JP2008299664A - Format device and format method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a format device which allows file management information to be stored in a partition copy destination also by resolving the problem that the benefit of characteristic memory areas wherein the update time of small-sized data is short is lost by the performance of partition copy between nonvolatile memory cards having the characteristic memories in part because management information of a file system is disposed off the memory area on the memory card in the copy destination to cause extension of the update time of management information and the like. <P>SOLUTION: A value of a minimum size of characteristic memory areas in memory cards of the same capacity is held as a minimum management area size, and formatting is so performed that file management information is disposed within the range of this size. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a formatting device for formatting an information recording medium such as a memory card, and more particularly to a formatting device and a formatting method for formatting a nonvolatile memory card composed of two types of recording areas having different characteristics.

  In recent years, memory cards with built-in rewritable non-volatile memory media have become widespread, and the capacity of memory media and the increase in recording / playback rate have advanced, and video and audio can be recorded using an imaging camera recorder, etc. It is also starting to be used. By using this type of memory card, devices such as camera recorders that record and reproduce video and audio require fewer mechanical moving parts, which are essential for conventional tape media and disk media, and are small, lightweight and mechanical. It is possible to configure a device with few mechanical failures.

  Data such as video and audio recorded on a memory card is generally managed as a file by a file system. The file system manages the size of individual files, the date and time of recording updates, the usage status and availability of recording areas such as clusters and sectors, etc., and records them on recording media together with video and audio files as file management information To do. During video and audio recording, the file management information is frequently updated as the video and audio file sizes gradually increase.

  The update data of the file management information is extremely small in size as compared with video and audio data. Therefore, in general, when a small size of data is frequently updated in a nonvolatile memory medium such as a flash memory, the rewrite life of the memory medium, that is, the number of rewritable times gradually decreases, or a small size of data is updated. There are known problems such as a long processing time.

  In particular, with flash memory and the like, the block size that can be collectively erased tends to increase with the recent increase in capacity, and if the area once recorded is partially updated with a size smaller than the block size, the block It is necessary to read out the entire data, replace only the data to be updated from the entire block, and write back the entire block, which tends to deteriorate the processing time required for updating data of a small size.

  In order to solve these problems, for example, each of the methods disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 includes two types of non-volatile memory media having different characteristics in one memory card, so that data of a small size can be updated. The problem described above is solved by recording the file management information in a suitable memory medium.

  FIG. 10 is a reference diagram showing an example of the format and directory structure of a memory card composed of a first recording area and a second recording area having different characteristics.

  As shown in FIG. 10A, the memory card A00 includes a first recording area A10 and a second recording area A20. The first recording area A10 uses a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size, and the first recording area A10 can update data of a small size in a shorter time than the second recording area A20. It is. The first recording area A10 and the second recording area A20 are assigned consecutive addresses, and appear as one recording medium from the outside.

  Next, as an example of a file system, a case where data recorded on the memory card A00 is managed by a FAT (File Allocation Tables) file system will be described. Note that file management information in the FAT file system is described in Patent Document 3.

  In FIG. 10, in the first recording area A10, a master boot record A30 (MBR), a partition boot record A40 (PBR), and a FAT table A50 are recorded. The FAT table A50 may be duplicated.

  Although not shown, in the case of the FAT32 file system, FsInfo is also arranged in the first recording area A10 similarly to the FAT table A50. The file management information that is updated with a small size, such as the update of the FAT table A50 and the update of FsInfo, is arranged in the first recording area A10, so that the file management information can be updated in a short time.

  Furthermore, it is conceivable to arrange the directory in the first recording area A10. In FIG. 10, the first recording area A10 of the memory card A00 includes a RootDIR area (root directory area) A60 and an AVDIR area (AV directory area) A70. Although not shown, these areas are composed of management units called clusters.

  FIG. 10B shows a directory structure that can be seen by the user. As for the correspondence between each directory and the recording area, a cluster of the root directory area A60 is assigned to the root DIR (root directory) A90, and a cluster of the AV directory area A70 is assigned to the AVDIR (AV directory) A91. A number of clusters are allocated in advance to the AV directory A91.

  As shown in FIG. 10, all of the remaining first recording areas to which the MBR A30, the PBR A40, the FAT table A50, and the RootDIR area A60 are allocated to the AV directory area A70 in the first recording area A10. It has been. As a result, even if the number of files stored in the AV directory A91 increases, a large number of file management information such as directory entries can be accommodated in the AV directory area A70. Since the AV directory area A70 is in the first recording area A10, the file management information stored in the AV directory area A70 can be updated in a short time.

