JPH04212759A - Recording medium and recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange blocks having different number of sectors on one medium by providing an area where information on the arrangement of plural units on a recording medium and information on the number of sectors per block of a unit recorded. CONSTITUTION:When the information on the arrangement of the units being the aggregation of the blocks on the recording medium, the information on the number of the sectors per block and the information on a unit number for discriminating each unit are inputted in a controller 13 from a host device through an interface 18, the controller 13 transfers it to a TOC memory 14 as a unit=track. Then, the content of the memory 14 is recorded by driving a coil 5 after performing the accessing action of an optical head 4 to the TOC area 1a of a disk 1 and performing specified processing by a sub code generation circuit 17 and a recording signal processing circuit 7.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium on which various types of information can be recorded, and a recording and reproducing apparatus for recording and reproducing information using the recording medium.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, so-called compact discs (hereinafter referred to as CDs), on which continuous information such as music information is recorded as digital signals using optically detectable minute pits, have been widely used. This CD is played back by a playback-only optical disc playback device.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are schematic diagrams for explaining the signal format used in CDs. As shown in FIG. 8, one frame 8a of the recording signal includes a frame synchronization signal 8b indicating the beginning of the frame, a subcode 8c indicating additional information of the data (details will be described later), and an error detected in the 24-byte data that is the main information. It is composed of a data field 8d to which a correction parity code is added. Note that the data field 8d is a CIRC (Cross Inter
It is composed of an error detection and correction method that combines non-complete interleaving called the ``leaved Reed Solomon Code''.

[0004] Also, one subcoding frame 9
a (hereinafter referred to as sector) is 98 as shown in FIG.
A sub-coding block 9c consisting of 98 frames 8a and 98 sub-codes 8c indicates track numbers (called song numbers when the main information is music information), absolute address information on the disc, etc. It will be done. Further, the frame synchronization signal 9b is a block consisting of 98 frame synchronization signals 8b, and the data field 9d is a block consisting of 98 data fields 8d.

[0005] Since the above sector length is 13.3ms,
75 sectors correspond to one second, and the sector number is minutes: seconds: frame information (frames are in base 75), and constitutes continuous time information that increases sequentially from the innermost circumference of the disk.

FIG. 7 shows the area arrangement on a CD disc.
Shown below. The disk 7a includes a main information recording area 7c that includes main information such as music information and a sector number using absolute address information based on the subcode 8c, and additional information regarding each main information recorded in the main information recording area 7c. information,
For example, a TOC (Table
of Contents) area 7b.

[0007] According to the above format, the CD player reads the subcode information in the TOC area 7b when loading the disc 7a, and thereby determines the number of each main information (corresponding to the number of songs in the case of music information) and the start of recording. Recognizing the sector number at the position, and reproducing the desired track in response to subsequent reproduction instructions, collates the sector number with the information in the TOC area 7b and the subcode 8c (FIG. 8) of the main information recording area 7c. Therefore, the access operation is quickly executed.

This CD has a constant linear velocity during recording, so-called CLV (Constant Linear Velocity).
ity) method, the recording density is constant at any position on the disc, achieving an improvement in recording capacity. In an actual CD player, CLV control is executed by controlling the rotation of the disk 7a so that the interval between the playback signals of a CD recorded with CLV in the above signal format, such as the frame synchronization signal 8b, becomes a reference length. .

On the other hand, when recording and using various types of information such as music information and computer information on rewritable disks such as magneto-optical disks, which have been developed in recent years, there are differences between them and conventional CDs and CD-ROMs. By standardizing the playback method between
It is desirable to use a compatible, rewritable recording medium.

[0010] In this case, in the case of an initial disc on which no particular information is recorded, the absolute address information using the subcode 8c (FIG. 8) according to the signal format of the CD, the frame synchronization signal 8b used for CLV control, etc. Since there is no access to any sector position prior to recording, and necessary CLV control even during recording, it becomes impossible to perform an access operation to an arbitrary sector position prior to recording.

