JPH01155586A - Optical disk cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make an optical disk easier to use by making a rewritable type memory medium store retrieving information, area controlling information, etc., which are difficult to handle when they cannot be stored in the optical disk repeatedly. CONSTITUTION:It is made possible to store information which cannot store in an optical disk 1 and other information which is desired to be updated repeatedly in a rewritable type memory medium 3 by fitting this memory medium 3 to one part of an optical disk cartridge 2. Consequently, while it is made possible to store controlling information, etc., which are desirable to be rewritten and stored on the optical disk 1, the problems of the portability of the optical disk 1, the constraint of the number of the optical disks 1 to be controlled, etc., which occur in the case of using the plural memory media 3, can be solved. Thus, the optical disk can be made easier to use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an optical disc cartridge that realizes an easy-to-use optical disc by adding a rewritable storage medium to an optical disc cartridge that stores a read-only optical disc or a write-once optical disc. It is something that will take place.

2. Description of the Related Art Advances in optical disk technology have led to the use of read-only optical disks and write-once optical disks, which have capacities several tens to hundreds of times larger than magnetic storage media, as storage media. However, since the information stored on these optical disks cannot be rewritten, it is usually not possible to use the same storage management method as with rewritable media such as floppy disks and hard disks, and the storage management method unique to optical disks cannot be used. was taking it.

For example, in the case of a write-once optical disc, it is necessary to store the data in the optical disc and change the management information as data is stored, but the restriction that the stored information cannot be rewritten is that the data area is limited to free space. This can be resolved by adding new data, so it is not a huge limitation. However, storage management of the management information area can be very problematic because normal storage management techniques cannot be used. For example, management of information representing the beginning of free space at the current point in time, and update storage management of information representing the correspondence between file names and data storage areas that occur when files are updated, etc., are realized on write-once storage media. In order to do this, special storage management processing different from conventional ones was required.

For example, in the case of processing to manage the beginning of free space,
In order to find the beginning of a free area, a process such as reading out all the data on the optical disc immediately after loading the optical disc and discovering an area where no data is recorded has been performed. In addition, in file update processing, the updated contents cannot be directly reflected in the corresponding area on the optical disk, so if the management information of the updated data is stored in the form of update history information on the optical disk and used by the operating system, etc. This is realized by converting the history information in the optical disk into the management information format used by the current operating system and storing it in the internal storage device. Such special processing poses problems in terms of processing overhead and wasted storage space. Furthermore, since such special processing is required, it is difficult to determine a logical format that maintains compatibility with optical discs.

In order to avoid having to perform these special processes, it is possible to manage a write-once optical disk and a rewritable storage medium as a pair, and conventionally, they are managed in combination with a floppy disk or a hard disk. However, although this method can maintain portability in the case of a portable floppy disk, it requires management of two different media in pairs, which is extremely troublesome for the user. Conversely, when combining hard disks, it is possible to store optical disk management information on the magnetic disk in the system that uses optical disks, eliminating the troublesome management of floppy disks; There are restrictions on portability and the amount of optical discs that can be managed.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, it would be possible to overcome this by having a rewritable storage area, even if only a portion of it, within the optical disk, but at present, rewritable optical disks are not in practical use, and only a portion of the disk is rewritable. It is difficult to overcome these drawbacks because there are no write-once optical discs with areas.

On the other hand, in the case of read-only optical discs, especially 5-inch read-only optical discs (hereinafter referred to as CD-ROMs), there is a CD-ROM that can be commonly handled by various operating systems.
The international standardization of the logical format compatible with each operating system on D-ROM is being considered and decided upon (for example, the international standardization called the High Sierra format).
Ant Phi 2 Strafday Draft, References:
ECMA-119/Volume and file
5truct is being actively considered for use in computers (Nikkei Pi) August 1987 issue). However, CD-R
The OM has a very large storage capacity 1i (540MB), and the number of information (files) on the CD-ROM is also enormous, so the user must use the normal operating system's file management mechanism to manage files. A search mechanism is required to search effectively. By storing the search information used by this search mechanism in the CD-ROM, a common search for each user can be realized, but each user can add search information to the optical disc according to his or her unique usage method. Although this is desirable for users, it is not possible due to limitations of the medium.

