JP2008103079A - Recording medium, recording method, recording device, reproduction method, and reproducing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording medium capable of effectively utilizing a recording area and accurately and continuously reproducing old and new data, when adding and recording new data onto the recording area. <P>SOLUTION: In the recording medium, linking position information indicating a position for dividing a piece of information into a plurality of parts for recording is recorded at a specific position in an error correction block, when recording the information for each error correction block unit. In the recording medium, each error correction block comprises a prescribed number of sectors, each sector comprises a prescribed number of sync frames, and the linking position information is recorded in a data area near the start position of a specific sync frame in the specific sector. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention is an old recording recorded in advance on an information recording medium such as a high-density optical disk represented by DVD-RW (DVD-RW rewritable) which is compatible with a DVD-ROM and capable of recording 1000 times or more. The present invention belongs to a recording medium, a recording method, a recording device, a reproducing method, and a reproducing device capable of additionally recording new recording information continuously to the information.

  In general, in an information recording medium such as a DVD-RW that can be recorded 1000 times or more with compatibility with a DVD-ROM, if an attempt is made to overwrite new recording information in an area where old recording information is recorded later, Since there is no linking area for the recording, a shift occurs in the frequency and phase relationship at the linking position of the old recording information and the new recording information, and the data cannot be read due to discontinuity.

  Therefore, in the information recording method and apparatus for additionally recording new recording information on this type of recording type information recording medium, when recording new recording information continuously to the old recording information, conventionally, the old recording information and A continuous area corresponding to an amount of information corresponding to an error correction unit such as an ECC (Error Correcting Code) block in the error correction processing used in the old recording information or the new recording information is provided in the continuous section with the new recording information. For example, meaningless dummy information or a predetermined RF (Radio Frequency) signal is recorded in the last part of the old recording information and the first part of the new recording information corresponding to the continuous area, and then the original information is recorded. Recording of the new record information has been performed. Here, the one ECC block is composed of 16 sectors.

  The reason for providing this continuous portion is that when the newly recorded information and the old recorded information recorded later are continuously reproduced, if the continuous portion is not provided, the recording area of the old recorded information and the recording of the new recorded information are recorded. This is because each RF signal may become discontinuous at the boundary with the region, and in this case, the focus servo and tracking servo at the time of reproduction may become unstable.

  In addition, the reason for providing a continuous portion for one ECC block and recording meaningless dummy information or the like there is that error correction is performed for each error correction unit in the conventional error correction processing. When new record information is recorded from the middle of the error correction unit, when the old record information and the new record information are continuously reproduced after the new record information is recorded, the beginning of the new record information in the error correction unit This is because error correction is not performed correctly, and therefore accurate continuous reproduction cannot be performed. In this respect, if it is determined beforehand that dummy information or a predetermined RF signal which is meaningless in the continuous area as described above is recorded for one ECC block, the old recording information and the new recording information are stored in the continuous part. Even if both are destroyed due to overlapping, the information recorded in that part is meaningless dummy information or a predetermined RF signal. By reproducing the new record information from the ECC block, the old record information and the new record information can be reproduced.

Furthermore, another reason for providing the continuous area is that if new record information is recorded continuously to the old record information without providing the continuous area, both of the old record information and the new record information are destroyed. This is because if the destruction range at that time exceeds the error correction unit, the destroyed record information may not be repaired. As a proposal for solving this problem, the one described in JP-A-9-270171 has been proposed. This proposal has a conventional error correction unit, for example, a capacity of about 32 kbytes, and since this area is filled with information unrelated to reproduction, the above-mentioned high density that requires a large amount of information to be recorded. New recording information is added while effectively using the recording area of the information recording medium to solve the problem that the recording area on the information recording medium cannot be effectively used in a disk or the like. An object of the present invention is to provide an information recording method and apparatus capable of recording and accurately performing continuous reproduction of old recorded information and new recorded information.
JP-A-9-270171

  However, in the conventional linking method described above, it is determined that the linking portion is located near the rear end portion of the specific data portion of the data divided and recorded in the error correction unit. For this reason, at the time of reproduction, discontinuity of the reproduction data occurs in the linking portion, resulting in a shift in frequency and phase in the reproduction data. Therefore, in order to eliminate this deviation, the playback device side starts the PLL operation. However, a required time is required to restore the original state without this deviation. Therefore, in the conventional linking method, since the data to be reproduced cannot be reproduced during the period until the deviation is eliminated after the occurrence of linking, the reproduction data has a frequency or phase deviation. It was big. Specifically, for example, in the configuration of an error correction unit composed of columns and rows with a data capacity of about 32 kByte (bytes) (data configuration in each sector constituting one ECC block shown in FIG. 4B), the above linking is performed. Since the position is in the vicinity of the rear end of the data area of the second sync frame H1 (in the PI) and new data is linked to the old data before and after this position, discontinuity occurs in the old and new data. Further, error correction of data using the above-described PI is performed in units of two sync frames. As a result, at the time of reproduction, the frequency and phase shift of the new data with respect to the frequency and phase of the old data occurs at the joint of the old and new data. The playback device starts the PLL operation so as to eliminate this shift, but it takes a required time until the frequency and phase of the old and new data are aligned (for example, the time for reproducing data for two sync frames). ). For this reason, even when the next horizontal row (the third sync frame H2 and the fourth sync frame H3) of the second sync frame H1 is played back, frequency and phase shifts still occur in the playback data. . Such a shift in frequency and phase is eliminated during reproduction after the fifth sync frame H3. Therefore, there is a problem that data of a total of two rows (first sync frame H0 to fourth sync frame H3) and a total of four sync frames cannot be reproduced.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems. (1) The configuration of the error correction unit described above is 2 as in the data configuration in each sector constituting one ECC block shown in FIG. The data for sync frames is a horizontal line, and there are many lines. (2) Data whose frequency and phase shifts continue as a result of data discontinuity in the linking part is approximately 2 sync frames. This is achieved by paying attention to a certain point, and from this, near the leading end of the data for two sync frames (that is, the data area near the leading end of the first sync frame in the unit of two sync frames). By positioning the linking portion, it is possible to obtain reproduction data having no frequency or phase shift after the reproduction period of two sync frames has elapsed. Compared to the conventional method, the amount of data that cannot be reproduced can be halved, so that the amount of such errors can be minimized, and the recording area of the recording medium can be effectively utilized while newly recording information can be additionally recorded. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium, a recording method, and a recording apparatus capable of accurately performing continuous reproduction of old recording information and new recording information. In addition, it is possible to connect the recording switching portion at the linking position, but since the data is partially destroyed in the linking sector in the ECC block, the probability that an uncorrectable error will occur during error correction. Even if there is less, there is a possibility that a data error will occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a recording medium, a recording method and apparatus, a reproducing method and an apparatus that prevent the occurrence of data errors during reproduction and enable stable reproduction. Objective.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides the following recording medium, recording method, recording apparatus, reproducing method, and reproducing apparatus.
(1) A recording medium in which, when recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block, and each error correction block includes: The sector is composed of a predetermined number of sectors, each sector is composed of a predetermined number of sync frames, and the linking position is provided in a data area near the head position of the specific sync frame in the specific sector. A recording medium.
(2) When recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit, a recording medium in which a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block, wherein each error correction block is , Each sector is composed of 26 sync frames, and the linking position is provided in the data area immediately after the sync code of the third sync frame in the first sector. A recording medium characterized by the above.
(3) When recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit, a recording medium in which a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block, , Each sector is composed of 26 sync frames, and the linking position is in the data area immediately after the sync code of the third sync frame in the first sector, and the data A recording medium provided between the first byte and 10 bytes of an area.
(4) A recording method in which when one piece of information is additionally recorded for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of the additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block of the recording medium. A first step of detecting a specific sector in an error correction block of one piece of information to be additionally recorded, and a second step of detecting a specific sync frame from a plurality of sync frames constituting the specific sector And a third step of additionally recording a new piece of information with the first byte of the data area in the specific sync frame detected in the second step as a linking position. Recording method.
(5) A recording apparatus that provides a linking position indicating the head of additional recording at a specific position in the error correction block of the recording medium when recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit. First detecting means for detecting a specific sector in an error correction block of one information to be additionally recorded, and a second detecting unit for detecting a specific sync frame from a plurality of sync frames constituting the specific sector A detecting unit; and a recording unit for additionally recording one piece of new information with the first byte of the data area in the specific sync frame detected by the second detecting unit as a linking position. Recording device.
(6) a step of reproducing an information signal of an error correction block including a plurality of sectors from a recording medium, a step of generating a timing corresponding to a linking position in the error correction block, and the linking based on the timing A reproduction method comprising a step of optimizing a reproduction information signal before and after a position.
(7) Based on the timing, reproducing means for reproducing an information signal of an error correction block composed of a plurality of sectors from a recording medium, timing generation means for generating a timing corresponding to a linking position in the error correction block, and A reproduction apparatus comprising optimization means for optimizing reproduction information signals before and after the linking position.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a specific sync frame in a specific sector of the error correction block (for example, near the front end of the data area in the second sync frame of the first sector, specifically, Set the linking part (linking position) to 3 bytes from the 1st byte to the 3rd byte of this data area, or 3 bytes from the 1st byte to the 10th byte of this data area. As a result, it is possible to obtain a recording medium in which information is additionally recorded after the recorded information. As a result, when reproducing the recording medium, the linking position is present even if the linking position is reproduced and scanned. After two sync frame periods have elapsed from the sync frame, it is possible to obtain high-quality playback data that is free from frequency and phase shifts. A recording medium, a recording method, and a recording method that can improve the connection and reproduction with additional information that is additionally recorded later, and can halve the amount of non-reproducible data at the linking position as compared with the conventional one. A recording apparatus, a reproducing method, and a reproducing apparatus can be provided.

