JP2007080301A - Information processing system and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accerelate write-in speed without deteriorating the transfer speed between a personal computer and a recording and reproducing apparatus, in an information processing system comprising the personal computer and the recording and reproducing apparatus such as an AV device. <P>SOLUTION: When a memory part 3 records audio contents supplied from the personal computer 100 in a MD90, the memory part 3 stores a flag indicating area (system data area) in which management information about audio contents is to be recorded and updating is required surely. A discriminating part 8 discriminates an area in which the system data are to be recorded based on the flag stored in the memory part 3. A recording part 2 records the system data taken out from the memory part 3 in the system data area provided in the prescribed area of the MD90 based on discrimination of the discriminating part 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, and a recording apparatus that is connected to the information processing apparatus and records content supplied from the information processing apparatus on a recording medium such as a magneto-optical disk. It relates to a processing system. The present invention also relates to the recording apparatus.

  A personal computer (PC) includes an HDD (hard disk drive) as a storage medium. As is well known, a so-called file system is employed for recording and reproducing files on such an HDD. For example, FAT (File Allocation Table) is known as such a file system (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

  In recent years, AV devices capable of recording and reproducing content data such as video and audio have been proposed and become known as peripheral devices of the personal computer described above. Such an AV device is, for example, sized and portable. Then, by connecting to a personal computer through a predetermined digital interface, content data can be taken from, for example, the personal computer, and recorded and stored in a loaded predetermined recording medium. Then, after the content data is stored in the recording medium in this way, it is possible to reproduce the content data from the recording medium and output it as sound and image by the AV device alone.

  In managing the content data recorded on the recording medium in the AV equipment as described above, for example, it has been proposed and realized to adopt a file system. In this way, the form of file management is the same as that of a personal computer connected via the data interface, so that the affinity with the personal computer is increased accordingly, and this point is highly useful.

  By the way, conventionally, a small-diameter optical disk having a diameter of approximately 64 mm and having a storage capacity that enables recording of a musical sound signal for 74 minutes or more is widely known. This small-diameter optical disk is called a mini-disc MD (registered trademark), a read-only type in which data is recorded by pits, and a recording / reproduction in which data is recorded by a magneto-optical recording (MO) method and can be reproduced. There are two types of molds. In order to increase the recording capacity of the magneto-optical disk, the track pitch, the recording wavelength of the recording laser light, the NA of the objective lens, and the like have been improved.

  As shown in FIG. 13, an initial magneto-optical disk in which groove recording is performed at a track pitch of 1.6 μm and the modulation method is EFM is referred to as a first generation MD. The physical format of the first generation MD is defined as follows. The track pitch is 1.6 μm and the bit length is 0.59 μm / bit. The laser wavelength λ is λ = 780 nm, and the aperture ratio of the optical head is NA = 0.45. As a recording system, a groove recording system that uses grooves (grooves on the disk board surface) as tracks for recording and reproduction is adopted. The address system employs a system using a wobbled groove in which a single spiral groove is formed on the disk surface and wobbles as address information are formed on both sides of the groove. In this specification, the absolute address recorded by wobbling is also referred to as ADIP (Address in Pregroove). This first generation MD employs an EFM (8-14 conversion) modulation system as a recording data modulation system. As an error correction method, ACIRC (Advanced Cross Interleave Reed-Solomon Code) is used. In addition, a convolution type is adopted for data interleaving. As a result, the data redundancy is 46.3%. The data detection method in the first generation MD is a bit-by-bit method, and CLV (Constant Linear Verocity) is adopted as the disk drive method. The linear velocity of CLV is 1.2 m / s. The standard data rate at the time of recording / reproducing is 133 kB / s, and the recording capacity is 164 MB (140 MB in MD-DATA). The minimum data rewrite unit (cluster) is composed of 36 sectors including 32 main sectors and 4 link sectors.

  Further, in recent years, a high density MD (Hi-MD1) having a higher recording capacity than the first generation MD has been developed. A conventional medium (disk or cartridge) is an MD in which the modulation method, logical structure, etc. are changed to double the user area and the recording capacity is increased to, for example, 300 MB. The physical specifications of the recording medium are the same, the track pitch is 1.6 μm, the laser wavelength λ is λ = 780 nm, and the aperture ratio of the optical head is NA = 0.45. As a recording method, a groove recording method is adopted. The address system uses ADIP. Thus, the configuration of the optical system, the ADIP address reading method, and the servo processing in the disk drive device are the same as those in the first generation MD. This high-density MD1 uses an RLL (1-7) PP modulation method (RLL: Run Length Limited, PP: Parity preserve / Prohibit rmtr (repeated minimum transition runlength)) suitable for high-density recording as a modulation method of recording data. Adopted. Further, PR (1,2,1) ML is adopted as a detection method for detecting binarized data from reproduced data. Further, as an error correction method, an RS-LDC (Reed Solomon-Long Distance Code) method with BIS (Burst Indicator Subcode) having higher correction capability is used.