  As described above, in the conventional memory card format referring to Patent Documents 1 and 2, if information such as the FAT table, which is the file management information of the FAT file system, and directory entries are arranged in the first recording area A10. Since the first recording area A10 is a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size, the file management information can be updated in a short time.

  By the way, as the types of memory cards to be released in the future increase, it is conceivable that memory cards having the same overall capacity but different recording area sizes in the first recording area and the second recording area will appear.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing two types of conventional memory cards having the same capacity but different areas of the first recording area and the second recording area.

  FIGS. 11A and 11B show recording areas of two types of memory cards. The memory card B00 shown in FIG. 11A includes a first recording area B10 and a second recording area B20. It is configured. Similarly, the memory card B50 shown in FIG. 11B is composed of a first recording area B60 and a second recording area B70.

  In both memory cards, the first recording areas B10 and B60 use a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size, and the first recording areas B10 and B60 include the second recording areas B20 and B60. It is possible to update data of a smaller size in a shorter time than B70.

  In FIG. 11, the memory cards B00 and B50 have substantially the same capacity, but the size of each area in the memory card is different. Specifically, in the memory card B50 shown in FIG. 11B, the first recording area B60 is reduced, and the second recording area B70 is increased instead. Such a case may occur due to the cost reduction of the memory card.

  For the first recording area, a special memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size is used, and the first recording area is more expensive than the second recording area. Therefore, it is conceivable that after the memory card B00 shown in FIG. 11A is released in advance, the memory card B50 shown in FIG. 11B is reduced in cost by reducing the first recording area.

In order to maintain the same capacity as the capacity of the memory card B00 shown in FIG. 11 (a) is difficult to use if the capacity of the memory card B50 shown in FIG. 11 (b) released later is reduced. In addition, the memory card B50 shown in FIG. 11B may increase the second recording area B70 by the amount corresponding to the reduction of the first recording area B60, so that the total capacity is almost the same as that of the memory card B00 of FIG. It is done. As a result, the two memory cards have substantially the same capacity, but the first recording areas have different sizes. In the future, in addition to the cost reduction of the memory card, it is considered that a memory card having the same capacity with a different size of the first recording area may be generated for various reasons.
JP 2006-40168 A JP 2005-92677 A JP 2006-252096 A

However, there are problems in the following cases.
A case where copying is performed between the two memory cards shown in FIG. 11 will be described. When all files such as video and audio recorded on one memory card are copied to another memory card for the purpose of backup, for example, copying is usually performed in units of files via a file system. However, in copying via the file system, a free space is searched for in the copy destination memory card, the data to be copied is written, various file management information for managing the data as a file is generated, and the copy destination Various processes such as writing on a memory card are required.

  On the other hand, there is a method called “partition copy”. In this method, data from the beginning to the end of the partition of the copy source memory card is copied from the beginning to the end of the partition of the copy destination memory card. This copy method simply writes the data read from one memory card to the copy destination memory card according to the start address of the copy destination partition without going through the file system. It can be carried out.

  FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram when partition copying a memory card having a conventional format to another memory card.

  The memory card in FIGS. 12A and 12B is the same as the memory card described in FIGS. 11A and 11B, and the two recording cards have the same capacity, but the first recording area B10 and The width of B60 is different from each other.

  FIG. 12A shows a copy source memory card, and FIG. 12B shows a copy destination memory card. In the memory card B00 of FIG. 12A, file management information such as a FAT table and each DIR area is stored in the first recording area B10. However, in the copy destination memory card B50 that has performed the partition copy shown in FIG. 12B, the FAT table C60 and the RootDIR area C70 are within the first recording area B60, but the AVDIR area C80 is the first recording area B60. However, a part of the second recording area B70 protrudes.

  As a result, the portion of the AVDIR area C80 that protrudes into the second recording area B70 has a problem that the characteristics of the first recording area B60 are not utilized and the update time of the file management information deteriorates.

  That is, by performing partition copying between memory cards with different sizes of the first recording area, file management information of the file system is placed in the second recording area on the copy destination card, and a characteristic memory medium is used. There arises a problem that the benefits of the first recording area cannot be obtained.

  And in applications that record video and audio on a memory card in real time, if the update time of the file management information of the file system becomes long, recording of video and audio during that time is delayed, which requires a large amount of buffer memory. .

