JP2012018738A - Recording device, recording control device, recording control method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record data to be recorded in an optical recording medium by maintaining its continuity concerning simultaneous recording in a plurality of recording layers by using a plurality of recording channels (recording parts).SOLUTION: Whole consecutive data to be recorded is divided based on the number of the recording layers of an optical recording medium or the capacity of the recording layer, and the divided data are distributed for every recording layer according to a reproduction layer order. Thus, it is possible to distribute the data for every recording layer so that the continuity of the above mentioned consecutive data can be prevented from being damaged. Concretely, for example, when the reproduction layer order is specified to an ascendant order from the first recording layer, the data of the first range in the above mentioned consecutive data are distributed to the first recording layer, and the data of the following range are distributed to the second recording layer, and the data of the further following range are distributed to the third recording layer, and so on. As mentioned above, it is possible to distribute the consecutive data to be recorded for every recording layer so that its continuity can be prevented from being damaged.

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, a recording control apparatus, a recording control method, and a program for performing recording on an optical recording medium, and in particular, independently for each of different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. The present invention is suitable when applied to a case where a plurality of recording portions for recording data on a plurality of recording layers by irradiation are provided.

JP 2000-187879 A

  For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method of simultaneously recording data on a plurality of recording layers using a recording apparatus having a plurality of optical heads for an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers.

  If data can be simultaneously recorded on a plurality of recording layers by a plurality of optical heads, the recording rate can be improved and the time required for recording can be shortened accordingly. For example, when data recorded on a recording medium as a certain copy source is read out and copied to an optical recording medium, the data reading rate from the recording medium at the copy source is higher than the data recording rate by each optical head. However, the recording time can be shortened by performing the above simultaneous recording.

Here, although details are not mentioned in Patent Document 1, when simultaneous recording using a plurality of heads is performed, data to be recorded is distributed to each optical head. Specifically, for example, the following can be considered properly.
That is, the data read from the copy source recording medium is sequentially buffered, and the data to be supplied to each optical head is sequentially distributed from the buffered data.
More specifically, the drive device having a plurality of heads buffers the data transferred from the host side, and sequentially distributes the data to be supplied to each optical head from there, and assigns the data to each optical head. The simultaneous recording on the recording layer is executed.

However, in the case of adopting a method in which the recording data transferred from the host side is sequentially distributed to a plurality of optical heads for each certain amount of capacity, as shown in FIG. The continuity of the recorded data cannot be maintained in the recording layer.
Such a situation becomes a serious problem especially when the data to be recorded is time-series data such as video data.

Here, for the data recorded in each recording layer (recording layers A and B in the figure) in the form shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of heads (head A and head B in the figure) are recorded as in the recording. If they are reproduced at the same time, it is possible to reproduce the continuity of the data by connecting the data read by these heads.
However, as a reproducing apparatus, there is also an ordinary reproducing apparatus having only one head. When data recorded as shown in FIG. 8 is reproduced by such a normal one-head reproducing apparatus while maintaining its continuity, an interlayer jump operation to another layer is frequently required, which is very It becomes an efficient playback operation. That is, as a result, there arises a problem that the reproduction rate cannot be improved, for example.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and in regard to simultaneous recording on a plurality of layers using a plurality of recording channels (recording units), data to be recorded is kept continuous with respect to an optical recording medium. The task is to be recorded.

Therefore, in the present invention, the recording apparatus is configured as follows.
That is, a plurality of recording units are provided that record light on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers.
Further, the entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical data. The recording medium is assigned to each recording layer in accordance with a predetermined reproduction layer order, and the corresponding data among the assigned data is assigned to each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers by the plurality of recording units. A recording control unit that performs control so that recording is performed simultaneously is provided.

In the present invention, the recording control apparatus is configured as follows.
In other words, the recording control apparatus of the present invention provides an optical recording having a plurality of recording units for recording light on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. A recording control device that performs control for recording on a medium driving device, the entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium, the number of recording layers of the optical recording medium or The data is divided based on the recording capacity of the recording layer, and each divided data is distributed to each recording layer according to a predetermined reproduction layer order for the optical recording medium, and for each of the plurality of recording layers selected as the recording target layer. In addition, a recording control unit that performs control so that corresponding data among the sorted data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units is provided.

In the present invention, the following method is proposed as a recording control method.
That is, the recording control method of the present invention provides a recording operation by a plurality of recording units that record data on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. A recording control method for performing the above-described control, wherein the entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layers of the optical recording medium. The divided data is distributed for each recording layer in accordance with a predetermined reproduction layer order for the optical recording medium, and among the plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers, The control is performed so that the data to be recorded is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units.

Further, in the present invention, information for controlling the recording operation by a plurality of recording units for recording light on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. The following programs are proposed as programs to be executed in the processing apparatus.
That is, the entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical data. The recording medium is assigned to each recording layer in accordance with a predetermined reproduction layer order, and the corresponding data among the assigned data is assigned to each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers by the plurality of recording units. The information processing apparatus is caused to execute a recording control process for performing control so that recording is performed simultaneously.

