JP3521165B2 - File management system and method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system suitable for managing recording / editing / playback of a data file on a random-accessible large-capacity recording medium such as a hard disk, and more particularly to a sound waveform data or automatic Real-time recording such as performance data
The present invention relates to a system and method suitable for managing files such as data required to be reproduced and data having a relatively high frequency of data editing processing by a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A musical tone data recording / reproducing apparatus for recording musical tone data sampled from the outside by a microphone or reproducing the recorded musical tone data is required.
As a large-capacity auxiliary recording medium, there is one that uses a randomly accessible disc type recording medium. Of these, the one using a hard disk is called a disk recorder.

In a system for managing files on a hard disk, generally, a recording area of a predetermined size on the disk is set as a minimum recording unit for managing data. These recording units are numbered one by one in a continuous order on the same track of the disc. Then, an area for recording the current usage status of each recording unit of each number (whether it is used, whether it is defective, etc.) is provided on the disk to manage the usage status of each recording unit. When a user gives an instruction to create a data file, such a file management system determines the usable recording unit on the disk according to the size of the file based on the information on the area in which the usage status is recorded as described above. Find only the number. In addition, in such a file management system, predetermined information (file type, file type,
File size, file recording position on disk,
An information recording area) is provided on the disc, and when the data is recorded in the recording unit found as described above, the information is also recorded in this area. Then, when the user specifies a file name for reading / deleting the created file, the file management system determines, based on the information indicating the "recording position of the file on the disk" in the information in this area. Detect the recording unit on the disc that records the file data. As an example of the file management system, MS-
In DOS (Microsoft Disk Operation System: registered trademark), the minimum recording unit described above is called a cluster, and the number assigned to the cluster is called a cluster number. (Hereinafter, also in this specification, this minimum recording unit is referred to as a cluster, but it goes without saying that a unit other than the cluster, which is an existing concept, may be used as the minimum recording unit. )

In the file management system of the conventional disk recorder, since a request is made to record as much musical sound data (that is, sound waveform data) in a recording area having a limited capacity on the disk, a file is recorded by the musical sound data. At the time of creation, every time one usable cluster was found based on the information of the area in which the usage status was recorded, the cluster was accessed and the musical tone data was recorded. That is, regardless of the positional relationship between the plurality of found clusters on the disk, each found cluster on the hard disk is accessed point by point to record the musical sound data.

FIG. 18 shows an example of the file created in this way. In this example, in order to create a file with a data amount of four clusters, the hard disk HD
Top four usable clusters A to D (Fig. 18 (a))
, A, B, C, D are searched in that order, and the clusters on the hard disk are accessed one by one to record data (FIG. 18B). Further, in the conventional disk recorder file management system, the above-mentioned "file recording position on the disk" is represented by the cluster number of each cluster in which data is recorded. Therefore, when playing music data by reading a created file, each cluster on the hard disk that records the music data of the file is accessed one by one based on these cluster numbers to reproduce the music data. It was playing.

[0006]

In such a conventional disk recorder system, when the amount of data constituting one file is large, the recording position of the file is expressed by using the cluster number of a very large number of clusters. Since it has to be done, the management information for managing files becomes enormous. Therefore, there is a problem that file management becomes complicated. In addition, in such a conventional disk recorder system, individual clusters on the hard disk are accessed one by one when creating a file by recording musical tone data or playing back musical tone data by reading a created file. There must be. Therefore, when the file size is large, the number of times the hard disk is accessed becomes huge, so the total access time (the time taken for the read / write head to move between tracks on the disk,
The stable time after movement, the disk rotation waiting time, and the head load time) become long, and the processing speed of recording / playback decreases. In particular, as the number of file creations, updates, and deletions on the hard disk increases, the order of cluster numbers of clusters found as usable clusters in the above-mentioned area for recording the cluster usage status becomes irregular. It will become. Therefore, accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 18A, the clusters located at mutually distant positions on the disk are accessed (in particular, the read / write head is moved to the clusters on different tracks). The frequency of access) increases, and the degree of decrease in the recording / reproducing processing speed becomes significant. Such a decrease in processing speed is a very inconvenient problem for a disk recorder that is required to record and reproduce musical sound data in real time.

Software has also been developed for improving the reproduction speed of data on a hard disk and rearranging the positions of recorded data on the disk. Such software can contribute to the improvement of the reproduction speed under the use environment of the disc in which the recorded data is reproduced after a while. However, it is not suitable for a usage environment such as a disc recorder that reproduces data in real time. In addition, such software cannot completely improve the recording speed when recording data.

Data for one file is recorded in a plurality of clusters according to its size. However, conventionally, data for one file is divided into clusters and clusters other than the last cluster are divided. In the above, the data is fully recorded, and some free areas in which data is not recorded may remain only in the last cluster. Therefore, in the conventional disk recorder adopting such a file management method, when the file is updated by editing the musical sound data (inserting or deleting the data) after the file is created, the files in the clusters corresponding to the editing position All the data recorded in each cluster must be newly recorded again.

Taking the file shown in FIG. 18 as an example, when the editing for deleting the portion of the data X recorded across the clusters B and C in the data of the file is performed, the data of the cluster B is deleted. The remaining data B ′ and the data after the deletion point (the remaining data C ′ of the cluster C and the data of the cluster D) are once integrated, and then all are recorded again in another cluster E, F, G. It must be (see FIG. 18 (c)). In this example, since the file size is reduced for convenience of illustration, the amount of data after the deleted portion is small. However, in reality, since the tone data file is large in size, it is not uncommon for the amount of data after the deleted portion to be enormous, and for re-recording the data to take minutes or tens of minutes. In particular, in the case of a musical sound data file, data editing is performed relatively frequently, and thus the lengthening of the time required for editing is a very inconvenient problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and recording / reproducing processing is performed in real time, such as sound waveform data or automatic sequence performance data, and editing such as deletion or insertion of data is performed. A simple file management system and method suitable for managing files of a type of data that are processed relatively frequently,
Alternatively, the present invention intends to provide a data recording / reproducing apparatus adopting such a file management system.

[0011]

A file management system according to the present invention includes a recording medium for recording data,
Data recording control means for setting one or a plurality of blocks each of which is composed of one or an arbitrary plurality of continuous recording units in the recording medium, dividing data constituting one file, and recording the divided data in each block of the recording medium, Each block is provided with a management information storage means for storing management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in the block.

Further, the file management method according to the present invention is a method for recording and managing a data set specified by one file name on a recording medium, and it is a continuous or arbitrary one on the recording medium. A step of detecting a plurality of usable recording units, securing the detected recording units as one block, and securing one or a plurality of such blocks, and dividing the data constituting one file into Recording in each block, storing management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in each block for each block, and inserting or deleting the data stored in the recording medium into a certain block And updating the management information about the block when the effective data amount changes.

Further, the file management system according to the present invention is a management information recording area for recording data of one or a plurality of files and management information recording for recording management information for each of the recorded one or a plurality of files. A readable / writable recording medium including an area, and one or more blocks each including one or an arbitrary plurality of recording units that are continuous in the data recording area of the recording medium are set, and data constituting one file is divided. A data recording control means for recording in each block of the data recording area, and a management information recording area of the recording medium, for each file, for each of the one or a plurality of blocks set corresponding to the file, The management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in each block is recorded, and the deletion or insertion of the data causes the management information to be recorded. Is characterized in that comprises a management information recording control means for updating the recorded value when said amount of valid data has changed.

The data recording / reproducing method of the present invention is
Data of one file to be continuously reproduced is divided into a plurality of blocks each having a variable data size, and each block is separately recorded at an arbitrary recording position of a recording medium. And a step of storing information for specifying a recording position of each of the blocks on the recording medium and effective data information indicating effective data actually stored for each of the blocks. In the data recording / reproducing method of the present invention, in order to reproduce the data of the one file, each block of the recording medium is sequentially accessed according to the information for specifying the recording position, and the recording data of each block is sequentially read. And a step of extracting only valid data from the read output data of each block according to the valid data information.

According to the present invention, one block consisting of one continuous or arbitrary plural recording units in the recording medium is defined as one.
Alternatively, a plurality of data sets may be set and data constituting one file may be divided and recorded in each block of the recording medium, and management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in the block may be stored for each block. It is characterized by doing so. Accordingly, the number of recording units for each block may be an arbitrary number, and the recording capacity of each block becomes an arbitrary variable capacity. In addition, since the amount of data actually recorded in each block, that is, the amount of effective data, is managed by the management information for each block,
When this data is read and used, it can be effectively used. That is, even if the data is collectively read out in a predetermined recording unit, it is possible to know what is effective data and what is unnecessary data. Therefore, even if the data amount of a certain block is reduced by the data editing work of deletion or insertion and a blank is generated in the block, or an additional block having a data blank part is newly established, the blank should be filled. It is no longer necessary to shift the data group of the subsequent blocks to
You can leave the blank. Therefore, during the data editing work, a large amount of data rewriting processing is not required, and the time required for the data editing work can be significantly reduced. Moreover, since one block is set by one continuous or arbitrary plural recording units, the number of blocks constituting one file is relatively small compared with the conventional one. The total access time during the reproduction process can be shortened, which not only contributes to the shortening of the editing work time, but also is very convenient for the recording / reproducing process in real time.