Therefore, as a recording method of an absolute address equivalent to the absolute address information using the subcode 8c, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-39632, the absolute address is biphase mark modulated and then each bit is “
It has been proposed that the guide groove of the optical disc is biased inward or outward in the radial direction of the disc or the width of the guide groove is changed depending on whether the disc is "1" or "0".

In that case, the frequency band of the absolute address by biphase mark modulation and the EFM (Eight t
o Fourteen Modulation) If the frequency bands of the recorded information are made different, it is possible to reproduce the two separately from each other, and even for areas where there is no recorded information, the above absolute address using the guide groove can be used. Access operation is possible using Further, regarding CLV control, accurate CLV control is possible by using the reproduction carrier component of the above-mentioned absolute address, and can be similarly performed during recording.

[0013]

However, in the conventional configuration described above, when attempting to rewrite information, the CI
Due to incomplete interleaving by RC, information on the target physical sector position is dispersed to the previous and subsequent sectors on the actual disk, making it difficult to rewrite only the desired sector (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-55787). .

Furthermore, according to the CD format, all recorded information is continuous, but if rewritten, many data errors will occur at the start and end points of recording.

[0015] Since the minimum access unit of an information recording position is a sector, there are sectors that cannot be used by the user before and after the sector where information has been rewritten, which reduces the disk utilization rate. .

For example, in the case of CD format, CIR
In order to realize the correction capability inherent in C, the code propagation length due to non-complete interleaving is required to be 105 frames, so it is desirable to provide two additional sectors before and after a sector consisting of 98 frames. Additionally, the additional sector at the front is the PLL (Ph) from the re-recording start point.
(Locked Loop) It is also necessary as a pull-in area.

[0017] Therefore, in order to improve the disk utilization rate, it is conceivable to increase the minimum information rewriting size per time (hereinafter referred to as a block), that is, the number of sectors per block. By doing so, the usage rate will improve and approach the original usage rate of CDs. However, unnecessarily large blocks are unsuitable for information purposes with a small amount of data, and require unnecessary recording time.

The size of the block (the number of sectors per block) has advantages and disadvantages depending on the content of the information to be recorded.
If you try to repeat the recording/playback check operation in block units, especially if the length of one block is shorter than one rotation of the disk, the waiting time until the playback check after the recording operation on the outer circumference of the disk will be longer. Undesirable.

[0019] To explain this, as an example,
FIG. 10 shows a time chart when recording/reproducing check operations are performed continuously in blocks using a conventional disc capable of recording in the CLV format. In addition, in the figure, t0
The periods indicated by and tn are for disk 1 at each information position.
It shows the time per revolution, W0 is the recording operation to block number 0 at the inner edge of the disk, R0 is the playback check operation after the recording operation of block number 0,
Wn is a recording operation to block number n at the outer edge of the disk, and Rn is a playback check operation after the recording operation to block number n.

Here, the disk rotation waiting time when moving from the recording operation to the playback operation check is from the time t0 (or tn) of one rotation of the disk to the above-mentioned W0 (or Wn
), and it can be seen that the disk rotation waiting time is longer in FIG. 2B, which shows the outer circumference of the disk, than in FIG. 3A, which shows the inner circumference of the disk. Therefore, there is a problem in that the amount of information per unit time, in other words, the data transfer rate, decreases on the outer circumferential side of the disk.

[0021]

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve the above problem, the recording medium according to the invention of claim 1 provides a physical sector that identifies each sector as a recording area using absolute address information recorded in advance. A recordable recording medium on which information is recorded and reproduced in blocks that are given a number and consist of a predetermined number of sectors as the minimum unit, and in which a plurality of units that are a collection of the above blocks are arranged, and each unit has a It is characterized by being provided with a unit information recording area in which location information on the recording medium and information on the number of sectors per block of each unit are recorded.

