JP2007156533A - Storage device and storage area management method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To handle the storage areas of a memory card and storage disk as one storage area. <P>SOLUTION: A storage device is provided with; a host interface (104) for transmitting and receiving information to/from a host device; a command processing part (105) which executes processing corresponding to a command transmitted from the host device via the host interface; a storage disk device (107) which stores information; a slot (109) in which a memory card is mounted; and a logical address management table (106) in which logical addresses on a memory card and a disk device are unified and stored. The command processing part is provided with a means which refers to the logical address management table to access data in the memory card or disk device when a data access command is inputted from the host device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage device and a recording area management method, and more particularly to an improvement of a storage medium recognition method and a data management method on the storage device.

  Recent memory cards have a high data writing speed and low power consumption. In addition, those with a storage capacity exceeding 1 gigabyte have appeared. Furthermore, since the size is extremely small, the terminal device to be used can be reduced in size and weight. Therefore, an increasing number of personal computers (PCs) have a memory card interface (I / F).

  However, the digital data of a device that currently uses a memory card has a large capacity, and the amount of data that can be stored in one memory card does not meet the user's requirement. Therefore, it is possible to purchase a plurality of memory cards and manage the data, but the cost of the memory card per current capacity is very expensive.

In order to solve the above-described problem, an apparatus equipped with both a memory card and a hard disk drive (HDD) has been developed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-55102 A

  In the conventional terminal device described above, the data on the memory card is used for the purpose of transferring, storing, and backing up data to a hard disk. It is also possible to transfer part of the data on the hard disk to the memory card. However, in this apparatus, any memory card can be used as long as the memory card is of a certain standard. For this reason, there is a possibility that unnecessary access, unnecessary data input, setting, and the like may be performed on the user terminal device.

  Accordingly, the present invention provides a storage device and a recording area management method that can be provided with a security function that operates normally only when a pre-registered memory card is inserted, and that can expand the memory capacity. Objective.

  The storage device according to the embodiment of the present invention centralizes and stores the storage disk device 107 in which information is stored, the slot 109 in which the memory card is inserted, and the logical address on the memory card and the disk device. Logical address management table 106, host interface 104 for transmitting / receiving information to / from the host device, processing corresponding to a command sent from the host device via the host interface, and at least the storage disk A command processing unit 105 that controls the device, the memory card, and the logical address management table; and a memory card that is registered in advance by identifying the memory card installed in the slot under the control of the command processing unit Normal processing mode only for the command processing unit Having a card identifying unit 115 for knowledge, the.

  The storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention further includes an identification information storage unit that stores the first identification information of the memory card, a plurality of first identification information stored in the identification information storage unit, and a slot. An identification information verification unit that compares the second identification information of the storage medium attached to the storage medium and notifies the command processing unit of the verification result, and the command processing unit is a verification notified from the identification information verification unit Means for determining whether or not to execute a command from the host device based on the result is included.

  According to the embodiment described above, the storage device according to the present invention has a security function that operates normally only when a pre-registered memory card is inserted. Also, a plurality of storage areas can be handled as one storage area.

  A storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of a storage device 101 according to the present invention.

<First, the configuration will be explained>
The storage device 101 has a host interface 1204. Through the host interface 104, the storage device 101 can send and receive information to and from an external host device (for example, a personal computer) 102 via the host bus 103.

  A command processing unit 105 is connected to the host interface 104. The command processing unit 105 is connected to the memory card identification information storage unit 113, the memory card identification information matching unit 114, and the memory card interface 110. Further, the command processing unit 105 is connected to the logical address management table 106 and the disk device control unit 108.

<Next, the function of each part>
Here, the disk device control unit 108 is a part that records information on the storage disk device 107 (for example, a hard disk) and reads information from the storage device 107. The memory card interface 110 is provided in the memory card slot 109, and is electrically connected to the memory card 111 when the memory card 111 is inserted into the slot.

  The command processing unit 105 performs processing according to the command set from the host device 102. The logical address management table 106 is used for managing addresses of data included in storage media (memory cards and disks) under the control of the command processing unit 105.

  The memory card identification information storage unit 113 stores identification information of memory cards that can be used in this apparatus. Further, new identification information storage processing, identification information check, and the like are performed under the control of the command processing unit 105. The memory card identification information collation unit 110 collates the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 113 with the memory card identification information 112 owned by the memory card 111 attached to the apparatus, and Transfer the result. The memory card identification information storage unit 113, the memory card identification information collation unit 114, and the memory card interface 110 constitute a card identification unit 115.