In order to realize such a use, it is necessary to use another rewritable storage medium as in the case of write-once optical discs, and the same drawbacks arise.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, read-only optical discs or write-once optical discs do not have a rewritable storage medium within the optical disc. Cannot be added. Further, in the case of a write-once optical disc, there is a problem in that it becomes difficult to manage management information.

These drawbacks can be improved by using another rewritable storage medium, but in the case of a portable floppy disk, it is necessary to manage two different media in pairs, which is very cumbersome, and in the case of a hard disk. However, new drawbacks arise, such as limitations on the portability of optical discs and the amount of optical discs that can be managed.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention does not make any changes to the optical disc itself, but instead attaches a rewritable storage medium to an optical disc cartridge used for the purpose of protecting the optical disc, and rewrites data to that storage medium. The above disadvantages are overcome by storing information that is desirable to store.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention attaches a rewritable storage medium to a part of the optical disk cartridge, so that information that could not be stored on the optical disk or information that needs to be repeatedly updated can be stored in this medium. It can be stored on a storage medium on an optical disc cartridge.

By installing a rewritable storage medium in an optical disc cartridge that can be handled as one with an optical disc, it is possible to create a rewritable storage medium that can be freely stored and played back as part of the optical disc. It can be considered that this has been achieved. In other words, it makes it possible to store management information, etc. that is desirable to rewrite and store on optical disks, which was the problem mentioned above, and at the same time, it reduces the portability of optical disks and the number of optical disks that can be managed when using multiple storage media. There are no problems such as restrictions,
A storage medium using an optical disk can be realized.

Effect of the Invention With the above-described configuration, the present invention stores search information, area management information, etc., which would be difficult to handle unless stored repeatedly on an optical disk, in a rewritable storage medium attached to an optical disk cartridge that can be managed integrally with the optical disk. The information obtained can be used.

As a result, in the case of read-only optical discs, the restriction that conventionally it was not possible to add information other than when creating an optical disc is eliminated, although there is a limit to the amount of information that can be stored, and users can add search information etc. later. It is possible to realize functions customized for each user.

In addition, in the case of write-once optical discs, information that is desirable to be repeatedly stored in the same location, such as storage area management information, can be stored in a fixed location on the storage medium on the cartridge, which previously required complicated processing. Storage area management within an optical disc can be easily realized.

As described above, by attaching a rewritable storage medium to an optical disc cartridge that can be managed integrally with the optical disc, it is possible to improve the usability of the optical disc without having to take the trouble of managing multiple media.

Examples Examples of the optical disc cartridge of the present invention will be shown below. FIG. 1 is an overview diagram of an embodiment of an optical disc cartridge of the present invention, where 2 is an optical disc cartridge, 1 is an optical disc stored in the optical disc cartridge 2, and 3 is a rewritable disc mounted in the optical disc cartridge 2. It is a type storage medium.

FIG. 2 is an overview diagram when a card-shaped memory is used as the rewritable storage medium 3 in FIG. This is a connection terminal for

Figure 3 shows the rewritable storage medium 3 of Figure 1, similar to Figure 2.
4 is an overview diagram when a magnetic storage medium is used, 4 is a rewritable magnetic tape, and (a) is a case where the magnetic tape 4 is attached to the side of the optical disk cartridge 2.
(b) shows the case where it is attached to the back.

4 and 5 are diagrams showing a case where the optical disc cartridge 2 of FIG. 3 is used in an optical disc drive device τ. FIG. 4 is a side view of the optical disc drive device showing the process when the optical disc cartridge 2 is installed in the optical disc drive device, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the process when the optical disc cartridge 2 is taken out from the optical disc drive device. It is a diagram seen from the side. In both figures, 7 is an optical disk drive device, and 8 is a magnetic recording head for recording and reading information on the magnetic tape 4.