In order to solve the above problem, the recording/reproducing apparatus according to the invention of claim 2 is provided with a physical sector number for identifying each sector as a recording area based on absolute address information recorded in advance. A recording/reproducing device that records/reproduces information using a recordable recording medium in which information is recorded/reproduced using a block consisting of a predetermined number of sectors as the minimum unit, wherein the block is given by a host device. Recording information on the arrangement of units as a set on the recording medium and information on the number of sectors per block for each unit in a predetermined unit information recording area on the recording medium, and reading out this information when loading the recording medium,
The apparatus is characterized in that it is equipped with a processing section that calculates a physical sector number corresponding to a block within a unit specified by a host device during recording/reproduction based on the read information.

[0023]

[Operation] According to the structure of claim 1, a plurality of units which are a collection of blocks are arranged, and unit information recording records arrangement information of each unit on a recording medium and information on the number of sectors per block of each unit. Since the areas are provided, it becomes possible to arrange blocks with different numbers of sectors on one recording medium. This makes it possible to allocate blocks with the optimal number of sectors according to the data length of each of a wide variety of information, making it possible to efficiently use the recording area of the recording medium without wasting much. . Therefore, it is also possible to improve the average data recording and reproducing speed.

According to the structure of claim 2, the arrangement information on the recording medium of the unit, which is a set of blocks, and the information on the number of sectors per block of each unit, which are given from the host device, are stored in a predetermined unit on the recording medium. In addition to recording this information in the information recording area, this information is read out when loading the recording medium, and the physical sector number corresponding to the block within the unit specified by the host device during recording/playback is calculated based on the read information. Since the processing unit is provided, the arrangement information of each unit and the number of sectors per block information can be recorded in a predetermined unit information recording area of a recording medium using this apparatus. This allows the host device to allocate blocks with the optimal number of sectors according to the data length of each of a wide variety of information, allowing efficient use of the recording area of the recording medium without wasting much. It becomes like this. Therefore, it is also possible to improve the average data recording and reproducing speed. Furthermore, the host device can perform recording and playback simply by specifying the unit and block to this device.

[0025]

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

As shown in FIG. 4, a rewritable magneto-optical disk 1 as a recordable recording medium has a TOC (Table of Contents) at its inner peripheral end.
An area 1a is provided, and most of the area outside the TOC area 1a is an information recording area 1b.

In addition to music information, various information such as characters, images, and code data are recorded in the information recording area 1b, while in the TOC area 1a additional information regarding each piece of information recorded in the information recording area 1b is recorded. For example, the start position and end position of each information area are recorded.

As shown in FIG. 5, which is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 4, in the TOC area 1a and information recording area 1b of the magneto-optical disk 1, spiral guide grooves 2, 2... (shown by hatching for convenience) are preliminarily formed. ) are formed at predetermined intervals in the disk radial direction. Then, after the absolute address on the magneto-optical disk 1 is biphase mark modulated,
” or “0”, the guide grooves 2, 2, . . . are biased toward the inside or outside of the magneto-optical disk 1 in the radial direction.

Note that the above absolute address represents the position on the magneto-optical disk 1 and serves as pre-recorded information as rotation control information. Also, the absolute address here is CD
Since it corresponds to one sector in the (compact disc) format, it will also be referred to as a physical sector number hereinafter.

As shown in FIG. 1, the magneto-optical disk 1 according to this embodiment is divided into three ring-shaped areas T1 to T3 (units) on the disk form of FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, area T1 is the track number 1 in the CD format, and area T2 is the track number 1 in the CD format.
Track number 2 in the format, area T3, corresponds to track number 3 in the CD format, and each area corresponds to track number 1 as shown in Table 1.
The number is (09) from the physical sector number (01:23:00).
:22:74), and the track number 2 is from the physical sector number (09:24:00) to (29:23:7).
Track number 3 occupies physical sector numbers (29:25:00) to (57:24:74).

Here, the physical sector number is indicated as continuous time information that increases sequentially from the innermost circumference of the magneto-optical disk 1, that is, (minutes: seconds: frame information). Note that since the sector length is 13.3 ms, 75 sectors equal 1 second, so the frame is expressed in base 75.