<Next, the overall operation will be explained>
Now, when the memory card 111 is inserted into the memory card slot 109, the identification information matching unit 114 acquires the memory card identification information 112 included in the memory card 111 via the memory card interface 110. At the same time, the identification information matching unit 114 reads the identification information stored in the identification information 113 and searches for the one that matches the memory card identification information 112. When matching identification information is detected, data access to the storage areas of the memory card 111 and the disk device 107 becomes possible. That is, the memory card 111 functions as a key for accessing the storage device 101.

  The host interface 104 receives a command set including a command number, a sector address, the number of sectors, and the like from the host device 102 and transmits the command set to the command processing unit 105. If the command set transmitted to the command processing unit 105 is acquisition of status information, the current status of the storage device 101 is transmitted to the host device 102. When the command set transmitted to the command processing unit 105 is a data access to the storage area in the memory card 111 and the disk device 107, the address of the data is extracted from the logical address management table 106, and based on the extracted address Access data.

  Here, the host bus 103 and the host interface 104 may be LAN, wireless LAN, ATA, ISCE, infrared communication, for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), but any data and control signals can be transmitted and received. Even the communication method does not affect the implementation of the present invention.

  Further, although the memory card 111 includes the memory card identification information 112, if the memory card unique identification information is not included, the memory card identification information is arbitrarily created in the storage area of the memory card. You may do it.

  Further, when the memory card has a secure function, the identification information of the storage device may be registered in the memory card, and data access to the storage area of the memory card may be performed only by the registered device.

  FIG. 2 is an example of a flowchart showing a collation process of the identification information collating unit 114 shown in FIG. Processing is started in response to detection of memory card attachment / detachment or power-on of the apparatus (step SA1). At this time, the identification verification unit 114 determines whether or not the memory card 111 is inserted (step SA2). If the memory card 111 is inserted into the slot 109, the memory card 111 is initialized as necessary (step SA3). When the initialization is executed, it is determined whether the initialization has been executed normally (step SA4). When the initialization is normally executed, the identification collating unit 114 reads the memory card identification information 112 included in the memory card (step SA5).

  Further, the identification collation unit 114 reads the identification information stored in the identification information storage unit 113 (step SA6), and searches for a match with the memory card identification information 112 (step SA7). If matching identification information is detected, the command processing unit 105 is notified that the host command normal processing mode is set (step SA8), and the identification process is terminated (step SA9).

  If no matching identification information is detected in step SA7, the command processing unit 105 is notified of the host command partial processing mode (step SA10).

  If the memory card is not inserted in step SA2 or step SA4, or if initialization is not performed normally, the command processing unit 105 is notified that the host command abnormality processing mode is set (step SA11).

  FIG. 3 is an example of a flowchart illustrating processing when the command processing unit 105 illustrated in FIG. 1 receives a command set from the host device 10. A command set is supplied to the command processing unit 105, and processing is started (step SB1). It is determined whether or not the command processing mode notified from the identification information matching unit 114 is the host command abnormal processing mode (step SB2). If the command processing mode is not the host command abnormality processing mode, it is determined whether or not the received command is a command for registering the identification information 112 of the memory card 111 (memory card registration command) (step SB3).

  If the received command is a memory card registration command, the command processing unit 105 initializes the logical address management table (step SB4), and registers (stores) the memory card identification information 112 in the identification information storage unit 113 (step SB5). . The identification information matching unit 114 recognizes that the command processing mode is the host command normal processing mode (step SB6), and notifies the host device 102 that the host command has been processed normally via the host interface 104 (step SB6). SB7), the process ends (step SB8).

  If the memory card registration command of the memory card identification information 112 is not input in step SB3, the command processing unit 105 determines whether the command processing mode is the host command partial processing mode (SB9). If it is not the host command partial processing mode, host command processing described later is executed, and the process proceeds to step SB7.

  If it is determined in step SB2 that the host command abnormal processing mode is set, or if it is determined in step SB9 that the host command partial processing mode is set, the command processing unit 105 notifies the end of the host command error (step SB11). The process ends (step SB8).

  FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a configuration example of the logical address management table 106. FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example in which the logical sector address on the memory card and the logical sector address on the storage disk are associated with the logical sector address for the storage device. Reference numeral 400 denotes a logical sector for the storage device 101 as viewed from the host device. The hatched cells are logical sectors on the memory card. Open cells are logical sectors on the storage disk. When the command processing unit 105 initializes the logical address management table 106, the logical address management table 106 has a configuration as shown in FIG.

  Here, the logical address management table information 401 is referred to for each index 402 when data is accessed from the host device 102 described later to the storage device 101. In the device identifier, 0b means a memory card, and 1b means a storage disk.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. The memory mapping method for the logical sector address is not limited to that shown in FIG. 4A, and any method may be used.

  Further, data may be transferred from the memory card 111 to the storage disk device 107. At this time, the logical address management table 106 is also automatically changed.

  FIG. 5 is an example of a flowchart showing processing (for example, step SB10 in FIG. 3) when the command set supplied to the storage device 101 is a data access command. A command is input from the host device 102 to access the data of the logical sector address X (step SC1). An index n (here, an integer n) is initialized (for example, set to 0) (step SC2), and a logical sector address corresponding to the index n is referred to. It is determined whether the logical sector address X to be accessed is included in the referenced logical sector address (range from the host logical start sector address 403 to the host logical end sector address 404) (step SC3). If not included, 1 is added to the index n (step SC4), and the process proceeds to the determination at step SC3. Steps SC3 to SC4 loop until a logical sector address X to be accessed is detected.

  When the logical sector address X to be accessed is detected in step SC3, the logical sector address X, the host logical start sector address 403 (assumed to be Y) that can be referred to by the index n, and the device logical start sector address 406 (Z Assuming that the logical sector address A on the storage medium when the access is actually executed is calculated from the following equation 1 (step SC5).

A = (X−Y) + Z (1)
From the device identifier information 405 corresponding to the index n, it is determined whether the logical sector address A to be accessed is included in the memory card 111 or the storage disk 107 (step SC6). If it is included in the memory card 111, the logical sector address A on the memory card 111 is accessed via the memory card interface 109 (step SC7), and the process is terminated (step SC9).

  If the logical sector address to be accessed is included in the storage disk 107, the logical sector address A on the storage disk 107 is accessed via the disk device controller 108 (step SC8), and the process is terminated (step SC9). ).

  According to the above-described embodiment, the two storage areas of the memory card 111 and the storage disk 107 can be used by assuming that they are one storage area by centrally managing them with the logical address management table 106.

  The processing flow shown here is performed in units of logical sector addresses. If the above-described command set accesses a plurality of logical sector addresses, this processing flow is executed as many times as necessary.

  Further, a configuration may be adopted in which a process executed when the storage medium is loaded is linked to the identification information of the storage medium, and the linked process is automatically executed when the identification information matches.

  Furthermore, it may be possible to set so that a device that is determined not to be used by the device identifier 405 is in a stopped state. As a result, power consumption can be reduced. Further, high-speed data transfer processing can be realized by selecting a storage device suitable for data writing.

  Further, it may be possible to set whether or not the two storage areas of the memory card 111 and the storage disk 107 are used as one storage area.

  Furthermore, a program for controlling the storage device 101 may be stored in the memory card 111. Accordingly, since the memory card starts up faster than the storage disk, the operation of the storage device 101 can be speeded up by including a setup program.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example in which the functions included in the command processing unit 105 in the apparatus of the present invention are made into blocks. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to such blocks.

  The command processing unit 105 includes a command set determination unit 105a. The command set discriminating unit 105a discriminates what processing the command set from the host device 102 received by the host interface 104 is to perform, and sends a control signal to the unit.

  In addition, the command processing unit 105 includes a connection status examining unit 105b1. The connection status checking unit 105b1 acquires the status (power supply state, specifications, etc.) of the host device 102. Further, information on the remaining capacity of the memory card 111 or the storage disk 107 that is currently installed is acquired. Further, when executing data write, information on the capacity of data to be written is acquired. Further, the command processing unit 105 includes a used device selection unit 105b2. The used device selection unit 105b2 can automatically select a device to be used based on the information acquired by the connection status examining unit 105b1. Or you may enable it to select by the setting from a user.

  Further, the command processing unit 105 includes a processing mode switching unit 105c. The processing mode switching unit 105 c can switch the processing mode of the command processing unit 105 according to the collation result notified from the identification information collating unit 114.

