JP6494275B2 - Recording apparatus and recording apparatus control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a control method for the recording apparatus.

  Conventionally, digital cameras and smartphones record moving images, still images, or various files on exchangeable memory cards or built-in recording media. In recent years, a semiconductor storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) is used as a built-in recording medium. These storage devices are composed of a NAND flash memory, a controller, and the like, but do not recognize a file system such as FAT (File Allocation Tables).

  In these storage devices, garbage collection processing (hereinafter referred to as GC processing) is performed. While the GC process is being performed, the host cannot access the storage device, so the process is stopped. Further, since the GC process involves data copying in the memory, it causes a reduction in the durability of the flash memory.

  Therefore, a trim command for notifying a storage area not used by the host is prepared for these storage devices (see Patent Document 1). By using this trim command, the unused area can be excluded from the target of the GC process. As a result, the period during which the host cannot access the storage device can be shortened, and the durability of the flash memory can be prevented from decreasing.

JP 2013-200688 A

However, the host cannot write data to the storage device during the issuance of the trim command and the trim processing in the storage device. Therefore, for example, during recording of data that needs to be processed in real time such as a moving image, the recording speed may be reduced by the trim command, and the buffer memory may overflow.
In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to appropriately notify an unused area to a storage device so that the data recording speed does not decrease.

The recording apparatus of the present invention includes a recording means for recording data on a recording medium, and a predetermined command for designating a recording area that has become unused as a result of erasing the data recorded on the recording medium. Command output means for outputting to the medium, a plurality of image data continuously photographed from a recording start instruction to a recording stop instruction, and management information relating to the plurality of image data are recorded on the recording medium wherein a means for controlling the recording means to the period from instruction of the recording start to the instruction of the recording stop, the process of newly recording the management information, the recording area of the recorded management information non and a process of changing the area of use, and control means for controlling said recording means to perform repeatedly, wherein, during the instruction of the recording start to the instruction of the recording stop Wherein even in a state not subjected to data recording processing to the recording medium, and controls the command output means so as not to output the predetermined command to the recording medium.

  According to the present invention, a predetermined command for designating a recording area is issued based on a result of determining whether or not a moving image is recorded. Accordingly, it is possible to appropriately notify the storage device of an unused area, and it is possible to prevent the buffer memory from overflowing and to prevent the data recording speed from being lowered.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the mode of the data recorded on the recording medium in 1st Embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of a trim command issuance process for a recording medium according to the first embodiment. It is a figure which shows the mode of the data recorded on the recording medium in 2nd Embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. The following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the invention.

Note that each functional block described in the present embodiment is not necessarily separate hardware. That is, for example, the functions of some functional blocks may be executed by a single piece of hardware. In addition, the function of one functional block or the functions of a plurality of functional blocks may be executed by a coordinated operation of some hardware. Further, the function of each functional block may be executed by a computer program developed on the memory by the CPU.
In the present embodiment, a case where the recording apparatus according to the present invention is applied to an imaging apparatus will be described. However, a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet information terminal, a notebook information terminal, a computer, or the like may be used.

First, the configuration of the recording apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 1, a main control unit 101 includes a CPU, a memory, and the like, and controls the overall processing of the recording apparatus 100. The main control unit 101 controls each unit of the recording apparatus 100 in accordance with a program stored in the ROM 111, information stored in the memory 112, information from the operation unit 106, and the like. The main control unit 101 includes an unused area determination unit 102, a trim command control unit 103, a recording control unit 104, and a recording state determination unit 105 as functional blocks.

  The operation unit 106 includes switches for inputting various operations such as a power button, a recording start / stop instruction button, a menu display button, a mode switching switch, and a determination button. The operation unit 106 transmits an operation signal to the main control unit 101 when the user operates these keys, buttons, and touch panel. Further, any type of operation element such as a cursor key, a pointing device, a touch panel, and a dial may be used. Each operation member of the operation unit 106 can be realized as various function icons displayed on the display unit 107. The user can select and operate these function icons.

The display unit 107 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device, and displays an image, a menu screen, and other necessary information under the control of the display control unit 108.
The display control unit 108 displays the moving image and various types of information obtained by the imaging unit 109 on the display unit 107 during recording. Further, the display control unit 108 displays the reproduced moving image on the display unit 107 during reproduction.