[0033]

[Table 1]

Also, the block size in each track is 8 sectors for track number 1 and 8 sectors for track number 2.
Track number 3 is assigned to 12 sectors, track number 3 is assigned to 16 sectors, and the contents of Table 1 above are for the management and management of each area.
As format information, TOC area 1a (
This TOC is recorded in the unit information recording area).
Based on the contents of the area 1a, it is possible to arrange information areas on the disk and determine the block size of each area.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between physical sector numbers, block numbers, and track numbers in this embodiment. Track number 1 is from (01:23:00) of the physical sector number on the disk. (09:22:74). Since the number of sectors per block in the area T1 of track number 1 is 8, block number 0 is (01:23:
00) to (01:23:07), block number 1 corresponds to (01:23:08) to (01:23:15). Also, the area T1 of track number 1 is (01
:23:00) to (09:22:74) (08
:00:00), the number of sectors in this track is 8×60×75=36000 sectors, and the number of blocks is 36000/8=4500 blocks. Therefore, block numbers 0 to 4499 are assigned to this track.

[0036] Similarly, track number 2 is from (09:24:00) to (29:
23:74). Since the number of sectors per block in the area T2 of track number 2 is 12, the block number 0
The numbers correspond to (09:24:00) to (09:24:11). Further, the number of sectors in the area T2 of track number 2 is 20×60×75=90,000 sectors, and the number of blocks is 90,000/12=7,500 blocks. Therefore, block numbers 0 to 7499 are assigned to this track.

Furthermore, track number 3 is from (29:25:00) to (57:24:) of the physical sector on the disk.
74). In area T1 of track number 3, the number of sectors per block is 16, so block number 0 is (
29:25:00) to (29:25:15). Further, the number of sectors in the area T3 of track number 3 is 28×60×75=126,000 sectors, and the number of blocks is 126,000/16=7,875 blocks. Therefore, the block numbers in this track are from 0 to 78.
Number 74 has been assigned. Note that in the figure, XX is a boundary area of track numbers, and blocks corresponding to these are not given block numbers.

[0038] Due to these information area arrangements, in track number 1, a block having a capacity of 8 sectors,
Track number 2 is a block with a capacity of 12 sectors, track number 3 is a block with a capacity of 16 sectors, and recording and playback of the corresponding data capacity unit is possible by specifying each block number. This makes it possible to store various types of information in a block size suitable for each type of information on a single disk.

For example, since character information is code data, the amount of information is relatively small. Therefore, in the above arrangement example, it is more efficient to record and reproduce information using the area T1 corresponding to track number 1. good. Further, since the amount of information such as image information is enormous, in the above arrangement example, it is more efficient to record and reproduce information using the area T3 corresponding to track number 3.

Of course, the block size example above is a numerical value used for convenience of explanation, and various suitable sizes can be used in practice. FIG. 3 shows an example of a time chart when recording and reproducing check operations are repeatedly performed in units of blocks using the disk of the above embodiment.

However, the disk used here is CLV (Constant Linear Veloc).
It is assumed that absolute address information, which is pre-recorded information, is recorded using the pre-recorded absolute address information, and that the following recording and reproducing operations are also performed under CLV control using the pre-recorded absolute address information. Further, the areas T1, T2, and T3 are set so that the block size in each area is close to the number of sectors per one rotation of the disk (smaller than the number of sectors per one rotation).

In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis shows the passage of time, and (a) and (b) in the figure show the inner edge of the disk and the outer edge of the disk in area T1 (ie, track number 1) in FIG. Recording/playback check operation chart at the side edge,
The same figure (c) and (d) are area T2 (i.e.,
Recording/playback check operation chart at the inner edge of the disk and the outer edge of the disk for track number 2).
e) and (f) show recording/reproduction check operation charts at the inner edge of the disk and the outer edge of the disk in area T3 (ie, track number 3) in FIG.