As described above, in the present invention, the entire series of data to be recorded is divided based on the number of recording layers or the capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and the divided data is recorded for each recording layer according to the reproducing layer order. It is supposed to be distributed to.
Thereby, data can be distributed for each recording layer without losing the continuity of the series of data. Specifically, for example, if the playback layer order is defined in ascending order from the first recording layer, the first range of data in the series of data is distributed to the first recording layer, and the first The continuity of the series of data to be recorded is impaired, such as distributing the data in the subsequent range to the second recording layer, and further distributing the data in the subsequent range to the third recording layer. It can be sorted for each recording layer.
In the present invention, after such distribution, the corresponding data among the allocated data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units for each of the plurality of recording layers selected as the recording target layers. I try to do it.
As a result, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the continuity of the recording data from being lost when the recording time is shortened by simultaneous recording on a plurality of layers using a plurality of recording units.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when the recording time is shortened by performing simultaneous recording on a plurality of layers using a plurality of recording units, it is possible to realize recording that does not impair data continuity.

It is a figure for demonstrating the internal structure of the recording device of embodiment. It is the figure which showed the cross-section of the optical recording medium used as the recording object by the recording apparatus of embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the simultaneous recording technique as embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the replacement process by skipping. It is the flowchart which showed the procedure of the specific process which should be performed in order to implement | achieve the simultaneous recording method of embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the specific processing content of the distribution process of a series of data which should be recorded. FIG. 10 is a diagram for describing an internal configuration of a recording apparatus as a modified example. It is a figure for demonstrating the problem of the simultaneous recording method using the conventional several head.

Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described.
The description will be made in the following order.

<1. Recording device and optical recording medium>
<2. Simultaneous Recording Method as Embodiment>
<3. Processing procedure>
<4. Modification>

<1. Recording device and optical recording medium>

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an internal configuration of a recording apparatus as an embodiment.
The recording apparatus according to the embodiment includes an optical disc drive 1, a host computer 100, and a storage unit 101.
FIG. 1 also shows an optical disc D to be recorded by the recording apparatus of the embodiment.

Here, first, the optical disk D shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the sectional view of FIG.
The optical disc D is an optical disc recording medium such as a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or a BD (Blu-ray Disc: registered trademark). The optical disk recording medium is a disk-shaped optical recording medium in which information is recorded / reproduced by light irradiation.
In this example, the optical disk D conforms to the BD standard, and information is recorded / reproduced under the condition that the wavelength of the laser beam is about λ = 405 nm and the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens is about 0.85.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optical disc D has a plurality of recording layers L. Specifically, the optical disc D of this example has a total of four recording layers L: a first recording layer L0, a second recording layer L1, a third recording layer L2, and a fourth recording layer L3.
On the optical disc D, a cover layer CV is formed at a position that is the lowermost layer when the surface irradiated with laser light from the recording apparatus side is the lower surface. From the cover layer CV to the upper layer side, the first recording layer L0, the second recording layer L1, the third recording layer L2, and the fourth recording layer L3 are formed in the same order at predetermined intervals as shown in the figure. .

For the optical disc D, the playback order for each recording layer L is determined in advance. Specifically, the reproduction of the optical disc D in this case is determined to be performed in order from the lower layer side to the upper layer side (that is, in the order of L0 → L1 → L2 → L3).
Here, in the following description, the order of recording layers to be reproduced in advance is referred to as “reproduction layer order”.

In the case of this example, regarding the optical disc D, it is assumed that different recording / reproducing directions are set between adjacent recording layers L (so-called opposite track path).
Specifically, it is assumed that the recording / reproducing direction is set from the inner circumference to the outer circumference in the first recording layer L0 and the third recording layer L2, and from the outer circumference to the inner circumference in the second recording layer L1 and the fourth recording layer L3.

Returning to FIG.
In FIG. 1, when an optical disk D is loaded in an optical disk drive 1, it is set on a turntable (not shown) and is rotationally driven by a spindle motor (SPM) 2 in the figure.
In the present embodiment, for example, a CLV (constant linear velocity) method is adopted as a rotation driving method of the optical disc D.

The optical disc drive 1 is provided with an optical pickup 3 as a configuration for irradiating a laser beam for recording on the optical disc D that is rotationally driven in this way. In the case of the present embodiment, the optical pickup 3 includes an optical system that irradiates laser light through the objective lens OL-A in the drawing, and an optical that irradiates laser light through the objective lens OL-B in the drawing. Two optical systems with the system are provided independently.
These optical systems are arranged so that the objective lenses OL-A and OL-B included in each optical system are displaced in the circumferential direction of the optical disc D (direction perpendicular to the radial direction in the disc plane) as shown in the figure. Thus, the optical pickup 3 is formed.

In the optical pickup 3, the optical system having the objective lens OL-A is provided with a laser diode serving as a laser light source and a photodetector for receiving reflected light from the optical disk D, and is emitted from the laser diode. Various lenses and optical elements are formed for guiding the laser beam to the objective lens OL-A and guiding the reflected light from the optical disc D to the photodetector through the objective lens OL-A. In addition, a biaxial actuator that holds the objective lens OL-A so as to be movable in the tracking direction (radial direction of the optical disc D) and the focus direction (direction in which the optical disc D contacts and separates) is also provided.
Similarly, the optical system having the objective lens OL-B includes a laser diode serving as a laser light source, a photodetector for receiving reflected light from the optical disk D, and laser light emitted from the laser diode to the objective lens OL-B. Various lenses and optical elements for guiding the reflected light from the optical disc D to the photodetector via the objective lens OL-B, and the objective lens OL-B are held movably in the tracking direction and the focus direction. A biaxial actuator is provided.