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and even in the case where a memory card with a reduced recording area of the first recording area is produced and sold in the future, it is ensured even at the partition copy destination. An object of the present invention is to provide a format device capable of storing file management information in a first recording area using a characteristic memory medium or control method.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the formatting device according to the present invention includes a memory card that includes at least a first recording area and a second recording area. Than the first recording area, which is a formatting device for formatting a shorter memory card, and the minimum size of the first recording area among other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card. Is determined as a minimum management area size, and management information generation means for allocating file management information in a range of the first recording area that does not exceed the minimum management area size held by the area determination means. It is characterized by.

  With this configuration, file management information is managed in the first recording area that does not exceed the minimum management area size, and even if partition copying is performed between memory cards with different recording areas in the first recording area, It becomes possible to store file management information in the first recording area using a simple memory medium.

  In the formatting device according to the present invention, the inside of the memory card includes at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a data update time equal to or less than a predetermined size is greater than that of the second recording area. A formatting device that formats a memory card with a shorter area, and holds the smallest first recording area size as a minimum management area size among other memory cards having a recording capacity comparable to that of the memory card. Determining the partition start position so that the size of the first recording area in the partition to be created in the memory card is equal to or less than the minimum management area size held by the area determination means, Management information generating means for arranging file management information in the range of the first recording area in the partition; And features.

  With this configuration, even when performing partition copy to another memory card of the same capacity, in order to write the file management information from the start position determined in the management information generating means to the first recording area of the copy destination memory card, The file management information can be reliably stored in the first recording area.

  The formatting apparatus according to the present invention further includes transmission / reception means for acquiring the minimum management area size via a network, and the area determination means is configured to acquire the latest minimum management area size by the transmission / reception means. Is characterized in that the held minimum management area size is updated to the acquired minimum management area size.

  Further, the formatting device further comprises an input means for inputting the minimum management area size, and the area determination means holds when the latest minimum management area size is input via the input means. The minimum management area size is updated to the input minimum management area size.

  With these configurations, even if the number of types of memory cards increases in the future, the minimum management area size is always updated to the latest information input from the transmission / reception means or the input means, and the minimum management area size is not exceeded. File management information can be placed within the range of one recording area, and file management information can be properly managed in the first recording area when partition copying is performed between memory cards with different first recording areas. It becomes.

  Note that the present invention can be realized not only as such a formatting device, but also as a formatting method having steps characteristic of the formatting device, or causing a computer to execute these steps. It can be realized as a program. Needless to say, such a program can be distributed via a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a transmission medium such as the Internet.

  In the formatting device according to the present invention, even if a memory card with a reduced first recording area of the memory card is produced and sold in the future, the file system is stored in the first recording area of the partition copy destination memory card. It is possible to securely store the file management information.

  Therefore, it is possible to take advantage of the characteristics of the memory medium that constitutes the first recording area. For example, even if the file management information is updated with a small-size data update, the file management information is updated in the second recording area. There is an effect that the update processing time can be surely prevented from deteriorating.

  Embodiments of a formatting device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the format and directory structure of a memory card that has been subjected to formatting in the formatting device according to the first embodiment. In the format device according to the first embodiment, among other memory cards having the same recording capacity, the range does not exceed the minimum management area size which is the size of the first recording area where the size is minimum, The file management information is arranged and recorded in the first recording area.

  In FIG. 1, the memory card 100 includes a first recording area 110 and a second recording area 120. An area 150 shown in FIG. 1 is an area corresponding to the minimum management area size in the first recording area held in the area determination unit described later.

  The first recording area 110 uses a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size, and the first recording area 110 can update data of a small size in a shorter time than the second recording area 120. It can be carried out. The first recording area 110 and the second recording area 120 are assigned continuous addresses, and appear as one recording medium from the outside. The FAT table 130 is arranged in the first recording area 110. Although not shown, a master boot record (MBR), a partition boot record (PBR), and FsInfo that is management information of the FAT32 file system are also arranged in the first recording area 110 in the same manner as the FAT table 130. Reference numeral 140 denotes a cluster, and the cluster numbers are assigned in order from the second.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1B, a root directory (RootDIR) 190 positioned at the top of the directory structure and an AV directory (AVDIR) 160 positioned below the root directory exist.

  Cluster number 2 is assigned to the root directory 190. A total of three clusters from cluster numbers 3 to 5 are assigned to the AV directory 160.

  The file management information recorded on the above memory card, particularly the directory entry information will be described below.

  In the application used for the memory card in the first embodiment, it is assumed that one AV file is generated in the AV directory 160 when recording is performed on the memory card with a camera recorder or the like.