  Furthermore, as the high-density MD, the high-density MD3 (Hi-MD3), which has a higher recording capacity than the high-density MD1, reduces the track pitch to 1.25 μm while maintaining the compatibility of the outer shape and the optical system. The recording mark was developed from the groove by detecting a recording mark by domain wall displacement detection (DWDD). This high-density MD3 uses an RLL (1-7) PP modulation method (RLL: Run Length Limited, PP: Parity preserve / Prohibit rmtr (repeated minimum transition runlength)) suitable for high-density recording as a modulation method of recording data. Adopted. Further, as an error correction method, an RS-LDC (Reed Solomon-Long Distance Code) method with BIS (Burst Indicator Subcode) having higher correction capability is used. Data interleaving is a block-complete type. As a result, the data redundancy becomes 20.50%. As a data detection method, a Viterbi decoding method based on PR (1, -1) ML is used. A cluster which is the minimum data rewrite unit is composed of 16 sectors and 64 kB. A ZCAV system is used as the disk drive system, and the linear velocity is 2.0 m / s. The standard data rate at the time of recording / reproducing is 9.8 MB / s. Therefore, in the high-density MD3, the total recording capacity can be reduced to 1 GB by adopting the DWDD method and this driving method.

  These MD and Hi-MD can be used as recording media for recording content data from the personal computer. Assume that audio contents sent from a personal computer are written on these recording media by an AV device.

  For example, on a Hi-MD disc, there is a system data area that must be updated regardless of audio contents. At the time of writing the system file, a confirmation reading process (hereinafter referred to as process A) is performed to improve the reliability of data guarantee. The data length requested by the personal computer to be read / written is arbitrary for the personal computer, but since the unit for reading / writing from the Hi-MD media is fixed, depending on the data length, read processing for writing is possible. (Hereinafter referred to as process B) is required.

Microsoft Extensible Firmware Initiative FAT32 File System Specification http: // www. Microsoft. com / hwdev / hardware / fatgen. asp

  However, the processing A and the processing B require a thread movement time and a reading time from the disk, and therefore the processing time tends to increase as the number of times increases. In the current system, the behavior of the device follows that of a personal computer. Therefore, processing A and processing B occur several times, which increases the reliability while causing a decrease in writing speed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is an information processing system including a personal computer and a recording / reproducing apparatus such as an AV device (device), and the transfer speed between the personal computer and the recording / reproducing apparatus is increased. An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system capable of improving the writing speed without deteriorating. It is also intended to provide.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an information processing system according to the present invention includes an information processing device and a recording device that is connected to the information processing device and records content supplied from the information processing device on a recording medium. In the information processing system provided, when the content supplied from the information processing apparatus is recorded on the recording medium, a flag indicating an area that must be updated and that should be recorded with management information related to the content is stored. A storage unit; a determination unit that determines a region in which the management information is to be recorded based on a flag stored in the storage unit; and the management information retrieved from the storage unit based on the determination by the determination unit Recording means for recording in the above-mentioned area provided in a predetermined area of the medium.

  When writing audio content from a personal computer to a high-density recording magneto-optical disk such as a Hi-MD disk, the device must perform writing according to a write address specified by the personal computer. Therefore, the device side depends on the address designated for writing and the timing when the write command is issued.

  On this Hi-MD medium, there is a system data area that must be updated regardless of the audio content, and processing different from normal audio data writing is performed. , Processing time is long. Therefore, with regard to the system data area, after all reception from the personal computer is completed, writing to the disk is performed, thereby improving the writing speed to the disk without reducing the processing speed between the personal computer and the device. Can be realized.

  In addition, the audio content here means an audio content conforming to, for example, the Hi-MD Audio standard.

  In order to solve the above problems, a recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus that is connected to an information processing apparatus and records content supplied from the information processing apparatus on a recording medium. Based on the storage means for storing the flag indicating the area that must be updated and the management information relating to the content when recording the recorded content on the recording medium, and the flag stored in the storage means Discriminating means for discriminating an area where the management information is to be recorded, and recording means for recording the management information retrieved from the storage means based on the discrimination of the discriminating means in the area provided in a predetermined area of the recording medium With.

  According to the present invention, in an information processing system including a personal computer and a recording / reproducing apparatus such as an AV device (device), the writing speed can be improved without deteriorating the transfer speed between the personal computer and the recording / reproducing apparatus. Can be realized. In addition, it is possible to provide a recording / reproducing apparatus that does not cause deterioration in reliability of data guarantee accompanying an increase in speed.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In this embodiment, as an example, a recording apparatus for a mini-disc (MD) disc, which is a magneto-optical disc on which data recording is performed by a magnetic field modulation scheme, is used. However, this is a recording apparatus capable of handling not only a mini-disc already used for music but also a high-density disc (Hi-MD) that enables higher-density recording.

  In FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 1 is a device capable of data communication as an external peripheral device for the personal computer 100, for example, and can record data from the personal computer 100. The recording device 1 and the personal computer device 100 constitute an information processing system of the present invention.

  That is, the recording apparatus 1 can function as an external storage device for the personal computer 100 in the information processing system by being connected to the personal computer 100 via the transmission path 101 such as a USB cable. In addition, music and various data can be downloaded via the personal computer 100 or connected to the network by providing a function that can be directly connected to the network, and can be recorded on various MDs by the writing unit 2 in the recording device 1.

  FIG. 2 schematically shows an area structure on a disk of an MD (magneto-optical disk) 90 that is a recording medium in the recording apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the innermost peripheral side of the disk is a P-TOC (pre-mastered TOC) area, which is a pre-mastered area as a physical structure. That is, it is an area where reproduction-only data by emboss pits is recorded, and P-TOC which is management information is recorded as the reproduction-only data.

