JPH07201138A - Information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an information recording medium capable of changing to a free logical format and performing recording and reproduction while maintaining compatibility. CONSTITUTION:This information recording medium is provided with concentric circular tracks. A circumference is divided into plural sectors and synchronizing signals 2 and 5 for synchronizing with clearances 1 and 4 on the circumference for performing the recording and the reproduction for the respective sectors, an ID area 3 for logical information and a DATA area 6 are provided. Then, a cylinder number 3a, a head number 3b, a record number 3c and a sector length 3d are recorded in the ID area 3 and the grammar name or identifier (grammar identifier) 6g of a logical format system and logical format description 6h, etc., are recorded from the head in the DATA area 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording medium on which information is recorded by a digital signal, and more particularly to an information recording medium capable of changing a logical format while maintaining write / read compatibility. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a logical format rule for recording / reproduction of a digitally recorded information recording medium, there are specifications such as IBM3740 and MS-DOS used for a magnetic disk (floppy disk). In any of these specifications, there is an area called a header in which information related to the physical format of the information recording medium is recorded in a defined position from the head position at a defined position. The information about the physical format recorded in this header includes a recording / reproducing device for recording / reproducing information on this information recording medium and a CPU for processing the read information.
In order to operate the processing device efficiently, there are an identifier indicating the recording specifications of the information recording medium, the number of the information recording medium, a file name indicating the recorded content, a write / read prohibition condition, an address and the length of data, etc. These will be read first, and then the information content will be read.

If the portion related to the physical format, which is the portion indicating the recording format in the recorded contents of the header, becomes unclear, the contents of information cannot be read correctly. Further, conventionally, cassette tapes for music, LP records, and the like have been popularized by gaining user's trust by not changing the logical format for many years. However, once the logical format is decided, the recorded contents and the amount of recorded information are limited, and as the speed of technological development has increased in recent years, a logical format with extended functions while maintaining compatibility with the logical format has been developed. It became necessary to decide one after another.

Usually, in an information recording medium using the same physical medium, when a logical format compatible with the once determined logical format is later determined, nothing is recorded in the trailing end portion of the header in the first logical format. A version area portion that does not exist is provided, and data indicating the format of the new logical format is recorded in this version area, thereby creating a new logical format while maintaining compatibility.

An example of the format of a conventional information recording medium is shown in FIG. 5 and will be briefly described below. An information recording medium having the format shown in the figure has recording tracks of concentric circles, the circumference is divided into a plurality of sectors, and the gaps 1 and 4 on the circumference for recording and reproducing for each sector. Sync signals 2 and 5 for synchronization and I for logical information
A D area 3 and a DATA area 6 are provided. A physical format of the cylinder number 3a, head number 3b, record number 3c and sector length 3d is recorded in the ID area 3, and the DATA area 6 is predetermined based on the physical format. According to the logical format, for example, contents such as an identifier 6a, a file name 6b, a record length 6c, and pointers 6d to 6f of the next sector are recorded from the beginning.

In order to read the contents recorded on this information recording medium, first, the head of the recording / reproducing apparatus for the information recording medium uses the gaps 1 and 4 and the synchronization signals 2 and 5 as references.
When the contents of the ID area 3 are read correctly, the contents of the DATA area 6 are read according to the logical format determined by the contents, and if the contents of the ID area 3 match the contents requested by the CPU processing device, the drive device determines The cylinder position of the head is controlled to the sector indicated by the pointers 6d to 6f, the corresponding sector is read, and the content of the information recorded therein is output to the CPU processing device.

In this way, by sequentially reading the information contents of the sectors, the information is read as a file by the CPU processing device, but the size of the sector and the sector structure of the file are all read first. The ID area 3 and DATA area 6
It is fixed by the contents of and cannot be changed unless the contents of each area are changed. Therefore, the optimum unit capacity for recording / reproducing the initial data was 128 bytes, but when the recorded contents became abundant and the division unit became large, the sector recorded every 128 bytes was recorded. However, it takes a lot of time to read the whole amount. Therefore, we would like to improve the adaptation by changing the unit of sector length drastically and changing the sector pointer method.However, since the logical format for determining the record length has been decided, the data indicating the version is It was not possible to deal with the method of recording on the trailing edge part.

[0008]

When a new logical format is created by recording data indicating the format of the new logical format in the version area provided at the rear end of the header, as long as compatibility is maintained. ,
Since the first half of the header must contain the same data as the old logical format, the new logical format was restricted by the first logical format and could not be changed more than a certain amount.

Further, in order to prevent an error even when a recording medium recorded in the new logical format is reproduced by a reproducing apparatus which can read only the recording medium in the old logical format, the information area such as CD-G is opened on the CD. I could only make a logical format like nesting, such as putting a new signal in the part. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information recording medium that can be recorded / reproduced by changing to a free logical format while maintaining compatibility.