  As a result, in the cluster assigned to the AV directory 160, 32 bytes of directory entry are used for each file. 32 bytes is the number of bytes for one directory entry which is one of the file management information of the FAT file system, and is the number of bytes when the file name has 8 characters and the extension has 3 characters.

  When recording is repeated many times by a camera recorder or the like, AV files are generated one after another, and the clusters assigned to the AV directory 160 are used for the directory entry by the number of bytes described above. If the size of one cluster is 32 kilobytes, three clusters are allocated to the AV directory 160. Therefore, the number of files that can be accommodated in the AV directory 160 is 32 kilobytes × 3/32 bytes = 3072. However, in the FAT file system, file management information for two files is separately used for each directory except for the root directory, so the number of files that can be accommodated in the AV directory 160 is 32 kilobytes × 3. ÷ 32 bytes−2 = 3070.

  That is, in the format of the memory card in the first embodiment, the file management information in the AV directory 160 does not overflow even if recording is performed 3070 times by a camera recorder or the like, and the file management information is stored in the cluster of the first recording area. Will fit. Therefore, the update time of the file management information does not deteriorate.

  A case will be described in which the memory card 100 of FIG. 1 in which video and audio are recorded as described above is partitioned and copied to another memory card.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state where a memory card that has been formatted according to the first embodiment of the present invention is partitioned and copied to another memory card.

  In FIG. 2, a memory card 200 represents a memory card that has been formatted according to the present invention, and is a simplified representation of the memory card 100 of FIG. The memory card 200 includes a first recording area 210 and a second recording area 220. Note that the recording areas of the memory card 200 shown in FIG. 2A and the memory card 250 shown in FIG. 2B have the same or similar capacity.

  The first recording area 260 of the memory card 250 shown in FIG. 2 is narrower than the first recording area 210 of the memory card 200, and the second recording area 270 is wider instead. The first recording area 260 is an area corresponding to the minimum management area size in the first recording area held in the area determining unit of the formatting apparatus of the first embodiment.

  In the partition copy, the copy source memory card is 200 in FIG. 2A, and the copy destination memory card is 250 in FIG. 2B. Also in the copied memory card 250, the MBR, PBR, FAT table 276, RootDIR area 278, and AVDIR area 280 are all contained in the first recording area 260. As a result, in the memory card 250, even though the first recording area 260 is smaller than the first recording area 210 of the memory card 200, the file management information fits in the first recording area 260 even after the partition copy, and the file management information Update time does not get worse. The reason why the file management information is stored in the first recording area 260 even in the copied memory card 250 is that the cluster number 2 assigned to the root directory 190 among the clusters in the first recording area 110 in FIG. The remaining clusters (cluster numbers 3 to 13 in FIG. 1) are not all assigned to the AV directory 160, but are appropriate for the AV directory 160 in consideration of the size of the first recording area of another memory card. This is because a large number of clusters (cluster numbers 3 to 5 in FIG. 1) are allocated.

  Hereinafter, the formatting apparatus of the present invention for assigning the appropriate number of clusters will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the formatting apparatus 300 according to the first embodiment. 310 is an area determination unit, 320 is a management information generation unit, 330 is a card recording / playback unit, 340 is a parameter acquisition unit, and 350 is a card. An interface unit 100 represents a memory card.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the formatting device 300 will be described together with a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the formatting device 300 shown in FIG.

  The parameter acquisition unit 340 in FIG. 3 acquires parameters necessary for formatting from the memory card 100 via the card interface unit 350 (S401 in FIG. 4). This parameter has various information such as the total capacity of the memory card. As characteristic parameters, the size of the first recording area 110, the size of the second recording area 120 in FIG. There is information. The memory card 100 in FIG. 3 has a processing unit that provides these parameters.

  The area determination unit 310 in FIG. 3 has area information regarding other memory cards having the same capacity as the memory card 100. Specifically, among the types of memory cards having almost the same capacity as the memory card 100, The first recording area holds the minimum management area size of a narrow card. This is based on the size of the first recording area of a memory card of the same capacity that has already been released and the size of the first recording area of a memory card of the same capacity planned in the future. Can be held as The region determining unit 310 provides this region information to the management information generating unit 320 (S402).

  The management information generation unit 320 determines a partition start position and a partition size based on various parameters obtained from the parameter acquisition unit 340 (S403). When the partition size is determined, the size and number of FAT tables are determined based on a predetermined cluster size. The partition determination and FAT table determination are the same as in general format processing.

