JP2993520B2 - File management method - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a file management method for managing file information on an information recording medium.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, directories have been used as a file management method for handling a large number of files in floppy disks, magnetic hard disks, magneto-optical disks, IC cards, and the like. This is used as a file heading, and includes a file name, a creation date, a writing position (leading track number) of the corresponding file, and the like. When a new file is created, a new directory is created, and when an unnecessary file is generated, the corresponding directory is deleted, so that the file can be easily managed.

By the way, in a system using an erasable / rewritable information recording medium such as a magnetic / magneto-optical recording medium or an IC card, erasing / rewriting of information can be easily performed. In this case, the deleted file is physically present even if it is logically deleted while the area where the file existed is kept empty. However, when part or all of the area is used by recording another file, the logically deleted file is also physically deleted. Basically, there is no concept of storing and managing deleted files one by one in a system using the information recording medium.

On the other hand, a write-once type information recording medium which has begun to be used in recent years, for example, an optical card, is small and lightweight, is convenient to carry, and has a great demand as a recording medium for managing personal information possessed by individuals because of its relatively large capacity and low cost. Expected. A file management method in a system using such an optical card as an information recording medium is greatly different from a file management method in a system using the magnetic recording medium or the like.

Therefore, the structure of the optical card and the principle of recording / reproducing information will be described. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing an example of the optical card, and FIG. 7 is a BB cross-sectional view thereof.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes an optical card, and the surface of the optical card is roughly divided into an information recording area 61 and a blank area 62 other than the information recording area 61. An appropriate logo 60 can be attached to the margin area so that the user can visually determine the type, use, and the like of the optical card. In the information recording area 61, a plurality of preformatted tracking tracks 64 are arranged in parallel for automatic tracking. An information track 65 on which information is recorded is between adjacent tracking tracks.

As shown in FIG. 7, the optical card 1 has a plurality of layers. 66 is a transparent protective layer, and 67 is a recording layer. The recording layer is, for example, of a silver salt type, a dye type or a chalcogen type. Further, the boundary between the transparent protective layer 66 and the recording layer 67 is formed in a step shape, whereby the tracking track 64 and the information track 65 are formed.
Reference numeral 69 denotes a substrate, and the substrate and the recording layer are joined by an adhesive layer 68.

Such recording of information on the optical card 1 is performed by modulating a light beam narrowed into a minute spot in accordance with recording information and scanning the modulated light beam on an information track. Then, information is recorded as an optically detectable information bit sequence. Since this information bit string is formed by physical change such as deformation or discoloration by light and heat, it is impossible to physically erase the information bit string once recorded and use the erased information bit string area again as a recording area. It is. Reproduction of information from a recording medium is performed by scanning an information bit string of an information track with a light beam spot having a constant power enough to prevent recording on the medium, and detecting reaction light or transmitted light from the medium. It is performed by

Next, file management in a system using an optical card as an information recording medium will be described. With optical cards,
When recording a set of information, two pieces of information are recorded: a data file of the information and a directory for managing the data file. At this time, the directory and the data file are recorded in separate recording areas in the information recording area 51 in FIG. 6, thereby facilitating file management. Also, the recording of further information,
This is sequentially performed on the unrecorded area next to the existing data file or directory.

On the other hand, the deletion of an unnecessary file is performed by newly recording information in which information indicating that the file is deleted is added to the information of the directory that manages the file, and by not reading the corresponding file on the system. The file is logically deleted. In a system using an optical card as an information recording medium, the above-described file management is common.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in recent years, personal information is managed by various recording media. The fields of use are diverse and, for example, medical information management, insurance information management, parts management or ID, application to prepaid cards, etc., are expected to further develop in the future. However, in such a personal information management system, erroneous erasure or destruction of recorded information, or manipulation and forgery of information by others becomes the biggest problem, and in many cases, it develops into a human rights problem. For such a problem, a magnetic / magneto-optical recording medium or an IC card is not suitable as a recording medium for personal information management because a file is physically erased.
It can be said that it is impossible to cope when a problem occurs. An optical card is the most suitable recording medium for personal information management because recorded information is not physically erased.However, in a conventional system using an optical card, a magnetic or magneto-optical recording medium or Since a file management method similar to that of a system using an IC card is used, information that has been logically deleted once cannot be reproduced again. This means that the maximum feature of the optical card that recorded information is logically erased but not physically erased is not sufficiently utilized. Further, in order to logically delete one file, information obtained by adding information indicating that the file has been deleted to directory information for managing the file is newly recorded in the directory section as a deleted directory. However, there is a problem in that the more the file is logically erased, the less the effective recording area that can be used becomes.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a file management method capable of effectively using a recording area.

