, and records link information to the file entity in the unique folder.

  For this reason, even when a cellular phone supplied from any cellular phone carrier is used, a file in the storage medium can be easily accessed.

  Further, since only one file entity is stored, it is possible to save the capacity of the storage medium.

{First embodiment}
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a file recording apparatus 1 according to the embodiment. The file recording apparatus 1 includes an image input unit 11, an audio input unit 12, an image / audio data storage unit 13, a file creation unit 14, a file storage unit 15, and a memory card writing unit 16. Further, the flash memory 2 can be attached to and detached from the memory card slot of the file recording apparatus 1.

  The image / sound data storage unit 13 is a storage unit that stores the image data input from the image input unit 11 and the sound data input from the sound input unit 12. For example, the image input unit 11 is connected to an imaging device such as a CCD and inputs image data output from the imaging device, and the audio input unit 12 is connected to a microphone and inputs audio data output from the microphone. .

  The file creation unit 14 creates a multimedia file using the image data and sound data stored in the image / sound data storage unit 13. The created multimedia file is stored in the file storage unit 15. Here, the multimedia file is a so-called movie file composed of a moving image and sound. For example, if it is a mobile phone made by NTT Docomo, it is a file in a format such as i-motion ASF, if it is KDDI, the file format is AMC, and if it is Vodafone, it is a multimedia file in a file format such as Nancy. Exists. Each company also supports multimedia files in a file format conforming to 3GPP or 3GPP2, which is a standard for 3G mobile phones.

  The file creation unit 14 also has a function of creating an image file (hereinafter, simply referred to as an image file indicates a still image file) and an audio file. These files are also stored in the file storage unit. 15 is stored.

  The multimedia file, the image file, and the audio file stored in the file storage unit 15 are recorded in the flash memory 2 by the memory card writing unit 16. Note that the multimedia file, the image file, and the audio file may be files generated by the file creation unit 14 based on the data input by the image input unit 11 and the audio input unit 12, as described above. For example, it may be a file downloaded from the Internet or may be obtained via another recording medium.

  In this way, the flash memory 2 in which the multimedia file, the image file, and the audio file are recorded is inserted into the memory card slot of the mobile phone supplied from each mobile phone carrier. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the flash memory 2 is mounted on three types of mobile phones 3A, 3B, and 3C supplied from three carriers A, B, and C. In the present embodiment, the memory card writing unit 16 executes processing characteristic of the present invention, which will be described later, so that multimedia files, image files, and audio files stored in the flash memory 2 are The mobile phones 3A, 3B, and 3C can be easily accessed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a folder structure and file types written to the flash memory 2 by the memory card writing unit 16. The memory card writing unit 16 performs the following processing on the flash memory 2.
(P1) Creation of a folder for storing the original file.
(P2) Recording of the original file for the folder created in (P1).
(P3) Create a unique folder for each carrier.
(P4) Record alias file for unique folder.

  First, the processes (P1) and (P2) will be described. First, the memory card writing unit 16 creates a folder for writing an original file which is a substance of the multimedia file, and records the original file in the folder. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2, three folders “Movie”, “Sound”, and “Image” are created under the “root” folder as the storage folder of the original file.

  The original file 101 is recorded in the “Movie” folder. The original file 101 is a multimedia file entity composed of a moving image and audio. The original file 102 is recorded in the “Sound” folder. The original file 102 is an audio file entity. The original file 103 is recorded in the “Image” folder. The original file 103 is an image file entity. As described above, in the processes of (P1) and (P2), the creation of the folder for recording the actual file and the recording of the actual file for the folder are performed. Since this folder is different from the original folder defined by the mobile phone carrier, generally, the files recorded by the processes (P1) and (P2) using the mobile phone supplied from each mobile phone carrier. Cannot be referenced directly.