Hereinafter, a system (recording / reproducing system) that performs recording / reproducing by irradiating the optical disk D with laser light is referred to as a channel (recording / reproducing channel).
Specifically, the optical pickup 3 configured as described above has a channel for performing laser light irradiation through the objective lens OL-A and a channel for performing laser light irradiation through the objective lens OL-B. The recording / reproducing channel has two channels. Hereinafter, a channel that performs laser light irradiation through the objective lens OL-A is referred to as “Ach”, and a channel that performs laser light irradiation through the objective lens OL-B is referred to as “Bch”. “Ch” is an abbreviation for “channel”.
At this time, a configuration having two channels in one optical pickup 3 as in the optical disc drive 1 shown in FIG. 1 is also referred to as “1 pick 2ch”.

As shown in the figure, the optical pickup 3 is held by a slide transfer unit 5 so as to be slidable.
The slide transfer unit 5 includes a mechanical mechanism unit that holds the optical pickup 3 so as to be slidable in the radial direction of the optical disc D, and a slide motor that drives the mechanical mechanism unit. When the slide motor is driven and controlled based on a control signal (slide drive signal) output from 4-A, the optical pickup 3 is slid and transferred in the radial direction.

Further, the optical disk drive 1 is provided with an Ach drive control unit 4-A and a Bch drive control unit 4-B so that each channel of Ach and Bch can perform recording and reproduction independently. Yes.
Each of these drive control units 4 includes a servo control system, a reproduction signal processing system, a recording signal processing system for performing recording data modulation processing, and the like based on a received light signal from a photodetector provided in the corresponding ch optical system, and a laser diode. The light emission drive system and a control unit for performing control of these, for example, a control unit using a microcomputer or the like are comprehensively shown for recording and reproducing independently for each channel.
Here, in this example, it is assumed that each of these drive control units 4-A and 4-B is provided with a defect detection circuit for detecting a defect on the disk.

In the case of this example, the configuration (slide) for controlling the slide transfer unit 5 and the spindle motor 2 described above with respect to one Ach drive control unit 4-A side of the two drive control units 4. Servo control unit and spindle servo control unit) are provided.
Specifically, the slide servo control unit obtains a slide error signal obtained as a low frequency component of a tracking error signal generated on the Ach side (generated based on the reflected light obtained via the objective lens OL-A). The slide drive signal (slide servo signal) based on the above is generated, and the slide transfer unit 5 is controlled based on the slide drive signal, thereby performing the slide servo control of the optical pickup 3.
The spindle servo circuit controls the spindle motor 2 by using the reproduction clock generated on the Ach side as the current rotation speed information of the spindle motor 2, thereby rotating the spindle motor 2 at a constant linear speed.

In addition, the optical disc drive 1 is provided with a bridge control unit 6 that comprehensively controls the Ach drive control unit 4-A and the Bch drive control unit 4-B.
The bridge control unit 6 is configured by a microcomputer including, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and performs processing according to a program stored in the ROM, for example. By executing, the Ach drive control unit 4-A so that data instructed from the host computer 100 provided outside the optical disk drive 1 is recorded and data transferred from the host computer 100 side is recorded. The Bch drive control unit 4-B is controlled.
Note that details of specific processing performed by the bridge control unit 6 in the present embodiment will be described later.

The host computer 100 includes a ROM, a RAM, and a CPU. For example, the host computer 100 performs overall control of the recording apparatus by executing processing according to a program stored in the ROM.
As shown in the figure, a storage unit 101 is connected to the host computer 100. The storage unit 101 is composed of a relatively large capacity storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), and executes writing / reading of various data based on instructions from the host computer 100.
In the case of this embodiment, the host computer 100 executes processing for dividing and distributing data to be recorded for each channel when performing simultaneous recording by Ach and Bch as will be described later. Will explain again.

<2. Simultaneous Recording Method as Embodiment>

Also in this embodiment, high-speed recording can be performed by simultaneously recording data on different recording layers L of the optical disc D using both the recording system as Ach and the recording system as Bch as described in FIG. Realize operation.
Here, as described above, when simultaneous recording is performed on a plurality of recording layers using a plurality of channels (a plurality of heads), data to be recorded is allocated to each channel. Although it is necessary, no specific method has been proposed in the past.
For example, as an appropriate method, the recording data transferred from the host side on the drive side is buffered as shown in FIG. 8, and then supplied to each head (ch) sequentially from there. Although there is a method of allocating power data, such a method causes a problem that continuity of recording data cannot be maintained in each recording layer.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the following method is proposed in order to solve the problem that the continuity of data is lost in the simultaneous recording on a plurality of recording layers using a plurality of channels.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a simultaneous recording technique as an embodiment.
3, FIG. 3 (a) schematically shows the recording capacity of the optical disc D, and FIG. 3 (b) schematically shows the recording capacity of the recording layers L of L0 to L3.
The recording capacity referred to here is the recording capacity of the user data area.