[Means for Solving the Problems] An object of the present invention is to provide a file management method for managing file information recorded on an information recording medium by using a directory. When an unrecorded area is formed and a file managed by the directory is logically deleted, the erasure information is stored in the unrecorded area of the directory which has already been recorded in a file having the same file name on the recording medium. This is achieved by a file management method characterized by recording as a serial number indicating the number of times of erasing.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A case where the directory format is used for an optical card will be described as an example. First, an example of the configuration of an information recording / reproducing apparatus used for forming a directory according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, an information recording / reproducing device (hereinafter, referred to as a drive) 50 is connected to a higher-level control device (hereinafter, referred to as a host) 40, and performs data communication and control between the drive 50 and the host 40. . The MPU 41 in the drive 50 has built-in ROM and RAM, and the card feed motor 49 head feed motor
The AT / AF control circuit 42 receives the signal of the photodetector 48 and drives the AF actuator 44 and the AT actuator 46. The modulation / demodulation circuit 43 performs recording by changing the light emission intensity of the light source 47 at the time of recording, and demodulates data based on the signal of the photodetector 48 at the time of reproduction. Host 40
Transmits and receives data to and from the drive 50, and controls recording and reproduction operations of information in the directory section and the data section on the optical card 1.

Next, before describing an embodiment of the file management method of the present invention, a reference example of the file management method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numerals 21 to 30 are directory parts, and reference numerals 21a to 30a are data parts. 21-30
In the directory part, 21 to 24 and 26, 27 indicate an erasure directory, and the others indicate directories. The directory and the erasure directory have the same format, and the format is the directory serial number.
Section 101, file name section 102, other file management information 10
3 and an unrecorded area 104 for recording erasure information. Here, at least one bit or more is allocated to the unrecorded area 104.

In each of the unrecorded areas 104 of the erasure directories 21 to 24 and 26, 27 indicating that the file has been logically erased, the numeral 1 is recorded as erasure information indicating erasure. This erasure information may be anything that can be handled as information such as numerical values, characters, and symbols. Also, directory 2
Nothing is recorded in the unrecorded area of each of 5, and 28 to 30, and the area remains empty.

In this reference example, if 1 is recorded in the unrecorded area 104, the directory is determined to be an erasure directory, and the file managed by the erasure directory is a logically erased file managed in the erasure mode. It belongs to a group. Files managed by a directory having no information in the unrecorded area 104 belong to a group of logically existing files managed in the normal mode.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for recording information in the file management method of the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for reproducing information in the file management method of the present embodiment. Hereinafter, a file management method using the directory format will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. FIG.

First, it is assumed that the erasure directory 1 of the directory serial No. 1 is a directory 1 in which nothing has been recorded in the unrecorded area 104 before erasure, and at this time, the contents of the file 1 managed in the directory 1 are corrected. It shall be recorded again on the optical card with the same file name.

In FIG. 3, information that the file 1 is rewritten with the same file name as the corrected data file 1 of the file 1 in S1 is transmitted from the host 40, and the information is
Received at U41. Next, in S3, it is determined whether or not the file is to be deleted. If the file is to be deleted (YES), the deletion information is set to 1 in S4. Further, it is determined in S5 that the file is to be rewritten with the same file name (YES), and the directory 1 is rewritten in S6.
In the unrecorded area 104, erasure information indicating logical erasure, that is, a numerical value 1 is recorded. Here, file 1 is the first logically deleted file on the optical card,
Directory 1 of the previous directory No.1
Are managed as the erasure directory 1. Then, the MPU 41 confirms that the numerical value 1 as the erasure information has been recorded in the unrecorded area 104 of the directory 1, and determines again whether or not the file is to be erased in S3. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, the correction data file 1 and a directory serial No. 3 for managing the correction data file 1 are newly recorded. Therefore, first, the correction data file 1 is recorded as the file 1 in the file portion. . Next, directory serial No.3
Is recorded in the directory section 23. At this time, no information is recorded in the unrecorded area 104 of the directory 1 and the directory 1 is empty.