  Next, the processes (P3) and (P4) will be described. The memory card writing unit 16 creates a unique folder defined by each mobile phone carrier. This unique folder is a folder in which, when various data files are saved using the mobile phone of each mobile phone carrier, these data files are stored by default. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a folder “Career_A” is first created under the “root” folder as a unique folder of carrier A, and “Mov_data” and “Sound_data” are created under this “Career_A” folder. ”And“ Img_data ”are created. Folders “Mov_data”, “Sound_data”, and “Img_data” are default folders for storing multimedia files, audio files, and image files in the mobile phone of carrier A, respectively. Similarly, a folder “Career_B” is created under the “root” folder, and three folders “Mov”, “Music”, and “Img” are created under the “Career_B” folder. Folders “Mov”, “Music”, and “Img” are default folders for storing multimedia files, audio files, and image files, respectively, in the mobile phone of carrier B.

  Then, the memory card writing unit 16 records the alias file 101A having the link information to the original file 101 in the folder “Mov_data”, and the link information to the original file 102 in the folder “Sound_data”. Is recorded, and an alias file 103A having link information to the original file 103 is recorded in the folder “Img_data”. The alias files 101A, 102A, and 103A are files that have only link information to the original file and do not have an actual data portion, and are therefore very small in data size. When the user accesses these alias files, the original file is accessed by the function of the system. This alias file is a file having the same function as a shortcut file in the case of Windows (registered trademark), and a symbolic link file in the case of UNIX (registered trademark).

  Similarly, the memory card writing unit 16 records an alias file 101B having link information to the original file 101 in the folder “Mov”, and links to the original file 102 in the folder “Music”. The alias file 102B having information is recorded, and the alias file 103B having link information to the original file 103 is recorded in the folder “Img”.

  By performing the above writing process by the memory card writing unit 16, for example, when the flash memory 2 is mounted on the mobile phone 3A of the carrier A, the user performs a normal operation to perform the original file 101. , 102, 103 can be accessed. Specifically, when the user performs an operation for referring to a file using the mobile phone 3A, a file in a folder defined by default is displayed. In the folder, the alias file 101A is displayed. , 102A, 103A are displayed. Then, the user accesses the original files 101 to 103 by performing an operation specifying these alias files as in a normal file operation. Similarly, when the mobile phones of carrier B and carrier C are used, the user can access the original files 101 to 103 via the alias file by performing a normal file access operation.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the file recording device 1 writes the folder structure corresponding to each mobile phone carrier, and the alias file to the original file is recorded in this folder. Even when using a mobile phone of a carrier, various files can be accessed with the same operation as usual. Therefore, even when a memory card is exchanged with a friend who owns a mobile phone of a different carrier, it is possible to easily refer to various files stored in the exchanged memory card. .

  Further, in the present embodiment, unlike the method of recording the original file in the unique folder of each carrier, only one common original file is recorded. Further, since the alias file stored in the unique folder is a file having only link information, it is a very small file. Accordingly, consideration is given to the fact that the data capacity of the file stored in the flash memory 2 is not increased while being easily accessible by the mobile phones of a plurality of carriers.

{Second Embodiment}
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, it is assumed that each mobile phone carrier employs the same format file. On the other hand, there are cases where the format format of the file employed differs depending on the carrier, but the second embodiment corresponds to such a case. Also in the second embodiment, various files are recorded in the flash memory 2 by the file recording apparatus 1 of FIG. However, the processing in the memory card writing unit 16 is different from that in the first embodiment.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the multimedia file 200A employed by the carrier A has the audio data format X1 and the moving image data format Y1. At the beginning of the file, header data in the carrier A format is recorded. On the other hand, in the multimedia file 200B adopted by the carrier B, the audio data format is the X2 format and the moving image data is the Y1 format. Then, header data in the carrier B format is recorded at the beginning of the file. The header data is information added to identify the file format more reliably. For example, it includes information on video / audio compression, number of streams, sequence width / height, audio / video synchronization information, sampling rate, and the like.

  As described above, the multimedia data 200A and 200B shown in FIG. 3 have a common video data format but a different audio data format. When the file formats of the multimedia files are different, it is necessary to create two different files and store these files in the flash memory 2 in order to support both carriers. However, when this method is used, a plurality of files corresponding to each carrier must be stored, which causes a problem of using a large capacity of the flash memory 2.

  Therefore, the memory card writing unit 16 stores the multimedia files 200A and 200B shown in FIG. 3 in the flash memory 2 in the file format shown in FIG. 4 as the multimedia files 210A and 210B. As shown in FIG. 4, the memory card writing unit 16 stores the multimedia files 210A and 210B based on the FAT (File Allocation Tables) file system, which has not been used so far in the normal FAT file system. The method records these two files 210A, 210B.