FIG. 3C schematically shows a capacity of a series of data to be recorded on the optical disc D.
As can be seen from comparison with FIGS. 3A and 3B, the capacity of data to be recorded in this case is smaller than the recording capacity of the optical disc D. Specifically, the capacity of data to be recorded in this case is about 3.5 in terms of capacity of the recording layer L.

Here, in the case of the present embodiment, it is assumed that data to be recorded on the optical disc D is stored in advance in the storage unit 101 shown in FIG.
For example, the data to be recorded is time-series data such as video data. The recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 uses the time-series data stored in the storage unit 101 in this way for archiving to the optical disc D. Shall be recorded (copied).
At this time, it is assumed that the selection of data to be recorded on the optical disc D from the data recorded in the storage unit 101 and the recording instruction thereof are performed based on, for example, a user operation.

  In the case of the present embodiment, when simultaneous recording is performed on a plurality of recording layers using a plurality of channels with respect to the data to be recorded, as shown in FIG. Is divided based on the number of recording layers L of the optical disc D. Specifically, the number of recording layers L is divided, and in this case, the data to be recorded in FIG. 3C is divided into four.

Then, after dividing the data to be recorded in this way, the divided data is distributed (allocated) as data to be recorded in each recording layer L in accordance with the reproduction layer order.
As described above, the order of the reproducing layers in this case is the order of the recording layers L0 → L1 → L2 → L3. To the recording layer L3.

In this way, the data to be recorded is divided, and the divided data is allocated to each recording layer L in accordance with the reproducing layer order, and then simultaneous recording is performed on a plurality of recording layers using a plurality of channels.
In the case of this example, the opposite track path is adopted for the optical disc D, so that simultaneous recording is performed by a set of recording layers L whose recording direction is the same direction (in other words, adjacent recording layers separated by one recording layer L). Execute for each set of L). Specifically, simultaneous recording with respect to the pair of recording layers L0 and L2 and simultaneous recording with respect to the pair of recording layers L1 and L3 are performed (FIG. 3 (e) and FIG. 3 (f)).

In the case of this example, simultaneous recording with respect to the pair of recording layers L0 and L2 shown in FIG. 3 (e) supplies, for example, data distributed as data to be recorded in the recording layer L0 in FIG. Data distributed as data to be recorded in the recording layer L2 is supplied to the Bch side.
Specifically, in the state where the focus servo control for the objective lens OL-A is executed so that the laser beam irradiated on the Ach side is focused on the recording layer L0 in the Ach drive control unit 4-A. The data allocated to be recorded in the recording layer L0 is supplied to the Ach drive control unit 4-A for recording. At the same time, the focus servo control for the objective lens OL-B is executed so that the laser beam irradiated on the Bch side is focused on the recording layer L2 in the Bch drive control unit 4-B. The data allocated to be recorded in the recording layer L2 is supplied to the Bch drive control unit 4-B for recording.
As a result, the data allocated to be recorded on the recording layer L0 is simultaneously recorded on the recording layer L0, and the data allocated to be recorded on the recording layer L2 is simultaneously recorded on the recording layer L2.

Further, in the simultaneous recording with respect to the combination of the recording layers L1 and L3 shown in FIG. 3F, for example, the data distributed as the data to be recorded in the recording layer L1 in FIG. It is assumed that data distributed as data to be recorded on the Bch side is supplied to the Bch side.
Specifically, in the state in which the focus servo control for the objective lens OL-A is executed so that the laser beam irradiated on the Ach side is focused on the recording layer L1 in the Ach drive control unit 4-A. The data allocated to be recorded in the recording layer L1 is supplied to the Ach drive control unit 4-A for recording. At the same time, the focus servo control for the objective lens OL-B is executed so that the laser beam irradiated on the Bch side is focused on the recording layer L3 in the Bch drive control unit 4-B. The data allocated to be recorded in the recording layer L3 is supplied to the Bch drive control unit 4-B for recording.
As a result, the data allocated to be recorded on the recording layer L1 is simultaneously recorded on the recording layer L1, and the data allocated to be recorded on the recording layer L3 is simultaneously recorded on the recording layer L3.

  By using the simultaneous recording method as described above, the series of data to be recorded shown in FIG. 3C can be recorded on the optical disc D while maintaining its continuity.

Here, in the above description, with respect to the division of the series of data to be recorded, only the division according to the number of the recording layers L is mentioned, but in the case of this example, the division is performed as follows. Such points are also taken into consideration.
First, since the skipping replacement process is performed as the replacement process during recording in this example, the capacity of data to be recorded in each recording layer L is smaller than the recording capacity of the recording layer L. It is a point to do.
In other words, the division in this case is performed so that each recording layer L has a free space for enabling skipping replacement as shown in the figure.

For confirmation, the skipping replacement process referred to here will be described with reference to FIG.
As can be seen with reference to FIG. 4, the skipping replacement process referred to here means that when a defect is detected during recording, recording for the defect section is stopped, and after passing through the defect section, before recording is stopped. The data subsequent to the recorded data is recorded. In short, this means a replacement process by skipping a defect section.
Specifically, in this case, the skipping replacement process should stop recording the defect cluster (cluster = minimum recording unit) in which the defect is detected and record the defect cluster when the defect is detected. The recording of the data after the data is resumed after passing through the defective cluster.

