JPH07121974A - Information recorder/reproducer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an information recorder/reproducer in which a control program can be altered without replacing a memory cell for storing the program or charging a magneto-optic disk for recording the program to be altered. CONSTITUTION:A control program CPG for controlling an operation of an information recorder/reproducer is stored in a electric data rewritable memory cell 2A, and a program for altering a content of the cell 2A is stored in the other memory cell 2B. The program stored in the cell 2B erases a content of the cell 2A, writes data of control program transferred by a host computer 8 in the cell 2A through a buffer memory 5, and alters a content of the program CPG.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording / reproducing apparatus such as an optical disk device capable of changing the contents of a control program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional optical disk device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-273424. This device
It is connected to the host computer 58 via the SCSI bus 57 and records data sent from the host computer 58 on the magneto-optical disk 56 or sends data reproduced therefrom to the host computer 58. In the figure, 51 is a CPU, the CPU 51 controls the entire optical disk device by the operation control program stored in the EEPROM 52, and the RAM 53 is the CP.
Stores the data handled by U 51.

The disk controller 54 interfaces with the SCSI bus 57, transfers data with the magneto-optical disk 56,
Manages error correction and hardware control. This disk controller 54 records information on a magneto-optical disk 56, an LD driving amplifier 54a for driving a laser diode in an optical pickup 61 for reproducing this information, and a photodiode for receiving a return light of the laser light from the disk. A reproduction amplifier 54b for amplifying a reproduction signal, a signal processing circuit 54c for converting a digital signal into an analog signal at the time of recording and an analog signal at the time of reproduction, and an error correction circuit for recording and reproduction data (hereinafter referred to as ECC). 54d).

Further, the disk controller 54 temporarily holds the recording / reproducing data of the magneto-optical disk 56, and
A buffer memory 55 for buffering the difference in data transfer speed between the bus 57 side and the magneto-optical disk 56 side, and controlling and recording the buffer memory 55,
A buffer controller 54e for transferring the reproduction data,
An interface circuit (hereinafter referred to as I / F) 54f for connecting to the host computer 58, a linear motor 59 for moving the optical pickup 61 in the disk radial direction, a spindle motor 60 for rotating the magneto-optical disk 56,
Servo circuit 54g for controlling the drive of the focus control actuator of linear motor 59, spindle motor 60 and optical pickup 61, EEPROM 52, RAM 53, and buffer memory 55.
It also has a direct memory access controller (henceforth DMAC) 54h for high-speed mutual data transfer.

When it is necessary to change the control program in such a device due to a specification change or a defect,
The operator inserts the dedicated magneto-optical disk 56 recording the control program to be changed into the optical disk device. When the CPU 51 knows that the magneto-optical disk 56 has been loaded, it reproduces data from the magneto-optical disk 56 and determines whether to change the control program based on information such as the program version. When it is determined that the change will be made, the CPU 51 causes the EEPR
The control program stored in the OM 52 is erased, and the control program to be changed reproduced from the magneto-optical disk 56 is written to change the content of the control program.

[0006]

In such a conventional optical disk device, when the contents of the control program are changed,
There is a problem that it takes time for the magneto-optical disk on which the control program to be changed is recorded to be loaded and for the rotational speed of the magneto-optical disk to reach a specified value. The present invention has been made to solve this problem,
An object of the present invention is to provide an information recording / reproducing apparatus which has a configuration in which a control program to be rewritten is transferred by a host computer and which can shorten the time required to change the control program.

[0007]

Information recording / recording according to the present invention
The reproducing apparatus includes means for receiving the operation control program transmitted from the outside, and means for writing the operation control program in the rewritable storage means.

[0008]

In the present invention, the operation control program transferred from an external device such as a computer connected to the information recording / reproducing device is stored in a rewritable storage means to make the change.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A concrete description will be given below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an optical disk device. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disk device according to the present invention. This optical disk device is provided with a host computer 8 via a SCSI bus 7.
The data sent from the host computer is recorded on the magneto-optical disk 6 and the magneto-optical disk 6 is connected.
The data reproduced from is transmitted to the host computer 8. A CPU 1 provided in the optical disc device controls the entire optical disc device, and a storage element group 2 stores a program for operating the CPU 1. The storage element group 2 includes a rewritable storage element 2A and a non-rewritable storage element 2B.