Next, embodiments of the recording medium, recording method, and recording apparatus of the present invention will be described. The recording medium of the present invention is a recording medium in which a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block when one information is recorded for each error correction block unit. The error correction block is composed of a predetermined number of sectors, each sector is composed of a predetermined number of sync frames, and the linking position is a data area near the start position of the specific sync frame in the specific sector The recording medium is provided in the recording medium.
The recording medium of the present invention is a recording medium in which, when recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block, Each error correction block is composed of 16 sectors, each sector is composed of 26 sync frames, and the linking position is in the data area immediately after the sync code of the third sync frame in the first sector. The recording medium is provided in the recording medium.

  The recording medium of the present invention is a recording medium in which, when recording one piece of information for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block, Each error correction block is composed of 16 sectors, each sector is composed of 26 sync frames, and the linking position is in the data area immediately after the sync code of the third sync frame in the first sector. And a recording medium provided between the first byte and 10 bytes of the data area.

  The recording method of the present invention is a recording method in which when one information is additionally recorded for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of the additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block of the recording medium. A first step of detecting a specific sector in an error correction block of one information to be additionally recorded on the recording medium; and a specific sync frame from a plurality of sync frames constituting the specific sector And a third step of additionally recording a new piece of information with the first byte of the data area in the specific sync frame detected in the second step as a linking position. It is a recording method characterized by comprising.

  The recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus in which when one piece of information is recorded for each error correction block unit, a linking position indicating the head of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block of the recording medium. First detecting means for detecting a specific sector in an error correction block of one information to be additionally recorded on the recording medium, and a specific sync frame from a plurality of sync frames constituting the specific sector And a recording means for additionally recording one piece of new information with the first byte of the data area in the specific sync frame detected by the second detecting means as a linking position. The recording apparatus is provided with the recording apparatus.

  Furthermore, the recording medium of the present invention performs predetermined signal processing on recording information divided in advance for each unit of row and column of error correction, and stores processing recording information composed of a plurality of recording units. The recording medium is characterized in that the position to be additionally recorded is the head position of the error correction row.

  Furthermore, the recording medium of the present invention has a structure in which recording information is arranged after control information such as a sync code in the preset error correction row, and a position for additional recording is the row of the error correction. The recording medium is located immediately after the control information such as the sync code.

  Further, the recording method of the present invention performs predetermined signal processing on the recording information divided in advance for each unit of row and column of error correction, and generates processing recording information composed of a plurality of recording units. An information recording method for recording the processing record information on an information recording medium, wherein the processing record information is generated and the position to be additionally recorded on the information recording medium is a position immediately after the error correction row. Is a recording method characterized by the above.

  Further, the recording method of the present invention has a structure in which recording information is arranged after control information such as a sync code in the preset error correction row, and the position to be additionally recorded on the information recording medium is The recording method is characterized in that the position is immediately after control information such as a sync code in a row of error correction.

  Further, the recording apparatus of the present invention comprises means for performing predetermined signal processing on recording information divided in advance for each predetermined error correction row and column unit, and processing recording information comprising a plurality of recording units. Generating means, information recording means for recording the processing recording information on an information recording medium, and additional recording means for setting the position of additional recording on the information recording medium as a position immediately after the row of the error correction. It is a recording device.

  Furthermore, the recording apparatus of the present invention has a structure in which recording information is arranged after control information such as a sync code in the preset error correction row, and a position for additional recording on the information recording medium is provided. The recording apparatus is characterized by comprising a position additional recording means immediately after control information such as a sync code in the row of error correction.

  Next, preferred embodiments of the recording medium, recording method, and recording apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, although the following embodiment demonstrates embodiment which applied this invention about the information recording device for recording information with respect to DVD-RW, other additional recordable CD-R, It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied even when a recording medium such as CD-RW or DVD + RW is used.

  [Embodiment of Recording Format] Hereinafter, “Embodiment of Recording Format” used in the present invention will be described first. First, a general physical format when recording information is recorded on a DVD-RW and an error correction process for the recording information will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, an error correction process in the DVD-RW of the present embodiment and an ECC block as an error correction unit in the error correction process will be described with reference to FIG.

  In general, recorded information recorded on a DVD-RW has a physical structure including a plurality of data sectors 20 shown in FIG. In one data sector 20, from the head, ID information 21 indicating the start position of the data sector 20, an ID information error correction code (IED) 22 for correcting an error of the ID information 21, It is composed of preliminary data (for example, CPM) 23, a data area 24 for storing main data to be recorded, and an error detection code (EDC) 25 for detecting an error in the data area 24. Recording information to be recorded is constituted by being continuous.

  Next, processing when an ECC block is configured using the data sector 20 will be described with reference to FIG. When an ECC block is configured using the data sector 20, as shown in FIG. 1B, first, one data sector 20 is divided horizontally by 172 bytes, and each divided data (this) Are hereinafter referred to as data blocks 33) in the vertical direction. At this time, 12 rows of data blocks 33 are arranged in the vertical direction.