That is, considering a recording unit as a cluster, one or a plurality of available (blank) consecutive clusters are set or secured as one block, and a part of the data of one file is stored in this block. Will be recorded. By recording data in blocks of arbitrary variable size, it is sufficient to access blocks on the recording medium that are smaller in number than the number of clusters. The access time will be shortened, and the data recording speed and playback speed will be improved, as compared to the case where each individual cluster is accessed one by one.

In particular, when recording or reproducing data on clusters existing at positions distant from each other on the recording medium, after performing recording or reproduction on the first cluster, the read / write head is used. Must be moved to the position of the next cluster, and then recording or reproducing for the cluster must be performed, so that the recording / reproducing speed is reduced by the time required for moving the read / write head. However, according to the present invention, since the clusters exist at continuous positions during the recording or reproducing for the clusters in one block, the read / write head is moved after the recording or reproducing for the first cluster. It is possible to perform recording or reproduction for the next cluster without causing it. As a result, the number of times of movement of the read / write head becomes smaller than in the conventional case, so that the recording / reproducing speed of data is considerably improved.

As described above, since the number of blocks smaller than the number of clusters and the effective data amount of each block are used to represent the recording position of the file,
If the recording position of a file is not expressed using the cluster number of each cluster that records data for one file, file management can be performed with less management information compared to the conventional file management method. Management can be simplified. When a new recording is performed on the recording medium, since a large empty space exists on the recording medium, a block in which a considerable number of clusters are continuous is secured in such an empty space.
The number of blocks in the file will be much smaller than the number of clusters. Therefore, especially at the stage of newly recording on the recording medium, the amount of management information can be considerably small, so that the file management can be considerably simplified.

For more specific description, an example of a file created according to the present invention is shown in FIG. In this example, in order to create one file having a data amount of 19 clusters, a block 0 in which 5 clusters are continuous,
Use of a recording medium for a block 1 in which 4 clusters are continuous, a block 2 in which 6 clusters are continuous, a block 3 in which 3 clusters are continuous, and a block 4 in which 2 clusters are continuous, respectively. The area is set to a possible area (empty area), and appropriately divided data is sequentially recorded corresponding to each block thus set. It should be noted that a storage area for two clusters is reserved for the last block 4, because this example assumes that the minimum storage capacity of one block is set to two clusters (two storage units). is there. Therefore, if the minimum storage capacity of one block is set to one cluster (one storage unit), the capacity of the last block 4 should be secured for the required one cluster. In this example, the number of access to the recording medium required for recording or reproducing one file is 5 times in total, and in the conventional example in which 19 arbitrary clusters are separately secured, recording or reproducing one file. It can be understood that the access time is obviously shortened and the data recording / reproducing speed can be improved as compared with the total number of times of accessing the recording medium which is 19 times.

To further deepen the understanding, a concrete example of the data editing work when the file management system or method according to the present invention is adopted will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 and 21. In the example of FIG. 20, among the blocks in which the data of a certain file is recorded, at an arbitrary insertion position IP in the ninth block 9 composed of four continuous clusters,
An example is shown in which data Y having a data amount of two clusters is inserted (see FIG. 20A). When the data Y is inserted, the new data amount of the block 9 exceeds the storage capacity (for 4 clusters) secured in the block 9,
It is necessary to take appropriate measures without changing the memory state after block 10. Appropriate measures for that purpose can be appropriately performed by managing the effective data amount for each block according to the present invention. For example, FIG. 20 (b)
As shown in FIG. 4, it is possible to secure the existing four clusters for the block 9 and newly install the additional block 20. That is, in the insertion data Y, the recording capacity after the IP of block 9 (for example, cluster 1.5
The portion corresponding to (the number of pieces) is recorded in the portion after the IP of the block 9, and the portion exceeding that (for example, one cluster) and the data originally recorded after the IP of the block 9 (for example, 1.5 clusters) With regard to (minute), an additional block 20 in which three clusters are continuous is newly opened (of course, as the block 20, a usable recording area in which no data is recorded is searched for) and recording is performed there. . Although a space is partially generated in the additional block 20, by storing and managing information on the effective data amount of this block, even if this space is left as it is, editing and reproduction processing can be performed without any problem. It can be carried out. Therefore, the data recorded in the blocks (block 10, ...) After the block 9 need not be rewritten at all. Of course, in this case, the block order management for clarifying that the additional block 20 is inserted after the block 9 is separately provided. Alternatively, only the block number of the additional block 20 is changed to the block 10, and the original block 1
After 0, the block number may be shifted down one by one. Also in that case, the block numbers for management are merely shifted, and the data recorded in those blocks are not rewritten, so that the actual recording positions of those data on the recording medium are not changed. Therefore, the access time to the recording medium is clear compared to the case of accessing all those clusters on the recording medium in order to shift and re-record the data in all the clusters after the insertion position as in the past. It can be understood that it is shortened.
Note that not limited to the example of FIG. 20B, a usable continuous cluster (for example, 8 clusters) that can store all the data of the block 9 after the data insertion is searched for and secured,
Of course, the newly secured 8 clusters may be changed to new blocks 9 for data recording. Further, by performing such data editing work, one or a plurality of blocks may be newly added after the insertion position. However, the number of blocks thus added is determined by the tone data file after the insertion processing. Since it is the minimum number required to manage files, the number of blocks does not increase unnecessarily, and the same efficient file management as before editing work (that is, only the recording process is completed) is maintained. can do.

FIG. 21 shows an example of deleting data of a certain file. In a tenth block 10 in which four clusters are continuous and in an eleventh block 11 in which four clusters are continuous. An example is shown in which data Z having a data amount of 3.5 clusters recorded over is deleted (FIG. 21A). In this case, as shown in FIG. 21B, the first four clusters out of the total of the remaining data of the block 10 (for example, two clusters) and the remaining data of the block 11 (2.5 clusters). Minutes of data may be re-recorded in block 10 and the remaining 0.5 clusters of data may be re-recorded in block 11. Then, although a blank appears in a part of the block 11, the information of the effective data amount of this block is stored and managed so that even if the blank is left as it is, the editing and reproducing process can be performed without any problem. It can be carried out.
Therefore, blocks after block 11 (block 1
The data in 2, ...) is not recorded at all. Therefore, the access time to the recording medium is obviously shortened as compared with the case of accessing those clusters on the recording medium to re-record the data of all clusters after the deletion position as in the past. Can understand. Note that FIG.
Not limited to the example of 1 (b), for example, only the remaining data may be left in the block 10 and only the remaining data may be left in the block 11. That is, various modifications may be made to the specific method of deleting or inserting data.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of a musical sound data recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, simply referred to as a disk recorder) adopting a file management system according to the present invention. FIG. 1 corresponds to the entire system of an electronic musical instrument including a disk recorder according to an embodiment of the present invention. The overall control of this electronic musical instrument and disc recorder is controlled by a CPU (central processing unit).
1. A microcomputer including a ROM (Read Only Memory) 2 and a RAM (Random Access Memory) 3. In this microcomputer, a hard disk HD that is a large-capacity external recording device is an SCS.
Connected via the I interface 4, and
Recording control unit 5, reproduction / transfer control unit 6, reproduction sound generation unit 7,
A performance operator (for example, keyboard or other operator) 8, a display 9, a panel switch group 10, and a timer 11 are connected.

The recording control section 5 includes a DMAC (direct memory access control) circuit 12 and a transfer buffer memory 13. Musical sound data sampled from outside by the microphone MIC is analog /
It is given to the recording control unit 5 via the digital conversion unit (ADC) 18 and taken into the transfer buffer memory 13. Further, the recording control unit 5 is directly connected to the hard disk HD via the SCSI interface 4. From the microcomputer, the recording control unit 5 is supplied with information designating a recording area for writing to the hard disk HD. Recording control unit 5
On the basis of the information from this microcomputer, gives an instruction to write the tone data to the recording area to the hard disk HD, creates an address signal synchronized with this writing, and, according to this address signal, sends the tone data to the hard disk HD. Control supply.

The reproduction / transfer control unit 6 also includes the DMAC circuit 14
And a transfer buffer memory 15, and is directly connected to the hard disk HD via the SCSI interface 4. Further, the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 is connected to the reproduction buffer memory 17 via the access control unit 16. Information for designating a recording area for reading from the hard disk HD is given from the microcomputer to the reproduction / transfer control unit 6. The reproduction / transfer control unit 6 gives an instruction to read data to the hard disk HD based on the information from the microcomputer, creates an address signal synchronized with this read, and transfers the transfer buffer memory from the hard disk HD according to the address signal. It controls the acquisition of the musical sound data into the 15. Then, the captured musical sound data is transferred to the reproduction buffer memory 17.

The reproduced sound generator 7 is also connected to the reproduction buffer memory 17 via the access controller 16. The reproduced sound generation unit 7 reads out the musical sound data in the reproduction buffer memory 17 at a predetermined or arbitrary reproduction read rate under the instruction of the reproduction / transfer control unit 6. The musical tone data thus read out is converted into a digital / analog conversion unit (D
AC) 19 is applied to the sound system SS and is acoustically pronounced. An example of a disk recorder including the above-described DMA type recording control unit 5 and reproduction / transfer control unit 6 is (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-517).
No. 76), which has already been proposed by the present applicant, may be used, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted here. The present invention is characterized by a method or system for managing files on a hard disk in such a disk recorder. Therefore, a detailed description will be given below focusing on that point.