  The outer periphery of the pre-mastered area is a recordable area (a magneto-optical recordable area), which is a recordable / reproducible area in which a groove as a guide groove of a recording track is formed.

  The innermost peripheral side of this recordable area is a U-TOC area. In the U-TOC area, a buffer area with the pre-mastered area, a power calibration area used for adjusting the output power of the laser beam, etc. are provided, and a specific three cluster section in the U-TOC area is provided. U-TOC data is repeatedly recorded three times.

  The details of the contents of the U-TOC will be described. The address of each track recorded in the program area, the address of the free area, etc. are recorded, and information such as the track name and recording date and time associated with each track can be recorded. Thus, the U-TOC sector is defined.

  In the recordable area, an alert track and a data area are formed on the outer peripheral side of the U-TOC area. The alert track is a warning track in which a warning sound indicating that this disc is a high-density disc and cannot be reproduced by a conventional mini-disc player is recorded. The data area is an area used for recording audio data and computer use data.

  That is, in the case of a normal music mini-disc, one or more music tracks are recorded in the data area. In the case of a high-density disk, the data area is used as a storage area for various data.

  Next, a disk management structure will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3B shows a management structure in the music mini-disc system. In this case, P-TOC and U-TOC are recorded as management information. The P-TOC is recorded by pits as information that cannot be rewritten. In this P-TOC, as the basic management information of the disk, the total capacity of the disk, the U-TOC position in the U-TOC area, the position of the power calibration area, the start position of the data area, the end position of the data area ( The lead-out position) is recorded.

  On the other hand, the U-TOC recorded in the recordable area is management information that is rewritten in accordance with recording or erasing of a track (audio track / data track), and the start position, each track (parts constituting the track), Manage the end position and mode. It also manages a free area in which no track is recorded in the data area, that is, a part as a writable area.

  For example, as shown in the figure, when three audio tracks are recorded as ATRAC data in the data area, in the U-TOC, each of the three tracks is designated as a start address, end address, mode information, recording date and time, and name. Information will be managed.

  In the case of a high-density disk, it becomes as shown in FIG. Also in the case of a high-density disc, U-TOC and P-TOC are recorded by a method based on a conventional mini disc system. In the data area of FIG. 3A, one high-density data track is shown. In the U-TOC, this high-density data track is managed as one track. That is, from the U-TOC, the position of one or a plurality of parts as a whole of the data track on the disk is managed. Note that the position of the alert track described above is also managed by the U-TOC.

  The high density data track is a track formed by high density data modulated by the RS-LDC and RLL (1-7) PP methods. In the high-density data track, a cluster attribute table (CAT: Cluster Attribute Table) for managing the high-density data cluster included in the data track is recorded. In CAT, attributes (such as disclosure / impossibility, normal / defective, etc.) for each of the high-density data clusters constituting the data track are managed.

  Using a high-density data cluster that cannot be disclosed in this data track, a unique ID (UID) unique to the disk and a hash value (hash) for checking data tampering are used for copyright protection and the like. Is recorded. Of course, various other types of non-public information may be recorded. It is assumed that only a specially authorized device can access this non-disclosure area.

  An area (exportable area) by a high-density data cluster that can be disclosed in a data track is an area that can be accessed by an external computer or the like via a general-purpose data interface such as USB or SCSI and used as a recording area. It is said. For example, in the case of FIG. 3A, a state in which a FAT file system is constructed in the exportable area using FAT and FAT managed data files is shown. In other words, the data recorded in the exportable area is not managed by the U-TOC, but is managed by general-purpose management information such as FAT, and can be recognized by an external computer that does not comply with the mini disk system. It becomes data.

  When music data of the ATRAC system or the like is recorded on the FAT system, a playlist is recorded as management information for managing files such as the music data. This playlist is recorded as one file on the FAT system, and the system controller of the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 grasps an address and the like from the playlist when reproducing the music data file.

  A plurality of data tracks having such a structure may be recorded on the disc. In this case, each data track is managed as one track from the U-TOC, and the data in the exportable area in each data track is managed by FAT or the like. For example, each data track has its own FAT file system. Alternatively, one FAT file system may be recorded over a plurality of data tracks.

  In addition, the information such as the unique ID is described as an example in which data is in the data track and is not FAT-managed, but may be recorded in any logical form as long as the information is not FAT-managed. For example, a track for private information may be provided as a track managed directly from the U-TOC, or may be recorded in the U-TOC / P-TOC. Furthermore, a recording area for non-public information may be provided by using a part that is not used for U-TOC in the U-TOC area.

  For the sake of explanation, a conventional mini-disc is referred to as a “music mini-disc”, but a mini-disc known as so-called MD-DATA is also in the category of this music mini-disc. Of course, music data may be recorded as a data file on a high-density disc. For example, this is the case of downloading music files from a network or personal computer.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 1 will be described. The recording apparatus 1 functionally includes a storage unit 3, a determination unit 8, and a writing unit 2. When the audio content supplied from the information processing apparatus (personal computer 100) is recorded on the MD 90, the storage unit 3 is to record management information (system data) related to the audio content and must be updated (system data). A flag indicating the area is stored.