  The division in this case is performed in such a way that a free capacity (hereinafter referred to as a skipping free capacity) for enabling such skipping replacement processing can be secured in each recording layer L. Specifically, the division is performed so that the capacity of each divided data is at least smaller than the capacity of the recording layer L. More specifically, the division in this case may be performed so that the capacity of each divided data is equal to or less than the capacity represented by “capacity of recording layer L” − “free capacity for skipping”.

  In the case of this example, the division is performed so that the capacity of each divided data becomes equal.

Here, if a series of data to be recorded is simply divided evenly by the number of the recording layers L, the capacity of each divided data is “capacity of the recording layer L” − “for skipping” as described above. There may be a case where it is not possible to suppress the capacity to be equal to or less than the capacity represented by “free capacity”.
Specifically, when the recording capacity of the optical disk D is Dtl, the capacity of a series of data to be recorded is Rtl, and the total of the skipping free capacity of each recording layer L is Ssum.

Rtl> Dtl−Ssum [Equation 1]

If the above condition is satisfied, it becomes impossible to secure a free space for skipping in each recording layer L.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not the condition of [Equation 1] is satisfied. If the condition is satisfied, data recording on the optical disc D is not executed as error processing. To.
As a result, the equal division of data into each recording layer L and the securing of the free space for skipping of each recording layer L can always be made compatible.

  Of course, when it is always guaranteed that the condition of [Equation 1] is not satisfied, the above-described determination processing is unnecessary.

Here, if the capacity of the distribution data to each recording layer L is unequal, the time required for completing the simultaneous recording is increased accordingly. For example, if the ratio of the volume of data distributed to each recording layer L to be recorded simultaneously is “7: 3”, the time required to complete the simultaneous recording is “7”.
On the other hand, if the data capacity to be distributed for each recording layer L is made uniform as in this example, the ratio of the capacity of the distributed data is “5: 5”, and therefore the time required to complete the simultaneous recording is “ 5 ”. That is, as can be understood from this, according to this example in which equal division is performed, the time required for simultaneous recording can be minimized.

<3. Processing procedure>

Next, a specific processing procedure to be executed to realize the simultaneous recording method according to the embodiment described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6.
In FIG. 5, a series of processing indicated as “host” is executed by the host computer 100 shown in FIG. 1 according to a program stored in a memory such as a ROM provided in the host computer 100.
A series of processing indicated as “drive” is executed by the bridge control unit 6 shown in FIG. 1 according to a program stored in a memory such as a ROM provided in the same manner.

  Here, it is assumed that the optical disk D is already loaded in the optical disk drive 1 at the time when the series of processes shown in FIG. Further, the bridge control unit 6 preliminarily stores the disc information (disc type, disc capacity, number of recording layers L, etc. on the optical disc D) recorded on the optical disc D by either of the drive control units 4-A and 4-B. It is assumed that the recorded disk physical information) is read out and held in a memory such as a RAM provided in itself.

In FIG. 5, first, the host side (host computer 100) stands by until a recording start instruction is given by the processing of step S101 in the figure.
Specifically, the processing in step S101 is performed by selecting data to be recorded on the optical disc D from data recorded in the storage unit 101, for example, by a user operation as described above, and recording the data. The process waits until instructed.

  If it is determined in step S101 that a recording start instruction has been issued, the process proceeds to step S102, and the disk information is requested to the drive side (bridge controller 6).

On the drive side, in step S201 in the figure, it waits until there is a request for disk information from the host side.
If disk information is requested, the process proceeds to step S202, where the disk information is transmitted to the host side.
After transmitting the disc information, the process proceeds to step S203 as shown.

On the host side, in step S103, the host side waits until there is transmission of disk information from the drive side.
If the disc information is transmitted, the process proceeds to step S104, and the upper limit value iMAX of the variable i is set.
Here, the variable i is a variable for identifying different sets of recording layers L that perform simultaneous recording by Ach and Bch, and the upper limit value iMAX is the number of recording layers L of the optical disc D (above-mentioned (Determined from the disc information) and the number of channels for simultaneous recording. Specifically, the number of recording layers L is divided by the number of simultaneous recording channels.
In this example, since the number of recording layers L is 4 and the number of simultaneous recording channels is 2, the upper limit value iMAX is set to 2.

When the upper limit value iMAX is set in step S104, a distribution process of data to be recorded in each layer is executed in step S105.
Here, as the distribution process, specifically, the processes of steps S1 to S6 shown in FIG. 6 are executed.

  In FIG. 6, first, in step S1, the total capacity (Ssum) of the free capacity for skipping is calculated. A predetermined capacity is set in advance as the skipping capacity in each recording layer L. Therefore, as the total capacity Ssum, the predetermined capacity is multiplied by the number of recording layers L of the optical disk D specified from the disk information. Ask for.

After calculating the total capacity Ssum of the skipping free capacity in step S1, the effective total capacity (Dav) of the disk is calculated based on the capacity (Dtl) of the disk and the total capacity Ssum in step S2. That is, as the effective total capacity Dav of the disk,

Dav = Dtl−Ssum

Calculate

  In the subsequent step S3, the capacity (Rtl) of a series of data to be recorded is calculated. That is, the data capacity of a series of data instructed to be recorded in step S101 among the data recorded in the storage unit 101 is calculated as the capacity Rtl.