Next, FIGS. 2 to 4 show an example of the logical format of the hard disk HD in the file management system of this disk recorder. FIG. 2A is a recording map of the entire recording area of the disc HD, and shows an example in which “cluster” is used as the minimum recording unit that is a unit of access management. The “header” is an area in which information indicating the data recording method of the disk HD (for example, information such as device name, type, recording capacity, sector size, cluster size, etc.) is recorded. The “allocation map” is information indicating the usage status of each cluster (whether or not it is used,
This is an area in which information (whether defective or not) is recorded. The “Y node area” is an area for recording predetermined information (for example, information such as file type, file size, recording position of the file on the disk, etc.) regarding the file when the tone data file is created. . Since the structure of the Y node area has features directly related to the file management system according to the present invention, the details thereof will be described later with reference to FIG. The "root directory map" is shown in Figure 2.
As illustrated in (b), the path name and file name of each file are associated with the Y node number (called the Y node number) in the Y node area assigned to the file in a one-to-one correspondence. This is the area to be recorded. "Data recording area"
Is an area for recording tone data of a file, a subdirectory, etc., and a block table described later in FIG. 4 is also recorded here.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the above-mentioned Y node area. In the Y node area, as shown in FIG. 3A, a plurality of Y nodes (“Y node 1”, “Y node 2”, “Y node 3”,
...) is recorded. Each Y node is an area for recording information about a file having a file name associated with the above-mentioned root directory map, and for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), "owner" indicating the individual owner of the file, "group" indicating the group owner of the file, "type" indicating the type of the file, and "access right" indicating the access right to the file. "Access permission", "date and time" indicating the time when the file was last accessed, "number of blocks NB" indicating the total number of blocks recording data of the file, and total number of clusters recording data of the file "Number of clusters NC" indicating the number of files, "Size SIZE" indicating the amount of data of the file, and other information (for example, a desired sampling frequency is selected from among a plurality of types of recording sampling frequencies for each file, and musical tone data is selected. If it is possible to record, the information indicating the selected sampling frequency for recording is recorded, and more than one (Fig. The block specified data "Bx1" of up to four), "Bx2", "Bx3", "Bx4"
And the next block table cluster number "NBT
"C" is recorded.

The "block" in this Y node is
This is a concept that is a feature of the file management system according to the present invention, and handles one or a plurality of physically continuous clusters (predetermined recording units) in the hard disk HD as one group. The block concept was introduced because when recording musical sound data on the hard disk HD, by recording the data in block units, it is sufficient to access blocks on the hard disk HD that are smaller in number than the number of clusters. This is to shorten the access time as a whole.

The "block designation data" in the Y node is the "recording position of the file on the disk",
It is expressed in such block units. Among them, the block designation data “Bx1” indicates the position on the hard disk HD of the block (referred to as block 1) in which the first data is recorded among all the blocks in which the data of the file is recorded. And FIG.
As shown in (c), the first cluster “BTC” indicating the cluster number of the first cluster among the clusters configuring the block, the continuous cluster number “BNC” indicating the number of clusters configuring the block, the block A recording data amount “BS” indicating the amount of data recorded in each is recorded. Also, the block designation data "Bx2"
Indicates the position on the hard disk HD of a block (referred to as block 2) in which data following the data in block 1 is recorded, and “Bx3” records the data following the data in block 2. Indicates the position on the hard disk HD of the block (referred to as block 3), and “Bx4” is on the hard disk HD of the block (referred to as block 4) that records data subsequent to the data in the block 3. It shows the position of. The block designation data “Bx2” to “Bx4” are also shown in FIG.
This is exactly the same as the configuration of the block designation data "Bx1" shown in (c).

If the number of blocks recording the data of the file exceeds the number of block designating data in the Y node (4 in the figure), the exceeded blocks (block 5 onward) A block (that is, a block table) for recording the block designation data for each block) is provided in the data recording area (FIG. 2) on the hard disk HD. The next block table cluster number “NBTC” shown in FIG. 3B is the cluster where the data of the table is recorded at the position of the first block table in the block table thus provided in the data recording area. It is indicated by the cluster number of the first cluster among the above. Depending on the number of blocks recording the data of the file, a plurality of block tables may be provided for the file.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of each block table. In each block table, “PBTC” indicating the cluster number of the head cluster of the block table preceding the block table, and the cluster number of the head cluster of the block table if the next block table following the block table, if any. Next block table cluster number “NBTC” shown (NBTC = 0 if there is no next block table), total number “nB” of block designation data in the block table
Are recorded respectively, and more than one (up to 84 in the figure)
Block designation data “Bxi” to “Bx (i + 8
3) ”is recorded. In the first block table, i is an integer larger than the number of block designation data in the Y node by 1 (5 in the example of FIG. 3). It is an integer larger by 1 than the total number of block designation data. Each block designation data “Bxi” ... “Bx (i + 8
3) ”is exactly the same as that shown in FIG.

In this way, the "recording position of the file on the disk" is expressed in block units by the block designation data. Even when the created file is read, the number of clusters is calculated based on the block designation data. This is because it is sufficient to access a smaller number of blocks on the hard disk HD, and the access time can be shortened. That is, this is to enable the recording data to be continuously read out by one access to one or a plurality of consecutive clusters that constitute one block.

If the recording position of the file is expressed in block units as described above, the file recording position must be expressed by using the cluster number of each cluster in which data for one file is recorded. Compared with the method, the file management can be performed with less management information, and the file management can be simplified.
In particular, at the stage of newly recording the musical sound data on the hard disk HD, the number of blocks in one file (hence the block designating data is Since the number (in FIGS. 3 and 4) is considerably smaller than the number of clusters, the file management can be considerably simplified.

Corresponding to the above-mentioned recording areas of the hard disk HD, special storage areas "AMB", "YNB", "DIRB" are provided in the RAM 3 as shown in FIG. ing. The allocation map buffer “AMB” is a storage area that buffer-stores the data of the allocation map on the disk HD. Y
The node buffer “YNB” buffers the data of the Y node (FIG. 3B) on the disk HD corresponding to the specific file currently being processed and the data of the block table corresponding to the Y node. This is a storage area for storage. The directory buffer “DIRB” is a recording area that buffer-stores data of a specific directory map on the disk HD including a specific file that is currently a processing target. The recording or changing process of various data associated with the creation / updating of a specific file is first performed on these areas “AMB”, “YNB”, and “DIRB” of the RAM 3, and the disc H is then recorded at an appropriate timing.
It is transferred to the corresponding area on D. In the "work area", various working data are buffer-stored as is generally known. The "data area" stores various necessary data as is generally known. RAM3 in general
Based on the musical tone data and various data loaded from each area on the hard disk HD into such a storage area in the inside, various processing such as recording / editing / reproducing processing of the musical tone data is executed by the microcomputer. In addition, the result RAM of the recording / editing process by such a microcomputer
The musical sound data and various data stored in the respective storage areas in 3 are transferred to the corresponding areas on the hard disk HD at appropriate timing.

Next, referring to the flow charts of FIGS. 6 to 15, among the processes executed by the microcomputer (and the recording control unit 5, the reproduction / transfer control unit 6), the file management system according to the present invention will be described. The part to do is explained. FIG. 6 is a main routine, and the initial setting (step 2
After performing 0), the scanning process of the performance operator 8 (step 21), the scanning process for detecting the operation state of the panel switch group 10 (step 22), and the other processes (step 23) are repeated.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show a recording routine for creating a file by recording on the hard disk HD the musical sound data sampled from the outside by the microphone MIC. This recording routine is started in response to an instruction to start recording by operating the panel switch group 10. When the value of the recording sampling rate and the value of the sampling time for sampling the musical sound are designated by the user with the panel switch group 10 (step 30),
The total number of samples, which is the product of the sample time and the recording sampling rate, is divided by the recording capacity of one cluster, which is the minimum recording unit for disk access, to determine the total number NRC of clusters required to record the musical sound. (Step 31). Next, when the path name and the file name are input by the user through the panel switch group 10 (step 32), the file name in the directory map loaded from the hard disk HD to the directory buffer "DIRB" in the RAM 3 is searched. Then (step 33), it is determined whether or not the file name input by the user exists in the directory map (step 34).

If it does not exist, the directory map is searched for a Y node number that has not yet been assigned a file name, and this is assigned to the file name (step 35). Then, the assigned Y node number and the file name are recorded in the directory map in the directory buffer "DIRB" (step 36). Then, the process proceeds to step 37. On the other hand, if the file name input by the user exists in the directory map, the overwrite command, the file name change command to re-specify the file to be recorded as a different file, and the recording stop command are given. Which of these instructions is input by the user through the panel switch group 10 is determined (step 4
8). If the overwrite command is input, the Y node number assigned to the file name in the directory map is used as it is (step 49), and step 3
Proceed to 7. When a file name change instruction is input and a new path name and file name are input by the user through the panel switch group 10 (step 50), the process returns to step 33 and the processes of steps 33 and 34 are repeated. If a recording stop instruction is input, the recording routine ends.