In the figure, W0 indicates the recording operation of block number 0, and R0 indicates the case where a reproduction check operation is performed after the recording operation of block number 0. Below, W
The subscript R indicates the block number, and similarly to the above, it indicates the recording/reproducing check operation at each disk position. Therefore, the time from the start of the recording operation to the start of the playback check operation is equal to the time per disk rotation at each information position, and the time excluding the recording operation from this is the disk rotation waiting time when moving from the recording operation to the playback check operation. Become.

As is clear from FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the block size increases toward the outer circumference of the disk, so it can be seen that the disk rotation waiting time does not increase much even on the outer circumference of the disk. Therefore, efficient block-by-block recording/reproducing check operations can be performed on a CLV disk regardless of the radial position of the disk.

In the above embodiment, the position information, block size information, etc. of each information area are stored in the TOC area 1a (FIG.
), but the invention is not limited to this, and there is no particular restriction as long as it is a predetermined area.

In the above embodiment, for convenience of explanation, T1,
Divide into three areas (units) consisting of T2 and T3, and each block size (number of sectors per block)
are configured with 8, 12, and 16, respectively, but the block size and number of areas (number of units), and number of blocks within an area (unit) can be changed variously as necessary. .

Note that the numbers of sectors indicated by 8, 12, and 16 above are set to be close to the number of sectors per one rotation of the disk in order to improve the average data recording and reproducing speed. In other words, in the case of a rewritable disk-shaped recording medium (for example, a magneto-optical disk), a playback check (verify) must be performed immediately after recording is completed, and depending on the block size setting method,
The average recording and reproducing speed is affected.

For example, if the linear velocity of a CLV-controlled disk is 1.2 m/s, the allowable number of sectors at the innermost circumference of the areas T1, T2, and T3 are calculated to be 10.2 and 12.2, respectively. and becomes 16.2. By setting the block size to a value close to the number of sectors (positive integer value), the rotation waiting time (1
Since the time from when a block is recorded to when a track jump is performed to when a playback check is started is shortened, the average recording and playback speed is significantly improved.

Note that the number of sectors of the block size of area T1 is set to 20 (<10.2×2) or 30 (<10
．． 2×3), it is possible to obtain the same average recording and reproducing speed as in the above case.

Furthermore, in general, even if the block size is set to the number of sectors equivalent to a little less than N disk rotations, or the number of areas (number of units) is further subdivided, the same effect as described above is obtained.
The average data recording and reproducing speed can be improved.

That is, let the number of sectors per revolution on the innermost circumference of each unit be m [number of sectors/rotation], and the number of revolutions of the disk occupied by one block on the innermost circumference of each unit be n (a positive integer). When the block size BS is set to satisfy the following formula, the average recording and reproducing speed of data is significantly improved.

[(m×n)−0.5m]<BS<(m×n) Also,
The format of the absolute address does not matter as long as it is pre-recorded and recognizable information.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a magneto-optical disk device as a recording/reproducing device according to the present invention.

The magneto-optical disk device of this embodiment includes a spindle motor 3 that supports and rotates the magneto-optical disk 1, an optical head 4 that irradiates the magneto-optical disk 1 with a laser beam during recording and reproduction, and a recording head 4. It is equipped with a coil 5 that sometimes applies a magnetic field to the magneto-optical disk 1.

The present magneto-optical disk device is configured to perform recording using a so-called magnetic field modulation recording method, which is a recording method that applies a magnetic field that is reversed depending on the information, and also allows new information to be superimposed on already recorded information. It is now possible to overwrite the recorded data.

The magneto-optical disk device has a terminal 6 for receiving recording/reproducing instructions from a host device and for inputting/outputting information data. The processing circuit 7 generates and adds parity for error detection and correction, and subcode information from the subcode generation circuit 17 is added, resulting in EFM (E
right to fourteen modulati
on) After modulation, a frame synchronization signal is added and supplied to the coil driver 8.