  Then, a 10-byte ECC code (PI (Pality In) code) 31 is added to the end of the data block 33 for each horizontal data block 33 arranged in the vertical direction to form one correction block 34. To do. At this stage, the correction blocks 34 to which the ECC code 31 is added are arranged in 12 rows in the vertical direction. Thereafter, this process is repeated for 16 data sectors 20 minutes. As a result, a correction block 34 of 192 rows is obtained.

  Next, with the correction blocks 34 of the 192 rows arranged in the vertical direction, the correction block 34 of the 192 rows is divided in the vertical direction from the beginning for each byte, and each divided data is divided. On the other hand, 16 ECC outer codes (PO (Pality Out) codes) 32 are added. Note that the ECC outer code 32 is also added to the portion of the ECC code 31 in the correction block 34.

  Through the above processing, one ECC block 30 including 16 data sectors 20 is formed as shown in FIG. At this time, the total amount of information included in one ECC block 30 is (172 + 10) bytes × (192 + 16) rows = 37856 bytes, and the data recorded in the actual data area 24 is 2048 bytes. X16 = 32768 bytes.

  In the ECC block 30 shown in FIG. 1B, 1-byte data is indicated by “D #. *”. For example, “D1.0” indicates 1-byte data arranged in the first row and 0th column, and “D190.170” indicates 1-byte data arranged in the 190th row and 170th column. Show. Accordingly, the ECC inner code 31 is arranged in the 172nd to 181st columns, and the ECC outer code 32 is arranged in the 192nd to 207th rows.

  Furthermore, one correction block 34 is continuously recorded on the DVD-RW. Here, as shown in FIG. 1B, the ECC block 30 is configured so as to include both the ECC inner code 31 and the ECC outer code 32 in the horizontal (horizontal) direction in FIG. 1B. This is because the correction of the data is performed by the ECC inner code 31 and the correction of the data arranged in the vertical (vertical) direction in FIG. That is, in the ECC block 30 shown in FIG. 1B, it is possible to perform error correction twice in the horizontal (horizontal) direction and the vertical (vertical) direction, which is used for a conventional CD (Compact Disk) or the like. It is configured to perform error correction more powerfully than the error correction processing.

  More specifically, for example, one correction block 34 (including a total of 182 bytes of data including the ECC code 31 for one row, as described above, is continuously recorded on the DVD-RW. If it is up to 5 bytes, it can be corrected even if it is destroyed by a scratch or the like. However, if all of one row is destroyed by a DVD-RW scratch or the like in 6 bytes or more, the code 31 in the ECC It cannot be corrected. However, even if all the columns are destroyed due to scratches or the like, when viewed from the vertical direction, only one byte of data is destroyed for one ECC outer code 32. Therefore, if error correction is performed using the ECC outer code 32 of each column, even if all of one correction block 34 is destroyed, correct error correction can be performed and reproduction can be performed accurately. However, considering the occurrence of acquired scratches and the like, it goes without saying that if the damage in the row (horizontal) becomes large, it will lead to an error in the next vertical row (horizontal), so that it will be kept to a minimum. Incidentally, this vertical error can be corrected even if there are 8 horizontal rows (16 rows by erasure correction).

  Next, how the data sector 20 configured in the ECC block 30 shown in FIG. 1B is specifically recorded on the DVD-RW will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, data indicated by “D #. *” Corresponds to the data described in FIG. When recording the ECC block 30 on a DVD-RW, first, as shown in FIG. 2A, the ECC block 30 is arranged in a line in the horizontal direction for each correction block 34 and interleaved. It is divided into 16 recording sectors 40. At this time, one recording sector 40 includes 2366 bytes (37856 bytes ÷ 16) of information, and the data sector 20 and the ECC inner code 31 or the ECC outer code 32 are mixed therein. However, ID information 21 (see FIG. 1A) in the data sector 20 is arranged at the head of each recording sector 40.

  Then, one recording sector 40 is divided into 91-byte data 41 as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C, and a sync H is added to each. Thereafter, the recording sector 40 in this state is subjected to 8-16 modulation, whereby one sync frame 42 is formed for each data 41. At this time, one sync frame 42 includes sync H 'and data 43 as shown in FIG. The amount of information in one sync frame 42 is 91 bytes × 8 × (16/8) = 1456 bytes, and information is written to the DVD-RW disc in a form in which the sync frames 42 are continuous. At this time, one recording sector 40 includes 26 sync frames 42.

  This will be collectively described with reference to FIG. The leading sector of an ECC block consisting of 16 physical sectors is configured as shown in FIG. In other words, the horizontal row is composed of 13 rows including 172 bytes of data, 10 bytes of PI and 4 bytes of sync, 186 bytes, and 12 rows of vertical columns plus one row of PO. There are 26 syncs of 2 bytes from H0 to H25.

  By recording the information on the DVD-RW disc by configuring the physical format described above, and performing 8-16 demodulation and deinterleaving when reproducing the information (see FIG. 2), the original ECC block 30 Since the amount of data blocks to be destroyed can be minimized, information can be reproduced most accurately by performing strong error correction as described above.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the position for additional recording, that is, the linking position will be described. FIG. 4 is based on an ECC block conforming to the DVD-R standard shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, here, the linking position L is defined as a range between 82 and 87 bytes from the beginning of the second sync H1 of the first sector of the ECC block. That is, the second sync frame sy2 is composed of a 2-byte second sync H1, 81-byte data, and 10-byte PI code (PI). Will be linked. Before and after the linking position L, the phase and frequency of the recording data fluctuate (deviate), so that if the clock is generated by the PLL or the like with respect to the previous data and the data is to be established, the PLL cannot be locked and the data is lost. It may become impossible to read.

  If this linking position L is, for example, the 82nd byte position from the beginning of the second sync H1, 10 bytes of data between the 82nd and 91st bytes cannot be read. That is, since the width of the linking position L is 6 bytes, and the correction capability of the PI row is up to 5 bytes as described above, the first row (that is, the first and second sync frames sy1, 2) Each data) cannot be corrected. Next, if the PLL is locked before the second row including the sync of H2 (that is, each data of the third and fourth sync frames sy3 and sy) reaches the sync position of the third sync H2. Although it can be read out, if there is a variation in frequency in addition to the phase, a signal of several tens of bytes is necessary for the PLL to pull in, and the third sync H2 cannot be detected. As a result, the data in the second row cannot be established, and this row becomes uncorrectable.

  As described above, even if 8 PI columns are broken, correction can be performed by PO, so that data can be finally read. However, there is a problem that a potential error in two columns is weak against an increase in acquired errors.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5 shows the specifications of a DVD-RW, which is an example of the recording medium of the present invention. Here, the linking position L is defined as a range of 1 to 3 bytes from the beginning of the data area immediately after the third sync H2 of the first sector of the ECC block. That is, the width of the linking position L is 3 bytes (half of the case shown in FIG. 4), and the third sync frame sy3 is composed of 2 bytes of the third sync H2, 81 bytes of data, 10 bytes of PI. Therefore, linking is performed using the first to third bytes from the beginning of the data area of the third sync frame sy3. This linking position L is applied to the top data position (third byte from the top of the data area) of the data area of the third sync frame sy3.