In step 37, the variable a indicating the block number is set to the initial value "1". Next, by using the allocation map loaded from the hard disk HD to the allocation map buffer “AMB” in the RAM 3, among usable clusters (empty clusters), clusters having one to a plurality of consecutive cluster numbers (that is,
A cluster for the a-th block a for the file is secured by searching for a cluster whose recording area is physically continuous) (step 38). Then, it is determined whether or not the block a is made up of a predetermined number or more consecutive cluster numbers, that is, whether or not the recording capacity (the number of clusters) of the clusters secured as the block a is a predetermined minimum size MINS or more. Is determined (step 39). Minimum size MINS
If less, return to step 38 and set to minimum size M
The processes of steps 38 and 39 for the block a are repeated until the block a (consecutive free clusters) of INS or more is secured. If continuous free clusters having a size equal to or larger than the minimum size are secured, the process proceeds to step 40, and the Y node buffer “YNB” in the RAM 3 is assigned to the file, and the block designation data “Bxa” of the Y node (FIG. 3C). First cluster B of
Record TC and number of consecutive clusters BNC. If the value of a is less than or equal to the number of block designating data in the Y node, it is recorded in the Y node, but the value of a is Y.
If the number of block designating data in the node is exceeded, a block table (see FIG. 4) corresponding to the Y node is set and necessary items are recorded in the block table. Then, the allocation map in the allocation map buffer "AMB" indicating that the usage status of each cluster constituting the secured block a is "in use" is updated (step 41). In this way, a block consisting of a predetermined number of consecutive clusters is secured on the hard disk HD. As described above, at the stage of newly recording the musical sound data on the hard disk HD, a block having a large number of consecutive cluster numbers is secured in a large free space on the hard disk HD, so that the blocks are compared with the number of clusters. The number of designated data (FIGS. 3 and 4) is considerably reduced. Therefore, the file management is considerably simplified. It should be noted that the predetermined minimum size MINS in step 39 may be variably set by the user, or may be set to a predetermined value in advance. As is apparent, the value of the minimum size MINS determines the minimum number of clusters in one block, so that the access time to the hard disk HD can be controlled.

Here, an example of the standard for setting or determining the minimum size MINS is as follows. When reading a file created on the hard disk HD by the processing of this recording routine, from a plurality of blocks in which the musical sound data of the file is recorded,
The musical tone data is sequentially read. At this time, while the musical tone data is read from the clusters in one block, those clusters exist at continuous positions on the hard disk HD, so that the reading is performed at high speed without moving the read / write head. be able to. However, at the stage where the reading of one block is completed and the reading of the next block is started, the read / write head must be moved to the position of the block, so the reading speed is reduced by the movement time. Resulting in. And if you increase the minimum size MINS,
Since the number of movements of the read / write head is reduced due to the decrease in the number of blocks in one file, the degree of decrease in the reading speed is increased, while the number of blocks in one file is increased if the minimum size MINS is decreased. As a result, the number of times of movement of the read / write head increases, so that the reduction rate of the read speed is reduced. By the way, in the case of reproducing music data from the hard disk HD while reproducing it (a so-called direct-flow disk), the minimum reading speed (sample transfer speed) required for reproduction without causing a time delay in sound generation is reproduction sampling. It can be determined by the magnitude of frequency, the number of sound generation channels to be reproduced simultaneously, and the like. Therefore, as an example, minimum size M
It is desirable that the INS is set or determined to a value larger than the minimum necessary reading speed can be secured, depending on the reproduction sampling frequency and the number of simultaneous reproduction channels when reproducing the musical sound data in this way.

Next, proceeding to step 42 in FIG. 8, whether or not the number of clusters of the block in which the block designation data has been recorded has reached the total number NRC of clusters required for recording, that is, the total number NRC of blocks. To determine whether or not If not secured, the process proceeds to step 51, where the variable a indicating the block number is set to "a + 1".
7 and then returns to step 38 of FIG. 7 to step 38 to step 4 for the next block.
The process of 2 is repeated. The processes of steps 38 to 42 are repeated until blocks for the total number NRC are secured, and when secured, the process proceeds from step 42 to step 43. In step 43, the Y node buffer “YNB”
The predetermined data of the remaining data of the Y node (see FIG. 3B) assigned to the file and the remaining data of the block table corresponding to the Y node (see FIG. 4) are recorded in the table. Then, the allocation map in the allocation map buffer “AMB”, the Y node in the Y node buffer “YNB”, and the block table are saved in the hard disk HD. This allows
The allocation map and Y node area on the hard disk HD are updated (step 44).

Next, the variable a indicating the block number is set to the initial value "1" (step 45). Then, as a recording area on the hard disk HD, information for instructing the block a = 1 designated by the block designation data “Bxa” of the Y node is given to the recording control unit 5 (step 4).
6). Then, the processing for starting the recording of the musical sound data on the hard disk HD is performed (step 4).
7). For example, it becomes a recording standby and accepts a recording start instruction input by the user. When the recording start instruction is input, the musical sound data sampled from the outside by the microphone MIC is given to the recording control unit 5 via the analog / digital conversion unit (ADC) 18, and according to the recording sampling frequency selected by the user. It is taken into the transfer buffer memory 13. When the musical tone data for the capacity of a predetermined number (for example, one or a plurality) of clusters is accumulated in the transfer buffer memory 13, the recording control unit 5 transfers the musical tone data to the hard disk HD and also to the disk corresponding to the block a. The disk HD is instructed to record the musical sound data in the cluster on the HD. In this way, the transfer buffer memory 1
Music data is transferred from 3 to the hard disk HD and recorded. As described above, the clusters in one block are continuous, so that the hard disk HD can be accessed in a short time. As a specific example of the DMA operation by the recording control unit 5 as described above, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-51776 mentioned above can be applied. Therefore, the detailed description will be given in this specification. Will be omitted.

The recording control unit 5 counts the data amount of the musical sound data recorded in the hard disk HD, and the continuous cluster number B in the block designating data "Bxa".
When the recording of the tone data of the data amount of NC is completed, an interrupt signal requesting the next block is transferred to the microcomputer. Upon receiving the interrupt signal, the microcomputer executes the interrupt routine shown in FIG.

In the interrupt routine of FIG. 9, first, the recording data amount BS (FIG. 3 (c) of the block designation data “Bxa” (see FIG. 3B) of the Y node is stored in the Y node buffer “YNB”. )), The product of the recording capacity of one cluster and the number BNC of continuous clusters in the block a is recorded (step 60). Whether or not the value of a matches the value of the number of blocks NB in the Y node,
That is, it is determined whether or not the block a currently being processed is the final block determined by the value of the block number NB of the Y node (step 61). If it is not the final block, the process proceeds to step 62, the variable a indicating the block number is incremented to "a + 1", and then the block designation data of the Y node is set as the recording area on the hard disk HD as in step 46 of FIG. Information for designating the block a designated by "Bxa" (that is, the next block) is given to the recording control unit 5 (step 63). Then, the interrupt routine ends. Based on this instruction, the recording control unit 5 transfers the musical sound data to the hard disk HD as described above, and also instructs the disk HD to record the musical sound data in the cluster on the disk HD corresponding to the block a. give. Then, when the recording of the tone data of the data amount corresponding to the number BNC of consecutive clusters in the block designation data “Bxa” is completed, the interrupt signal requesting the next block is transferred to the microcomputer again. When the microcomputer receives this interrupt signal, it again executes the interrupt routine shown in FIG.

In this way, 1 on the hard disk HD
Every time the recording of the musical sound data in one block is completed, the recording routine is instructed by the interruption routine shown in FIG. 9 to record the musical sound data in the next block. Then, when the final block is reached, the process proceeds from step 61 to step 64 in FIG. 9 to give the recording control section 5 information for instructing to stop the recording process. Then, the fact that the file is full is displayed on the display 10 (step 65). Next, the Y node buffer “YN in the RAM 3
B ”, the remaining data of the Y node (size SIZE
Etc.) (see FIG. 3) and then the Y node buffer “Y
All the data of the Y node in “NB” are saved in the hard disk HD. This allows the hard disk HD
The upper Y-node area is updated (step 66). Then, the interrupt routine is ended, and the recording routine of FIG. 8 is also ended. In this way, while accessing the disk HD in units of blocks each consisting of a predetermined number of consecutive clusters on the hard disk HD, the musical sound data is transferred to the disk HD.
Recorded in.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a recording stop event routine executed by the microcomputer when the user inputs a recording stop instruction using the panel switch group 10 during the recording process as described above. In this routine, first, the analog / digital conversion unit (A
Information for instructing to stop the acquisition of the musical sound data from the DC) 18 is given to the recording controller 5 (step 70). Then, the recording control section 5 is provided with information for instructing the transfer of the musical sound data stored in the transfer buffer memory 12 to the hard disk HD (step 71). Next, in the Y node buffer “YNB”, the current block a
Block designation data “Bxa” corresponding to
A predetermined value is recorded as the recording data amount BS of (b) and (c), and “0” is recorded as the recording data amount BS of the block designation data “Bxa” corresponding to each of the remaining blocks. , The size SIZE of the Y node (see FIG.
(See (b)), and record it (step 7).
2). Then, the Y in the Y node buffer “YNB”
Save node to hard disk HD (step 7)
3). As a result, the Y node area on the hard disk HD is updated. Then, this routine ends.