  First, cluster chain information is recorded in the FAT area. In the figure, the first line of the FAT area is the next cluster position information in the cluster numbers 0 to 29, the second line is the next cluster information in the cluster numbers 30 to 59, and the third line is in the cluster numbers 60 to 89. Chain information for each cluster number is recorded as the following cluster information. However, the data area starts from cluster number 2. For example, the FAT of cluster number 3 (fourth box from the left end of the first row) records that it is chained to cluster number 4, and cluster number 4 (the fifth box from the left end of the first row). ) Indicates that data is stored in the order of cluster number 3 → 4 → 5 →...

  In the root directory area, attribute information of “Movie”, “Career_A”, and “Career_B” folders is recorded. The attribute information includes a file / folder name, a time stamp, a size, flag information for distinguishing a file or a folder, an initial cluster position, and the like. In FIG. 4, only the folder name and the initial cluster position are illustrated. That is, information is recorded that the “Movie” folder starts from the cluster number 2, the “Career_A” folder starts from the cluster number 200, and the “Career_B” folder starts from the cluster number 400.

  Cluster number 2 is a directory area as a “Movie” folder, in which attribute information of the multimedia file 210A and the multimedia file 210B is recorded. That is, information that the multimedia file 210A starts from the cluster number 3 and the multimedia file 210B starts from the cluster number 60 is recorded. Then, by referring to the start cluster number in the FAT area, subsequent chain information can be obtained. That is, the data constituting the multimedia file 210A starts from the cluster number 3 and is stored in the clusters of the cluster numbers 4, 5,. In the data area, actual data of images and sounds is stored in each cluster area. In this example, the header data of the multimedia file 210A is recorded in clusters with cluster numbers 3 to 15, and the audio data of the multimedia file 210A is recorded in clusters with cluster numbers 16 to 30. Note that the start position of the audio data is recorded in the header data.

  Similarly, the data constituting the multimedia file 210B starts from the cluster number 60, and information indicating that the data is stored in the clusters of the cluster numbers 61, 62,... Is recorded in the FAT area. The header data of the multimedia file 210B is recorded in the clusters with the cluster numbers 60 to 75, and the audio data of the multimedia file 210B is recorded in the clusters with the cluster numbers 76 to 90. Similarly, the start position of the audio data is recorded in the header data.

  Then, referring to the FAT area in the figure, in the final cluster 30 in which the audio data of the multimedia file 210A is recorded, 100 is designated as the next cluster number, and the audio data of the multimedia file 210B is recorded. In the last cluster 90, 100 is designated as the next cluster number. Then, common moving image data (Y1 format shown in FIG. 3) is stored in the clusters from cluster number 100 to cluster number 124. That is, in the multimedia files 210A and 210B, the first half of the file is data starting from different cluster numbers, and audio data of different data formats correspond to each other. The video data recorded on the site is shared.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the memory card storage unit 16 creates a “Movie” folder under the “root” folder of the flash memory 2, and the multimedia files 210A and 210B described above are created in the “Movie” folder. Is stored. Since the start cluster positions of the files are different, these are recognized as two different files. However, as described above, some of the files are shared. Furthermore, the memory card storage unit 16 creates a folder structure similar to that shown in FIG. 2 defined by the carrier A and the carrier B. The alias file 220A having link information for the multimedia file 210A is stored in the “Mov_data” folder, and the alias file 220B having link information for the multimedia file 210B is stored under the “Mov” folder. is there.