  Before and after the linking position L, the phase and frequency of the recording data fluctuate (deviate), so that when the clock is generated by the PLL or the like with respect to the previous data and the data is to be established, the PLL cannot be locked and the data is lost. It may become impossible to read. If this linking position L is the position from the beginning of the data area immediately after the third sync H3 to the second byte, for example, 89 bytes of data between the second and 91st bytes cannot be read. Since the correction capability of the PI column is up to 5 bytes as described above, the second row (that is, each data of the third and fourth sync frames sy3 and 4) cannot be corrected. However, until the timing of the next third row (that is, the data of the fifth and sixth sync frames sy5 and sy), it is sufficient for the PLL to pull in even under the worst condition. As a result, the sink of the fourth sink H4 can be detected. As a result, although the data of the second row cannot be established, it is only the second row that becomes uncorrectable, and as shown in FIG. It is possible to prevent the data from being destroyed due to the error correction impossible in two rows of two rows. That is, the amount of data destroyed as a PI column can be halved.

  It has been described that the linking position L is provided in the third byte from the beginning of the data area of the third sync frame sy3. In addition to this, (1) the linking position L is the data area of the third sync frame sy3. (2) The linking position L may be provided in the third byte from the beginning of the data area of the first sync frame sy1, or (3) ) Of course, the linking position L may be provided using 3 bytes from the beginning of the data area of the first sync frame sy3 to the 10th byte.

  [Embodiment of Information Recording Apparatus] Next, information is recorded on a DVD-RW in a physical format having the “embodiment of recording format” described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. An embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the following embodiment, in a DVD-RW, prepits in which address information on the DVD-RW is recorded are formed in advance on an information track on which the recording information is to be recorded. In some cases, address information on the DVD-RW is obtained by detecting the pre-pits in advance, thereby detecting and recording a recording position on the DVD-RW on which recording information is recorded.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a recording medium, a recording method, and a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 shows a schematic configuration of an optical disc apparatus as an embodiment to which the recording medium, recording method and apparatus according to the present invention are applied. In the embodiment of the present invention, for example, MPEG2 is adopted as a compression / decompression technique, and a rewritable DVD-RW is cited as an example of an optical disk. Further, in the configuration of FIG. 6, many portions normally provided in a so-called DVD device or the like are omitted.

  In FIG. 6, an optical disk 1 is a recording type optical disk made of, for example, a phase change material. In this embodiment, for example, a so-called DVD-RW disk is used. In the DVD-RW disc, sectors (tracks) are spirally arranged in the disc, the rotation is controlled at a constant linear velocity (CLV), and one block is composed of 16 consecutive sectors. A block is used as the error correction processing unit (ECC block). The optical disk 1 is attached to the spindle motor 2 by a chucking mechanism (not shown).

  The spindle motor 2 is driven to rotate by a driver 7 and rotates the optical disc 1 chucked by a chucking mechanism. The spindle motor 2 includes an FG generator and a rotational position signal detection means such as a Hall element. The FG signal from the FG generator and the rotational position signal from the Hall element are fed back to the servo unit 8 via the driver 7 as a rotational servo signal.

  The optical head 3 uses a semiconductor laser as a light source, forms a laser spot on a predetermined track of the optical disk 1 by a collimator lens, an objective lens, and the like, and drives the objective lens by a biaxial actuator to thereby obtain a laser spot. Focusing and tracking. The semiconductor laser is driven by a laser drive circuit, and the biaxial actuator is driven by a driver 7.

  The key input unit 10 includes a plurality of keys operated by the user, and sends key operation input information from the user to the system controller 9. That is, from the key input unit 10, various key operation input information for instructing start of recording, start of reproduction, stop of recording, stop of reproduction, and the like can be input by the user.

  The interface unit 13 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data to and from a computer, for example, and is an interface of so-called ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface), for example.

  The system controller 9 uses the LSI of each part of the optical disk apparatus according to the present embodiment as key operation input information from the key input unit 10 according to various key operation input information such as recording start, reproduction start, recording stop, and reproduction stop. (Signal processing unit 5, servo unit 8, amplifier unit 4, AV encoding / decoding unit 6, etc.) are controlled. Data is transmitted and received via the interface unit 13. For example, when the resolution of an image to be recorded or a scene with a high speed such as a car race is separated, or when control data for setting with priority on recording time is input from the key input unit 10 or the input terminal 12 The system controller 9 recognizes the control data, changes the recording time based on the recognition result, and allows an external user to select the setting.

  Here, for example, when a signal is reproduced from the optical disc 1, an instruction to start reproduction is given from the key input unit 10, and the system controller 9 at this time responds to the instruction to start reproduction by an amplifier unit 4, which will be described later. The servo unit 8 and the driver 7 are controlled. That is, when reproducing a signal from the optical disk 1, the system controller 9 first rotates the optical disk 1 and irradiates a laser spot on the optical disk 1, and is formed in advance on a signal track on the optical disk 1. The address signal is read, the target sector (track) to be reproduced is found from the address information, and the optical head 3 is moved so that the laser spot is arranged on the target sector (track). After the movement to the target sector is completed, signal reproduction from the target sector is started.

  The amplifier unit 4 at the time of reproduction of the optical disk 1 amplifies an RF signal reproduced from the target sector of the optical disk 1 by the optical head 3, and also reproduces a reproduction signal and a tracking and focusing servo signal (tracking error and focus signal) from this RF signal. Error signal). The amplifier unit 4 includes at least an equalizer that optimizes the frequency characteristics of the reproduction signal, a PLL (phase lock loop) circuit that extracts a byte clock from the reproduction signal and generates a speed servo signal, and outputs from the PLL circuit A jitter generator for extracting a jitter component from a comparison between the byte clock and the time axis of the reproduction signal; The jitter value generated by the amplifier unit 4 is sent to the system controller 9, the tracking and focusing servo signal and the speed servo signal are sent to the servo unit 8, and the reproduction signal is sent to the signal processing unit 5.

  The servo unit 8 receives the speed servo signal from the amplifier unit 4 and the focusing and tracking servo signal of the optical head 3, and also receives the rotation servo signal from the spindle motor 2, and responds based on each servo signal. Servo control of the part. More specifically, the servo unit 8 determines the spindle motor 2 based on the speed servo signal generated by the PLL circuit of the amplifier unit 4 according to the disk rotation speed and the rotation servo signal from the spindle motor 2. A rotation speed servo control signal is generated so that the optical disk is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed, that is, the optical disk is rotated at a predetermined constant linear velocity. Although details will be described later, in the present embodiment, the optical disc 1 is recorded at a recording speed (recording data transfer rate) / reproduction speed (reproduction data transfer rate) faster than the maximum data transfer rate at the time of internal compression / decompression. Therefore, the servo unit 8 generates a rotation speed servo control signal for rotating the optical disc 1 at a constant linear speed that matches the recording speed / reproduction speed. The servo unit 8 generates an optical head servo control signal for the optical head 3 to accurately focus and track on the optical disc 1 based on the focusing and tracking servo signal. These rotational speed servo control signals and optical head servo control signals are sent to the driver 7. Hereinafter, the recording speed (recording data transfer rate) of the optical disc 1 is referred to as a recording rate, and the playback speed (playback data transfer rate) of the optical disc 1 is referred to as a playback rate.

  The driver 7 operates based on each servo control signal from the servo unit 8, and rotates the spindle motor 2 in accordance with the rotation speed servo control signal from the servo unit 8, and generates an optical head servo control signal. In response, the biaxial actuator of the optical head 3 is driven. In the present embodiment, the driver 7 drives the spindle motor 2 in accordance with the rotation speed servo control signal to rotate the optical disc 1 at a predetermined linear velocity, and the driver 7 controls the optical head servo. By driving the biaxial actuator of the optical head 3 in accordance with the signal, focusing and tracking of the laser spot on the optical disc is performed.