FIG. 16 shows an example of a part of the musical sound data recorded in the hard disk HD by the processing of the recording routine as described above. In this example, the minimum number of clusters in one block is "1", and the recording capacity of one cluster is 1 kilobyte. Therefore, in this example, the minimum size MINS is 1 cluster = 1 kilobyte. In the example of FIG. 16A, as part of the musical sound data, the data A of the block a in which two clusters are continuous (data amount 2 kilobytes) and the data B of the block a + 1 in which three clusters are continuous (data amount) 3 kilobytes), data C (data amount 1 kilobyte) of block a + 2 consisting of only one cluster, and data D (data amount 2 kilobytes) of block a + 3 in which two clusters are continuous are recorded. The number of times the hard disk HD is accessed to record these total 8 kilobytes of musical sound data A to D is four, and the individual clusters on the hard disk HD are accessed eight times in total according to the amount of data as in the past. It will be appreciated that the number of accesses is reduced compared to the case, and thus the access time is shortened. In particular, while the musical tone data is recorded in the cluster in one block, the clusters are present at continuous positions, so after the recording of the musical tone data in the first cluster, without moving the read / write head, Tone data can be recorded in the next cluster continuously. As a result, the number of times of movement of the read / write head becomes smaller than in the conventional case, so that the recording speed of the musical sound data is considerably improved.

Next, FIGS. 11 to 13 show examples of the process of editing the musical sound data in the desired file created on the hard disk HD by the processes of FIGS. 7 to 10. FIG. 11 shows an insertion routine for inserting data into the musical sound data recorded on the disk HD. In this insertion routine, the desired insertion position IP of the data in the file currently being processed is specified by the user by the panel switch group 10 or the like (step 80), and the insert data to be inserted is specified by the user by the panel switch group 10 or the like. Then (step 81), the block (referred to as block IPB) on the disk HD in which the insertion position IP exists is detected based on the Y node corresponding to the file in the Y node buffer “YNB”, and the disk HD is detected.
Then, the tone data in the block IPB is loaded into the data area of the RAM 3 (step 82). Then R
In the work area of AM3, insert data is inserted at the position IP of the musical sound data in the block IPB (step 83). Then, the tone data after the insertion is recorded in the area corresponding to the block IPB in the data area of the RAM3 (hereinafter, in the data area of the RAM3, the area corresponding to the block may be recorded or simply recorded in the block). Corresponding to the data content, the corresponding Y in the Y node buffer “YNB” of the RAM 3
The contents of the node are updated (step 84). Next, it is judged whether or not the data amount of the musical sound data after insertion exceeds the recording capacity of the block IPB, that is, whether or not there is residual data that cannot be recorded in the block IPB (step 85). If there is no remaining data, jump to step 88.

If the remaining data exists, step 86
To the minimum size MIN using the allocation map in the allocation map buffer "AMB".
One or more usable additional blocks of size S or more are secured, and the remaining data are sequentially recorded in these blocks in the data area of the RAM 3. Then, in accordance therewith, the contents of the Y node in the Y node buffer “YNB” are updated and the allocation map buffer “AMB” is set so that the usage status of each cluster in the secured block is set to “in use”. Update the allocation map in. In addition, the minimum size MI in this step 86
The NS may be variably set by the user or may be set to a predetermined value in advance, but as described in step 39 of the recording routine, the hard disk HD
It is desirable to set or determine within a range in which the minimum necessary reading speed (sample transfer speed) can be secured when reproducing the music data while reading it (so-called direct from disk).

This insertion processing will be described with reference to the musical sound data shown in FIG. FIG. 16B is the same as FIG.
Data B in block a + 1 of the tone data of (a)
An example is shown in which insert data I (for example, a data amount of 2.6 kilobytes) is inserted into position IP of. That is, in this example, the block a + 1 is the block IPB.
Corresponds to. Based on this, the data B in the block a + 1 is loaded into the RAM 3 from the disk HD. Then, in the work area of the RAM 3, as shown in FIG. 16C, the insert data I is inserted between the data B1 located before the position IP and the data B2 located after the position IP in the data B. Is inserted. Then, the data after the insertion is the block a + 1 in the data area of the RAM3.
Recorded in.

By the way, the data amount of the data after the insertion is
The total recording capacity of the block a + 1 is 3 while the total of 3 kilobytes and 2.6 kilobytes is 5.6 kilobytes.
Cluster = 3 kilobytes. Therefore, there is 2.6 kilobytes of remaining data that cannot be recorded in block a + 1. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
In 3 clusters of + 1 = 3 kilobytes, the data B1 and a part I1 of the insert data I are recorded, and then, as a usable block having a minimum size MINS or more (here, 1 kilobyte or more), For example, first, an additional block in which two clusters are consecutive is secured, and data of 2 kilobytes out of the remaining data (remaining I2 of insert data I and part B of data B2
21) is recorded in the additional block in the data area of the RAM 3. Next, another additional block consisting of one cluster is secured, and the last 0.6 kilobytes of the remaining data (the remaining B2 of the data B2
2) is recorded in the additional block in the data area of the RAM 3. Then, the numbers of these reserved additional blocks are newly set to a + 2 and a + 3, and the block numbers of the blocks after the previous block a + 2 are all shifted by 2 behind (the previous block a + 2 and a + 2). ... so that the block numbers of a + 3 ... Are set to blocks a + 4, a + 5 ...) and the contents of the Y node in the Y node buffer “YNB” are updated.

As described above, in this insertion process, the remaining data that cannot be recorded in the block IPB (that is, of the insert data and the musical sound data recorded after the position IP of the block IPB, the position IP of the block IPB).
With respect to the portion that exceeds the recording capacity thereafter, one or more additional blocks are secured and recording is performed in the blocks. And with the increase in additional blocks,
For the subsequent blocks, the process of shifting only the block number is performed. That is, since it is not necessary to rewrite the recorded musical tone data for each block in which musical tone data following the musical tone data of the block IPB is recorded, such rewriting processing is not performed, and the contents of the Y node are updated. Only the processing is performed (that is, there is no change in the actual recording position of those musical sound data in the hard disk HD). Therefore, the access time is shortened as compared with the conventional case where those clusters on the hard disk HD are accessed to re-record the tone data of all clusters after the insertion position.

Further, by performing such a tone data insertion process, one or a plurality of blocks may be newly added after the insertion position. However, the number of blocks thus added depends on the insertion process. Since it is the minimum number required to manage the subsequent tone data files, the number of blocks does not increase unnecessarily, and it is as efficient as before insertion processing (that is, the state where only recording processing is finished). File management can be maintained.

For the block added last by the editing process (block a + 3 in FIG. 16 (d)), a blank part (shaded line in the figure) in which no data is recorded is present in one or a plurality of clusters in the block. Attached)
May occur. The actual data amount is recorded as the recording data amount BS (see FIG. 3C) of the block designation data for the block having such a data blank portion. This also applies to the adjustment processing and the deletion processing described later.

In the insertion routine of FIG. 11, when the processing of step 86 is completed, the routine proceeds to step 87, and FIG.
The adjustment routine shown in is executed. This adjustment routine is a routine for reviewing the block secured in the insertion routine (or a deletion routine described later). First, the insertion routine (or the insertion routine (or the deletion routine) based on the block designation data of the Y node in the Y node buffer “YNB” is performed. In the deletion routine), the recorded data amount BS of the additional block (block a + 3 in FIG. 16D) that is finally secured and recorded with the musical sound data is detected (step 9).
0). Then, it is determined whether or not the recording data amount BS is less than the minimum size MINS (step 9).
1). If it is the minimum size MINS or more, the adjustment routine ends.

If it is less than the minimum size MINS, the process proceeds from step 91 to step 92, and in the following two cases between the last additional block and the block immediately before the last additional block. Different adjustment processes are performed according to the above. (I) The recording capacity of the immediately preceding block is the minimum size MI.
If it is more than double the NS. In the work area of RAM3,
The tone data in the immediately preceding block is divided into the data for the last minimum size MINS and the data before it,
The data of the last minimum size MINS and the data of the last additional block are put together into one data. (Ii) The recording capacity of the immediately preceding block is a minimum size M
Less than twice INS. In the work area of RAM3,
All the data of the immediately preceding block and the data of the last additional block are combined into one data.

Next, proceeding to step 93, using the allocation map in the allocation map buffer "AMB", a usable block having a size larger than the data amount summarized in (i) or (ii) of step 92 is created. Secure a new one. Then, the data summarized in step 92 is recorded in those new blocks in the data area of the RAM 3. Then, the contents of the Y node in the Y node buffer “YNB” are updated accordingly, and the usage status of each cluster of the secured block is set to “in use”. Update allocation map. Then, the adjustment routine ends.

This adjustment process will be described with reference to the tone data shown in FIG. 16 (d). Of the blocks shown in FIG. 16D, the additional block which is finally secured in the insertion routine and in which the musical sound data is recorded is the block a + 3. The recording data amount BS of this block a + 3 is 0.6
Since it is kilobytes, it is less than the minimum size MINS (1 kilobyte). Further, the recording data amount BS of the block a + 2 immediately before that is 2 kilobytes, which is more than twice the minimum size MINS. Therefore, this example corresponds to the case of step (i) of FIG.
In the work area of the RAM3, the data of the immediately preceding block a + 2 is divided into the data for the last minimum size MINS (here, the data B21 corresponds) and the previous data (here, the data I2 corresponds), Adjustment is performed to combine the data for the minimum size MINS and the data B22 of the last block a + 3 into one data B2 ′. Since the total amount of data is 1.6 kilobytes, a new block with a size of 2 kilobytes (that is, two consecutive clusters) is secured as a usable block of a larger size. , In the data area of the RAM 3, the combined data B2 ′ is recorded in the new block as shown in FIG. At the same time, the block number is newly set to a + 3, and the contents of the Y node are updated accordingly.