  When the memory card writing unit 16 performs the above writing process, for example, when the flash memory 2 is mounted on the mobile phone 3A of the carrier A, the user can perform a normal operation to perform the multimedia file. It is possible to access 210A. Specifically, when the user performs an operation of referring to a file using the mobile phone 3A, a default folder is displayed. The alias file 220A is displayed in the folder. Then, the user accesses the multimedia file 210A by performing an operation designating these alias files 220A as in a normal file operation. Similarly, when the mobile phones of carrier B and carrier C are used, the user can access the multimedia file by performing a normal file access operation.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the file recording device 1 writes the folder structure corresponding to each mobile phone carrier, and the alias file to the original file is recorded in this folder. Even when using a mobile phone of a carrier, various files can be accessed with the same operation as usual. In addition, when there is a common part in the data constituting the two files, it is possible to share the data by manipulating the FAT chain information. Thereby, the file capacity can be reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, two multimedia files 200A and 200B are recorded in the file storage unit 15, and the memory card writing unit 16 modifies the two files 200A and 200B to obtain the multimedia file 210A. , 210B has been described as being written to the flash memory 2, but such processing is an example. As another processing method, the multimedia files 210A and 210B may be directly written in the flash memory 2 using the image data and sound data stored in the image / sound data storage unit 13, or other methods. It may be.

  In this embodiment, when the moving image data included in the multimedia file has a common data format, the storage cluster position of the moving image data is made common, but the audio data has a common data format. In this case, the storage cluster position of the audio data may be made common. However, in that case, it is necessary to use a file format in which audio data is followed by moving image data. In other words, if only the audio data differs between the carrier A and carrier B multimedia file formats, the audio data may be arranged in the first half of the multimedia file and the start position of the audio data may be written in the header data management table. On the other hand, if only the moving image data is different, the moving image data may be arranged in the first half of the multimedia file, and similarly the start position of the moving image data may be written in the header data. By adopting such a method, it is possible to cope with the case where either the audio or moving image format is different between carriers.

  Further, in this embodiment, the storage cluster position of the common data part included in the multimedia file is made common. However, the present invention is not limited to the multimedia file, but includes any common data part. Applicable to files.

It is a block diagram of a file recording device. It is a figure which shows the structure of the folder to create, and the kind of file stored. It is a figure which shows the file format of the multimedia file which differs between carriers. It is a figure which shows the file structure which also serves as the common part of data. It is a figure which shows the structure of the folder to create, and the kind of file stored.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 File recording device 2 Flash memory 3A Cellular phone of carrier A 3B Cellular phone of carrier B 3C Cellular phone of carrier C 14 File creation unit 15 Multimedia file storage unit

Claims (4)

A method of storing a file in a storage medium detachable from a mobile phone,
Storing a content file to be referred to in a mobile phone supplied by a plurality of mobile phone carriers in a predetermined folder of the storage medium;
Creating unique folders respectively defined in the storage medium when storing the content files in the plurality of mobile phone carriers;
Storing a link file to the content file stored in the predetermined folder in the unique folder that is referred to when a mobile phone supplied from the plurality of mobile phone carriers accesses the content file; ,
A file storage method for a storage medium detachably attachable to a mobile phone. A method of storing a file in a storage medium detachable from a mobile phone,
The first content file has a file format adopted by the first mobile phone carrier, and the second content file has a file format adopted by the second mobile phone carrier, and the first and second The content file includes a common data portion having the same content, and the first and second content files record information in the FAT of the storage medium so as to share the common data portion, and then the first and second content files share the common data portion. And a first step of storing the second content file in a predetermined folder of the storage medium;
A second step of creating, in the storage medium, a unique folder defined in each of the first and second mobile phone carriers when storing the first and second content files;
A link file to the first content file stored in the predetermined folder in the unique folder that is referred to when the mobile phone supplied from the first mobile phone carrier accesses the first content file And the second content stored in the predetermined folder in the unique folder that is referred to when the mobile phone supplied from the second mobile phone carrier accesses the second content file. A third step of storing a link file to the file;
A file storage method for a storage medium detachably attachable to a mobile phone. A file storage method for a storage medium removable from the mobile phone according to claim 2,
In the first step, in the FAT in which the storage cluster positions of the first and second content files are recorded, different cluster positions are specified at the start position of the file, and a common cluster position is specified in the common data portion. A file storage method for a storage medium detachably attached to a mobile phone. A file storage method for a storage medium detachably attached to the mobile phone according to claim 2 or claim 3,
When the first and second content files are multimedia files including audio data and moving image data, and the file format of either the audio data or the moving image data included in the first and second content files is common, A file storage method for a storage medium detachably attached to a mobile phone, wherein the first step is performed using the data as the common data portion.

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