  Further, the command processing unit 105 includes a logical address management table creation unit 105d1. The logical address management table creation unit 105d1 can link the host logical address supplied from the host device 102 with the device logical address on the storage medium to create an index n and store it in the logical address management table 106. . When a new memory card is installed and registered as a dedicated memory card of the storage device 101, the logical address management table 106 is initialized and created again. Furthermore, it has a logical address management table reference unit 105d2. When the command set for accessing the storage area of the storage medium is supplied from the host device 102, the logical address management table reference unit 105d2 sets the host logical address X of the data to be accessed included in the supplied command set. , From the logical address management table 106. Further, the logical address A in the actual storage medium can be calculated from the detected host logical address X, host logical start sector address Y and device logical start sector address Z of the same index, and data access can be executed.

  Further, the command processing unit 105 includes a report processing unit 105e. The report processing unit 105 e can display the processing results (for example, the identification result from the identification information matching unit 114 and the status from the connection status examining unit) performed in the storage device 101 on the display unit of the host device 102. In addition, a setting menu for allowing the user to select various settings can be created and displayed.

  FIGS. 7A to 7E are display examples of the setting menu displayed by the report processing unit 105e. FIG. 7A shows an example of a warning displayed when no memory card is inserted. Reference numeral 701 denotes a window displayed on the display unit of the host apparatus 102 by the report processing unit 105e. A setting menu and a warning message are displayed here. Reference numeral 702 denotes a locked state in which the host device 102 cannot access the storage device 101 because the key memory card is not loaded. The icon 703 indicates that no memory card is inserted.

  FIG. 7B shows a message displayed when a memory card that has not been registered is loaded. Reference numeral 704 denotes an icon indicating that the attached memory card is not registered. Here, the attached memory card can be registered as a key of the storage disk 107 by an operation from the host device 102. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7C, it is possible to select whether or not to format the memory card. When formatting of the memory card is executed, a message as shown in FIG. 7D is displayed.

  FIG. 7E shows a message displayed when registration of the memory card is completed. An ID001 is assigned to the memory card. Reference numeral 705 denotes an icon indicating that a registered memory card 001 is attached.

  Here, the security function using the memory card can be turned on / off from the setting menu when a registered memory card is loaded. Here, when the security function is turned off, the device identifier 405 of the logical address management table 106 may be identified as indicating a logical sector on the storage disk, and only that may be picked up and read.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment as it is. The ID assigned to the memory card may be given an arbitrary number by the user or may be automatically given. In addition, the memory card is registered by an operation from the host device 102. However, a display unit and an operation unit may be installed in the storage device 101 and may be registered thereby.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. When a plurality of memory cards are used, security may be provided for each memory card in the storage area of the disk device to be used. For example, data in the storage disk 107 created with the memory card 001 may not be accessible when another memory card is used.

  FIGS. 8A to 8C are display examples of setting menus according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8A shows an example of a setting menu of the storage device 101. The icon indicates that a registered memory card 001 is installed. In this case, on / off of the security function of the storage area of the storage disk 107 corresponding to the memory card 001 can be selected. Further details can also be set.

  FIG. 8B is a display example of detailed settings regarding the memory card 001. The ID, sales company, type, and capacity of the memory card 001 are displayed. Further, the used area and free area of the memory card 001 are displayed. Furthermore, the capacity and free space of the storage disk 107 secured by the memory card 001 are displayed. Furthermore, a device selection setting for selecting whether to use the storage areas of the memory card 001 and the storage disk 107 as one storage area is displayed. Furthermore, it is possible to select ON / OFF of a power saving mode in which a device determined not to be used is set to be stopped. In addition, an item of initialization execution that can format the memory card is displayed.

  Here, sharing settings can be made. Here, it is shown that when the memory card 001 is attached to the storage device 101, the storage area of the storage disk 107 secured by the memory card 002 and the memory card 004 can be accessed. When the sharing setting item is selected, the display changes as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8C is a display example of the sharing setting menu. A list of registered memory cards in the identification information storage unit 113 of the storage device 101 is displayed. In other words, the sharing setting is performed by selecting the sharing setting cell of the ID to be shared and replacing the memory card with the selected ID.

  According to the above-described embodiment, a security function can be individually provided for each memory card used in the storage area in the storage disk 107, and extremely high safety is ensured. In addition, by sharing and setting accessible data by ID, data sharing can be realized safely and easily.