FIG. 2 is an overview diagram when a semiconductor memory is used as the rewritable storage medium 3 in FIG. 1.
is a semiconductor memory 5 (E
EPROM, etc.) and a connection terminal 6 which is its contact point. The semiconductor memory 5 can normally be mounted using the same mounting method as an IC card, using the thickness of a cartridge. Furthermore, a storage medium up to the width of the optical disc cartridge can be stored at a position that does not prevent the optical disc from rotating 10 times. Therefore, if it is in that position, no special mounting is required, and relatively thick items such as batteries can also be used.

As a specific method of using such an optical disc cartridge, consider the case of an optical disc cartridge combined with a write-once optical disc. In this case, it is possible to always make the disc 0 readable and writable when it is installed in the optical disc drive device. Therefore, if the storage capacity is large, additional management information can be stored there, and file management can be realized without being too conscious of the addition of additional information. Furthermore, if the storage capacity is small, it is not possible to store all of the management information, so by using part of it as a cache, file management becomes less wasteful. In other words, in the past, even a very small change in management information had to be written to the optical disk one sector at a time, but if a cache could be used, data was actually written to the optical disk until one sector worth of data had accumulated there. There is no need to enter. This function can also be achieved by storing this information on a storage medium that is managed separately from the optical disk, but in this case, it is difficult to recover in the event of a failure such as a power outage, and because multiple storage media This has the disadvantage that pair management is troublesome.

In addition, various other usage methods can be considered, such as storing search information on a read-only optical disc.

FIG. 3 shows a case where a magnetic tape 4, which is a magnetic storage medium, is used as the rewritable storage medium 3 in FIG. It can be mounted on the top surface, or on the side as shown in (a) or on the back as shown in (b).In addition, if the position does not interfere with the rotation of the optical disc 1, the width of the optical disc cartridge Since it is possible to store a storage medium up to the size of , it is also conceivable to store the magnetic tape in a format such as a micro cassette (not shown) inside the cartridge.

When using the magnetic tape 4 as shown in Fig. 3(a),
When the optical disk cartridge is moved, the information on the magnetic tape is read and written by coming into contact with the magnetic head, so there is no physical movement of the optical disk cartridge.In other words, when the optical disk drive device is loading the optical disk, the information on the magnetic tape is read and written. become unable to read or write. However, since the optical disk cartridge always moves when it is attached to or removed from the optical disk drive device, when using an optical two-to-one disk drive device as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the loading is automatically performed.
It is possible to read and read information at the same time, and to write information when it is attached or detached.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the optical disc cartridge 2 is installed in the optical disc drive device 7, the magnetic tape 4 also moves as the optical disc cartridge 2 moves. At this time, the magnetic head 8 is placed on the line along which the magnetic tape 4 on the optical disk cartridge 2 moves, with the positional spacing as shown in the figure. As the magnetic tape moves, the magnetic head 8 comes into contact with the magnetic tape 4, and information on the magnetic tape 4 can be read. Conversely, information can be written on the magnetic tape 4 during attachment and detachment as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, attach a recording medium to the back as shown in Figure 3(b),
If the configuration is such that the magnetic head is moved (not shown),
Necessary reading and writing can be performed even while the disc is being loaded. Furthermore, even if the optical disc has both sides, it is possible to centrally manage it on the same recording medium.

If the amount of information that can be stored on the magnetic tape is large, it is possible to store all the management information of the optical disk, and when the optical disk is installed, the management information is loaded into the optical disk drive device or internal storage of the host computer, and while the optical disk is installed, the management information can be stored. All management information is updated within this internal storage device, and when an optical disk is inserted or removed, the management information in this internal storage device can be stored on magnetic tape, and when used in conjunction with an internal storage device, it is not much different from a magnetic disk device. A file management method can be realized.