The imaging unit 109 captures a subject and outputs moving image data.
The signal processing unit 110 performs predetermined image processing or compression coding processing on the moving image data obtained by the imaging unit 109 during recording.
The signal processing unit 110 decodes and outputs the reproduced moving image data during reproduction.
The ROM 111 stores nonvolatile information such as programs of the main control unit 101 and fixed values.
The memory 112 is composed of a volatile memory such as a DRAM, and stores moving image data and management information to be recorded, or various information necessary for control of the main control unit 101.

In response to an instruction from the main control unit 101, the recording medium control unit 113 records data such as moving image data and management information on the recording medium 114, and reads data from the recording medium 114.
The recording medium 114 is a randomly accessible recording medium. The recording medium 114 is composed of a storage device incorporating a flash memory and a controller. In the present embodiment, eMMC (embedded MMC) is used as the recording medium 114, but is not limited thereto.

As the recording medium 114, it is possible to use a storage device corresponding to a trim command, such as SSD. The recording medium 114 has a function of performing a garbage collection (GC) process. That is, the controller in the recording medium 114 checks a storage area that is not used for storing data in the flash memory device of the recording medium 114, and changes the storage area to be handled as an unrecorded area. The recording medium 114 also executes a process (defragment process) for eliminating a fragment of the physical storage area of the flash memory at the time of the GC process. The recording medium 114 can execute such GC processing at an arbitrary timing regardless of an instruction from the main control unit 101.
The data bus 115 transfers data and commands between the units of the recording apparatus 100.

  In the main control unit 101, the unused area determination unit 102 determines an area (unused area) that is not used by the recording apparatus 100 in the recording medium 114. Specifically, the unused area determination unit 102 determines that the area is an unused area when previously valid data has been stored and the data has been deleted in the management of the file system. Also, the unused area determination unit 102 determines an area that has been reduced as an unused area even when the data size is reduced, such as by deleting a part of a file, in managing the file system.

  The trim command control unit 103 controls the recording medium control unit 113 to transmit a trim command and receive various responses to the recording medium 114. The trim command is used to notify the recording medium 114 of an unused area detected by the unused area determination unit 102, that is, an area not used by the recording apparatus 100 (main control unit 101) for data recording. It is a command.

  In the present embodiment, a trim area transmitted at one time designates a recording area consisting of continuous addresses on the flash memory in the recording medium 114 as an unused area. When a plurality of unused areas whose addresses are discontinuous are specified, a plurality of trim commands for specifying each recording area are output.

The recording control unit 104 controls writing and reading of moving image data and management information with respect to the recording medium 114. Specifically, it controls generation of management information, writing of moving image data being recorded, updating of management information, processing when recording of moving image data is stopped, and the like.
The recording state determination unit 105 determines whether or not the recording apparatus 100 is in a moving image recording state. In the present embodiment, as will be described later, the recording state is determined from the time when the user starts outputting the moving image recording until the time when the recording stop instruction is output and the moving image recording is stopped.

The main control unit 101 has a file system (not shown) such as FAT, and manages moving image data and management information recorded on the recording medium 114 as files. Further, the main control unit 101 reads the file system information from the recording medium 114, stores it in the memory 112, updates the file system information in accordance with the recording or erasing process, and writes the updated file system information in the recording medium 114. The file system information recorded in 114 is updated.
Further, the controller of the recording medium 114 does not have a file system. For this reason, the controller of the recording medium 114 cannot detect this from the file system information even when an unused area is generated by the main control unit 101 updating the file system information.

Next, recording processing by the recording apparatus 100 will be described.
When the operation unit 106 is operated and the power is turned on, the main control unit 101 controls each unit and sets the recording standby state. In the recording standby state, the imaging unit 109 outputs moving image data.
The display control unit 108 displays the moving image indicated by the moving image data output from the imaging unit 109 and other necessary information on the display unit 107. When a recording start instruction is output from the operation unit 106 in the recording standby state, the main control unit 101 instructs the recording medium control unit 113 to record management information corresponding to the moving image file, An instruction is given to record moving image data output from the processing unit 110.