  Here, the management information generation unit 320 calculates how many clusters exist in the first recording area 110 of FIG. 1 (S404). This calculation is based on the size of the first recording area acquired from the memory card 100 via the parameter acquisition unit 340 of FIG. 3, the size from that to the start position of the partition, the offset value to the FAT table start position, By subtracting the size and the number of FAT tables, the remaining size of the first recording area can be obtained. By dividing this remaining size by a predetermined cluster size, the number of clusters and the cluster number existing in the first recording area of the memory card 100 can be obtained.

  Further, the management information generation unit 320 obtains the number of clusters corresponding to the minimum management area size obtained from the area determination unit 310 among the clusters existing in the first recording area of the memory card 100 (S405). For example, in FIG. 1, the clusters existing in the first recording area 110 of the memory card 100 to be formatted are the cluster numbers 2 to 13. However, by performing the same calculation as described above with the minimum management area size in consideration of other cards, cluster numbers 2 to 5 correspond to the first recording area in other cards, and cluster numbers 6 and after It can be seen that other cards correspond to the second recording area. As a result, the management information generation unit 320 assigns the cluster number 2 to the root directory in order to assign the root directory and AV directory within the minimum management area size, and other cards in the remaining clusters in the first recording area. Clusters with cluster numbers 3 to 5 in consideration of the above are assigned to the AV directory (S406).

  Next, the management information generation unit 320 determines the number of clusters to be assigned to each directory by performing the above-described calculation, and generates a FAT table, FsInfo, and directory entry corresponding to the number of clusters (S407). Various file management information generated by the management information generating unit 320 is transmitted to the card recording / reproducing unit 330 and written to the memory card 100 via the card interface unit 350. With these processes, the formatting of the memory card 100 is completed.

  As a result, the memory card has the format shown in FIG. 1, and as shown in FIG. 2, even if partition copy is performed on another memory card of the same capacity, the file management information is surely stored in the first recording area. The effects of the formatting device of the first embodiment can be obtained.

  As described above, in the formatting device according to the first embodiment, the area management unit holds the minimum management area size and the management information generation unit does not exceed the minimum management area size. In order to record the file management information in the first recording area that does not exceed the minimum management area size in the card recording / playback unit, partition copy is performed on a memory card having a narrow recording area in the first recording area. Even in such a case, the file management information is surely stored in the first recording area at the copy destination.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a second embodiment of the formatting device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the format and directory structure of a memory card that has been formatted according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, the memory card 500 includes a first recording area 510 and a second recording area 520. The data structures of the first recording area 510 and the second recording area 520 in the memory card are the same as those in the first embodiment described above, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As a characteristic format of the second embodiment, the start position of the partition is greatly lowered. That is, in FIG. 5, the PBR 532 is arranged at a large size from the MBR 530. Further, all the clusters existing in the first recording area 510 are assigned to the directory. Specifically, cluster number 2 is assigned to the root directory 590, and all remaining clusters (cluster numbers 3 to 5) in the first recording area 510 are assigned to the AV directory 591. Since the FAT table and each directory are stored in the first recording area, the update time of the file management information does not deteriorate.

  A case will be described in which the memory card 500 of FIG. 5 subjected to the above format is partition copied to another memory card.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state where a memory card that has been formatted according to the second embodiment is partitioned and copied to another memory card.

  A memory card 600 shown in FIG. 6A represents a memory card that has been formatted according to the second embodiment, and is a simplified representation of the memory card of FIG.

  A memory card 600 shown in FIG. 6A includes a first recording area 610 and a second recording area 620. The first recording area 610 uses a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size. The memory card 600 includes an MBR, a PBR 632, a FAT table, a RootDIR area, and an AVDIR area 638. Are all in the first recording area 610.

  The memory card 650 shown in FIG. 6B has a first recording area 660 that is narrower than the memory card 600 shown in FIG. 6A, and a second recording area 670 that is wider. Also in the first recording area 660 of the memory card 650, a memory medium or a memory control method suitable for updating data of a small size is used.

  When partition copying is performed from the copy source memory card 600 shown in FIG. 6A to the copy destination memory card 650 shown in FIG. 6B, from the beginning of the partition of the memory card 600 shown in FIG. Data up to the end, that is, data from the PBR 632 to the end of the second recording area 620 are copied to the start of the partition of the copy destination memory card 650 shown in FIG. 6B, that is, the area starting from the PBR 682. .

  FIG. 6B shows a state after partition copying to the copy destination memory card 650. In the copy destination memory card 650, the MBR, PBR 682, FAT table, RootDIR area, and AVDIR area 688 are all contained in the first recording area 660. As a result, in the memory card 650 shown in FIG. 6B, the file management is performed even after the partition copy even though the first recording area 660 is smaller than the first recording area 610 of the memory card 600 shown in FIG. Since the information is stored in the first recording area 660, the update time of the file management information does not deteriorate.