  The signal processing unit 5 at the time of reproducing the optical disc 1 performs A / D (analog / digital) conversion on the reproduction signal supplied from the amplifier unit 4, and performs synchronization detection from the digital signal obtained by the A / D conversion. Then, the so-called EFM + signal (8-16 modulated signal) applied to the digital signal is decoded to NRZ (Non Return to Zero) data, and further error correction processing is performed, so that the address data of the sector on the optical disc 1 is obtained. And playback data. The address data and the synchronization signal obtained by the signal processing unit 5 are sent to the system controller 9. Details of the error correction processing and the like performed by the signal processing unit 5 will be described later.

  Here, when the reproduction data is data that has been compression-encoded at, for example, an MPEG variable transfer rate, the optical disk apparatus according to the present embodiment stores the data in, for example, a 64-Mbyte D-RAM (track buffer memory 7). By temporarily storing and controlling writing / reading of the track buffer memory 7, the time fluctuation of the variable transfer rate of the reproduced data is absorbed. The track buffer memory used in the present embodiment is a buffer memory that temporarily stores compressed data, for example, for absorbing a variable transfer rate generally provided in a DVD. It includes a buffer memory and a buffer memory used for MPEG encoding and decoding. Management of the storage capacity and storage area of the track buffer memory 7 and writing / reading control are performed by, for example, the system controller 9 via the signal processing unit 5.

  The AV encoding / decoding unit 6 at the time of reproduction of the optical disc 1 is the case where the reproduction data supplied from the track buffer memory 7 is data that is compression-encoded in MPEG2, for example, and audio data and video data are multiplexed. The multiplexed compressed audio data and compressed video data are separated, and each is decompressed and decoded by MPEG2, further D / A (digital / analog) converted, and output from the terminal 11 as an audio signal and a video signal. To do. The video signal output from the terminal 11 is processed by an NTSC (National Television System Committee) encoder (not shown) and displayed on a monitor device, and the audio signal is sent to a speaker (not shown) and emitted. Note that the decompression decoding speed (data transfer rate at the time of decompression decoding, hereinafter referred to as the decompression rate) in the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 at the time of reproduction is a recording to be described later set at the time of recording. The expansion rate depends on the mode. In other words, the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 is capable of decompression decoding processing according to a plurality of decompression rates, determines the decompression rate according to the recording mode set at the time of recording, and at that rate Perform decompression decoding. The information of the recording mode is recorded on the optical disc 1 together with the recording data as control data, and the control data is read when the optical disc 1 is reproduced and sent to the system controller 9, and the system controller 9 is based on the control data. Thus, the expansion rate of the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 is set. Note that the D / A conversion can also be performed outside the AV encoding / decoding unit 6.

  On the other hand, for example, when performing signal recording on the optical disc 1, a command to start recording is issued from the key input unit 10, and the system controller 9 responds to the recording start command to the amplifier unit 4, the servo unit 8, and the driver 7. To control. That is, when performing signal recording on the optical disc 1, first, the optical disc 1 is rotated and a laser spot is irradiated onto the optical disc 1, and an address signal previously formed as a prepit on the signal track on the optical disc 1 is recorded. The target sector (track) to be recorded is found from the address information, and the optical head 3 is moved so that the laser spot is arranged on the target sector (track). The details of the address signal recorded in advance on the optical disc 1 will be described later.

  Also, audio and video signals to be recorded are input from the terminal 11, and these signals are sent to the AV encoding / decoding unit 6. At the time of recording on the optical disc, the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 performs A / D conversion on the audio signal and the video signal, and respectively converts the audio data and the video data into MPEG2 compression codes at a speed corresponding to a recording mode to be described later. Are further multiplexed and sent to the signal processing unit 5. Hereinafter, the compression coding speed (data transfer rate at the time of compression coding) in the AV coding / decoding unit 6 will be referred to as a compression rate. That is, the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 can perform compression encoding at a plurality of compression rates according to the recording mode.

  The 16-Mbyte D-RAM 8 is a memory for temporarily storing data when the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 performs compression / decompression. This D-RAM 8 may have a capacity of 64 Mbytes. A / D conversion can also be performed outside the AV encoding / decoding unit 6.

  In addition to video and audio information, the apparatus according to the present embodiment can record and reproduce still image information and data such as a program file on a computer. In this case, data such as still image information and program files are supplied from the interface unit 13, and these data are sent to the signal processing unit 5 via the system controller 9.

  In the signal processing unit 5 at the time of recording on the optical disc, an error correction code is added to the compressed data from the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 and the data such as the program file via the system controller 9, and NRZ and EFM + Encoding is performed, and further, a synchronization signal supplied from the system controller 9 is added to generate recording data.

  Here, the recording data is temporarily stored in the track buffer memory 7 and then read out from the track buffer memory 7 at a reading rate corresponding to the recording rate to the optical disc 1. Details of the storage capacity and storage area management and write / read control of the track buffer memory 7 at the time of recording will be described later. The recording data read from the track buffer memory 7 is subjected to predetermined modulation processing by the signal processing unit 5 and sent to the amplifier unit 3 as a recording signal. The optical head 3 uses the target sector ( Track).

  At this time, the system controller 9 performs A / D (analog / digital) conversion of the jitter value from the amplifier unit 4 and measures the waveform, and the waveform correction in the amplifier unit 4 at the time of recording is performed according to the measured jitter value and asymmetry value. Change the amount. That is, when a signal is recorded on the optical disc 1, the amplifier unit 4 corrects the waveform of the signal from the signal processing unit 5 and sends the waveform-corrected signal to the laser drive circuit of the optical head 4.

  Next, the address of the data area on the optical disc 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  The optical disk 1 of the present embodiment is a DVD-RW disk that is compatible with DVD video, DVD audio, DVD-ROM, and the like and conforms to the DVD standard. In addition to this DVD-RW, a write-once or rewritable optical disc usually has a sector address recorded or formed in advance on the disc in order to enable address control during recording. However, in the existing optical disk, address recording is performed by wobbling the groove according to the frequency modulated based on the address data. However, in the case of the DVD-RW of the present embodiment, it is more In order to enable high-speed and high-density recording, a so-called LPP (land pre-pit) addressing system is employed in which predetermined pits are formed in the land portion on the optical disc together with the wobbling frequency signal of the groove.

  Here, when data is actually recorded on the optical disc 1, a sector dress (hereinafter simply referred to as an LPP address) based on an LPP address that is pre-recorded on the optical disc 1 and is also a recording timing signal is actually used. In general, a sector address (hereinafter referred to as a data address) included in recording data to be recorded is matched. As an example of data recording in which the LPP address and the data address coincide with each other, for example, data reproduced from a normal DVD can be recorded on a DVD-RW. In this case, data is continuously recorded on the DVD-RW disc, so that the relationship between the LPP address and the data address can be made to coincide.

  Next, an additional recording operation handled in the embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7A, one ECC block is composed of 16 data sectors (32 kBytes) continuous in the data area, and this ECC block is the minimum basic unit for recording and reproduction. It has become. Each data sector is composed of a sync frame having 26 syncs recorded in synchronization with an LPP address and a sync timing signal for recording. Further, in DVD-RW, sector addresses are formed at predetermined intervals.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7B, as in the intermittent recording using the track buffer memory 7 described above, for example, continuous data after the previously recorded area (data area) is newly recorded. In such a case, the data at the joint between the previous recording and the subsequent recording becomes discontinuous. Therefore, in order to minimize the influence of the data discontinuity, as shown in FIG. 7C, for example, 1 of the third sync frame (3rd sync frame) of the first sector (physical sector, first sector) of the ECC block. The joint position is brought to the third byte from the byte. That is, the position of the joint is set as a linking position for performing linking. Note that the third sync frame in which the linking position L exists is a linking frame, and the leading sector including the linking frame is a linking sector.