  In the present embodiment, moving image data is recorded on the recording medium 114 according to a file format such as MXF or MP4. Further, the main control unit 101 generates management information corresponding to the moving image data, and records the management information on the recording medium 114. The management information includes an offset from the beginning of the moving image data file, an encoding format, and other information necessary for reproducing the moving image data. Each time a predetermined amount of unrecorded moving image data is accumulated in the memory 112, the recording medium control unit 113 reads out the predetermined amount of moving image data and records it on the recording medium 114. The main control unit 101 updates the management information recorded on the recording medium 114 every time a predetermined amount of moving image data is recorded after starting the recording of the moving image. The moving image data and management information recording process will be described later.

  Thus, after starting the recording of the moving image on the recording medium 114, the main control unit 101 controls the recording medium control unit 113 in response to the recording stop instruction being output from the operation unit 106, and the moving image data Stop recording. In addition, the main control unit 101 controls the recording medium 114 to record management information. As described above, the moving image file and the management information are recorded on the recording medium 114 according to an instruction from the user. The recording format of the moving image data and the management information is not particularly limited, but in the MXF format, the moving image data and the management information are recorded as separate files. In the MP4 format, moving image data and management information are stored in one file.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the state of moving image data and management information recorded on the recording medium 114 during recording of a moving image.
First, management information 201 is recorded at the start of recording. In general, management information is a small amount of data compared to moving image data. Next, the first moving image data is recorded and the management information is updated.
First, a predetermined amount of moving image data 202 is recorded. Thereafter, the main control unit 101 records new management information 204 in order to update the management information. Then, the file system information stored in the memory 112 is changed, and the recording area of the management information 201 is changed to the unused area 203. The file system information recorded on the recording medium 114 is updated with the changed file system information.

Next, a second predetermined amount of moving image data is recorded and management information is updated.
First, the moving image data 205 is recorded. Thereafter, new management information 207 is recorded and the file system information is changed, so that the recording area of the management information 204 so far is changed to an unused area 206. The file system information recorded on the recording medium 114 is updated with the changed file system information. Similarly, recording of moving image data and updating of management information are performed after the third time.

  As described above, each time a predetermined amount of moving image data is written, management information is newly recorded, and the process of changing the recorded management information recording area to an unused area is repeatedly performed. As described above, an unused area is generated with the update of the management information.

Next, the reproduction process will be described.
When an instruction to switch to the playback mode is output from the operation unit 106, the main control unit 101 controls each unit and displays an index screen including thumbnail images of each moving image file recorded on the recording medium 114 on the display unit 107. To do.
When the user operates the operation unit 106 to select one of the moving image files and instruct reproduction, the main control unit 101 controls the recording medium so as to read out the designated moving image file and its management information from the recording medium 114. The unit 113 is instructed.

  The recording medium control unit 113 stores the moving image data and management information read from the recording medium 114 in the memory 112. The main control unit 101 controls the signal processing unit 110 based on the management information stored in the memory 112, and the signal processing unit 110 reads the moving image data from the memory 112, decodes it, and sends it to the display control unit 108. The display control unit 108 displays the reproduced moving image. When the user gives an instruction to stop playback, the main control unit 101 controls each unit to stop playback of the moving image.

  In the playback mode, the user can instruct to edit or delete the moving image file recorded on the recording medium 114 by operating the operation unit 106. For example, by operating the operation unit 106, the user can designate a moving image file recorded on the recording medium 114 and instruct deletion.

  The main control unit 101 performs processing for deleting the designated moving image file together with its management information. Specifically, the main control unit 101 updates the file system information stored in the memory 112, and changes the area where the data of the specified moving image file is stored to an unrecorded area. When the management information is recorded as a file different from the moving image file, the main control unit 101 updates the file system information stored in the memory 112, and the area where the management information file is stored is not yet updated. Change to the recording area. Then, the file system information recorded on the recording medium 114 is updated with the changed file system information.

  When the user gives an instruction to delete a part of the moving image file, the main control unit 101 performs a process of deleting the specified part of the specified file. Specifically, the main control unit 101 updates the file system information stored in the memory 112, and changes the area where the data of the specified moving image file is stored to an unrecorded area. Then, the file system information recorded on the recording medium 114 is updated with the changed file system information.