The coil driver 8 drives the coil 5 based on the supplied signal, and at the same time, the optical head 4 irradiates the magneto-optical disk 1 with laser light, thereby recording the signal.

[0058] Note that the upper level device means a device that can issue recording, playback, etc. commands to the present recording/playback device.

The signal format here is the same as the CD signal format shown in the conventional example (FIGS. 8 and 9), and its explanation will be omitted.

The reproduction system will be described below.

In FIG. 6, the signal reproduced by the optical head 4 is amplified by a reproduction amplifier 10 and sent to a pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 and a reproduction signal processing circuit 15.

The pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 is composed of, for example, a band-pass filter and a phase-locked loop, and the phase-locked loop generates a synchronized clock with respect to the pre-recorded information in the reproduced signal extracted by the band-pass filter. It looks like this.

[0063] A clock synchronized with the above pre-recorded information consisting of bi-phase mark modulation of absolute addresses is C.
The signal is supplied to the LV control circuit 9. On the other hand, the pre-recorded information in the reproduced signal extracted by the pre-recorded information detection circuit 11 is supplied to the address detection circuit 12.

The address detection circuit 12 consists of a bi-phase mark demodulator and an address decoder, and after performing bi-phase mark demodulation of the pre-recorded information extracted by the pre-recorded information detection circuit 11, the address decoder detects the position information on the disk, That is, it is decoded into an absolute address value which is a sector and is supplied to the controller 13.

In the reproduction signal processing circuit 15, the reproduction amplifier 10
EFM from the magneto-optical signal component in the reproduced signal supplied from
Demodulation is performed, error detection and correction processing is performed using parity for error detection and correction, and the reproduced signal data is output to the host device via the interface 18.

Further, the EFM demodulated subcode information is supplied to the subcode detection circuit 16, and the subcode information recognized by the subcode detection circuit 16 is sent to the controller 13.
supplied to

The controller 13 connects the host device to the terminal 6,
Recording/playback instructions are received via the interface 18. Also, access is provided in which the position of the optical head 4 on the disk is recognized by receiving absolute address information from the address detection circuit 12, and the optical head and coil are moved to a desired position using an optical head and coil moving mechanism (not shown). Has a function.

Furthermore, the controller 13 selects and stores/reads the subcode information supplied from the subcode detection circuit 16 into the TOC memory 14, and also stores/reads the TOC information provided from the host device via the interface 18. It is now possible to store/read information related to.

The contents of the TOC memory 14 are also supplied to a subcode generation circuit 17, subjected to EFM modulation by a recording signal processing circuit 7 as necessary, and supplied to a coil driver 8.

In the magneto-optical disk device of the present invention, the controller 13 as a processing section performs the following operations in response to instructions from a host device.

That is, in the initial state (unrecorded state) of the disk, the arrangement information on the recording medium of the unit, which is a set of blocks given from the host device via the interface 18, the information on the number of sectors per block, and the information on each unit. In this embodiment, the unit number information identifying the unit number is transferred to the TOC memory 14 as unit=track. This corresponds to, for example, the contents of Table 1 above.

The contents of the TOC memory 14 are immediately stored in the sub-code generation circuit 17 and after an access operation is performed by controlling the optical head and coil moving mechanism (not shown) to a disk position corresponding to the TOC area 1a of the disk 1. After predetermined processing is performed by the recording signal processing circuit 7, recording is performed by driving the coil 5 via the coil driver 8. Note that this operation may not be performed when information is transferred from the host device, but may be performed immediately before ejecting the disk 1 from the device.

[0073] Furthermore, the recording of the unit information is performed not only in the initial state but also when a unit is added or changed by information transfer from a host device.

In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which unit number information for identifying each unit is recorded in the TOC area 1a, but the arrangement of information regarding each unit in the TOC area 1a corresponds to the absolute address position. If the unit number information is determined as follows, the unit number information may be omitted.