  The determination unit 8 determines an area (system data area) in which system data is to be recorded based on the flag stored in the storage unit 3. The recording unit 2 records the system data retrieved from the storage unit 3 based on the determination of the determination unit 8 in a system data area provided in a predetermined area of the MD90.

  Further, when the determination unit 8 determines the system data area in which the system data is to be recorded based on the flag stored in the storage unit 3, after the reception of all the system data from the personal computer 100 is completed, the determination unit 8 All system data is written to the system data area.

  When the determination unit 8 cannot detect the flag in the storage unit 3, the determination unit 8 records data in the MD 90 according to the behavior of the personal computer 100. The storage unit 3 stores system data together with the flag.

  The content is audio content, the management information (system data) related to the content is management information related to an audio content file, management information for managing track information of the audio content, management information for checking falsification of the track information, And root directory data indicating entries of these pieces of management information. A specific example of this system data will be described later.

  The area that must be updated is a fixed-capacity recording area, and each piece of management information is written in an unassigned area in advance in accordance with a flag. Of course, they may be written in a predetermined order.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the recording apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, the recording / reproducing apparatus will be described. In this configuration, a playback device is also added to the recording device. Therefore, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is hereinafter referred to.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 functions as, for example, an AV (audio / video) device without being connected to the personal computer 100 or the like. For example, audio data and video data (AV data) input from another AV device or the like can be recorded on a disc, and music data recorded on the disc can be reproduced and output.

  That is, the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that can be used as a general-purpose data storage device by being connected to the personal computer 100 or the like, and can also be used as an AV-compatible recording / reproducing device by itself.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 includes a storage unit (corresponding to the recording unit 2 in FIG. 1) 2, a cache memory (corresponding to the storage unit 3 in FIG. 1) 3, a USB interface 4, an input / output processing unit 5, a display unit 6, and an operation unit. 7, a system controller (corresponding to the determination unit 8 in FIG. 1) 8, a ROM 9, a RAM 10, a cache management memory 11, and an NV-RAM 12.

  The storage unit 2 performs recording / reproduction with respect to the loaded disc. The configuration of the so-called mini-disc type disk used in the present embodiment and the storage unit 2 corresponding thereto will be described later.

  The cache memory 3 is a cache memory that buffers the data recorded on the disk by the storage unit 2 or the data read from the disk by the storage unit 2. For example, it is composed of a D-RAM. Writing / reading data to / from the cache memory is controlled by a task activated in the system controller (CPU) 8. As described above, when the audio content supplied from the information processing apparatus (personal computer 100) is recorded in the MD 90, the cache memory 3 should record management information (system data) related to the audio content and must be updated. This flag stores a flag indicating an area (system data area).

  The USB interface 4 performs processing for data transmission when connected to the personal computer 100 via a transmission path 101 as a USB cable, for example. The input / output processing unit 5 performs processing for input / output of recording / playback data, for example, when the recording / playback apparatus 1 functions alone as an audio device.

  The system controller 8 controls the entire recording / reproducing apparatus 1 and controls communication with the connected personal computer 100. Further, the system controller 8 determines an area (system data area) in which system data is to be recorded based on a flag stored in the cache memory 3. In addition, when the system controller 8 determines the system data area in which the system data is to be recorded based on the flag stored in the cache memory 3, after the reception of all the system data from the personal computer 100 is completed, the storage unit 2 Causes all system data to be written to the system data area. Further, when the system controller 8 cannot detect the flag in the cache memory 3, the system controller 8 records data in the MD 90 according to the behavior of the personal computer 100. Further, the cache memory 3 stores system data together with a flag.

  The ROM 9 stores an operation program for the system controller 8, fixed parameters, and the like. The RAM 10 is used as a work area by the system controller 8 and is a storage area for various necessary information. For example, various management information and special information read from the disk by the storage unit 2 are stored. For example, P-TOC data, U-TOC data, playlist data, FAT data, unique ID, hash value, etc. are stored.

  P-TOC data and U-TOC data are management information such as music tracks recorded on a mini-disc. A high-density disc conforming to the mini-disc method that can be supported by the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is constructed by building a FAT file system on the management format of P-TOC and U-TOC.

  As described above, the playlist is information for managing addresses and the like of music data by the ATRAC method or the like on the high-density disc, and is recorded as one file on the FAT system. When a high-density disc is loaded, the FAT and playlist information is also read. The unique ID, hash value, and the like are information used for authentication processing and encryption / decryption when transmitting data to and from the personal computer 100 or the like.

  The cache management memory 11 is composed of, for example, an S-RAM, and stores information for managing the state of the cache memory 3. The system controller 8 controls data cache processing while referring to the cache management memory 11. Information on the cache management memory 11 will be described later. The NV-RAM (nonvolatile RAM) 12 is used as a data storage area that is not lost even when the power is turned off.

  The display unit 6 displays various information to be presented to the user based on the control of the system controller 8. For example, the operation status, mode status, name information of track data, track number, time information, and other information are displayed.

  In the operation unit 7, operation keys, a jog dial, and the like are formed as various operators for user operations. The user operates the operation unit 7 to instruct necessary operations for recording / reproduction and data communication. The system controller 8 performs a predetermined control process based on the operation information input by the operation unit 7.