As a result, the file 1 managed in the normal mode file group is managed in the erase mode file group because the directory 1 of the directory serial No. 1 for managing the file 1 is registered as the erase directory 1. That means the newly recorded directory serial
The file 1 managed in the directory 1 of No. 3 is managed by a group of files in the normal mode. The first
In the figure, directory serial Nos. 2 to 4 and 26,2
Regarding the erasure of each managed file in 7, the file management is performed by the same process as the file management described above.

By the way, the case where the file is corrected and recorded again with the same file name has been described so far. However, when only the existing file is deleted, it is determined that the file is not rewriting (NO) in S5 of FIG. In S7, a logical file is erased by recording a numerical value 1 as erasing information in an unrecorded area of the directory managing the file. Also in this case, the deleted files are managed by a file group in the deletion mode. Note that S3
If NO in step S8, the files and directories are recorded in step S8.

Next, a method of reproducing information recorded on an optical card will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in FIG.
In S10, the files and directories and the erasure directory recorded on the optical card are reproduced by the reproducing operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to an instruction from the host 40. Then, the reproduction information is sent to the MPU 41 in S11. MP
In U41, in S12, it is determined whether or not the numerical value 1 as the erase information exists in the unrecorded area 104 of each directory or the erase directory. As a result of this determination, files managed by the erasure directories of directory serial Nos. 1 to 4 and 6, 7 in which the numerical value 1 which is the erasure information exists are stored in the erasure mode area of the host 40 (S1).
3). The files managed in the directories of directory serial Nos. 5 and 8 to 10 where no erasure information exists are stored in the normal mode area of the host 40 (S1).
Four). That is, it is determined in S12 whether or not the reproduced information has been deleted in the past, and the mode is assigned to each mode according to the result.

In addition, for each file group stored in the host 40 for each mode, a file name is displayed on the display in S5 by selecting the mode. At this time, in each mode, the file names are displayed in the order of reading from the optical card. Of course, in both modes, it goes without saying that a specific file is called by selecting a file name, and the subsequent handling is no different from file management on a floppy disk.

As described above, in the present reference example, a logically existing file and a logically deleted file can be managed as separate file groups. Therefore, while file management is normally performed on a group of files that exist logically, a file group that has been logically deleted in the past can be searched by selecting the erasing mode.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing one embodiment of the file management method of the present invention. In this embodiment, as shown in the figure, the erasure information to be recorded in the unrecorded area 104 of the erasure directory is recorded and managed as a serial number indicating the number of erasures of a file having the same file name on the optical card. . In the present embodiment, the same effects as those of the above-described reference example can be obtained, and the function of retrieving a logically deleted file can be further improved.

The recording of the erasure directory is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and when the number of erasure directories reaches a predetermined number, the predetermined number of units may be collectively recorded in a specific area of the optical card. Further, as for the management of the erasure directory, only the predetermined number is targeted, for example, when the predetermined number is five, and when the erasure update is performed seven times, only five erasure directories from the newest erasure history are displayed. May be. According to these, the same effects as in the above embodiment can be obtained, and the function of file management can be improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when a file managed by directory is logically deleted, erasure information is recorded in an unrecorded area of the directory that has already been recorded, and By recording the erasure information as a serial number indicating the number of erasures of the file with the same file name on the recording medium, the recording area used for file management can be saved and the recording area can be used more effectively than with the conventional file management method Not only can it be performed, but the function of retrieving a logically deleted file can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a reference example of a file management method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an information recording / reproducing apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process when recording information, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a process when reproducing information in the file management method of the reference example of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is an explanation showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of the optical card, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 1. Optical cards 21-30 Directory part 21a-30a Data part 40 Host controller 50 Information recording / reproducing device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-61-75938 (JP, A) JP-A-61-22488 (JP, A) JP-A-63-69072 (JP, A) JP-A-63-69072 287076 (JP, A) JP-A-61-287076 (JP, A) JP-A-59-188814 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A file management method for managing file information recorded on an information recording medium by using a directory, wherein a directory is recorded on the recording medium and an unrecorded area is formed in the directory. In the case of logically erasing a file to be deleted, erasure information is recorded as a serial number indicating the number of erasures of a file having the same file name on the recording medium in the unrecorded area of the directory which has already been recorded. File management method.