As described above, when the disk 1 on which the area information for each track number and the number of sectors per block is recorded in the TOC area 1a is loaded, the contents of the TOC area 1a are first read. In addition, the above-mentioned load means the state in which the device is loaded into the recording/reproducing device in the initial state, or the power is turned off and then turned on again while the device is installed (the load described below also has the same meaning). )
.

Specifically, the controller 13 controls an optical head and coil moving mechanism (not shown) to move the optical head 4 to the disk position corresponding to the TOC area 1a.
Perform playback operation.

Information in the TOC area 1a is led from the optical head 4 to the reproduction signal processing circuit 15 via the reproduction amplifier 10.
Actual TOC information is supplied from the reproduced signal processing circuit 15 to the controller 13 via the subcode detection circuit 16. This TOC information is stored in the TOC memory 14 as calculation information during subsequent recording and reproducing operations, and can also be sent to a host device via the interface 18.

Regarding the subsequent information recording and reproducing operation, the controller 13 uses the contents of the TOC memory 14 to record the actual physical sector for the unit number and designated block within the unit specified by the host device via the interface 18. Perform address calculation.

A specific explanation using the example of FIG. 2 is as follows.

For example, if there is a recording instruction from the host device with unit number 1 and block number 1, then according to the TOC memory 14, the area with track number 1 is
(01:23:00) and the number of sectors per block is 8, so (01:2
3:00) + block number (1) x number of sectors (8) = (
01:23:08), and the first physical sector address with block number 1 can be easily found. After performing necessary access operations and the like for the physical sector number thus obtained, recording information is transmitted via the interface 18 and desired information is recorded.

[0081] In the above embodiment, information regarding each unit (information such as block size of each unit)
Although the example has been described in which the data is recorded in the TOC area 1a of the disc 1 and reproduced, the present invention is not limited to this, and there is no particular restriction as long as it is a predetermined area. Furthermore, information regarding each unit may be recorded in the main data area instead of the subcode area and reproduced. In this case, the controller 13 is connected to the recording signal processing circuit 7 and the reproduction signal processing circuit 15, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 6, and records and reproduces information regarding each unit.

[0082] In this way, a plurality of areas on the disk are set, each consisting of blocks having an information capacity suitable for various types of information, and each area can be recorded and reproduced easily and efficiently.

Although the above embodiment has been explained using a magneto-optical disk-shaped recording medium, it is also applicable to other rewritable recording media as well as write-once type recording media that can record only once. It is. Examples of write-once recording media include TeOX, TeC, and organic dye films. Furthermore, the shape of the recording medium is not limited to the disk shape shown in the above embodiments, but may be tape-shaped, card-shaped, or the like without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

In particular, when the present invention is applied to a rewritable recording medium, erasing is performed in units of units (for example, each time the format is different), and the area of each unit can be easily changed ( Since the unit area or block size can be expanded/reduced, one recording medium can be used efficiently.

For example, if the information in the area T2 is no longer needed and the capacity of the area T1 is insufficient, only the information in the area T2 is deleted and information in the same format as the area T1 is recorded in the area T2. The capacity of area T1 can be expanded. Additionally, if information is already recorded in multiple areas with arbitrary block sizes, the block size of each area should be reset (rearranged information) so that it increases from the inner side to the outer side. Accordingly, it is possible to improve the average speed required for recording and reproducing information when rewriting information thereafter.

[0086]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the recording medium according to the invention of claim 1 arranges a plurality of units, each of which is a collection of blocks, and also arranges the arrangement information of each unit on the recording medium and the sector per block of each unit. Since the unit information recording area in which the number information is recorded is provided, blocks having different numbers of sectors can be arranged on one recording medium.

[0087] This makes it possible to allocate blocks consisting of the optimum number of sectors according to the data length of each of a wide variety of information, and to efficiently utilize the recording area of the recording medium without wasting much. It becomes like this. Therefore, it is also possible to improve the average data recording and reproducing speed.