  Further, the memory card used in the present invention can be any memory as long as it has unique identification information or has a storage area for storing arbitrarily set identification information. There is no problem. Therefore, the user can select a cheap memory and a high memory in consideration of necessary capacity and cost.

  Further, the present embodiment is not limited to the configuration described above. A master memory card may be set so that all settings can be made freely. The medium used in the storage disk device may be a removable optical disk or a magnetic disk. In this case, matching of the ID corresponding to the ID of the memory card may be obtained.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a storage device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a verification process of the identification information verification unit shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing when the command processing unit shown in FIG. 1 receives a command set. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining processing when the initialization of the logical address management table is executed. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing when the command set supplied to the storage device is a data access command. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing basic elements of the characteristic portion according to the present invention. FIG. 7 shows a message display example when registering a memory card in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a display example of the setting menu of the storage device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Storage device, 102 ... Host device, 103 ... Host bus, 104 ... Host interface, 105 ... Command processing unit, 106 ... Logical address management table, 107 ... Storage disk device, 108 ... Disk control device, 109 ... Memory card slot 110 ... Memory card interface, 111 ... Memory card, 112 ... Memory card identification information, 113 ... Identification information storage section, 114 ... Identification information collation section, 400 ... Logical sector address, 401 ... Logical address management table information, 402 ... Index 403 ... Host logical start sector address 404 ... Host logical end sector address 405 ... Device identifier 406 ... Device logical start sector address 701 ... Message window 702 ... Lock icon 703 Not installed icon, 704 ... unregistered icon, 705 ... authenticated icon.

Claims (10)

A storage disk device for storing information;
A slot in which a memory card is installed;
A logical address management table for unifying and storing logical addresses on the memory card and the disk device;
A host interface for sending and receiving information to and from the host device;
A command processing unit that executes processing corresponding to a command sent from the host device via the host interface, and controls at least the storage disk device, the memory card, and the logical address management table;
A card identification unit for identifying a memory card installed in the slot under control of the command processing unit and notifying the command processing unit of a normal processing mode only for a pre-registered memory card; ,
A storage device comprising: The card identification unit
An identification information storage unit for storing first identification information of the memory card;
Identification information for collating a plurality of first identification information stored in the identification information storage unit with the second identification information of the memory card mounted in the slot and notifying the command processing unit of the collation result A collation unit;
The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising:   2. The command processing unit according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether to execute a command from the host device based on the verification result notified from the identification information verification unit. Storage device.   The command processing unit generates a unified logical address by linking the storage disk device and the logical address on the memory card to a logical address on the host device, and manages the unified logical address as a logical address The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a logical address management table creating unit for storing in the table.   The command processing unit generates a unified logical address by linking the logical address on the memory device with the logical address on the host device, and generates a device identifier in the unified logical address. 2. The storage device according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing in the logical address management table. A storage disk device for storing information, a slot in which a memory card is inserted, a logical address management table for storing the memory card and logical addresses on the disk device in a centralized manner, and transmission / reception of information to / from the host device A host interface to do
A command processing unit that executes processing corresponding to a command sent from the host device via the host interface and controls at least the storage disk device, the memory card, and the logical address management table, and is attached to the slot. A storage area management method for managing a storage area of the storage disk device and the memory card, comprising a card identification unit for identifying a memory card.
The command processing unit and the card identification unit are
Storing the first identification information of the memory card in advance,
Read second identification information of the memory card installed in the slot;
Collating the second identification information with the first identification information;
Notifying the verification result to the command processing unit,
If the verification results match, permit data access from the host device to the memory card and the storage disk device,
When reading data, the logical address of data to be reproduced sent from the host device via the host interface is detected from the logical address management table,
From the detected logical address, calculate the logical address on the device where the data is actually recorded,
Data access is performed on a device including the calculated logical address.
And a recording area management method. In the process of storing the first identification information,
7. The recording area management method according to claim 6, wherein when the identification information is not included in the memory card, arbitrary identification information is created in a storage area of the memory card. In the data access permission process,
7. The recording area according to claim 6, wherein a storage area on the storage disk is associated with identification information of the memory card, and the associated storage area can be accessed only when the memory card is attached. Management method. In the data access permission process,
7. The recording area management method according to claim 6, wherein the identification information associated with the storage area can share the accessible storage area with the identification information of another memory card. In the first identification information storing process,
7. The recording area management method according to claim 6, wherein a main memory card capable of changing the setting of all identification information and accessing the storage area can be registered.

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