  In this way, when continuous data recording becomes discontinuous, linking is performed at that position in order to avoid the influence of the discontinuous portion. Since the newly recorded ECC block is continuously connected to the previously recorded ECC block, the first to third bytes of the third sync frame of the first sector of the ECC block are set as a linking position. In order not to lose data, a part of data is overlapped with data recorded up to the second sync frame (2nd sync frame) and is overwritten as continuous data.

  The method shown in FIG. 7 uses the track buffer memory 7 described above to generate correction addition data (PI, PO) of an ECC block in advance, and then the first ECC block following the previous ECC block. In order to record the data up to the second and third sync frames sy1, sy2 and sy3 with reference to the timing of the LPP sync signal (the sync shown in FIG. 7A) and overwrite this third sync signal. When the 3-byte signal is recorded, the data recording is temporarily stopped. Thereafter, when a predetermined amount of data to be recorded in the track buffer memory 7 is accumulated, the pickup 3 is positioned again in the ECC block, and the timing of the third sync signal of the LPP corresponding to the third sync signal of the ECC block is set. This can be realized by detecting and overwriting the 3-byte signal (linking position L) for overwriting again with this timing as a reference, and continuously recording the subsequent data. When the method shown in FIG. 7 is realized, it is necessary to partially overlap the data in order to perform the above-described overwrite. Therefore, the data portion of the connection is overlapped.

  Since this linking position L is immediately after the LPP sync signal (third sync signal) which is a recording timing signal and the recording timing can be accurately generated, the range of linking positions can be reduced compared to the conventional linking method, and It is possible to improve the accuracy of the phase relationship shift between the preceding and succeeding signals, improve the performance of the reproduced signal, and reduce the loss area due to linking.

  However, even in the method of FIG. 7, several bytes of the linking portion are destroyed by repeating the recording, and the phase and frequency discontinuity before and after the recording cause the stabilization of the PLL circuit of the reproducing circuit. In the worst case, there arises a problem that a few bytes to several hundred bytes of the linking part cannot be read.

  For this reason, a management data area is provided, for example, in a so-called recording management area (RMA) inside the lead-in area of the optical disc 1, and information indicating the linking position L at the time of recording is recorded in this management data area. By performing predetermined processing (change of response characteristics for linking and window switching processing) as will be described later based on information indicating the linking position L of the management data area at the time of later reproduction, Therefore, it is possible to avoid the influence of the data discontinuity due to the connection between recordings. The information indicating the linking position L is recorded separately from the management data area, the address of the data recording start position and end position, or the area for recording the interval between the data recording start position and end. The Further, the information indicating the linking position L can be recorded as one of the control data simultaneously with the recording data, for example, in the data recording area, not in the recording management area inside the lead-in area of the optical disc 1. It is.

  In this recording operation, the upper limit capacity (full) and lower limit capacity (empty) values of the track buffer memory 7 are set in the optical disc apparatus of FIG. 6, and a signal compressed by the AV encoding / decoding unit 6 is set to a predetermined value. The recording unit is temporarily written in the 64-Mbyte track buffer memory 7 and the operation of the optical head 3 is controlled while managing the remaining capacity of the track buffer memory 7. For example, at the time of recording on the optical disk 1, an error correction code, an address and a sync signal are added to the compressed data of the track buffer memory 7, and the laser power is modulated by the strategy circuit of the amplifier unit 4. To record.

  Here, when the recording is continued, when the capacity of the track buffer memory 7 becomes the lower limit capacity (empty) due to the difference between the transfer rate of the input recording signal and the transfer rate of the recording signal to be recorded on the disc, Reading from the track buffer memory 7 is temporarily stopped, the linking process to the optical disc 1 is performed, and recording is temporarily stopped.

  6 includes an ECC block management area for managing the ECC block at the linking position in the built-in RAM area of the system controller 9, for example, and the ECC block management area corresponds to the linking position. For example, by setting the byte to be set to “1”, the ECC block address at the linking position is recorded.

  Next, when the remaining capacity of the track buffer memory 7 is recovered and data can be read from the track buffer memory 7, the system controller 9 performs the linking process from the ECC block at the address corresponding to the linking position. The interest record is resumed. By repeating this operation, continuous recording is performed.

  Next, when reproducing the optical disc 1 on which the recording as described above is performed, the operation is as follows. At the time of the reproduction, first, the management data area on the recording management area in the innermost circumference of the optical disc 1 is reproduced, and the system controller 9 reads the linking byte map from the reproduction data in the management data area.

  That is, the system controller 9 reads the address of the data recording start position and recording end position of the linking byte map arranged in the recording management data (RMD) described in the recording management area, and the recording on the optical disc 1 is performed. Recognize the extent of the area that was done

  Next, the system controller 9 reads out the linking byte map and stores it in a linking position management area provided in the built-in RAM for management. The system controller 9 converts the linking byte map stored in the linking position management area on the built-in RAM into an address position based on the address signal detected through the sync detection in the signal processing unit 5, and the converted address The position is compared with the current address position, and it is calculated whether the address of the ECC block to be reproduced next includes linking.

  Here, when the system controller 9 predicts that the ECC unit to be reproduced next includes linking, the system controller 9 sends the information to the signal processing unit 5 and the amplifier unit 4 as described later. When the signal processing unit 5 and the amplifier unit 4 receive the linking information, the signal processing unit 5 and the amplifier unit 4 perform interpolation processing such as changing response characteristics for linking and switching windows as described later based on the information. . Details of the processing for interpolation in the signal processing unit 5 will be described later.

  In another embodiment, in order to perform interpolation processing such as changing the response characteristics of the ECC part including linking and switching windows, the linking byte map is actually linked as described above. The timing of the position corresponding to the position where linking of all the ECC blocks is performed as will be described later (hereinafter referred to as the linking position) is not performed. ), An inexpensive apparatus can be realized without the need for linking position management 92 in the system controller 9 to be described later. In this case, overwriting is not performed on a DVD-RW disc having the same ECC block structure as in a read-only DVD-ROM format compatible with playback, unlike DVD-RW. Since there is no linking, interpolation processing at a position corresponding to the linking position is not necessary. In such a case, by discriminating the type of the disc and performing the interpolation processing as described above only for the recording type disc such as the DVD-R or DVD-RW, For a read-only disc, the same playback performance as before can be maintained.

  That is, at the time of reproduction, there is a high possibility that a part of the data is destroyed at the linking position L. Therefore, there is a place where the data of those bytes cannot be reproduced at the time of reproduction. From such a background, in the present embodiment, a more reliable reproduction is realized by performing a special countermeasure as described below for data (signal) corresponding to the linking position.

  As a first coping method for the data at the linking position L, a method for realizing a stable reproduction process by performing a predetermined process as described below on the reproduction signal corresponding to the linking position L is considered. It is done.

  That is, since the recording is intermittently performed at the linking position L, the signals before and after the reproduction signal corresponding to the linking position L are amplitude, frequency, phase (time timing), asymmetry, quality (jitter). Etc.) may have changed. Also, missing bytes and unnecessary bytes may be generated.