As described above, the main control unit 101 deletes all or part of the moving image file recorded on the recording medium 114 by updating the file system information. At this time, the substance of the data recorded on the recording medium 114 is not erased.
In the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not a trim command is output to the recording medium 114 when the recording medium 114 is accessed. Next, trim command control will be described.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing trim command issuance processing by the main control unit 101. The process of FIG. 3 is executed by the main control unit 101 when the recording medium 114 is accessed.
First, in S301, the unused area determination unit 102 determines whether there is a new unused area. When the file is deleted from the recording medium 114 or when the file size of the file recorded on the recording medium 114 is reduced, it is determined that there is an unused area when the recording destination of the file is changed. When a new file is created or when the file size of an existing file is increased, it is determined that there is no unused area.

  Since the update of management information during moving image recording as shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to a case where the recording destination of a file is changed, it is determined that there is an unused area. When it is determined that there is an unused area, information on the start address and size of the unused area is stored in the memory 112. At this time, if the unused area includes a plurality of recording areas having discontinuous addresses, information on the top address of each recording area is stored in the memory 112. If it is determined that there is no unused area, the process ends.

  In step S302, the recording state determination unit 105 determines whether the recording apparatus 100 is in the moving image recording state. As described above, in this embodiment, it is determined that the recording state of the moving image is from the instruction to start recording the moving image by the user until the recording is stopped by the instruction to stop recording. That is, it includes not only a state in which a write command is transmitted to and received from the recording medium 114 but also a state in which moving image data is sequentially stored in the memory 112 and a state in which management information is updated when recording is stopped. If it is determined that the movie recording state is set, the process is terminated without performing the trim command output process.

If it is determined that the movie recording state is not set, the process proceeds to S303.
In step S <b> 303, the trim command control unit 103 controls the recording medium control unit 113 to output a trim command to the recording medium 114 based on the start address and size information of the unused area stored in the memory 112. Perform command output processing. Then, the main control unit 101 deletes the start address and size information of the unused area in the memory 112 and ends the process.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the trim command is not issued to the recording medium 114 during the recording of the moving image. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the moving image data writing speed on the recording medium 114 from being lowered by issuing the trim command. In particular, when a plurality of recording areas whose addresses are not continuous become unused areas, the number of trim commands issued increases, but the trim command is not output during moving image recording. The decrease can be suppressed.

On the other hand, when the moving image data is not recorded, a trim command is output to the recording medium 114 in response to occurrence of an unused area due to file deletion or partial deletion of the file by editing. Therefore, it is possible to improve the durability of the recording medium 114 by stopping the GC process for the unused area specified by the trim command while suppressing the possibility of the memory 112 overflowing during moving image recording.
In the present embodiment, the trim command is not output to the recording medium 114 when the moving image is being recorded. For example, when the recording apparatus 100 is configured to record still images, the trim command may not be output even during continuous shooting of still images.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described. Also in this embodiment, the configuration of the recording apparatus 100 is the same as that in FIG. In this embodiment, when moving image data is written to the recording medium 114, data is written by designating a continuous free area of a predetermined size by a single write command. As a result, it becomes possible to perform writing to the recording medium 114 at a higher speed.

  In addition, during the recording of the moving image, the recording medium control unit 113 outputs the write command n times to the memory 112 in response to the accumulation of the moving image data of n times the amount of data written by this one write command. Thus, the predetermined amount of moving image data is recorded on the recording medium 114. Then, when the writing of the predetermined amount of moving image data is completed, the management information is updated.

  In addition, when the amount of moving image data stored in the memory 112 is not n times the amount of data written by one write command, such as when recording is stopped, dummy data corresponding to an integral multiple of the amount of write data Write. Thereafter, the file system information is changed, and processing for changing the recording area of the dummy data to an unrecorded area is performed. This series of processing is called truncation processing (truncation processing).