The reason for providing this adjustment routine is as follows. When the insertion routine of FIG. 11 is executed,
As illustrated in 6 (d), there is a possibility that a block having the recording data amount BS smaller than the minimum size MINS may occur in the middle of the file (this is also the case when the deletion routine described later is executed). By the way, since data is inserted and deleted relatively frequently in the musical tone data file, the insertion routine (and the deletion routine) is accordingly accompanied.
Is frequently executed. Therefore, if such blocks are left as they are, many blocks having a small amount of recorded data exist in the middle of the file, and the number of blocks becomes large relative to the file size. Such a situation leads to a longer access time to the hard disk HD when reading a file and an increase in the number of block designation data (FIGS. 3 and 4), which is rather inconvenient. Therefore, in order to prevent such a situation in advance, when a block with a small amount of recording data occurs, the data in that block is combined with the data in the block immediately before each time, so that I tried to eliminate the occurrence of. As a result, even when data is frequently inserted or deleted, the playback speed when reading files can be maintained at a high level, and the number of block specified data can be minimized to simplify file management. Will be able to maintain.

When the adjustment routine is completed, the routine proceeds to step 88 in FIG. 11, where the tone data inserted / adjusted in the data area of the RAM 3, the allocation map in the allocation map buffer “AMB”, and the Y node buffer “YNB” are stored. The Y node and the block table in “” are saved in the hard disk HD. As a result, the data recording area, allocation map, and Y node area on the hard disk HD are updated. And
Finish the insert routine.

Next, FIG. 13 shows an example of a deletion routine for updating a file by deleting a part of the musical sound data recorded in the hard disk HD. In this deletion routine, when the cut data to be deleted among the data of the file being read is designated by the user by the panel switch group 10 or the like (step 100), based on the Y node area in the Y node buffer "YNB", Block where the beginning part of the cut data exists (block CS
B) and a block in which the end part of the cut data exists (block CEB) are detected (step 101). Then, the tone data in the block CSB and the tone data in the block CEB are loaded from the hard disk HD into the data area of the RAM 3 (step 102). Next, in the work area of the RAM 3, the data other than the cut data in the block CSB and the data other than the cut data in the block CEB are combined into one (step 103). Then, the synthesized data is
In the data area of the RAM 3, the necessary number of blocks among the blocks from the block CSB to the block CEB are sequentially recorded, and the Y node buffer “YNB” is accordingly recorded.
Update the contents of the Y node in step (step 10
4). Next, the adjustment routine described in FIG. 12 is also executed here (step 105). Finally, the musical tone data that has been deleted / adjusted in the data area of the RAM 3,
Allocation map in allocation map buffer "AMB", Y in Y node buffer "YNB"
The node and block tables are saved in the hard disk HD (step 106). As a result, the data recording area, allocation map, and Y node area on the hard disk HD are updated. Then, the deletion routine ends.

This deletion process will be described with reference to the tone data shown in FIG. 16 (e). In FIG. 17A, FIG.
Of the data in block a to block a + 5 in (e),
It is assumed that the user has specified that the data from the middle of block a + 1 to the middle of block a + 3 should be deleted as cut data. . Based on this, the block a + 1 is detected as the block CSB and the block a + 3 is detected as the block CEB, and the data in these blocks are loaded from the disk HD to the RAM3. Then, as shown in FIG. 17B, in the work area of the RAM 3, data other than the cut data (data B1 and a part I11 of the data I1) of the data of the block a + 1 and data other than the cut data of the block a + 3 ( Part of data B2 'B2'1) and 1
A synthesizing process is being performed. Then, the combined data is stored in the block a in the data area of the RAM3.
Recording is sequentially performed in blocks from +1 to block a + 3. (Originally blocks a + 1, a + 2, a +
Since the data excluding the cut data from the data recorded in No. 3 is recorded, all the data can be surely recorded in the blocks from block a + 1 to block a + 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 17C, data of the capacity of the block a + 1 (the data B1, the data I11, and a part B2′1 of the data B2′1) among the combined data.
1) is recorded in block a + 1, and next block a + 2
Capacity data (the remaining B2'1 of the data B2'1
2) is recorded in block a + 2. Then, since the block a + 3 becomes empty, all the block numbers after the block a + 4 following the block CEB are shifted by 1 (the block numbers of the previous blocks a + 4, a + 5 ... Are set to the blocks a + 3, a + 4 ...), and Y is set. The contents of the Y node in the node buffer “YNB” are updated.
By executing the adjustment routine of step 105,
Blocks a + 1, a of the tone data of FIG. 17 (c)
The +2 data is re-recorded in the data area of the RAM 3 as shown in FIG. 17D, for example.

As described above, in this deletion processing, data other than the cut data in the block CSB and the block CE are
Data other than the cut data in B is stored in the block CSB
To the block CEB are sequentially re-recorded in one or more blocks, and it is not necessary to rewrite the recorded musical tone data for each block following the block CEB, so the contents of the Y node are updated (block Only shift the numbers). Therefore, the access time is shortened as compared with the conventional case where those clusters on the hard disk HD are accessed to re-record the data of all the clusters after the deletion position.

In the above, as an example of the editing process, the process of inserting the data into the musical tone data and the process of deleting a part of the musical tone data are individually shown. However, the same data as the musical tone data deleted from a certain block is shown. It is needless to say that the process of moving the musical sound data in the file can be performed by inserting the "." Into another block.

Next, as described above, the hard disk H
A reproduction routine for reproducing the musical sound data by reading the file created / updated on D from the disk HD,
It shows in FIG. When the path name and file name of the file to be read are specified by the user with the panel switch group 10 (step 110), the directory buffer “DI
The file name in the directory map in "RB" is searched (step 111), and it is determined whether the specified file name exists in the directory map (step 112). If not, step 119
Go to step 10 and display that the file was not found.
Is displayed and the reproduction routine ends.

If the specified file name exists,
Proceeding from step 112 to step 113, one of the plurality of tone reproduction channels of the reproduction sound generator 7 is assigned to the file. Next, the Y node number corresponding to the file is detected in the directory map, and the Y node of the number and the corresponding block table (if any) are detected from the hard disk HD.
And are loaded into the Y node buffer "YNB" of the RAM 3 (step 114). Then, the variable a indicating the block number is set to the initial value "1" (step 115).

Next, as the reproduction area on the hard disk HD, information indicating the block a = 1 specified by the block specification data "Bxa" of the Y node is given to the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 (step 116). Then, the data in the header is loaded from the disk HD into the RAM 3 (see FIG. 2), and the reproduction conditions are initialized based on this data (step 117). And hard disk H
Processing for starting the reproduction of the musical sound data recorded in D is performed (step 118). For example, the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 uses the block a on the disk HD under the reproduction condition set based on the information from the microcomputer.
An instruction to read the musical sound data recorded in is given to the disk HD, and the read musical sound data is loaded into the transfer buffer memory 14. Then, the musical sound data in the transfer buffer memory 14 is transferred to the reproduction buffer memory 16 via the access control 15, and the reproduced sound generating unit 7 is instructed to start the reproducing operation of the allocated musical sound reproduction channel. Under this instruction, the musical sound data in the reproduction buffer memory 16 is read by the reproduced sound generating unit 7 via the access control 15,
From the channel in the reproduced sound generating section 7, digital / digital
It is given to the sound system SS via the analog conversion unit (DAC) 19 and is acoustically sounded. When the musical tone data of a plurality of files are reproduced at the same time, the reproduction process of FIG. 14 is performed for each file. In addition, D by the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 as described above
As a specific example of the MA operation, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-51776 mentioned above can be applied, and therefore the detailed description thereof is omitted in this specification.

The reproduction / transfer control unit 6 uses the hard disk H
The data amount of the musical sound data read from D is counted, and when the reading is completed by the recording data amount BS in the block designation data “Bxa”, an interrupt signal requesting the next block is transferred to the microcomputer. To do. Upon receiving the interrupt signal, the microcomputer executes the interrupt routine shown in FIG. In this interrupt routine, first, at step 120,
The variable a indicating the block number is incremented to "a + 1". Then, similar to step 116 described above, the playback / transfer control unit 6 is provided with information designating the block a designated by the block designation data “Bxa” of the Y node as the playback area on the hard disk HD (step 121). Next, whether the value of a matches the value of the number of blocks NB in the Y node, that is, the block a
Is the final block (step 1
22). If it is not the final block, the interrupt routine is ended. On the basis of this instruction, the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 causes the disc HD to be reproduced under the set reproduction condition as described above.
An instruction to read the musical tone data recorded in the upper block a is given to the disk HD, and the read musical tone data is loaded into the transfer buffer memory 14. Then, the musical sound data in the transfer buffer memory 14 is transferred to the reproduction buffer memory 16 via the access control 15, and the reproduced sound generating unit 7 is instructed to start the reproducing operation of the allocated musical sound reproduction channel.
Under this instruction, the musical sound data in the reproduction buffer memory 16 is read out by the reproduced sound generating unit 7 via the access control 15, and from the channel in the reproduced sound generating unit 7,
It is given to the sound system SS via the digital / analog conversion unit (DAC) 19 and is acoustically sounded. When the reading of the recording data amount BS in the block designation data “Bxa” is completed, the interrupt signal requesting the next block is transferred to the microcomputer again. When the microcomputer receives this interrupt signal, it again executes the interrupt routine shown in FIG. When the reading of the recording data amount BS in the block designation data “Bxa” of the next block is completed, the interrupt signal requesting the next block is transferred again to the microcomputer. Microcomputer
When this interrupt signal is received, the interrupt routine shown in FIG. 15 is executed again.