  Therefore, in the optical disk apparatus according to the present embodiment, when reproducing an optical disk, for example, (1) changing the response characteristic of the PLL circuit (for example, increasing the response speed) for the reproduction signal corresponding to the linking position. Alternatively, there is a possibility that data does not exist at the linking position L as in the case of a defect, for example, so that the PLL is locked in the partial section, and (2) the slice level for binarizing the reproduction RF signal is changed. (For example, by inserting a transient waveform to change the slice level voltage), or by changing the response characteristics of the filter (feedback type low pass filter) (for example, increasing the frequency characteristics or response speed), (3) reproduction Switching the response characteristics of an AGC (automatic gain control) circuit for adjusting the gain of the RF signal (for example, increasing the response speed); 4) Changing the equalizing characteristic of the equalizer (EQ) for adjusting the frequency characteristic of the reproduction RF signal. (5) Since there is a possibility that no data exists at the linking position as in the case of a defect, for example, Then, the servo system drive output is pre-held, and (6) the recording phase is shifted at the linking position, so that the timing of the next sync signal is shifted from the previous sync signal. Since there is a possibility that the sync signal may not enter the window of the sync signal to be played, stable playback processing can be performed by performing processing such as expanding the sync signal window at the next sync signal timing. Realize.

  However, if processing such as the above-described response characteristics is increased with respect to a normal reproduction signal, the performance may deteriorate when an optical disc with a fingerprint or a flaw is reproduced, for example. The predetermined processing of the coping methods 1) to (6) is performed only for the signal section corresponding to the linking position. The optical disk apparatus has a configuration for switching the response characteristics as described above for the same purpose immediately after seeking to a target track or immediately after recording / reproducing switching. Can be applied to the reproduction signal section corresponding to the linking position.

  FIG. 8 shows an essential configuration of the optical disc apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above-described coping methods (1) to (6). In the example of FIG. 8, the amplifier unit (preamplifier) 4, the signal processing unit 5, the servo unit 8, and the system controller 9 of FIG. 6 are extracted and their internal configurations are shown.

  In FIG. 8, the reproduction RF signal from the optical head (PU) 3 is input to the AGC circuit 41 of the amplifier unit 4. The AGC circuit 41 automatically adjusts the reproduction RF signal from the optical head 3 to a predetermined signal level, and sends the reproduction RF signal after the gain adjustment to the equalizer 42. The equalizer 42 raises the frequency characteristic of the reproduction RF signal from the AGC circuit 41 and sends it to the binarization circuit 43. In the binarization circuit 43, the reproduction RF signal from the equalizer 42 is binarized at a predetermined slice level, and the binary reproduction signal is sent to the PLL circuit 44. In the PLL circuit 44, the PLL is locked by a binary reproduction signal. The binary reproduction signal locked in this way is sent to the signal processing unit 5.

  The binary reproduction signal input to the signal processing unit 5 is first sent to the sync detector 51. The sync detector 51 counts the clock signal from the PLL for the sync H ′ shown in FIG. 2D included in the binary reproduction signal, and at the timing of the next sync signal, A window signal (FIG. 11 (b)) is generated, and the sync signal entering this window is set as a normal sync signal. If the next sync signal does not come into this window, the sync signal is set as an interpolation sync. If this sync signal cannot be obtained twice consecutively, for example, the next sync timing may be shifted, so that the sync window can be widened to obtain a sync signal over a wide range. To control. Also, as will be described later, when linking is performed at the linking position of the ECC block, there is a possibility that the next sync timing after linking may be shifted in the same manner. Therefore, information on the ECC block including linking from the linking position management 92 is also possible. Then, from the information from the address detection 52 and the information on the sync timing, the linking timing signal is sent to the sync detection of 51 in the linking timing generation 54, and the operation of expanding the window of the next sync signal is performed (FIG. 11 ( b) w4). Further, in a different embodiment, there is no linking position management 92 section, and in all ECC blocks, sync detection with a linking timing signal of 51 is detected in the linking timing generation 54 from information from the address detection 52 and sync timing information. The operation for expanding the window of the next sync signal is performed (w4 in FIG. 11B). Thus, the sync signal is stably detected, and a timing signal based on the sync is sent to the address detector 52 and the linking timing generator 54. In addition, a reproduction signal via the sync detector 51 is also sent to the address detector 52. The address detector 52 decodes the address included in the reproduction signal at the timing of the sync and sends the address to the system controller 9. The reproduction signal via the address detector 52 is sent to the data processor 53. The data processor 53 demodulates the EFM + signal and decodes it into NRZ data for the reproduction signal which is a digital signal, and further performs error correction processing to generate reproduction data.

  The ECC block address management unit 91 of the system controller 9 manages addresses in units of ECC blocks based on addresses from the address detector 52, and the ECC in the data processor 53 of the signal processing unit 5 based on the addresses in units of ECC blocks. Control block-by-block data processing. The linking position management unit 92 of the system controller 9 generates a timing signal corresponding to the linking position in the ECC block based on the address from the address detector 52 and information on the linking position extracted from the reproduction signal. The timing signal corresponding to the linking position in the ECC block is sent to the linking timing generator 54 of the signal processing unit 5.

  In the linking timing generator 54, the timing signal based on the sync supplied from the sync detector 51 and the timing signal corresponding to the linking position in the ECC block supplied from the linking position management unit 92 of the system controller 9 are used. 9 generates a linking timing signal as shown in (C). In a different embodiment, the ECC block address management unit 91 of the system controller 9 manages an address in units of ECC blocks based on the address from the address detector 52, and the data of the signal processing unit 5 is determined based on the address in units of the ECC block. Data processing in units of ECC blocks in the processor 53 is controlled. Further, the system controller 9 does not have the linking position management unit 92, and generates timing signals corresponding to the linking positions in all ECC blocks from the address detector 52. The timing signal corresponding to the linking position in the ECC block is sent to the linking timing generator 54 of the signal processing unit 5.

  That is, the linking timing generator 54 extracts the signal section corresponding to the linking position as shown in FIG. 9A from the reproduced RF signal shown in FIG. The "H" and "L" binary linking timing signals shown are generated. In the example of FIG. 9, the “L” portion of the linking timing signal corresponds to the signal section for extracting the signal section at the linking position from the reproduction RF signal. This linking timing signal is sent to each switching control circuit 45, 46, 47, 48 of the amplifier unit 4 and the hold circuit 81 of the servo circuit 8.

  Further, the linking timing generator 54 sends a timing signal corresponding to the linking position to the sync detection 51, and the sync detection 51 counts the clock signal from the PLL, and the sync window of the sync signal after the linking to come next is given. Control is performed so that the sync signal is obtained over a wide range. Further, in a different embodiment, there is no linking position management 92 section, and in all ECC blocks, sync detection with a linking timing signal of 51 is detected in the linking timing generation 54 from information from the address detection 52 and sync timing information. To the next sync signal window.

  At this time, the window at the linking position may be widened as described above only when the disc type discriminating unit 100 discriminates the disc as a recording type disc. That is, the apparatus determines the type of the disc when the disc is inserted. As a result, when the disc type is a read-only DVD-ROM, there is no linking, so control is performed so as not to widen the window, and in the case of a recordable DVD-R or DVD-RW, the linking position is controlled. Since there is a possibility that exists, control to widen the window is performed.