  For example, when the amount of data to be written by one write command is 16 megabytes (MB) and the moving image data stored in the memory 112 is 100 MB, the write command is issued seven times to obtain 112 MB data including dummy data. Write to the recording medium 114. Thereafter, the file system information is changed, and the recording area of the last 12 bytes of dummy data is changed to an unrecorded area (unused area).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing moving image data and management information recorded on the recording medium 114 when truncation processing is performed in this way.
In FIG. 4, reference numeral 401 denotes management information recorded at the time of a recording stop instruction. When an instruction to stop recording is given, the moving image data 402 stored in the memory 112 at that time is recorded on the recording medium 114. As described above, when the size of the moving image data stored in the memory 112 is not an integral multiple of the writing unit, dummy data is added and recorded at the end of the moving image data.

Next, by changing the file system information, the dummy data recording area 404 is deleted from the previously recorded moving image data 402 to reduce the file size. As a result, an area 403 effective as moving image data exists on the file system.
Next, new management information 406 is recorded, the file system information is changed, and the previous recording area of management information 401 is changed to an unused area 405.
As described above, even when an unused area is generated by the truncation process, if it is determined that the data is continuously recorded by the trim command control process described in FIG. The trim command specifying the used area is not output.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or apparatus read and execute the program This process can be realized. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Recording apparatus 101 Main control part 102 Unused area determination part 103 Trim command control part 104 Recording control part 105 Recording state determination part 106 Operation part 107 Display part 108 Display control part 109 Imaging part 110 Signal processing part 111 ROM
112 Memory 113 Recording medium control unit 114 Recording medium 115 Data bus

Claims (11)

Recording means for recording data on a recording medium;
Command output means for outputting to the recording medium a predetermined command for designating a recording area that has become unused as a result of erasing data recorded on the recording medium;
Means for controlling the recording means to record on the recording medium a plurality of image data continuously photographed from a recording start instruction to a recording stop instruction, and management information relating to the plurality of image data; there are, during the instruction of the recording start to the instruction of the recording stop, the process of newly recording the management information, and a process for changing the recording region of the recorded management information in the unused space And a control means for controlling the recording means to perform repeatedly,
The control means sends the predetermined command to the recording medium from the recording start instruction to the recording stop instruction even if the recording process of data on the recording medium is not performed. A recording apparatus for controlling the command output means so as not to output. The control means is configured to output the predetermined command to the recording medium in response to detecting the unused area when not from the recording start instruction to the recording stop instruction. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the command output means is controlled.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined command is a trim command. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of image data is moving image data. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of image data are image data obtained by still image continuous shooting. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is an eMMC (embedded MMC). Having imaging means;
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control so as to record a plurality of pieces of image data continuously captured by the imaging unit on the recording medium. A memory for storing image data to be recorded on the recording medium;
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls to record the predetermined amount of image data on the recording medium in response to the storage of the predetermined amount of image data in the memory. The control means is in a state where image data is accumulated in the memory and a process of recording data on the recording medium is not performed between the recording start instruction and the recording stop instruction. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the command output unit is controlled not to output the predetermined command to the recording medium. A recording process for recording data on a recording medium;
A command output step of outputting to the recording medium a predetermined command for designating a recording area that has become unused due to the data recorded on the recording medium being erased;
A step of controlling the recording step so as to record a plurality of image data continuously photographed from a recording start instruction to a recording stop instruction and management information relating to the plurality of image data on the recording medium; there are, during the instruction of the recording start to the instruction of the recording stop, the process of newly recording the management information, and a process for changing the recording region of the recorded management information in the unused space And a control step for controlling the recording step so as to be repeated,
In the control step, the predetermined command is sent to the recording medium from the recording start instruction to the recording stop instruction even if the recording process of data on the recording medium is not performed. A control method for a recording apparatus, wherein the command output step is controlled so as not to output. A recording process for recording data on a recording medium;
A command output step of outputting to the recording medium a predetermined command for designating a recording area that has become unused due to the data recorded on the recording medium being erased;
A step of controlling the recording step so as to record a plurality of image data continuously photographed from a recording start instruction to a recording stop instruction and management information relating to the plurality of image data on the recording medium; there are, during the instruction of the recording start to the instruction of the recording stop, the process of newly recording the management information, and a process for changing the recording region of the recorded management information in the unused space A program for causing a computer to execute a control process for controlling the recording process to be repeated,
In the control step, the predetermined command is sent to the recording medium from the recording start instruction to the recording stop instruction even if the recording process of data on the recording medium is not performed. A program for controlling a computer to control the command output step so as not to output.