JPH06208753A - Optical card recording/reproducing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow normal access to various types of optical card having different number of tracks. CONSTITUTION:First operation mode for recording/reproducing an optical card having 2500 tracks and a second operating mode for recording/reproducing an optical card having 3600 tracks are set in a controller 26. Movable range of an optical head 12 on an optical card is set appropriately for the first and second operation modes of each card. Furthermore, the controller 26 is provided with an upper limit register for storing the upper limit of driving range of the optical head 12 being determined by any one of the first or second operation mode. The controller 26 is also provided with a switch 54 being used by a user for selection between first and second operation modes. First operation mode is selected by turning the switch 54 ON whereas the second operation mode is set by turning the switch 54 OFF.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus for recording and / or reproducing information on an optical card.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical card has a storage capacity several thousand times to 10,000 times that of a magnetic card and cannot be rewritten like a WORM type optical disk, but the storage capacity is as large as 2-3 Mbytes. Therefore, it can be applied to applications such as personal health management cards that store past history data, prepaid cards, customer management, etc., and some experiments have begun.

An example of such an optical card is shown in FIG. The optical card 2 is provided with an optical recording unit 6 having a plurality of tracks 4 which are parallel to each other. At both ends of the optical recording section 6, ID sections 8a and 8b are set corresponding to each track, in which information about the track is recorded.
Then, the space between the ID sections 8a and 8b is used as the data section 10.

The ID parts 8a and 8b are pre-recorded in advance when the optical card 2 is manufactured. In the data section 10,
One sector format is selected from among a plurality of predetermined sector formats, and data is recorded in this single sector format.

When viewed along the width direction of the optical card 2, the optical recording unit 6 starts from a region of about 7 mm from the lower end 2a to the upper end 2b.
The area extending from the upper end 2b of the optical card 2 to about 15 mm is used as a design area 11 for printing a logo or the like.

On the other hand, recently, as in the optical card 2 shown in FIG. 4, the optical recording section 6 is narrowed to enlarge the design area 11, and as shown in FIG. The optical card 2 that has been made available is being considered. In such an optical card 2, the positions of the tracks arranged at the lowermost end 2a side of the optical card 2 are common, but the number of tracks in the optical card 2 is different.

[0007]

In the conventional optical card recording / reproducing apparatus, since only the optical card shown in FIG. 3 is targeted, the number of accessible tracks is determined. Therefore, for the optical card as shown in FIG. 4, the optical head may move to an area where no track exists on the optical card, such as the design area 11. In such a case, focusing or tracking may be lost with respect to the optical card, error processing may take a long time, and in the worst case, the optical head may run out of control. Also, for the optical card as shown in FIG.
Not being able to access all the tracks on the optical card would be a great annoyance to the user.

The present invention solves the above problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus capable of normally accessing many kinds of optical cards having different numbers of tracks.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a means for inputting control information indicating the number of tracks of an optical card used in an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus, and an optical system inside the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus based on this control information. And a means for controlling the drive range of the head.

[0010]

When accessing the optical card, information indicating the number of tracks of the optical card is input, and the range to drive the optical head is determined according to the information. Therefore,
It becomes possible to drive the optical head within a range suitable for the number of tracks of the optical card used.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The device of this embodiment corresponds to an optical card of a recording medium having two widths, one shown in FIG. 3 and the one shown in FIG. 5, and a user operates an optical card selection switch attached to the device. By this, the optical card to be used is selected.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 12 indicates an optical head. The optical head 12 is installed so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the track of the optical card 2, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. Below the optical head 12, the shuttle 1
4 are arranged. The optical card 2 is this shuttle 14
It is mounted in a predetermined position on the top.

A movable coil (not shown) of a shuttle voice coil motor (hereinafter abbreviated as shuttle VCM) 16 is fixed to the shuttle 14. When the shuttle VCM 16 is driven by the shuttle VCM drive circuit 18, the shuttle 14 is moved relative to the optical head 12 in the track direction of the optical card 2, that is, in the horizontal direction in the drawing.

In order to detect the position of the optical card 2 with respect to the optical head 12, a linear scale 20 is attached to the housing (not shown) of the apparatus, and an encoder 22 for reading the linear scale 20 is attached to the shuttle 14. The linear scale 20 is selected so that the encoder 22 outputs pulses having a length of about 50 μm on the optical card 2. The output of the encoder 22 is connected to the sector position detection circuit 24. A controller 26 for controlling the operation of the entire apparatus is connected to the sector position detection circuit 24. The sector position detection circuit 24 supplies a sector position detection signal 30 to the controller 26, and the controller 26 supplies the sector position detection circuit 24 with a format selection signal 32 for transmitting the format type of the optical card 2.

The optical head 12 allows writing or reading light from a laser diode (hereinafter, simply referred to as "LD") 34, which is a light source, to pass through a diaphragm 36, and then on an optical card 2 via an optical system 38. The reflected light is incident on the detector 40. LD34
Is driven by the modulation / laser drive circuit 42, and the intensity of emitted light is controlled. The controller 26 gives an instruction to the modulation / laser drive circuit 42.