  The switching control circuit 45 of the amplifier unit 4 is a control circuit that performs switching control of the response characteristics of the AGC circuit 41. In the section where the linking timing signal is “L”, that is, in the signal section corresponding to the linking position, the reproduction RF For example, control for increasing the response speed of the AGC to the signal is performed.

  The switching control circuit 46 of the amplifier unit 4 is a control circuit that changes the equalizing characteristic of the equalizer. The reproduction RF signal is generated in a section where the linking timing signal is “L”, that is, a signal section corresponding to the linking position. Control to change equalizing characteristics for.

  The switching control circuit 47 of the amplifier unit 4 is a control circuit for changing and controlling the slice level of the binarization circuit 43 and the response characteristics of the filter, and corresponds to the section where the linking timing signal is “L”, that is, the linking position. In the signal section, the slice level voltage for the reproduction RF signal or the processing for increasing the response speed is changed, or the control is performed to increase the frequency characteristics and response speed of the filter.

  The switching control circuit 48 of the amplifier unit 4 is a control circuit for changing and controlling the response characteristic of the PLL circuit. In the section where the linking timing signal is “L”, that is, in the signal section corresponding to the linking position, It is considered that the response speed is increased, or the data is disturbed in the vicinity of the linking position, so control is performed so that the PLL is locked only in that section.

  Further, the servo unit 8 includes at least a focus servo circuit 82, a tracking servo circuit 83, and a spindle servo circuit 84. The hold circuit 81 includes each of the focus servo circuit 82, the tracking servo circuit 83, and the spindle servo circuit 84. The drive output is controlled so as to output the pre-hold and the reference voltage in a section where the linking timing signal is “L”, that is, a signal section corresponding to the linking position.

  The optical disk apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention has the configuration shown in FIG. 8, so that the processing of the third coping method described above can be realized in the signal section with respect to the linking position. Note that the switching control in each switching control circuit 45, 46, 47, 48 of the amplifier unit 4 is all switching control in the section where the linking timing signal is “L” (signal section corresponding to the linking position). It may be performed, or only one of these switching controls is performed, or some of these switching controls are adaptively combined.

  In this embodiment, if data other than linking position information, such as laser power at the time of recording, ambient temperature, strategy value, etc., are recorded in the management data area, before and after the linking position. As a result, it is possible to more appropriately set the response characteristics and the like of each item in the first coping method.

  Here, even if the time from the linking position in FIG. 7 until the PLL is pulled in is required up to the middle of the worst fourth sync frame, the linking position is the head position immediately after the sync signal in the row of the ECC block. The time until PLL pull-in can be secured sufficiently in one column, and there is an advantage that the next column is not affected.

  In this embodiment, the linking position is the head position of the second column in the row of the ECC block. However, the linking position may be after the third column, or immediately after important data (CMP) such as the ID of the first column. It may be the position.

  Another example of the optimization process at the linking position during reproduction will be described with reference to FIG. At the linking position, the previous recording data is recorded as shown in FIG. 11 (d), and then the new recording data is recorded as shown in FIG. 11 (e). Therefore, the recorded data is shown in FIG. 11 (f). As shown in FIG. 11, since the discontinuity occurs at the linking position, a timing corresponding to the linking position in the error correction block is generated for reproduction, and based on this timing, before and after the linking position (for example, FIG. 11A). It is necessary to optimize the reproduction information signal after (for example, the period indicated by w in FIG. 11B or the vicinity thereof) or after (for example, the period indicated by w4 in FIG. 11B or the vicinity thereof). As optimization control, before and after the linking position (for example, the period indicated by w in FIG. 11A), at least one of the following (a) to (e), or Perform multiple processes. (A) Response characteristics of the reproduction information signal PLL circuit, (b) Slice level for binarizing the reproduction RF signal, (c) AGC (automatic gain control) circuit for adjusting the gain of the reproduction RF signal Response characteristics, (d) Equalizing characteristics of equalizer (EQ) for adjusting frequency characteristics of reproduced RF signal, (e) Hold servo system drive output

  Further, after the linking position, the arrival position of the sync is shifted as shown in FIG. 11C, so that the sync signal window is controlled. Specifically, for example, at w4 in FIG. A process for widening the window width is performed during the indicated period.

  The disc type discriminating unit 100 discriminates between a recordable disc (DVD-RW, DVD-R, etc.) and a read-only disc (DVD-ROM, etc.), and in the case of a recordable disc, an optimization process is performed near the linking position. In the example described above, as another example, the disc type discriminating unit 100 shown in FIG. 10 discriminates the difference in recording / reproducing characteristics of the recording type disc, and the type of the discriminated recording medium (recording / reproducing). For example, the optimization processing of (a) to (e) described above is selected and combined based on the disc type discrimination result, or the sync signal is processed. It is also possible to variably set the window width of the window w4 based on the disc type discrimination result.

  In the above description, an example in which a linking bitmap is used has been described, but a linking bitmap can also be used.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the ECC block in the recording information recorded on DVD-RW. It is a figure which shows the physical format of the recording information recorded on DVD-RW. It is a figure which shows the physical format of 1 sector. It is a figure which shows the physical format containing the conventional linking position of 1 sector. It is a figure which shows the physical format containing the linking position of 1 sector in the recording medium of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of an optical disk apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the structure of an ECC block, and linking. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the principal part in the case of implement | achieving the 1st coping method of an optical disk apparatus. It is a wave form diagram used for description of the linking timing signal for extracting the signal section corresponding to a linking position from reproduction RF signal. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the principal part in the case of implement | achieving the 1st coping method of an optical disk apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the process in a linking position.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical disk (recording medium), 2 ... Spindle motor, 3 ... Optical head, 4 ... Amplifier part, 5 ... Signal processing part, 6 ... AV encoding / decoding part, 7 ... Track buffer memory, 8 ... 16MB D- RAM 9 System controller 10 Key input unit 11 Audio / video signal input / output terminal 12 Control data input terminal 13 ATAPI interface unit 100 Disc type determination unit

Claims (5)

When recording information in error correction block units, an information recording medium in which a linking position that is a position to end recording or a head position of additional recording is provided at a specific position in the error correction block,
The error correction block consists of 16 sectors,
Each sector consists of a sync frame including 26 syncs,
A row of correction blocks consisting of data and parity in two sync frames;
It is composed of a series of correction blocks consisting of data and parity across a plurality of the sync frames,
The recording medium is characterized in that the linking position is provided in the vicinity of the head position of the data area of the first half sync frame in the specific correction block in the row in the first sector. A recording method for recording information on the recording medium according to claim 1,
A first step of detecting address information from the recording medium;
A second step of identifying an error correction block to be recorded based on the detected address information;
A third step of recording information in units of error correction blocks from a linking position that is a head position of the additional recording of the identified error correction block;
A recording method comprising: A recording apparatus for recording information on the recording medium of claim 1,
Address information is detected from the recording medium, an error correction block to be recorded is specified based on the detected address information, and an error correction block is determined from a linking position that is a head position of the additional recording of the specified error correction block A recording apparatus for recording information in units. A reproduction method for reproducing information from the recording medium according to claim 1,
A first step of detecting address information from the recording medium;
A second step of identifying an error correction block to be reproduced based on the detected address information;
A third step of reproducing the identified error correction block in units of error correction blocks;
A playback method characterized by comprising: A reproduction method for reproducing information from the recording medium according to claim 1,
Reproducing means for detecting address information from the recording medium, specifying an error correction block to be recorded based on the detected address information, and reproducing the specified error correction block in units of error correction blocks;
A playback apparatus comprising:

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