  The control by the system controller 8 when the personal computer 100 or the like is connected is as follows, for example. The system controller 8 can communicate with the personal computer 100 connected via the USB interface 4, and receives commands such as a write request and a read request, and transmits status information and other necessary information. The system controller 8 instructs the storage unit 2 to read management information and the like from the disk, for example, when the disk is loaded in the storage unit 2, fetches it via the cache memory 3, and stores it in the RAM 10. By reading management information of P-TOC and U-TOC, the system controller 8 can grasp the track recording state of the disc. Further, by reading the CAT, the high-density data cluster structure in the data track can be grasped, and the access request to the data track from the personal computer 100 can be handled. Further, it is possible to perform disk authentication and other processes using the unique ID and hash value, or to transmit these values to the personal computer 100 for processing.

  When there is a request for reading certain data from the personal computer 100, the system controller 8 causes the storage unit 2 to read the data. The read data is subjected to signal processing by an AV signal processing unit as necessary, and then written to the cache memory 3. However, if the requested data has already been stored in the cache memory 3, reading by the storage unit 2 is not necessary. This is a so-called cache hit. Then, the system controller 8 performs control to read the data written in the cache memory 3 and transmit it to the personal computer 100 via the USB interface 4.

  When there is a write request for certain data from the personal computer 100, the system controller 8 stores the transmitted data in the cache memory 3. Then, the data stored in the cache memory 3 is recorded on the disk by the storage unit 2. Note that data recording on the disc is performed with a unit of cluster as a minimum unit. For example, a cluster is 32 FAT sectors. If the amount of data requested by the personal computer 100 or the like is several sectors or less and is less than one cluster, a process called blocking is performed. That is, the system controller 8 first causes the storage unit 2 to read a cluster including the FAT sector. The read cluster data is written into the cache memory 3. Then, the system controller 8 supplies the FAT sector data (recorded data) from the personal computer 100 to the cache memory 3 via the USB interface 4, and stores the data of the corresponding FAT sector with respect to the stored cluster data. Rewrite is executed. Then, the system controller 8 transfers the cluster data stored in the cache memory 3 with the necessary FAT sector rewritten to the storage unit 2 as recording data. The storage unit 2 writes the cluster unit data to the disk.

  For example, on the Hi-MD disc, as described above, there is a system data area that must be updated regardless of the audio content. At the time of writing the system file, a confirmation reading process (hereinafter referred to as process A) is performed to improve the reliability of data guarantee. The data length requested by the personal computer to be read / written is arbitrary for the personal computer, but since the unit for reading / writing from the Hi-MD media is fixed, depending on the data length, read processing for writing is possible. (Hereinafter referred to as process B) is required.

  The confirmation reading process of process A will be described with reference to FIG. In the system data area of the Hi-MD disc, this is a process of reading the written address after the writing is completed. This is a process for improving the reliability of data. However, since (thread access + read) time is added in addition to normal writing, the processing speed decreases.

  Next, the reading process for writing process B will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the case where the process B is not performed will be described. The read / write unit to the Hi-MD disc is fixed, for example, 64 KB fixed. On the other hand, the personal computer arbitrarily designates the data length when making a read / write request regardless of the read / write unit of the disk. Therefore, when the request from the personal computer is followed without considering the read / write unit of the disk, the existing data on the disk is destroyed as shown in FIG.

  The existing data destruction when the process B is not performed will be described in detail. In FIG. 6, the written PC data is sent from a personal computer (PC). The data length of writing at this time is arbitrary, for example, 32 KB. The recording / reproducing apparatus 1 adds 32 KB of non-data (32 KB) to the PC data in the DRAM in accordance with the writing unit (64 KB) on the disk to make a writing unit of 64 KB. -Write to MD. Then, the existing data (64KB) before writing is replaced with the writing data of the writing unit with non-data from the above DRAM added. Originally, the data that should be on the disc should be 32KB of PC data and existing data (32KB) from the personal computer, but the existing data will be destroyed.

  Therefore, process B is required. FIG. 7 shows an outline of the process B. In process B, if the data length (arbitrary, 32 KB in this case) specified by the personal computer is less than the write unit, the write address is read and the non-data area is replaced with existing data in the DRAM. Thereby, the data length designated by the personal computer can be written to the Hi-MD disc, and the existing data can be retained without being destroyed. However, in this process B, the existing data is read from the Hi-MD in accordance with the write address, so the processing speed decreases.

  FIG. 8 shows a data arrangement in the system data area. This system data area (Data_1, Data_2, Data_3) needs to be updated when the audio content is written to the Hi-MD disc from the personal computer. The system data is not data transmitted from the personal computer when writing, for example, text txt data, xls data, or the like, which is generated by the personal computer, to the Hi-MD media.

  The system data referred to in the present embodiment represents audio data system data transmitted from a personal computer only when audio content compliant with the Hi-MD audio standard is written on a Hi-MD disc. When writing audio content to the Hi-MD, a write command is issued from the personal computer 100 to the recording / reproducing apparatus 1. This command is composed of 11 bytes of data. One byte in this command is defined as an optional parameter area for writing. Among these, there is a parameter indicating the system area, and the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 can recognize the system area. By referring to this parameter, it can be determined that the data is system data.