The storage element 2A stores an operation control program for this optical disk device, and the storage element 2B stores a loader program for changing the operation control program CPG. The disk controller 4 manages the RAM 3, the interface with the SCSI bus 7, data transfer with the magneto-optical disk 6 as a recording medium, error correction, and hardware control of the entire optical disk device.

The RAM 3 holds the data handled by the CPU 1, the buffer memory 5 temporarily holds the recording or reproducing data transmitted / received between the host computer 8 and the magneto-optical disk 6, and the buffer memory 5 and the SCSI bus 7 side. The difference in data transfer speed from the magneto-optical disk 6 side is buffered.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing the electrical connection between the CPU 1 and the memory element group 2 of FIG. The CPU 1 gives an address signal from the terminal A to each terminal A of the storage elements 2A and 2B and the address decoder 17. The address decoder 17 decodes the applied address signal to generate a chip enable signal, and outputs the chip enable signal to each CE of the storage elements 2A and 2B.
Give to the terminal. The CPU 1 permits access to the storage elements 2A and 2B by this chip enable signal. The CPU 1 also sends a data signal from the terminal D to the storage elements 2A, 2
The write control signal is applied from the WR terminal to each WE (write enable) terminal of the storage elements 2A and 2B, and the read control signal is applied from the RD terminal to each OE (output enable) of the storage elements 2A and 2B. ) Apply to the terminal.

Further, the CPU 1 supplies the V _PP generator control signal from the P terminal to the V _PP generator 18 which controls the supply of the power supply voltage V _PP necessary for erasing and writing the contents of the storage element group 2. It is possible to set a target chip in the memory element group 2 to a rewritable state.

FIG. 3 is a memory map of the storage element group 2. The storage element 2A includes an operation control program CPG, a version of the operation control program CPG, manufacturer-specific data PDT including information such as a device-specific serial number and operation parameters,
Start selection data MDT including information on whether to start the operation control program CPG or the loader program LPG when the device is started, loader program determination data LPD indicating whether or not the loader program LPG is normally written, and operation control The control program judgment data CPD indicating whether or not the program CPG is normally written is stored. The operation control program is stored in the memory element 2B.
The program for loading into is stored.

4 and 5 are flowcharts showing the contents of the operation control program CPG and the loader program LPG. Further, FIG. 6 shows that the loader program LPG is a control program CPG and a loader program when the information recording / reproducing apparatus is started.
9 is a table showing conditions that determine which of LPG is activated. First, when the device is activated, the activation selection data MDT,
The control program determination data CPD and the loader program determination data LPD are checked (step S19). In this step S19, the loader program LPG refers to the start selection data MDT, the control program judgment data CPD and the loader program judgment data LPD, and the operation control program
Determines whether to launch the CPG or the loader program LPG itself.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the activation selection data MDT is "1", activation of the loader program LPG is designated, and when it is "0", activation of the operation control program CPG is designated. The initial value of the start selection data MDT immediately after manufacturing the device is "1". When the control program judgment data CPD is "1", it indicates that the control program CPG has been written normally. When the control program judgment data CPD is "0", the control program CPG has not been written or there is an abnormality in its contents. Indicates that. Control program judgment data CP immediately after device manufacturing
The initial value of D is "0".

Loader program determination data LPD is "1"
In the case of, the loader program LPG is normally written, and in the case of "0", the loader program LPG is not written or its content is abnormal. The initial value of the loader program determination data LPD is set to "1", assuming that the loader program LPG is normally written in the storage element 2B at the time of manufacturing the device.

In the table showing the activation conditions of FIG. 6, the control program determination data CPD and the loader program determination data LPD are given higher priority than the activation selection data MDT so that the abnormal program is not activated. Control program CPG
If there is an abnormality in the loader program LPG, neither of the programs will start and an external display means such as "LED" will notify the abnormality of the device. A determination is made as to whether to start the loader program LPG (step
S20), when the loader program LPG is started, processing such as self-diagnosis test and initial setting is performed (step S2
1) The command reception waiting state is set until the SCSI command is received from the host computer 8 (step S22). SCSI
When it receives a command, it parses the contents of that command
(Step S23), branching is performed according to each command (Step S24). The received command is the operation control program CPG
If the command is not a change command, execution processing is performed according to the content of each command (step S25).