  Here, even in the copy destination memory card 650 of FIG. 6B, the reason why the file management information is contained in the first recording area is that the start position of the partition in the copy source memory card 650 is greatly lowered. by. That is, in FIG. 5, the size from the PBR 532 that is the partition start position to the end of the first recording area 510 is the first partition area (PBR 682) of the copy destination memory card 650 in FIG. This is because the partition start position is appropriately lowered so as to match the size up to the end of the recording area 660.

  In the following, the formatting apparatus of the present invention for appropriately lowering the start position of this partition will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the formatting apparatus according to the second embodiment. The functional block diagram of the formatting device according to the second embodiment is the same as FIG. 3 of the first embodiment described above, and will be described with reference to FIG. Further, here, it is assumed that the memory card 100 to be formatted in FIG. 3 is the memory card 500 of FIG.

  First, in FIG. 3, the parameter acquisition unit 340 acquires parameters necessary for formatting from the memory card 100 via the card interface unit 350 (S701 in FIG. 7).

  The area determination unit 310 in FIG. 3 has area information regarding other memory cards having the same capacity as the memory card 100. Specifically, among the types of memory cards having almost the same capacity as the memory card 100, The minimum management area size which becomes the first recording area size of a card having a narrow first recording area is held. The area determination unit 310 provides the minimum management area size to the management information generation unit 320 (S702). More precisely, a value obtained by subtracting the size necessary for MBR placement from the minimum management area size is provided.

  Next, the management information generation unit 320 determines the partition start position and the partition size based on various parameters obtained from the parameter acquisition unit 340. At this time, the minimum management area obtained from the area determination unit 310 is determined. Use size. This minimum management area size is the minimum size of the first recording area including other memory cards of the same capacity, and the size from the start position of the partition created on the memory card 100 to the end of the first recording area is Then, the partition start position is calculated so as to match this minimum management area size.

  For example, in FIG. 5, when the size of the first recording area 510 of the memory card 500 is 64 megabytes and the minimum management area size (excluding the size necessary for MBR placement) is 16 megabytes, the partition start position is 64 megabytes-16 megabytes = 48 megabytes lower.

  As a result, the PBR 532 is arranged at a position of 48 megabytes from the top of the memory card 500, and this is the start position of the partition. The size from the PBR 532 to the end of the first recording area 510 is 16 megabytes, which is the same as the minimum management area size = 16 megabytes. Accordingly, the file management information created in the area from the PBR 532 to the end of the first recording area 510 is within the minimum management area size range even if partition copying is performed to another memory card. In the first recording area.

  With the above calculation, the management information generation unit 320 in FIG. 3 determines the start position and partition size of the partition (S703 in FIG. 7), and further determines the size and number of FAT tables based on a predetermined cluster size. (S704).

  Then, the management information generation unit 320 calculates how many clusters exist in the first recording area 510 of FIG. 5 (S705). This calculation is based on the size of the first recording area acquired from the memory card 100 via the parameter acquisition unit 340 of FIG. 3, the size from that to the start position of the partition, the offset value to the FAT table start position, By subtracting the size and the number of FAT tables, the remaining size of the first recording area can be obtained. By dividing this remaining size by a predetermined cluster size, the number of clusters and the cluster number existing in the first recording area of the memory card 500 of FIG. 5 can be obtained.

  Further, the management information generating unit 320 in FIG. 3 performs a process of assigning a cluster of the first recording area to each directory created at the time of formatting (S706). In the formatting apparatus of the second embodiment, the file management information may be arranged in all the first recording areas existing in the partition. Therefore, the management information generating unit 320 stores the cluster number in the root directory 590 as shown in FIG. No. 2 is assigned, and all the remaining clusters in the first recording area 510 (cluster numbers 3 to 5) are assigned to the AV directory 591.

  The management information generating unit 320 in FIG. 3 performs these processes, determines the number of clusters to be allocated to each directory, and generates a FAT table, FsInfo, and directory entry corresponding to the number of clusters (S707). Various file management information generated by the management information generating unit 320 is transmitted to the card recording / reproducing unit 330 and written to the memory card 100 via the card interface unit 350. With these processes, the formatting of the memory card 100 is completed.