  In FIG. 8, Data_1 of the system data area is 32 KB, and for example, HMDHIFI is written. HMDHIFI is root directory data indicating entries of the following TIF TIF and Mac MAC. Data_2 has 5 × 64 KB, and a TIF TIF, that is, a track index file is written. The TIF TIF is data that manages track information of audio content. Data_3 has 32 KB, and a MAC MAC, that is, a MAC list file is written. The Mac MAC is data indicating a value for checking the TIF tampering. These system data are data to which a flag is added, for example, and are clearly distinguished by viewing the flag on the recording apparatus 1 side. The data is not limited to HMDHIFI, TIF TIF, and Mac MA as long as the data can be clearly discriminated by, for example, looking at the flag on the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 side. Of course, the data is not limited to system data as long as it can be clearly discriminated.

  Next, a process for writing the system data transmitted from the personal computer 100 to the Hi-MD via the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 will be described. Here, a writing process to which the present invention is not applied will be described. When audio content is written from a personal computer to a medium (Hi-MD), Data_1, Data_2, and Data_3 are requested in this order, and the device (recording / playback apparatus 1) side performs writing processing three times in the requested order.

  FIG. 9 shows a writing process to which the present invention is not applied. For Data_1, processing B and processing A are performed after the writing processing. Data_2 is written and processed A. Data_3 is written and processed A. In total, process A is performed 3 times and process B is performed once, which causes a decrease in writing speed.

  Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the system data area writing process is performed as described below. First, Data_1, Data_2, and Data_3 are assigned to consecutive addresses on the disk. Therefore, since it is a physically continuous address arrangement, we want to complete it with a single write process. Therefore, when the device writes to the disk, the data of Data_1, Data_2, and Data_3 is written to the disk in a single process after the reception of Data_3 data is completed.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the system data area writing process. Of course, this is processing performed in the recording / reproducing apparatus 1.

  First, PC data is received from the personal computer 100 in step S1. In step S2, whether or not the data is system data is checked with reference to the aforementioned parameters. If it is determined that the data is system data, Data_1, Data_2, and Data_3 are stored in, for example, a DRAM that is a 6.5 MB ring buffer. If it is determined in step S3 that reception of Data_3 is completed, Hi-MD data is stored in step S4. Record in the system area. If it is determined in step S2 that the data is not Data_1, Data_2, or Data_3, that is, it is not system data, writing to the disk is performed according to the behavior of the personal computer as in the current system.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining an improvement in processing speed, which is an effect of the present embodiment. This will be described in comparison with a conventional method (see FIG. 6). According to the present invention, the writing speed can be significantly improved by writing once and processing A once.

  The conventional example shown in FIG. 9 is to perform the writing process immediately when instructed to the personal computer 100. However, the present invention dares to check the parameters and flags to determine that the data is system data. When it is determined, the data of Data_1, Data_2, and Data_3 is written to the disk in one process after the reception of the Data_3 data is completed. Since data is continuously stored in the DRAM, there is no need to read existing data on the disk, and processing B is unnecessary. In actual measurement, the writing speed increases for about 5 seconds.

  As described above, according to the information processing system shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the writing speed can be improved without deteriorating the transfer speed between the personal computer and the recording / reproducing apparatus 1 (device). can do. Further, there is no deterioration in reliability of data guarantee accompanying the increase in speed.

  The above is the control for recording / reproducing data accompanying transmission with the personal computer 100, for example. Data transfer at the time of recording / reproducing, for example, mini-disc type audio data is performed via the input / output processing unit 5. Is called. The input / output processing unit 5 includes, for example, an analog audio signal input unit such as a line input circuit / microphone input circuit, an A / D converter, and a digital audio data input unit as an input system. It also includes an ATRAC compression encoder / decoder. The ATRAC compression encoder / decoder is a circuit for executing compression / decompression processing of audio data by the ATRAC system. Of course, the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present embodiment may adopt a configuration capable of recording / reproducing compressed audio data in other formats such as MP3. In this case, these compressed audio data An encoder / decoder corresponding to the format may be provided. In the present embodiment, the video data is not limited to a format that can be recorded / reproduced. For example, MPEG4 can be considered. The input / output processing unit 5 may be provided with an encoder / decoder corresponding to such a format. Further, the input / output processing unit 5 includes an analog audio signal output unit such as a digital audio data output unit and a D / A converter and a line output circuit / headphone output circuit as an output system.

  In this case, the input / output processing unit 5 includes an encryption processing unit 5a. In the encryption processing unit 5a, for example, the AV data to be recorded on the disc is encrypted by a predetermined algorithm. For example, when the AV data read from the disk is encrypted, a decryption process for decryption is executed as necessary.

  Audio data is recorded on the disc as processing via the input / output processing unit 5 when, for example, digital audio data (or analog audio signal) is input to the input / output processing unit 5 as input TIN. The input linear PCM digital audio data or the linear PCM audio data input by analog audio signals and converted by the A / D converter is ATRAC compression encoded and stored in the cache memory 3. Then, the data is read from the cache memory 3 and transferred to the storage unit 2 at a predetermined timing (data unit corresponding to an ADIP cluster). In the storage unit 2, the transferred compressed data is modulated by a predetermined modulation method and recorded on the disk.