In this way, each time the tone data of one block has been reproduced, the interrupt routine of FIG. 15 is executed and the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 is caused to reproduce the tone data in the block next to the block. Give instructions. Then, when the final block is reached, the process proceeds from step 122 to step 123, and the information for instructing the inhibition of the generation of the next interrupt signal is added.
It is given to the reproduction / transfer control unit 6. Next, it is set so that the reproduction operation of the waveform reproduction channel of the reproduction sound generation unit 7 is stopped after the reproduction of the tone data of the final block is completed (step 124), and the interrupt routine is ended. In this way, when the musical tone data of the final block is completely reproduced, the reproducing process is ended. In this way, the musical tone data is reproduced from the disk HD while accessing the blocks on the hard disk HD that are smaller in number than the number of clusters based on the block designation data.

Hard disk HD in this reproduction processing
The number of accesses to will be described with reference to the musical sound data of FIG. Data of block a (data amount 2 kilobytes), data of block a + 1 (data amount 3 kilobytes), data of block a + 2 (data amount 0.6 kilobytes), data of block a + 3 (data amount 1 kilobytes), block a + 4 When reproducing a total of 8.6 kilobytes of musical sound data (data amount 2 kilobytes), the number of times the disk HD is accessed is five, which is equal to the number of blocks. Therefore, the access time is shortened as compared with the conventional case where the individual clusters in which the musical sound data is recorded are accessed 9 times in total. In particular,
While the musical tone data is reproduced from the clusters in one block, the clusters are present at continuous positions, so after the musical tone data is reproduced from the first cluster, the read / write head is not moved and is continued. Music data can be reproduced from the next cluster. As a result, the number of times of movement of the read / write head becomes smaller than in the conventional case, so that the data reproducing speed can be considerably improved.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the musical tone is reproduced while reading the musical tone data from the hard disk HD (so-called direct frome disc), the musical tone data can be read out much faster than the conventional case. Become. Therefore, for example, the playback sampling frequency of the musical sound data in the disc recorder may be set higher than before, or the number of simultaneous playback tracks in the multi-track recorder (disc recorder having the function of simultaneously playing the sounds of multiple tracks) may be increased. It becomes possible to do.

As can be understood from the description with reference to FIG. 16 or 17, no data is stored in a part of the last cluster in a specific block due to the process of inserting or deleting data in any block. Some parts may occur. In order to prevent such a data blank portion from being transferred to the reproduction buffer memory 17 during reproduction processing, the reproduction / transfer control unit 6 is currently performing transfer processing from the transfer buffer memory 15 to the reproduction buffer memory 17. For a specific block, the data amount Bsx already transferred to the reproduction buffer memory 17 is always accumulated and counted, and when the transferred data amount Bsx matches the block size data BS of the block, the transfer of all data of the block is completed. Therefore, it is preferable to control so as to interrupt the data transfer from the transfer buffer memory 15 to the reproduction buffer memory 17. By doing so, the blank data is not stored in the reproduction buffer memory 17, and only the musical tone data in which each block is continuous can be continuously stored in the reproduction buffer memory 17 and read and reproduced without any trouble. Of course, as another measure,
The data blank portion may be transferred to and stored in the reproduction buffer memory 17, and the data blank portion in the reproduction buffer memory 17 is determined based on the block size data BS of the block, and the data blank portion is skipped when reproducing and reading. It is also possible to read only the musical tone data of.

As described above, in this disc recorder, in any of the processes of creating a file by recording musical tone data, updating the file by editing the recorded musical tone data, and reproducing the musical tone data by reading the file, The access time to the hard disk is shortened compared to the conventional case. Therefore, it is possible to improve the processing speed when recording / reproducing the musical tone data in real time or when editing the musical tone data.

In this embodiment, the present invention is
This is adopted in the disk recorder that the MA system recording control unit and the reproduction / transfer control unit instruct the hard disk to perform the recording / reproduction. It may be used in a disc recorder that does. Alternatively, it may be adopted in a disk recorder in which a higher-order control device instructs the hard disk to perform recording / reproduction. Further, in implementing the present invention, it is needless to say that equivalent control can be implemented not only by software processing using a microcomputer but also by a dedicated hardware circuit.

Further, in the present embodiment, the present invention is adopted in a disk recorder provided with a hard disk as an external recording device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and another suitable randomly accessible recording medium such as an optical disk can be used. It may be adopted in a musical sound data recording / reproducing device provided as an external recording device.

Further, in this embodiment, the file management system according to the present invention is adopted in a data recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / editing / reproducing musical tone data such as a sound waveform, but the present invention is not limited to this. , May be used for musical tone control data such as automatic performance data,
Or other appropriate data such as image data (especially,
It may be adopted in a data recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / editing / reproducing data which is required to be recorded / reproduced in real time or which is frequently edited.

The following is a list of some of the embodiments of the present invention. 1. A recording medium for recording data and one or a plurality of blocks each consisting of one or an arbitrary plurality of recording units continuous in the recording medium are set, and data constituting one file is divided into blocks of the recording medium. A file management system, comprising: a data recording control means for recording the data in a block; and a management information storage means for storing, for each block, management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in the block. 2. When performing an editing operation such as deleting or inserting data in the file, the data stored in the recording medium is rewritten only for the data of the specific block that is the target of the editing operation, and other existing blocks in the file are rewritten. The file management system according to the above item 1, further comprising edit control means for preventing rewriting of data. 3. When rewriting data to be recorded in the recording medium for a specific block in the file based on an editing operation such as deleting or inserting data, the management information indicating the effective data amount of the block stored in the management information storage means The file management system according to the above item 1 or 2, further comprising means for updating. 4. When the total data amount of the block exceeds the data amount determined by the number of recording units forming the block due to the insertion of the data for the specific block to be edited, the edit control unit records the recording medium. 2. The file management system according to the above item 2, further comprising means for setting an additional block and recording excess data in the additional block. 5. Further, a means for reading data from the recording medium, and a usage control means for utilizing, as valid data, only data corresponding to the valid data amount indicated by the management information for the block among the data read for the specific block are further provided. The file management system according to the above item 1 comprising. 6. The data storage control unit detects and detects a unit for setting a minimum value of the number of recording units forming one block, and a number of continuous usable recording units of the number equal to or more than the minimum value on the recording medium. The file management system according to the above item 1 including a unit for setting a recording unit as one block. 7. When the effective data amount of a certain first block becomes less than a predetermined data amount due to the deletion or insertion of the data, the edit control means is provided between the block and the adjacent second block before or after the block. 2. The above-mentioned item 2 including a means for performing an adjustment process for arranging whether the effective data amount of the first block is equal to or more than a predetermined data amount or 0 by merging or distributing the data. File management system. 8. The file management system according to the above item 1, wherein the data constituting one file is waveform data of one sound which is continuous in time. 9. The file management system according to the above item 1, wherein the management information storage means further stores, for each block, management information that specifies a position and a number of the recording units forming the block on the recording medium. 10. A method for recording and managing a data set specified by one file name on a recording medium, the method comprising: detecting one or an arbitrary plurality of available recording units in the recording medium and detecting the detected recording unit. Securing a unit as one block, allocating one or a plurality of such blocks, dividing the data constituting one file into each block of the recording medium, and Storing management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in the block; and when the effective data amount of a block changes due to insertion or deletion of data to be stored in the recording medium, A file management method comprising the step of updating management information. 11. When the data in the file is deleted or inserted, the block to be deleted or inserted is rewritten with the data accompanying the deletion or insertion, and the data already recorded in other existing blocks in the file is rewritten. 11. The file management method according to the above item 10, further comprising a step of preventing the deletion or insertion so that an area where data is not stored occurs in a part of the block to be deleted or inserted. 12. Reading the data of the file from the recording medium to use the data of the desired file, and only the data corresponding to the effective data amount indicated by the management information for the block among the data read for each block Is used as valid data, and the file management method according to the above item 10. 13. When inserting data into a block, when the total data amount of the block exceeds the data amount determined by the number of recording units forming the block, an additional block is set in the recording medium, and the excess data is set. 11. The file management method according to the above item 10, further comprising a step of recording a file in the additional block. 14. When inserting data into a block, when the total data amount of the block exceeds the data amount determined by the number of recording units forming the block, continuous recording corresponding to the extended data amount required. Item 11. The file management method according to Item 10, further comprising the step of detecting whether a unit is available in the recording medium and reserving the detected recording unit for the block. 15. A readable / writable recording medium including a data recording area for recording data of one or a plurality of files and a management information recording area for recording management information for each of the recorded one or a plurality of files, and the recording medium. Data recording control means for setting one or a plurality of blocks each consisting of one or an arbitrary plurality of recording units continuous in the data recording area, dividing the data constituting one file, and recording in each block of the data recording area And in the management information recording area of the recording medium, for each file, for each of the one or a plurality of blocks set corresponding to the file, the effective data amount of the data stored in each block. The management information is recorded, and the management information is updated when the effective data amount is changed by deleting or inserting data. File management system which includes a recording control means. 16. The management information recording area of the recording medium, further for each block, recording management information for specifying the position of the recording unit constituting the block on the recording medium . 17. The management information recording area records the management information for a predetermined number of blocks for one file, and when the number of blocks for one file exceeds the predetermined number, the management information for the excess blocks 15. The file management system according to the above item 15 or 16, wherein an additional management information recording area for recording is set in another recording area of the recording medium. 18. Data of one file to be continuously reproduced is divided into a plurality of blocks each having a variable data size, and each block is separately recorded at an arbitrary recording position on a recording medium. A data recording / reproducing method comprising: storing information for identifying a recording position of each block on the recording medium; and storing valid data information indicating valid data actually stored for each block. 19. In order to reproduce the data of the one file, each block of the recording medium is sequentially accessed according to the information for specifying the recording position, and the recording data of each block is sequentially read, and the read output data of each block is read. The data recording / reproducing method as described in 18 above, further comprising a step of extracting only valid data according to the valid data information.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, one or a plurality of blocks each consisting of one or a plurality of continuous recording units are set in a recording medium, and the data constituting one file is divided into The data is recorded in each block of the recording medium, and the management information indicating the effective data amount of the data stored in the block is stored for each block. Therefore, first, if the recording position of the file is not expressed by using the number of each recording unit in which the data of one file is recorded, the file management is performed with less management information as compared with the conventional file management method. This has an excellent effect that the file management can be simplified.