  As a result, in FIG. 5, the cluster number 2 is assigned to the root directory 590, and all remaining clusters in the first recording area 510, ie, the cluster numbers 3 to 5 are assigned to the AV directory 591. It becomes. After recording on a memory card with this format, if partition copying is performed on another memory card of the same capacity, the file management information is also stored in the copy destination memory card as shown in FIG. It is within the first recording area 660, and the effects of the present invention can be obtained.

  In the second embodiment of the present invention, the partition copy from the memory card 600 shown in FIG. 6A to the memory card 650 shown in FIG. 6B has been described. Conversely, FIG. When partition copying is performed from the memory card 650 of FIG. 6A to the memory card 600 of FIG. 6A, it is necessary to format the memory card 650 of FIG. 6B in consideration of the partition size.

  When formatting the memory card 650 of FIG. 6B, the partition size created on the memory card is the partition size of the memory card 600 of FIG. 6A, assuming that the partition from the PBR 682 to the end of the second recording area 670 is the partition size. Partition copy will not be established. Accordingly, the end of the partition of the memory card 650 in FIG. 6B needs to be rounded up before the end of the second recording area 670.

  Specifically, the size of the partition of the memory card in FIG. 6B needs to be equivalent to the size from the PBR 632 to the end of the second recording area 620 of the memory card 600 in FIG. If the partition size of the memory card 600 in FIG. 6A and the partition size of the memory card 650 in FIG. 6B are the same, the memory card 650 in FIG. 6B to the memory in FIG. Partition copying is also possible in the direction of the card 600. Furthermore, if a common partition size is determined including other memory cards having the same capacity, not only the memory cards 600 and 650 shown in FIG. 6A and FIG. Partition copies can be made with respect to memory cards of a certain capacity, and file management information is arranged in the first recording area of each memory card even after the partition copy.

  As described above, in the formatting device according to the second embodiment, in order for the management information generation unit to determine the start position of the partition based on the minimum management region size held by the region determination unit, Even when a partition copy is made to a memory card with a narrow first recording area, the file management information is reliably placed in the first recording area of the copy destination memory card, and there is a delay in updating the file management information in the copy destination memory card. It becomes possible to prevent reliably.

  FIG. 8 shows a functional block diagram of another modification of the formatting apparatus 800 for realizing the formatting method according to the present invention.

  The format device 800 according to the present modification includes a transmission / reception unit 810 that acquires the latest minimum management area size via the network in order to update the minimum management area size held by the area determination unit 310 to the latest information. An input unit 820 for inputting the minimum management area size is provided. Therefore, in the formatting device 800 according to the present modification, even when the number of types of memory cards increases in the future, the minimum management area size can always be updated to the latest information, and the latest minimum management area size can be changed. It is possible to execute a format in which file management information is arranged in a range not exceeding.

  The formatting method according to the present invention can also be implemented as software of a device such as a general personal computer as shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an apparatus for executing the formatting method of the present invention. In FIG. 9, the formatting device 900 includes a CPU unit 910, a bus unit 920, and a card control unit 950, and memory cards 100 and 500 to be formatted are inserted into the formatting device 900.

  The formatting device 900 may be a general personal computer or a CPU processing system built in equipment such as a camera recorder. Although not shown, the CPU unit 910 includes a chip set and a memory around the CPU, and a processing unit that stores a program. A program for executing the formatting method of the present invention is executed by the CPU unit 910, acquires necessary parameters from the memory cards 100 and 500 via the bus unit 920 and the card control unit 950, and the CPU unit 910 relates to the above-described format. The calculation process is performed, and the format result is written in the memory cards 100 and 500. As a result, the memory cards 100 and 500 can be formatted.

  In each embodiment of the present invention, an example of copying from a memory card to another memory card has been described. However, the copy destination recording medium may be a disk medium such as a hard disk or an optical disk. Partitions are created on these disk media, and partitions are copied from the copy source memory card to the partitions. Then, if the partition on the disk medium is used as the copy source and copied to another memory card partition, the partition copy is performed between the memory cards via the disk medium, and the file management information is also stored on the copy destination memory card. Are arranged in the first recording area, and the effects of the present invention can be obtained.

  The present invention has been described as an effect that the file management information of the file system is arranged in the first recording area even after the partition copy, so that the update time of the file management information is not deteriorated. This is because the premise of the first recording area of the memory card has a feature that the processing time for updating data of a small size is shorter than that of the second recording area.

  The present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to a memory card having other characteristics as a memory medium used in the first recording area of the memory card or a memory control method. Another possible feature is that, for example, the first recording area of the memory card has a longer life of rewriting than the second recording area, or the probability of occurrence of data errors during recording or playback is low, or There is a low probability of data destruction due to power interruption during recording.