  When mini-disc audio data is reproduced from the disc, the storage unit 2 demodulates the reproduced data into the ATRAC compressed data state and transfers the data to the cache memory 3. Then, it is read from the cache memory 3 and transferred to the input / output processing unit 5. The input / output processing unit 5 performs ATRAC compression decoding on the supplied compressed audio data to obtain linear PCM audio data, which is output from the digital audio data output unit. Alternatively, line output / headphone output is performed as an analog audio signal by a D / A converter.

  The configuration of the recording / playback apparatus 1 in FIG. 4 is an example. For example, the input / output processing unit 5 may include an input / output processing system corresponding to video data as well as audio data. Further, the connection with the personal computer 100 is not USB, but another external interface such as IEEE1394 may be used.

  FIG. 12 shows the configuration of the storage unit 2. In the storage unit 2, the loaded disk 90 is rotationally driven by the spindle motor 29 by the CLV method. The disc 90 is irradiated with laser light from the optical head 19 during recording / reproduction. The optical head 19 performs a high level laser output for heating the recording track to the Curie temperature during recording, and a relatively low level laser output for detecting data from reflected light by the magnetic Kerr effect during reproduction. . For this reason, although not shown in detail here, the optical head 19 is equipped with a laser diode as a laser output means, an optical system composed of a polarizing beam splitter, an objective lens, and the like, and a detector for detecting reflected light. Yes. The objective lens provided in the optical head 19 is held so as to be displaceable in the radial direction of the disk and in the direction of contacting and separating from the disk, for example, by a biaxial mechanism.

  A magnetic head 18 is disposed at a position facing the optical head 19 with the disk 90 interposed therebetween. The magnetic head 18 performs an operation of applying a magnetic field modulated by the recording data to the disk 90. Although not shown, a sled motor and a sled mechanism are provided to move the entire optical head 19 and the magnetic head 18 in the radial direction of the disk.

  The storage unit 2 includes a recording processing system, a playback processing system, a servo system, and the like in addition to a recording / reproducing head system using the optical head 19, the magnetic head 18, and a disk rotation driving system using the spindle motor 29. In the recording processing system, a portion that performs modulation of the first modulation method (EFM modulation / ACIRC encoding) when recording on a music mini-disc, and a second modulation method (RLL (1-7) PP when recording on a high-density disc. A portion for performing modulation (modulation, RS-LDC encoding) is provided. In the reproduction processing system, a portion for performing demodulation (EFM demodulation / ACIRC decoding) with respect to the first modulation method at the time of reproduction of a music mini-disc (and U-TOC of a high-density disc) and a second at the time of reproduction of the high-density disc A part for performing demodulation (RLL (1-7) demodulation, RS-LDC decoding based on data detection using partial response PR (1, 2, 1) and Viterbi decoding) for the modulation scheme is provided.

  Information (photocurrent obtained by detecting the laser reflected light by the photodetector) detected as reflected light by the laser irradiation of the optical head 19 on the disk 90 is supplied to the RF amplifier 21. The RF amplifier 21 performs current-voltage conversion, amplification, matrix calculation, and the like on the input detection information, and performs reproduction RF signal, tracking error signal TE, focus error signal FE, groove information (track on the disk 90) as reproduction information. ADIP information recorded by wobbling) is extracted.

  During reproduction of a music mini-disc, the reproduced RF signal obtained by the RF amplifier is processed by the EFM demodulator 24 and the ACIRC decoder 25. That is, the reproduced RF signal is binarized by the EFM demodulator 24 to be an EFM signal sequence, EFM demodulated, and further subjected to error correction and deinterleave processing by the ACIRC decoder 25. That is, at this time, the state becomes ATRAC compressed data. When the music mini-disc is played back, the selector 26 is selected on the B contact side, and the demodulated ATRAC compressed data is output as playback data from the disc 90. In this case, the compressed data is supplied to the cache memory 3.

  On the other hand, at the time of reproducing a high density disc, the reproduced RF signal obtained by the RF amplifier is processed by the RLL (1-7) PP demodulator 22 and the RS-LDC decoder 25. In other words, the reproduction RF signal is obtained as an RLL (1-7) code string by the RLL (1-7) PP demodulator 22 by data detection using PR (1, 2, 1) and Viterbi decoding, RLL (1-7) demodulation processing is performed on the RLL (1-7) code string. Further, the RS-LDC decoder 23 performs error correction and deinterleave processing. At the time of high-density disk reproduction, the selector 26 is selected on the A contact side, and the demodulated data is output as reproduction data from the disk 90. In this case, the demodulated data is supplied to the cache memory 3.

  The tracking error signal TE and the focus error signal FE output from the RF amplifier 21 are supplied to the servo circuit 27, and the groove information is supplied to the ADIP decoder 30.

  The ADIP decoder 30 extracts the wobble component by band-limiting the groove information with a bandpass filter, and then performs FM demodulation and biphase demodulation to extract the ADIP address. The extracted ADIP address, which is absolute address information on the disk, is supplied to the system controller 8. The system controller 8 executes necessary control processing based on the ADIP address. The groove information is supplied to the servo circuit 27 for spindle servo control.