The output of the detector 40 is connected to the demodulation circuit 44 and the focus / track servo circuit 46. The demodulation circuit 44 supplies a read signal 45 to the controller 26 so as to detect a data reproduction signal and track address information. The focus / track servo circuit 46 detects a focus error signal and a track error signal from the output signal of the detector 40, and controls the optical head 12 so as to always follow the focusing and tracking directions in a focused state by such a signal. .

The optical head 12 is connected to a voice coil motor (hereinafter referred to as a head VCM) 48, and is moved by the head VCM 48 in a direction orthogonal to the track of the optical card 2, that is, a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. . The head VCM 48 has a head VCM drive circuit 5
It is driven by receiving a control signal from 0. This head VC
In response to an instruction from the controller 26, the M drive circuit 50 causes the optical head 12 to move in a direction crossing the track of the optical card 2 so that the light beam from the optical head 12 irradiates a target track on the optical card 2. Head VCM4
Drive eight.

The controller 26 includes a controller 26
A first operation mode for recording / reproducing the optical card 2 having 2500 tracks shown in FIG. 3 and a second operation mode for recording / reproducing the optical card 2 having 3600 tracks shown in FIG. And are set. The optical card 2 shown in FIG. 3 and the optical card 2 shown in FIG.
Since the track position is the same and the track position of the upper end 2b is different, the upper limit value of the movable range of the optical head 12 is properly set in each of the cases of FIG. 3 and FIG.
And the second operation mode are defined.

The controller 26 is provided with an upper limit register (not shown) so as to store the upper limit value of the drive range of the optical head 12 determined by either the first or second operation mode.

The controller 26 is provided with a switch 54 which is an input means for the user to select the first and second operation modes. When the switch 54 is turned on, the first operation mode is selected, and when it is turned off, the second operation mode is set.

When reproducing data, the controller 26 outputs a control signal to the head VCM drive circuit 50 to select a track to be reproduced, and then outputs a track format selection signal 32 to the sector position detection circuit 24. Specify the track format. Then, the LD 34 outputs low-level read light through the modulation / laser drive circuit 42, and outputs a signal to the shuttle VCM drive circuit 18 to control the drive of the shuttle 14, and the demodulation circuit 4
Based on the track address information demodulated in step 4 and the sector position detection signal 30 from the sector position detection circuit 24 according to the track format, the desired sector of the desired track is sought and accessed to reproduce the data. I do.

Further, in recording data, the controller 26 firstly operates the head VCM drive circuit 5 in the same manner as described above.
Select the track to output the control signal to 0,
Then, the format selection signal 3 is sent to the sector position detection circuit 24.
2 is output, the track format is selected, the desired sector of the desired track for recording the data is sought, and then the high-power writing light from the LD 34 is modulated by the data to be recorded via the modulation / laser drive circuit 42. Then, the data is output and recorded in the sector. Next, the operation for selecting the type of the optical card and the operation of the apparatus associated therewith in the apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

First, the user turns the switch 54 on or off immediately before turning on the power of the apparatus. 2500
The switch 54 is turned on when using an optical card having one track, and the switch 54 is turned off when using 3,600 optical cards.

When the user turns on the power of the apparatus, the state of the switch 54 is input to the controller 26. When the switch 54 is on, the first operation mode is selected, and when the switch 54 is off, the second operation mode is selected. According to the selected mode, the maximum track address number, in other words, the upper limit value of the drive range of the optical head 12 is stored in an upper limit register (not shown) provided in the controller 26.

The controller 26 compares the upper limit value stored in the upper limit register with the target track number designated by the host computer, and if the target track number is larger than the upper limit value of the register, it is judged as an error. Then, the optical head 12 is prevented from moving to that position.

After the initialization is completed, the optical card of the type selected by the optical card selection switch 54 and the optical card having more tracks than the selected optical card are normally accessed. It becomes possible to perform an operation. However, in the case of an optical card having a large number of tracks, it is not possible to access a track whose address has a value equal to or larger than the number of tracks of the selected optical card.

In this embodiment, the number 2 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is used.
Although it is assumed that the optical cards can be used as described above, it is easy to support three or more optical cards by increasing the number of optical card selection switches. The above operation for selecting the optical card is performed only when the power of the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus is turned on, and the operation mode of the apparatus is determined. Next, a second embodiment will be described. The configuration of the apparatus of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

In the first embodiment, the optical card is selected only when the power of the apparatus is turned on. Therefore, in order to change the type of the optical card to be used, the power must be turned off once. The second embodiment provides an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus which copes with such a defect.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, a personal computer (not shown) constitutes input means. When the user inputs a command from this personal computer, it is possible to specify the number of optical card tracks to be used, that is, the type of optical card.

In this personal computer,
For example, when the command code is 99, an optical card with a maximum number of tracks of 1000 has a command code of 98.
When the command code is 97, the maximum number of tracks is 2500, and when the command code is 97, the maximum number of tracks is 360.
The optical head drive upper limit register described in the first embodiment is set so that 0 optical cards can be used. By doing so, the usable optical card can be selected at any time by an instruction from the personal computer.