After calculating the capacity Rtl of the series of data to be recorded in step S3, it is determined in step S4 whether or not the effective total capacity Dav of the disc is less than the capacity Rtl of the series of data to be recorded (Dav <Rtl). . This corresponds to determining whether or not the condition of [Formula 1] is satisfied.
If an affirmative result is obtained in step S4 as Dav <Rtl, error processing is executed as shown in the figure. That is, when Dav <Rtl, data recording on the optical disc D is not executed.
As described above, by providing such an error process, the equal division of data into each recording layer L and the securing of the free space for skipping of each recording layer L can always be achieved.

  On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step S4 because Dav <Rtl is not satisfied, a series of data to be recorded is equally divided based on the number of layers in step S5. Specifically, in the case of this example, since the number L of recordings = 4, the series of data is divided into four equal parts.

  In the subsequent step S6, the divided data are distributed to the respective layers according to the reproduction layer order. That is, in the case of this example, each data obtained by the division in step S5 is distributed to the recording layer L0, the recording layer L1, the recording layer L2, and the recording layer L3 in order from the head side.

Returning to FIG.
After executing each process described in FIG. 6 as the distribution process in step S105, the variable i is set to 1 (i ← 1) in step S106.
Then, in the next step S107, transfer of the recording data of each layer of group i is instructed to the drive side to instruct simultaneous recording thereof.
Here, as described above, the variable i = 1 is a variable for identifying the set of recording layers L on which simultaneous recording is performed. In this example, the variable i = 1 represents the pair of recording layers L0 and L2, and the variable i = 2 represents the pair of recording layers L1 and L3, corresponding to the optical disc D being an opposite track path.
In step S107, with respect to each recording layer L specified by the variable i in this way, the transfer of data to be recorded on the recording side L is started and a recording instruction for the data to be recorded to the recording layer L is started. I do.

On the drive side, the recording instruction (and data transfer) from the host side in step S107 is waited in step S203.
If there is such a recording instruction, in step S204, processing for starting data recording on each instructed layer is executed.
Here, as can be understood from the above description, in the case of this example, the simultaneous recording is performed on the lower recording layer L (hereinafter referred to as L-l) of the recording layers L to be simultaneously recorded on the Ach side. It is determined that recording is performed and the Bch side is in charge of recording of the upper recording layer L (hereinafter referred to as L-u) of the recording layers L to be recorded.
From this point, in step S204, focus servo control for the objective lens OL-A is executed so that the laser light irradiated on the Ach side is focused on the recording layer L-l side by the Ach drive control unit 4-A. In this state, the Ach drive control unit 4-A is controlled so that recording of data transferred to be recorded on the recording layer L-l is started by the Ach side. At the same time, the focus servo control for the objective lens OL-B is executed so that the laser beam irradiated on the Bch side is focused on the recording layer L-u by the Bch drive control unit 4-B. The Bch drive control unit 4-B is controlled so that the recording of the data transferred to be recorded on the recording layer L-u is started by the Bch side.
As a result, for each recording layer L (each layer of group i) to be simultaneously recorded, data that should be recorded in the recording layer L is recorded simultaneously.

After executing the data recording start process in step S204, it is determined in step S205 whether or not the data recording of each layer has been completed. That is, it is determined whether or not the data recording on the recording layer L-l on the Ach side and the data recording on each layer as the data recording on the recording layer L-u on the Bch side are completed.
If a negative result is obtained in step S205 that the data recording of each layer has not been completed, it is determined in step S206 whether or not a defect has occurred. That is, it is determined whether a defect has been detected by either the Ach drive control unit 4-A side or the Bch drive control unit 4-B side.
If a negative result is obtained in step S206 that no defect has occurred, the process returns to step S205.
Here, depending on steps S205 and S206 described above, a loop is formed to wait for either the end of data recording of each layer or the occurrence of a defect.

  Of the processes in steps S205 and S206 that form the loop, if a positive result is obtained in step S206 that a defect has occurred, the process proceeds to step S207, and a defect occurrence notification is sent to the host side. After the defect occurrence notification is given, the recording of the defect occurrence side ch is instructed in step S208, and the process proceeds to step S209.

  On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step S205 that the data recording of each layer has been completed, the process proceeds to step S211 to notify the host of the recording end, and then proceeds to step S212.

On the host side, either the recording end notification (S211) from the drive side or the defect occurrence notification (S207) is waited for in the loop processing in steps S108 and S109 in the figure.
Specifically, in step S108, it is determined whether or not there is a recording end notification from the drive side. If a negative result is obtained because there is no end notification, the process proceeds to step S109 to determine whether or not there is a defect occurrence notification. To do. If a negative result is obtained in step S109 that there is no defect occurrence notification, the process returns to step S108.

Of these steps S108 and S109, if an affirmative result is obtained in step S109 that a defect occurrence notification has been received, the process proceeds to step S110, the restart address (cluster) is designated for the drive side, and the process proceeds to step S108. Return.
Note that the case where an affirmative result is obtained in step S108 that there is a recording end notification will be described later.

