JP2548145B2 - Optical card and optical card recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an optical card and an optical card recording device.

[Conventional technology]

As an optical recording medium, a write-once optical disc, an optical card as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-500462, and the like have been proposed. In such an optical recording medium,
When recording data by using the multiple tracks in ascending order, it is necessary to detect the last track that has been written.As a detection method, it is possible to scan the multiple tracks sequentially and read the data. A method of detecting a track, a method of storing the address of the last track in a floppy disk or the like in a host computer to which a recording / reproducing device is connected, and reading and detecting the same have been proposed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, the above method has a problem that it takes time to detect the final track because a plurality of tracks are sequentially scanned. For example, in an optical card,
It usually has a capacity of several megabytes and has thousands of tracks. Therefore, it may take several minutes if you scan the tracks sequentially from the beginning and read in, and even if you search by dividing into 1/2 by the binary search method instead of reading in order from the beginning, it will still take a considerable time. It costs.

On the other hand, according to the above method, since the last track is stored in the floppy disk or the like on the recording / reproducing apparatus side, there is an advantage that high-speed access can be performed by reading this. However, in this method, if different recording / reproducing devices connected to different host computers are to perform predetermined processing, since the optical recording medium itself does not have information indicating the final track, it is possible that the different host computers have different information. It is necessary to exchange information in.
Therefore, if you try to realize this with an online system, there is a problem that it is expensive and you need to keep the system running all the time, and if you try to realize it offline, daily data exchange with a floppy disk etc. is necessary, There is a problem that it cannot be used in remote areas.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and an optical card appropriately configured so that online processing or offline processing can be efficiently and inexpensively realized, and an optical card using the optical card. An object is to provide a recording device.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical card having a plurality of tracks arranged in parallel with each other for optically reading data, wherein the plurality of tracks are aligned in the track width direction. Each of the tracks has a mark area for recording a mark indicating that data has been written.

Further, the present invention is an optical card recording using an optical card in which a mark area for recording a mark indicating that data has been written is provided on each of a plurality of tracks which are aligned in the track width direction and are parallel to each other. An apparatus comprising: a reading unit that scans the optical card in the track width direction to read the mark area; and a unit that detects a written track based on the output of the reading unit. Is.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment shows an optical card. The optical card 1 is provided with a recording layer 3 in which a plurality of tracks 2 extending in the longitudinal direction of the card are formed in parallel to the card width direction. In order to read the card from both the left and right directions, the recording layer 3 is formed with ID portions 4a and 4b in which track addresses are previously recorded at a predetermined interval from the track ends at both ends of each track. In this example, each track is placed from both ends
The areas up to the ID portions 4a and 4b are marked areas 5a and 5b, respectively,
A mark indicating that the data has been written on the track 2 can be recorded on the track 2 portion of the mark areas 5a and 5b.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of one track 2. The track 2 is defined by a guide track 6 having a low reflectance for detecting a focus error and a tracking error of the recording / reproducing head, and data is recorded in a data area 7 between the ID parts 4a and 4b in which track addresses are recorded in advance. Are written in a pit shape (the pit portion has a low reflectance), and the mark 8 indicating that the writing has been completed is written in the mark areas 5a and 5b.
Is written over almost the entire area in the track width direction so that the portion can have a low reflectance. The marks 8 are recorded in the mark areas 5a and 5b after the data is written in the data area 7 or prior to the writing, for example, by using a laser beam as a writing power and without modulating the mark area of the track 2 concerned. This can be done by scanning 5a and 5b.

In FIG. 1, a region 9 indicates a written track portion and a region 10 indicates an unwritten track portion.

By using the optical card 1 according to this embodiment to record the mark 8 indicating that writing has been completed in the mark areas 5a and 5b, either one of the mark areas 5a and 5b can be read by the read head. When the optical card 11 is scanned in the track width direction and optically read as shown in FIG. 3, the level of the read signal differs between the portion with the mark and the portion without the mark as shown in FIG. 3B. Therefore, by detecting whether or not this read signal exceeds the appropriate level Vth, the written final track can be easily and quickly detected.

In the above example, the mark area on each track 2
Although the marks 8 are recorded on 5a and 5b over almost the entire area in the track width direction, the diameter of the writing beam is reduced to the fourth position.
As shown in FIG. A, the mark 8 can be finely recorded only in the central portion of the track 2. In this case, when the mark area 5a or 5b is scanned by setting the resolution of the optical system of the read head and the frequency characteristic of the signal processing system so that the mark 8 and the guide track 6 can be read separately. The cycle of the level change of the read signal corresponding to the brightness is shown in FIG. 4B.
As shown in, it becomes 1/2 at the part where the mark 8 exists. Therefore, by detecting the change in the period, the written final track can be detected easily and quickly as in the case described above. It should be noted that it is effective to provide a bandpass filter in the signal processing system in order to more reliably detect the 1/2 cycle signal.