Also, if the amount of information that can be stored on the magnetic tape is small,
Management information that is easier to manage if it is in a fixed area at least.
For example, it is conceivable to store the volume descriptor part of an optical disk, the root directory part of a hierarchical directory, etc.

It would be very effective if even this amount of management information could be stored repeatedly. For example, if it were possible to load management information when an optical disk is inserted and save it when the optical disk is removed, it would eliminate the troublesome process of finding the beginning of an unused area on an optical disk and updating the root directory. It can be omitted.

As another example, in order to protect the rewritable recording medium or the connection terminal, the optical disc cartridge is mounted not on the surface of the optical disc cartridge but in a door that opens when the optical disc cartridge is installed in the optical disc drive device. It is also conceivable to have a configuration in which the operator does not easily touch the connection terminals when removed from the drive device.

A specific method of using such an optical disc cartridge is that information that is desirable to be repeatedly stored in the same position within the optical disc, such as search information and area management information, can be stored in the rewritable storage medium 3. This makes it possible to improve the utilization efficiency and diversify the usage of the storage area of the optical disk.

For example, in the case of read-only optical discs, conventionally there was a restriction that information could not be added other than when creating the optical disc.
There is a limit to the amount of information that can be stored, but it will be resolved. This allows the user to add search information and the like later to add functions customized for each user. In addition, in the case of write-once optical discs, information that is desirable to be repeatedly stored in the same location, such as storage area management information, can be stored in a fixed location on the storage medium on the cartridge, which previously required complicated processing. It is possible to easily realize storage area management within an optical disc.

These things can be achieved by managing rewritable storage media in pairs with optical disks, but in this case, the cumbersome management of managing multiple storage media in pairs is required.
Furthermore, when storing data in a concentrated manner on a magnetic disk or the like, the portability feature of the optical disk is lost. Therefore, by being able to manage two storage media together with an optical disc cartridge, there is an advantage that the ease of use of optical discs can be improved without the hassle of managing multiple media.

As can be seen from the effects of the invention, the present invention makes it possible to store search information, area management information, etc., which would be difficult to handle if it cannot be repeatedly stored in an optical disk, on a rewritable storage medium attached to an optical disk cartridge. It is possible to provide an optical disc cartridge in which information on a rewritable storage medium can be used without the trouble of managing the medium, and the usability of optical discs is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures relate to an embodiment of the optical disc cartridge of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment of the optical disc cartridge, and Fig. 2 is an embodiment in which a semiconductor memory is used as a rewritable storage medium. Fig. 3 is a conceptual diagram of an embodiment in which a magnetic storage medium is used as a rewritable storage medium, and Fig. 4 is an optical disk drive device using an optical disk cartridge equipped with a magnetic tape as a rewritable storage medium. FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the process when an optical disc cartridge with a magnetic tape mounted thereon as a rewritable storage medium is taken out from the optical disc drive device. 1... Optical disk, 2... Optical disk cartridge, 3... Rewritable storage medium, 4... Magnetic tape,
5... Semiconductor memory, 6... Connection terminal with semiconductor memory, 7... Optical disk drive device, 8... Magnetic head. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1 person) Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 (α) Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) An optical disc cartridge characterized in that a rewritable storage medium is added to a portion thereof. (2) The optical disk cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the rewritable storage medium is constructed using a magnetic storage medium. (3) The optical disc cartridge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information in the rewritable storage medium is recorded or read by physically moving the optical disc cartridge. (4) The optical disc cartridge according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information is recorded or read by physically moving a recording/reproducing head to a rewritable storage medium. (5) The rewritable storage medium has a cassette structure, and information is recorded or read by physically moving the rewritable storage medium, according to claim 1 or 2. optical disc cartridge. (6) The optical disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the rewritable storage medium is constructed using a card-shaped memory medium having a connection terminal. (7) The optical disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein storage area management information within the optical disc is stored in a rewritable storage medium. (8) The optical disc cartridge according to claim 1, wherein search information for searching information on the optical disc is stored in the rewritable storage medium.