On the drive side, the restart address designation in step S110 is waited in step S209. If the restart address is designated in step S209, processing for resuming recording from the designated address is executed in step S210. In other words, the data recording on the channel side for which recording was stopped in step S208 is resumed from the designated address.
After executing the recording restart process in step S208, the process returns to the previous step S205.

  The skipping replacement process described above can be realized during the simultaneous recording operation to a plurality of layers by the processes in steps S207 to S210 on the drive side described above and the restart address designation process in step S110 on the host side. become.

On the host side, if an affirmative result is obtained in the previous step S108 that there was a recording end notification from the drive side, the process proceeds to step S111, where the variable i has reached the upper limit value iMAX (i = iMAX). It is determined whether or not.
If a negative result is obtained in step S111 that i is not iMAX, the process proceeds to step S112 to increment the variable i (i ← i + 1), and then returns to step S107. As a result, recording is performed for all the pairs of recording layers L to be simultaneously recorded.

  On the other hand, if a positive result is obtained in step S111 that i = iMAX, a process completion notification is sent to the drive side in step S113, and the process proceeds to step S114.

On the drive side, the process completion notification from the host side in step S111 waits in step S212.
If a negative result is obtained in step S212 that there is no processing completion notification from the host, the process returns to step S203. That is, when the recording end notification made to the host side in the previous step S211 is a recording end notification for each recording layer L of group i ≠ iMAX, simultaneous recording for each recording layer L of new group i is performed. To return to step S203.

If an affirmative result is obtained in step S212 that there is a processing completion notification from the host side, file system information recording processing is executed in step S213.
Here, on the host side, a file system information creation / recording instruction is issued in step S114 after the processing completion notification in step S113 is performed. That is, as file system information, recording data management information indicating which address of which recording layer L on the optical disk D is recorded with data is created, and the recording is instructed to the drive side.
The recording process in step S213 on the drive side is a process for recording on the optical disc D the file system information generated and instructed to be recorded on the host side. The recording of the file system information on the optical disc D may be executed on either the Ach side or the Bch side.

On the drive side, the series of processing shown in FIG. 5 is completed by executing the recording processing in step S213.
On the host side, the series of processing shown in this figure is completed by executing the information creation / recording instruction processing in step S114.

<4. Modification>

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention should not be limited to the specific examples described above.
For example, in the description so far, only a so-called 1-pick 2-ch configuration has been exemplified as a configuration for performing simultaneous recording. However, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, two-pick having two normal 1-ch optical pickups 3 A 2ch configuration can also be used.
Specifically, the optical disc drive 10 in this case includes a first optical pickup 3-1 having an optical system having an objective lens OL-A and a second optical pickup 3 having an optical system having an objective lens OL-B. -2. The first optical pickup 3-1 and the second optical pickup 3-2 are arranged so as to be in a positional relationship facing each other across the center of the loaded optical disk D. In this case, the slide transfer unit 5 includes a first slide transfer unit 5-1 for sliding the first optical pickup 3-1 and a second slide for slide transfer of the second optical pickup 3-2. A transfer unit 5-2 is provided.
Further, the optical disk drive 10 includes an Ach drive control unit 4-A ′ for performing recording and reproduction using the first optical pickup 3-1 (Ach side) as the drive control unit 4, and a second optical pickup 3-2. A Bch drive control unit 4-B ′ for performing recording / reproduction using (Bch side) is provided. In this case, the Ach drive control unit 4-A ′ is provided with a control system for the first slide transfer unit 5-1, and the Bch drive control unit 4-B ′ has control for the second slide transfer unit 5-2. A system is provided. In this case, it is assumed that the control system for the spindle motor 2 is provided in the Ach drive control unit 4-A ′.
The optical disc drive 10 is provided with a bridge controller 6 ′. The bridge control unit 6 ′ is the same as the bridge control unit 6 shown in FIG. 1 except that control is performed on the Ach drive control unit 4-A ′ and the Bch drive control unit 4-B ′.

  Thus, even when each channel is mounted on separate optical pickups 3, simultaneous recording on a plurality of recording layers L can be performed, and therefore the simultaneous recording method of the present invention can be suitably applied. .

In the description so far, the case where the equal division is performed in dividing the series of data to be recorded based on the number of the recording layers L included in the optical disc D is illustrated. However, it is not essential to perform the division equally. .
Further, in order to ensure the free space for skipping, it is also a requirement that each piece of divided data be smaller than the capacity of each recording layer L, but this is not essential.
In the present invention, the series of data to be recorded is divided based on the number of recording layers (or the recording capacity of the recording layer L: this point will be described later). I just need it.

  Further, in the description so far, the case where the recording apparatus has two channels has been exemplified, but the number of channels may be three or more.

  In the above description, only the case where simultaneous recording is performed using all the channels included in the recording apparatus has been illustrated, but it is not essential to perform simultaneous recording using all the channels as described above. For example, if the number of recording layers L is not a multiple of the number of channels of the recording device, such as the number of recording layers L is 6 and the number of simultaneously recordable channels is 4, at least At the time of recording, any channel is not used.

  In the description so far, the four-layer disc has been exemplified as the optical disc D. However, in order to shorten the recording time by simultaneous recording on the plurality of recording layers L, an opposite track path is employed as in this example, for example. In such a case, an optical recording medium having at least three recording layers L may be used. This is because, in the case of the opposite track path, if there are three or more recording layers L, the recording directions can be the same (that is, simultaneous recording using a plurality of channels can be performed).