Secondly, since the number of blocks constituting one file can be made relatively smaller than that of the conventional one, the total access time during recording / editing / reproducing processing (especially read / write head (Moving time) can be shortened considerably, and of course, the editing work time can be shortened, and it is also very convenient for real-time recording / playback processing due to the shortening of recording / playback time. It has an excellent effect that More specifically describing this effect, if the present invention is applied to a musical sound data recording / reproducing apparatus using a large-capacity auxiliary recording medium, in the case of reproducing musical tone while reading musical tone data from the recording medium, Musical data can be read out much faster than before. Therefore, for example, it is possible to set the reproduction sampling frequency of the musical sound data in the musical sound data recording / reproducing apparatus to a higher value than before, or to increase the number of simultaneous reproduction tracks in a musical sound data recording / reproducing apparatus such as a multi-track recorder compared to the conventional case. become.

Thirdly, since the data amount actually recorded in each block, that is, the effective data amount is managed by the management information for each block, it is assumed that the data is collectively read in a predetermined recording unit. In addition, it is possible to find out how much data is valid data and where unnecessary data is deleted.As a result, the amount of data in a block decreases due to data editing work such as deletion and insertion, and blanks occur in that block. Even if an additional block with a data blank part is newly created, it is not necessary to shift the data group of subsequent blocks upward to fill the blank, and the blank can be left as it is. . Therefore, at the time of data editing work, it is necessary to rewrite the data only in the necessary blocks, and it becomes unnecessary to rewrite the data in other blocks after that significantly, which reduces the time required for the data editing work. It has an excellent effect that it can be significantly shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of an electronic musical instrument that implements a file management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the hard disk in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of a Y node area in FIG.

4 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of a block table set in the data recording area in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an example of a memory map of the RAM shown in FIG.

6 is a flowchart showing an example of a main routine process executed by the microcomputer of FIG.

7 is a flowchart partially showing an example of a recording routine executed by the microcomputer of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the remaining part of the recording routine of FIG.

9 is a flowchart showing an example of an interrupt routine executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG. 1 during a recording process.

10 is a flowchart showing an example of a recording stop event process executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG.

11 is a flowchart showing an example of an insertion routine which is one of data editing processes executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG.

12 is a flowchart showing an example of the adjustment routine in FIG. 11 or FIG.

13 is a flowchart showing an example of a deletion routine which is one of the data editing processes executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG.

14 is a flowchart showing an example of a reproduction routine executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of an interrupt routine executed by the microcomputer shown in FIG. 1 during reproduction processing.

16 is a data map diagram for explaining a specific example of a data insertion process executed according to the insertion routine of FIG.

FIG. 17 is a data map diagram for explaining a specific example of data deletion processing executed according to the deletion routine of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a recording format of musical tone waveform data by a conventional disc recorder.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a data recording form according to the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a data insertion form according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a data deletion form according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 CPU 2 ROM 3 RAM 4 SCSI interface 5 Recording controller 6 Playback / transfer control unit 7 Playback sound generator 8 performance controls 9 Display 10 panel switch group 11 timer 12 DMAC circuit 13 Transfer buffer memory 14 DMAC circuit 15 Transfer buffer memory 16 Access control unit 17 Playback buffer memory HD hard disk

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-127238 (JP, A) JP-A-2-109161 (JP, A) JP-A-6-236313 (JP, A) JP-A-5- 88949 (JP, A) JP-A-5-6296 (JP, A) JP-A-3-179972 (JP, A) Nikkei Byte [68] (1990.2) "OS / 2 1.2 new file system : Add high-performance file system using IFS mechanism ”p. 231-240 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 12/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording medium for recording data, and a minimum value of the number of recording units constituting one block is set.
However, in the recording medium, the number of consecutive
The available recording units are detected and
A continuous recording unit consisting of the above numbers is a block
One or more of the recording media secured in this way
Blocks of, by dividing the data constituting the one file
Data recording control means that records the each block, the management information storage means for storing management information indicating the effective data amount of data stored in the number and respective blocks of recording units constituting the respective block File management system with and. 2. When performing an editing operation such as deleting or inserting data in the file, the data stored in the recording medium is rewritten only for the data of a specific block which is the object of the editing operation, and other data in the file is deleted. 2. The file management system according to claim 1, further comprising edit control means for preventing the rewriting of the existing block data. 3. The edit control means, when the effective data amount of a certain first block becomes less than a predetermined data amount due to the deletion or insertion of the data, a second adjacent block before or after the block. Means for performing adjustment processing for merging or distributing the data with the block of the first block so that the effective data amount of the first block becomes equal to or more than a predetermined data amount or becomes zero. The file management system according to claim 2, further comprising: 4. A method for recording and managing a data set specified by one file name on a recording medium, wherein a minimum value of the number of recording units forming one block is set.
And, to a continuous number of the above minimum value in said recording medium
Wherein for detecting the available recording unit that, thus detected
Securing a continuous recording unit consisting of a number equal to or larger than the minimum value as one block, and allocating one or a plurality of such blocks; And storing management information indicating, for each block, the number of recording units secured in each block and the effective data amount of the data stored in each block, and storing the management information in the recording medium. Updating the management information of a block when the effective data amount of a block changes due to data insertion or deletion. 5. When deleting or inserting data in the file, the block to be deleted or inserted is rewritten with the data accompanying the deletion or insertion, and the recorded data is recorded in another existing block in the file. further comprising a step to prevent rewritten for claim in part on data resulting in the a deletion or insertion of the target block is characterized in that allows the region that is not stored is generated 4 File management method described in. 6. A readable / writable recording medium including a data recording area for recording data of one or a plurality of files and a management information recording area for recording management information for each of the recorded one or a plurality of files. And set the minimum value of the number of recording units that make up one block
The minimum value in the data recording area of the recording medium.
Detects and detects more than one consecutive available recording unit
The continuous recording unit consisting of a number greater than or equal to the minimum value
Secured as one block,
To one or more blocks of data recording area, and data recording control means that records by dividing the data constituting the one file, the management information recording area of the recording medium, each file corresponds to the file For each of the one or more blocks set as described above, the management information indicating the number of recording units forming each block and the effective data amount of the data stored in each block is recorded, and the data is deleted. Alternatively, a file management system comprising management information recording control means for updating the recorded value when the effective data amount is changed by insertion. 7. The number of recording units constituting one block
Set the minimum value and the number of recording media that is greater than or equal to the minimum value
Detect consecutive available recording units and thus detect
The continuous recording unit consisting of a number greater than or equal to the minimum value
As One block, such block, in order to record the data of a file to be reproduced continuously, the steps of one or more secure, the data of the single file, the reserved one or Dividing into blocks corresponding to a plurality of blocks, and recording separately at each recording position of the recording medium corresponding to each of the secured blocks; first identifying a recording position of each block on the recording medium Information, second information indicating the data capacity of each recording position secured for each block, and valid data information indicating valid data actually stored for each block. A data recording / reproducing method comprising steps. 8. A second information indicating first information for specifying a recording position of each block and a data capacity of each recording position secured for each block for reproducing data of the one file. Further accessing each block of the recording medium in accordance with the information of step S1 and sequentially reading the recording data of each block, and extracting only valid data among the read output data of each block according to the valid data information. The data recording / reproducing method according to claim 7 .