  The servo circuit 27 generates a spindle error signal for CLV servo control, for example, based on an error signal obtained by integrating the phase error with the reproduction clock (PLL clock at the time of decoding) with respect to the groove information. Further, the servo circuit 27 performs various servo control signals based on the spindle error signal, the tracking error signal, the focus error signal supplied from the RF amplifier 21 as described above, or the track jump command, access command, etc. from the system controller 8. (Tracking control signal, focus control signal, thread control signal, spindle control signal, etc.) are generated and output to the motor driver 28. That is, various servo control signals are generated by performing necessary processing such as phase compensation processing, gain processing, and target value setting processing on the servo error signal and command.

  The motor driver 28 generates a required servo drive signal based on the servo control signal supplied from the servo circuit 27. The servo drive signal here includes a biaxial drive signal for driving the biaxial mechanism (two types of focus direction and tracking direction), a sled motor drive signal for driving the sled mechanism, and a spindle motor drive signal for driving the spindle motor 29. It becomes. With such a servo drive signal, focus control and tracking control for the disk 90 and CLV control for the spindle motor 29 are performed.

  When a recording operation is executed on the disk 90, data is supplied from the cache memory 3. At the time of recording a music mini-disc, the selector 16 is connected to the B contact, so that the ACIRC encoder 14 and the EFM modulator 15 function. In this case, the compressed data from the audio processing unit 10 is subjected to interleaving and error correction code addition by the ACIRC encoder 14 and then EFM modulation by the EFM modulation unit 15. The EFM modulation data is supplied to the magnetic head driver 17 via the selector 16, and the magnetic head 18 applies a magnetic field to the disk 90 based on the EFM modulation data, thereby recording data.

  At the time of high-density disk recording, the selector 16 is connected to the A contact, so that the RS-LDC encoder 12 and the RLL (1-7) PP modulation unit 13 function. In this case, the high-density data from the memory transfer controller 3 is subjected to interleaving and RS-LDC error correction code addition by the RS-LDC encoder 12, and then the RLL (1-7) PP modulation unit 13 performs RLL (1 -7) Modulation is performed. Then, recording data as an RLL (1-7) code string is supplied to the magnetic head driver 17 via the selector 16, and the magnetic head 18 applies a magnetic field to the disk 90 based on the modulation data, thereby recording data. Done.

  The laser driver / APC 20 causes the laser diode to perform a laser emission operation during reproduction and recording as described above, but also performs a so-called APC (Automatic Laser Power Control) operation. That is, although not shown, a detector for laser power monitoring is provided in the optical head 19 and the monitor signal is fed back to the laser driver / APC 20. The laser driver / APC 20 compares the current laser power obtained as the monitor signal with the set laser power and reflects the error in the laser drive signal, so that the laser power output from the laser diode is , It is controlled to stabilize at the set value. As the laser power, values as reproduction laser power and recording laser power are set by the system controller 8 in a register in the laser driver / APC 20.

  The above operations (access, various servo operations, data writing, and data reading operations) are executed based on instructions from the system controller 8.

It is a block diagram of an information processing system. It is a figure which shows typically the area structure on the disk of a magneto-optical disk. It is a figure which shows the management structure of a disk. It is a detailed block diagram of a recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of a confirmation reading process (process A). It is a figure which shows the case where the data destruction of a disk arises. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the reading process (process B) for writing. It is a block diagram of a system data area. It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the writing process (it is not application of this invention) of a system data area. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the system data area write processing to which this invention is applied. It is a figure for demonstrating the improvement of the processing speed which is an effect of a present Example. It is a figure which shows the structure of the storage part in a recording / reproducing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the format of each MD.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording device (recording / reproducing apparatus), 2 recording part, 3 memory | storage part, 8 discrimination | determination part, 90 magneto-optical disk, 100 personal computer

Claims (7)

In an information processing system comprising: an information processing device; and a recording device that is connected to the information processing device and records content supplied from the information processing device on a recording medium.
Storage means for storing a flag indicating an area that must be updated and management information related to the content should be recorded when the content supplied from the information processing apparatus is recorded on the recording medium;
Discrimination means for discriminating an area in which the management information is to be recorded based on a flag stored in the storage means;
An information processing system comprising: a recording unit that records the management information retrieved from the storage unit based on the determination of the determination unit in the area provided in a predetermined area of the recording medium.   When the determination unit of the recording apparatus determines an area in which the management information is to be recorded based on the flag stored in the storage unit, the reception of all the management information from the information processing apparatus is completed. 2. An information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said management information is written in said area by said recording means.   3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit of the recording apparatus causes the recording unit to record data according to the behavior of the information processing apparatus when the flag is not detected in the storage unit. system.   The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores the management information together with the flag.   The content is an audio content, the management information about the content is management information about an audio content file, management information for managing track information of the audio content, management information for checking tampering of the track information, and each of these managements The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the information is root directory data indicating an entry of information.   6. The information processing according to claim 5, wherein the area that must be updated is a fixed-capacity recording area, and each piece of management information is written in an unallocated order in an area allocated in advance according to a flag. system. In a recording apparatus that is connected to an information processing apparatus and records content supplied from the information processing apparatus on a recording medium,
Storage means for storing a flag indicating an area that must be updated and management information related to the content should be recorded when the content supplied from the information processing apparatus is recorded on the recording medium;
Discrimination means for discriminating an area in which the management information is to be recorded based on a flag stored in the storage means;
A recording apparatus comprising: recording means for recording the management information retrieved from the storage means based on the determination of the determination means in the area provided in a predetermined area of the recording medium.

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