  Alternatively, when a parallel track path (in which the same recording / reproducing direction is set for each layer) is adopted instead of the opposite track path, simultaneous recording can be performed on two adjacent layers. Good.

Here, when the parallel track path is adopted and the number of the recording layers L is three or more, the data is simply divided by the number of the recording layers L as illustrated in the embodiment, and each of them is divided. There is a case where the recording time is shortened by adopting the following method without adopting the method of allocating to the recording layer L.
That is, first, is the total capacity (Rtl) of a series of data to be recorded smaller than the total capacity (Ltl × n) of the recording layers L as many as the number of channels of the recording apparatus (this is n). Determine whether or not. As a result of this determination, if a positive result is obtained that Rtl <Ltl × 2, the series of data to be recorded can be completed by one simultaneous recording operation. Are divided into n pieces instead of being divided into the number of recording layers L, and they are respectively distributed as data to be individually recorded in the n recording layers L in accordance with the reproducing layer order. The recording of data is completed.
Here, in the case of an opposite track path, if the data is stored in n layers as described above and an attempt is made to complete the recording by one simultaneous recording, an unrecorded recording layer L remains between them. At the time of reproduction, the first recording layer L must be reproduced once and then returned to the inner circumference side to start reproduction of the next recorded layer L, which is an advantage of the opposite track path. It will be damaged.
On the other hand, in the case of the parallel track path, since the recording / reproducing directions are the same in each recording layer L, when the data can be stored in n layers as described above, the recording is completed by one simultaneous recording. However, such a problem does not occur.
That is, in the case of the parallel track path, if the method of simply dividing the number of the recording layers L and assigning them to each recording layer L is applied as it is, a new recording operation is started after one simultaneous recording is completed. However, if the above method is employed, the useless time can be omitted, and the recording time can be shortened.
For confirmation, the division method described here corresponds to a method of dividing the entire series of data to be recorded based on the recording capacity of the recording layer L. Specifically, the entire series of data to be recorded is divided based on the recording capacity of the recording layer L and the number of channels (number of recording units) of the recording apparatus.

  1,10 optical disk drive, 2 spindle motor, 3 optical pickup, 3-1 first optical pickup, 3-2 second optical pickup, 4-A, 4-A ′ Ach drive control unit, 4-B, 4- B 'Bch drive control unit, 5 slide transfer unit, 5-1 first slide transfer unit, 5-2 second slide transfer unit, 6, 6' bridge control unit, 100 host computer, 101 storage unit, OL-A, OL-B objective lens, D optical disc

Claims (9)

A plurality of recording units for recording light on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating light to different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers;
The entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical recording medium. For each of the recording layers according to a predetermined reproduction layer order, and for each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers, the corresponding data among the allocated data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units. And a recording control unit that performs control as described above. The recording control unit
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the series of data is divided so that a capacity of each divided data is smaller than a recording capacity of each recording layer. The recording control unit
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the series of data is divided so that the volumes of the divided data are equal. The optical recording medium is an optical recording medium adopting an opposite track path, and has three or more recording layers,
The recording control unit
Each recording layer adjacent to one recording layer is selected as a recording target layer, and the corresponding data among the data allocated to each of the recording layers is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein control is performed. The optical recording medium has four recording layers as the plurality of recording layers,
As said recording part, while providing two recording parts,
The recording control unit
When the four recording layers formed on the optical recording medium are the first recording layer, the second recording layer, the third recording layer, and the fourth recording layer in order from the light incident side from the recording unit, The control is performed so that simultaneous recording of data to one recording layer and the third recording layer and simultaneous recording of data to the second recording layer and the fourth recording layer are performed, respectively. Recording device. The recording control unit
When a defect is detected in the recording layer in which data is being recorded by the recording unit, data recording by the corresponding recording unit is stopped, and control is performed so that subsequent data is recorded after passing the defect section. The recording apparatus according to claim 2. For recording on an optical recording medium driving device having a plurality of recording units for recording data in a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. A recording control device for performing control,
The entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical recording medium. For each of the recording layers according to a predetermined reproduction layer order, and for each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers, the corresponding data among the allocated data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units. A recording control apparatus comprising a recording control unit that performs control as described above. A recording control method for controlling a recording operation by a plurality of recording units for recording light on a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. ,
The entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical recording medium. For each of the recording layers according to a predetermined reproduction layer order, and for each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers, the corresponding data among the allocated data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units. A recording control method for performing control as described above. Executed in an information processing apparatus that controls recording operations by a plurality of recording units that record data in a plurality of recording layers by independently irradiating different recording layers in an optical recording medium having a plurality of recording layers. A program that should
The entire series of data to be recorded on the optical recording medium is divided based on the number of recording layers or the recording capacity of the recording layer of the optical recording medium, and each divided data is divided into the optical recording medium. For each of the recording layers according to a predetermined reproduction layer order, and for each of a plurality of recording layers selected as recording target layers, the corresponding data among the allocated data is simultaneously recorded by the plurality of recording units. A program for causing the information processing apparatus to execute a recording control process for performing control as described above.

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