  The file management information of the file system is highly important information, and these file management information is placed in the first recording area even after partition copying, so that the file management information is protected by utilizing the characteristics of each memory. That is, it is effective to apply the present invention.

  In the present invention, the embodiment has been described with an example of the FAT file system. However, the type of the file system applied to the memory card is not limited to the FAT file system, and other file systems such as UDF (Universal Disk Format) can be used. It may be applied. Even in the case of such other file systems, the same effect can be obtained by applying the format of the present invention in which the directory is arranged within the range of the minimum management area size considering other memory cards.

  The formatting device and the formatting method according to the present invention are used when formatting a recording medium such as a memory card.

The figure showing the format and directory structure of the memory card subjected to the format of the first embodiment The figure showing a mode that the memory card by which the format of Embodiment 1 was given was partition-copyed to another memory card Functional block diagram of the formatting device of the present invention 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the formatting device according to the first embodiment. The figure showing the format and directory structure of a memory card subjected to the format of the second embodiment The figure showing a mode that the memory card by which the format of Embodiment 2 was given was partition-copyed to another memory card 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the formatting apparatus according to the second embodiment. Modification of the formatting device according to the present invention The figure which shows an example of the apparatus which performs the formatting method of this invention A diagram showing the format and directory structure of a conventional memory card Diagram showing two types of memory cards of the same capacity Figure showing a partition copy of a memory card with a conventional format to another memory card

Explanation of symbols

100, 200, 250, 500, 600, 650 Memory card 110, 210, 260, 510, 610, 660 First recording area 120, 220, 270, 520, 620, 670 Second recording area 130, 276, 534 FAT table 140 Cluster 160 AV directory 190 Root directory 300, 800, 900 Format device 310 Area determination unit 320 Management information generation unit 330 Card recording / playback unit 340 Parameter acquisition unit 350 Card interface unit 810 Transmission / reception unit 820 Input unit 910 CPU unit 920 Bus unit 950 Card control unit

Claims (11)

The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A formatting device,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, area determining means for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
A format information device comprising: management information generating means for allocating file management information in a range of a first recording area not exceeding the minimum management area size held by the area determining means. The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A formatting device,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, area determining means for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
The partition start position is determined so that the size of the first recording area in the partition to be created on the memory card is equal to or smaller than the minimum management area size held by the area determining means, and the first position in the partition is determined. And a management information generating means for allocating file management information in the range of the recording area. The formatting device further includes:
A transmission / reception means for acquiring the minimum management area size via a network;
When the latest minimum management area size is acquired by the transmission / reception means, the area determination means updates the held minimum management area size to the minimum management area size acquired via the transmission / reception means. The formatting device according to claim 1 or 2. The formatting device further includes:
Input means for inputting the minimum management area size;
When the latest minimum management area size is input via the input means, the area determination means updates the held minimum management area size to the minimum management area size input from the input means. 3. The formatting device according to claim 1, wherein the formatting device is characterized in that: The formatting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the life of the number of rewrites of the first recording area is longer than that of the second recording area. The formatting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an error occurrence probability during recording or reproduction in the first recording area is lower than that in the second recording area. The format device according to claim 1, wherein the probability of data destruction due to power interruption during recording in the first recording area is lower than that in the second recording area. The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A formatting method,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, an area determining step for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
A management information generating step of arranging file management information in a range of a first recording area that does not exceed the minimum management area size held in the area determination step. The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A formatting method used in a formatting device,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, an area determining step for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
The partition start position is determined so that the size of the first recording area in the partition created on the memory card is equal to or smaller than the minimum management area size held in the area determination step, and the first in the partition And a management information generating step of arranging file management information in the range of the recording area. The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A program used for a formatting device,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, an area determining step for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
A program that causes a computer to execute a management information generation step of arranging file management information in a range of a first recording area that does not exceed the minimum management area size held in the area determination step. The memory card is composed of at least a first recording area and a second recording area, and a memory card is formatted in which the first recording area is shorter than the second recording area with a data update time equal to or smaller than a predetermined size. A program used for a formatting device,
Of other memory cards having the same recording capacity as the memory card, an area determining step for holding the minimum size of the first recording area as the minimum management area size;
The partition start position is determined so that the size of the first recording area in the partition created on the memory card is equal to or smaller than the minimum management area size held in the area determination step, and the first in the partition A program for causing a computer to execute a management information generation step for arranging file management information in a range of a recording area.

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