When the command execution is completed, the result is reported to the host computer 8, and then the command reception waiting state is returned to correspond to the subsequent SCSI commands (step S2).
2). If the received command is a command for changing the operation control program CPG, the contents of the control program CPG stored in the storage element 2A are changed. That is, the data of the control program CPG to be changed is received from the host computer 8 and transferred to the buffer memory 5 (step S26). At this time, checksums of all data are calculated.

Storage element 2A storing control program CPG
Output port P in CPU1 to put
Applies a write mode voltage to the write mode voltage supply terminal V _PP of the storage element 2A from the V _PP generator 18.
Next, a command is issued to the storage element 2A by software to erase the contents of the storage element 2A (step S27). Next, a command instructing writing is given by software, and the control program in the buffer memory 5 is written in a predetermined area of the storage element 2A (step S28). After writing all the data, checksum verification is performed to confirm whether the contents of the storage element 2A have been changed normally (step S29). The checksum data read from the storage element 2A and calculated is compared with the expected value of the checksum data calculated in advance at the time of data transfer in step S26 (step S30).

If the collation result is judged to be abnormal, an error report is sent to the host computer 8 (step S3
After 1), the process returns to the command reception waiting state (step S22) to support the subsequent SCSI commands. If it is determined that the verification result is normal, the control program determination data 15 is set to "1".
And rewrite the start selection data 14 to "0" (step S3
2). After canceling the write mode of the memory element 2A from the output port P of the CPU 1 and setting it to the normal read mode, the result is reported to the host computer 8 and the CPU is started from the start address.
Restart 1

After the restart, a start check based on the conditions shown in FIG. 5 is performed, but the start selection data MD
Since T 1, the control program judgment data CPD and the loader program judgment data LPD are 0, 1, and 1, respectively, the operation control program CPG modified by the above means is started. After the operation control program CPG was started, processing such as self-diagnosis test and initial setting was performed (step
After S33), it waits for a command until a SCSI command is received from the host computer 8. When the SCSI command is received, the content of the command is analyzed (step S35), and further branching according to each command is performed.

A command for activating the loader program LPG is prepared in the case where the content of the operation control program CPG needs to be changed again. This command rewrites the start-up selection data MDT so that the loader program LPG starts up, and restarts CPU 1 from the start address. If the received command is other than the command to start the loader program LPG,
Execution processing is performed according to the contents of each command prepared by this device. When the command execution is completed, the result is reported to the host computer 8 and then the process returns to the command reception waiting state (step S34) to correspond to the subsequent SCSI commands.

The received command is the loader program LPG
If it is a command to activate, the activation selection data MDT is rewritten to "1" (step S38), and the host computer 8
Report the result to and restart CPU 1 from the start address. After the restart, the start check is performed in step S19, and the start selection data MDT, the control program judgment data CPD and the loader program judgment data LPD are 1, 1 and 1, respectively. Therefore, according to the table shown in FIG. The loader program LPG is started.

In the above embodiment, an operation control program for controlling the operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus.
The case of changing the contents of the CPG was described, but the loader program LPG itself for the purpose of changing the manufacturer data composed of the version of the control program CPG, the serial number unique to the device, operation parameters, etc. or the control program CPG. It goes without saying that it can be applied to change the contents of.

The present invention is not limited to the optical disk device and can be applied to those using other recording media. Furthermore, the device of the present invention can be applied to a device that only records information or a device that only reproduces information.

[0027]

As described above, in the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the contents of the operation control program stored in the storage area composed of the rewritable storage element are transferred from the outside such as the host computer. Since it is possible to change to the contents of the control program, the time required for loading the recording medium and increasing the number of rotations is not required unlike the conventional case.
The change can be made quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a connection between a CPU and a storage element group of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a memory map diagram of a storage element group of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing contents of a loader program of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of a loader program of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of the information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional information recording / reproducing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 CPU 2 Storage element group 2A, 2B Storage element 3 RAM 4 Disk controller 5 Buffer memory 6 Magneto-optical disk 7 SCSI bus 8 Host computer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information recording / reproducing apparatus configured to perform operation control according to an operation control program stored in a rewritable recording means, and means for receiving an operation control program transmitted from the outside. An information recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a means for writing this in the storage means.