Furthermore, since the recording medium of the present invention can handle information of various data lengths as long as the absolute address information is recorded in advance, only one type of recording medium is required. Therefore, the recording medium can be shared, and the cost can be reduced.

As described above, the recording/reproducing apparatus according to the invention of claim 2 uses the arrangement information on the recording medium of the unit, which is a set of the blocks, and the information on the number of sectors per block of each unit, which is given from the host device. This information is recorded in a predetermined unit information recording area on the recording medium, and when the recording medium is loaded, this information is read out and the physical sector number corresponding to the block within the unit specified by the host device during recording/playback is written. Since the present apparatus is equipped with a processing section that performs calculations based on the read information, the arrangement information of each unit and the number of sectors per block information can be recorded in a predetermined unit information recording area of a recording medium using this apparatus.

[0090] This makes it possible for the host device to allocate blocks with the optimal number of sectors according to the data length of each of a wide variety of information, and is efficient without wasting much of the recording area of the recording medium. will be available for use.

[0091] In particular, a disk (rewritable type) on which recording and reproduction are performed at a constant linear velocity is used as a recording medium.
When applied to a type of object, playback check (
(verification), so by setting the block size in each unit to a number of sectors slightly smaller than the number of sectors corresponding to N disk rotations (N is a positive integer), the waiting time until verification can be shortened. Therefore, it is possible to significantly improve the average data recording and reproducing speed.

Another advantageous effect is that the host device can perform recording and reproduction simply by specifying the unit and block to the present device.

Furthermore, when applied to a recording medium, especially a rewritable recording medium, it is possible to erase unit by unit and set the erased unit as a unit with a different block size, or to erase each unit. You can easily expand/shrink the area. Therefore, it is possible to provide a recording/reproducing device that can efficiently utilize one recording medium.

For example, according to the present invention, it is possible to allocate units to pieces of information having different formats and record these pieces of information on one recording medium. Only recorded units can be easily erased. Therefore, this erased unit can be used as a unit for recording information with the same format as any of the above, or it can be set up as an entirely new unit with a block size different from the above, and other formats can be used. It also has the effect that it can be assigned to the record of information that it has.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing how a magneto-optical disk as a recording medium of the present invention is divided into regions.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between physical sector numbers, block numbers, and track numbers according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart according to the present invention when a block-by-block recording/reproduction check operation is repeatedly performed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the TOC area and information recording area of the magneto-optical disk of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a guide groove of the magneto-optical disk of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of a magneto-optical disk device as a recording/reproducing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of a TOC area and an information recording area in a conventional CD.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the format of a conventional CD frame.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the format of a conventional CD subcoding frame.

FIG. 10 is a conventional time chart when recording/reproducing check operations are repeatedly performed in units of blocks.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Magneto-optical disk 1a TOC area (unit information recording area) 1b
Information recording area 6 Terminal 13 Controller (processing section) T1 to T3 area (unit)

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: A physical sector number is given to identify each sector as a recording area based on absolute address information recorded in advance, and information is recorded and reproduced in blocks consisting of a predetermined number of sectors as the minimum unit. A unit information recording area, which is a recordable recording medium, in which a plurality of units, each of which is a collection of the above-mentioned blocks, is arranged, and information on the arrangement of each unit on the recording medium and information on the number of sectors per block of each unit are recorded. A recording medium characterized by being provided with. [Claim 2] A physical sector number is given to identify each sector as a recording area based on absolute address information recorded in advance, and information is recorded and reproduced using a block consisting of a predetermined number of sectors as the minimum unit. A recording/reproducing device that records/reproduces information using a recordable recording medium, which is provided by a higher-level device and includes location information on the recording medium of a unit, which is a set of the blocks, and a sector per block of each unit. This information is recorded in a predetermined unit information recording area on the recording medium, and when the recording medium is loaded, this information is read out, and the physical sector corresponding to the block within the unit specified by the host device during recording/playback is recorded. A recording/reproducing device comprising a processing unit that calculates a number based on the read information.