As described above, by using the optical card 1 shown in FIG. 1 and recording the mark 8 indicating that the writing has been completed in the mark areas 5a and 5b of each track 2, one of the mark areas 5a is read by the read head. Alternatively, the last track that has been written can be detected only by scanning only 5b in the track width direction. Here, the read head may also be used as a normal data read head, or a head without a tracking control function dedicated to scanning the mark area may be used. When the data read head is also used, it is effective to suppress the head shake by short-circuiting the tracking coil for tracking control during the mark area scanning period.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this optical card 11, a track extending to both ends in the card length direction is divided into two tracks, and one track 12 is provided with ID sections 13 and 14 and mark areas 15 and 16 representing track addresses and track widths. Marks as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4A, which are formed along the direction and indicate that data has been written to each track, are provided in the mark area 15 on the left side with respect to the track on the left side. In part,
With respect to the right side track, recording can be performed on the part of the right side track in the mark area 16 on the right side. Therefore, in this optical card 11, the number of recording tracks is twice as large as that shown in FIG. 1, and the capacity per track is 1 /.
It becomes 2.

Even in the case of using the optical card 11 according to this embodiment, similarly to the above, the written head sequentially scans only the mark areas 15 and 16 in the track width direction to easily and quickly detect the final track that has been written. be able to. In FIG. 5, an area 17 shows a written track portion and an area 18 shows an unwritten track portion.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of an optical system of a recording / reproducing apparatus using the optical card according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a head 21 for scanning the mark area is provided so that the mark area is scanned in the track width direction to detect the final track that has been written. As shown in detail in FIG. 7A, the mark area scanning head 21 illuminates the optical card 1 (11) in a spot shape from an oblique direction through the illumination lens 23 by the light from the light source 22 such as a light emitting diode. The image of the illuminated spot is formed on the detector 25 via the image forming lens 24.The image forming lens 24 changes in the optical axis direction based on the output of the detector 25 by a focus adjusting mechanism (not shown). Focus control.

Further, a recording / reproducing head 26 is provided separately from the mark area scanning head 21 to write data to the data area of the optical card 1 (11) and write a written mark to the mark area, and at the same time, to perform an ID section. And read the data area. This recording / playback head 26
As shown in detail in FIG. 7B, the light from the laser diode 27 is projected in spots on the optical card 1 (11) through the collimator lens 28, the beam splitter 29, and the objective lens 30, and the reflected light is objective. Lens 30, beam splitter
An image is formed on the detector 32 via the focusing lens 31 and the focusing lens 31, and the objective lens 30 is orthogonal to the optical axis direction and the optical card 1 (11 ) The focus control and the tracking control are performed by displacing in the direction orthogonal to the track direction of). The laser diode 27 is used as a write output when recording in the data area, and modulates this according to the information to be recorded.In the case of writing in the mark area, the write output is recorded as it is without modulation. When reading the part and the data area, the track address and the data are read by setting the read output lower than the write output.

Mark area scanning head 21 and recording / reproducing head 26
Are attached to the same head feed mechanism so that the spots for the optical cards 1 (11) are located on the same track, and are moved integrally in the track width direction. It is moved relative to the track direction.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the optical card of the present invention, a mark indicating that data has been written is recorded on each of a plurality of tracks aligned with each other in the track width direction on the optical card itself. Since the mark area for this purpose is provided, it is possible to determine whether or not the track has been written by reading this mark area. Further, according to the optical card recording device of the present invention, prior to the recording of data, the optical card is scanned only in the track width direction to read the mark area, and the final written area is output based on the output. Tracks can be detected easily and quickly. Therefore, even when processing is performed by a plurality of different recording / reproducing devices, the advantages of the offline portable medium can be utilized, the processing time can be shortened, and the efficiency of the system can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing an example of recording marks in the mark region shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are also reading of the mark region. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the operation, FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining another recording example of a mark and its reading operation, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. Is a perspective view showing the structure of an example of the optical system of the recording / reproducing apparatus for an optical card according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7A and 7B are the details of the mark area scanning head and the optical system of the recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure. 1 ... Optical card, 2 ... Track 3 ... Recording layer, 4a, 4b ... ID section 5a, 5b ... Mark area, 6 ... Guide track 7 ... Data area, 8 ... Mark 9 ... Writing Completed track portion 10 …… Unwritten track portion 11 …… Optical card, 12 …… Track 13,14 …… ID area, 15,16 …… Mark area 17 …… Writed track portion 18 …… Unwritten track portion 21 Mark area scanning head 22 Light source, 23 Illumination lens 24 Imaging lens, 25 Detector 26, Recording / reproducing head, 27 Laser diode 28, Collimator lens, 29 Beam Splitter 30 ... Objective lens, 31 ... Focusing lens 32 ... Detector

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Takaro Rokutan 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Nagahiro Gomachi 2-43 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. 2 in Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-59-28248 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An optical card having a plurality of tracks arranged in parallel with each other for optically reading data, wherein the plurality of tracks are aligned in the track width direction, An optical card having a mark area for recording a mark indicating that data has been written. 2. An optical card recording device using an optical card in which a mark area for recording a mark indicating that data has been written is provided on each of a plurality of parallel tracks aligned in the track width direction. An optical card comprising: reading means for scanning the optical card in the track width direction to read the mark area; and means for detecting a written track based on the output of the reading means. Recording device.