The optical card recording / reproducing apparatus of this embodiment can be modified as follows. Although the command code is the same, a parameter following the command code may be used to select an available optical card. It is also possible for the parameter to indicate the upper limit number of tracks. When a command for setting the usable optical card is not issued, for example, an optical card having 1000 tracks can be used as a default. By doing so, even if the command for setting the usable optical card is not issued, the error does not cause an error such as defocusing due to the optical head moving to a portion without the recording medium due to an erroneous command. Although the command for selecting the usable optical card is accepted at any time, it is also possible to set the command only once. Next, a third embodiment will be described.

In the first and second embodiments, the controller 26
Alternatively, when an optical card other than the type of optical card set in the host computer is inserted into the apparatus, the access is not normally performed, and therefore the setting needs to be changed each time, but in the third embodiment. This indicates that external settings are not required.

In this embodiment, an optical card 2 as shown in FIG. 2 is used. Of the optical recording unit 6 of this optical card 2,
The area located at the lowermost end 2a side is formed as a track number recording area 56. In the track number recording area 56, information on how many tracks the optical card 2 has is recorded. For example, if the optical card has 1000 tracks, the data is “1”, if the track is 2500, the data is “2”, and if the track is 3600, the data is “3”. "Is pre-recorded. The track number recording area 56 is predetermined on the track 4a located at the lowermost end 2a side of the optical card 2 and having the track number 0. The operation of the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus after such an optical card 2 is inserted into the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus will be described below.

First, the optical head inside the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus seeks to the track 4a which is the track number recording area 56. The optical head is held at the home position when the optical card 2 is inserted, and the home position is set near the track 4a with the address number 0 of the optical card 2. It only takes a short time to make the track 4 of 2 seek. It should be noted that the tracks 4a are set so as to be located at the lowermost end 2a side in the card width direction even in optical cards having different numbers of tracks as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.

Next, the contents of the tracks in the track number recording area 56 are read out. On the tracks of the track number recording area 56, any one of the data "1", "2" and "3" corresponding to the number of tracks on the optical card is recorded together with the error correction code. It can be read by a normal read operation provided.

Next, the upper limit of the drive range of the optical head in the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus is set according to the read contents. That is, the maximum value of the track number corresponding to each case is set in the optical head drive upper limit register provided in the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus by the data recorded in the track number recording area 56. For example, when the data in the track number recording area 56 is "1", the optical head drive upper limit register stores "100" as data.
When the data in the track number recording area 56 is "0", the data is "2500" in the optical head drive upper limit register, and when the data in the track number recording area 56 is "3", the optical head is "3600" is set as data in the drive upper limit register.

The optical card recording / reproducing apparatus controls the drive range of the optical head based on the value set in the optical head drive upper limit register. That is, when a track address having a value larger than the value set in the optical head drive upper limit register is specified by the host computer which controls the operation of the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus, the parameter for the host computer is set. Responding as an error, the optical head is moved to an area where there is no recording medium so as not to cause out-of-track or out-of-focus.

As described above, the drive range of the optical head is controlled according to the data indicating the number of tracks recorded in the track number recording area 56 of the track 4a having the track address 0, and recording is performed without causing an error or the like. A playback operation can be performed.

In this embodiment, the number of tracks in one optical card is 3, and the data corresponding thereto is recorded in the track number recording area 56. However, even if the number of tracks is more than 3, Of course, in that case, the track number itself may be recorded in the track number recording area 56. Further, the track number recording area 56
Although the data is pre-recorded, it may be left blank at the time of manufacturing the card and the data may be recorded at the time of use. Further, it may be possible that the track number recording area 56 cannot be accessed or cannot be read due to scratches or stains on the optical card 2. Therefore, not only the track 4a having the track address 0,
Other trucks (for example, the lower end 2 as a spare truck)
It is also possible to duplicately record on a track with a minus number on the a side. Further, the data may not be readable by the optical card recording / reproducing apparatus, but may be recorded in the form of a bar code.

As described above, the drive range of the optical head is controlled in accordance with the data indicating the number of tracks recorded in the track number recording area 56 having the track of track address 0, and recording is performed without causing an error. A playback operation can be performed.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, by driving the optical head within a range suitable for the optical card to be used, the optical card on the optical card having an arbitrary number of tracks can be provided. All tracks will be needed and fully accessible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing an optical card used in an optical card recording / reproducing apparatus of a third embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing a general optical card.

FIG. 4 is a top view showing an optical card having a narrow optical recording portion and a wide design area.

FIG. 5 is a top view showing an optical card in which an optical recording portion is formed on almost the entire surface.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Optical card, 4 ... Track, 12 ... Optical head, 14
... shuttle, 26 ... controller, 30 ... sector position detection circuit, 32 ... format selection signal, 45 ... read signal, 54 ... switch, 56 ... track number recording area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical head is moved in a direction orthogonal to a plurality of tracks formed on an optical card, and the optical card is moved in an extending direction of the tracks to optically record information on the optical card. And / or an optical card recording / reproducing device for reproducing, comprising means for inputting control information indicating the number of tracks of the optical card to be used, and means for controlling the drive range of the optical head based on the control information. An optical card recording / reproducing device characterized by.