[0010]

As a means for achieving the above object, an information recording medium characterized in that a physical format and a logical format are recorded at the head position of a header portion of the read start of recorded contents, Alternatively, it is characterized in that a blank area is provided in advance of the physical format at the head position of the header portion for starting the reading of the recorded contents, and the data indicating the version number of the format of the next generation or later is recorded in this blank area. It is intended to provide an information recording medium.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the information recording medium of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, in addition to the conventional format and protocol, as a method of describing an identifier corresponding to the new method and information necessary for recording / reproducing by the new method, the header area (however, the gap between the head and , Except) describes the recording method (format) that specifies the medium. The format description stipulates in the front part the description system (physical format), that is, the promise of the description content representing the system such as the grammar name or identifier and the version number. The rear part is a description of the contents (logical format) representing the method, and is described according to the grammar defined in the front part.

As described above, in order to read the contents of the information recorded on the information recording medium, in the drive device,
By reading the header area and decoding the recording / playback method, you can know the file name, address, data length, etc. from the version number and information recording medium confirmation.
Even if the format is changed, the information content can be read out. That is, when reading the information recording medium recorded in a different format by the drive device, by reading another grammar identifier or the like described in the header area, recording / reproducing can be performed in the format of the information recording medium.

FIG. 1 is a portion showing a grammar identifier and a logical format description, and FIG. 2 is an example showing a directory area for reading and writing according to the description. The information recording medium having the format shown in FIG. 1 has concentric recording tracks, and the circumference is divided into a plurality of sectors, and the gaps 1 and 4 on the circumference for recording and reproducing for each sector. Sync signals 2 and 5 for synchronization, an ID area 3 indicating the physical format, and D indicating the logical format
And an ATA area 6. And this ID area 3
A cylinder number 3a, a head number 3b, a record number 3c, and a sector length 3d are recorded in the data area 6. In the DATA area 6, a grammar name or identifier (grammar identifier) 6g of the logical format method from the beginning and a logical format description 6 are recorded.
h and the like are recorded. Since the logical format description 6h shows what the following data represents, not the data itself, a new format can be obtained by changing the contents.

In the grammar identifier 6g and the logical format description 6h shown in FIG. 1, for example, the grammar name is A, the version is 1, and the separator is blank. The grammar name A describes the contents of each item in the directory area shown in FIG. 2 by enclosing a character string or a prescribed character string in "". The record length 6k is divided into bytes, and the sector map 6l is divided into cylinder numbers, head numbers, and record numbers, and each sector is separated by a blank (gap). The characters described here are all ASCII codes.

The above-described drive device (recording / reproducing device) for recording / reproducing information on / from the information recording medium may be any data number if it is controlled by the above-mentioned ordinary data numbers recorded in the header. By rewriting the table referred to by the control function of the drive device based on the value of, it is possible to record and reproduce corresponding to the information recording medium of different format description.

Next, a second embodiment of the information recording medium of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, in order to describe the identifier (version number) corresponding to the new method and the header information necessary for recording / reproducing by the new method while maintaining the compatibility with the conventional format and protocol, the header is recorded in advance. Prepare a blank area at the beginning of the area. Then, in the format description of the next generation, by describing the data indicating the version number in this blank area, the data contents after that can be freely rewritten.

The drive device corresponding to this new method can read and write the data indicating the version number described in this blank area to perform recording and reproduction by the new method. At this time, in order for the new drive device to be able to use the information recording medium in the conventional format, first, the presence or absence of a blank area is detected, and if there is a blank area, the version number is written there. Each version can be dealt with by detecting the presence or absence of the indicated data and the content of the data. If there is no blank area, the conventional method can be read to switch between recording and reproduction by the conventional method and recording and reproduction by each version of the new method.

Further, in the reading by the drive device corresponding only to the first generation, the blank area is confirmed as a blank area, and the header information described after the blank area is read out to obtain the version. From the confirmation of the number and medium, the file name, address, data length, etc. are known, and the operation of reading the information content starts. Therefore, the information recording medium in which the data indicating the new version number is written in the blank area by the new method of the second generation or later, not the first generation, is
When applied to a drive device compatible only with generations, it is possible to determine that there is unknown data in the blank area, display a message that recording / reproduction is impossible, and stop the operation.

The format of such an information recording medium will be described with reference to the drawings. First, a logical format as shown in FIG. 3 is used as the first version. In this format, the ID area 3 indicating the physical format is 6 more than the conventional one.
The bit length is increased, and the first 6 bits are used as a blank area 3e. After that, the cylinder number 3a, the head number 3b, the record number 3c, the sector length 3d, etc. recorded in the ID area 3 are recorded. As shown in FIG. 4, the logical format of the next and subsequent generations compatible with this is the data (identification information) 3 indicating the version number using the last 2 bits of the 6-bit blank of the ID area.
g is recorded.

[0020]

In the information recording medium of the present invention, since the format of the information recording medium is described in the header part to be read first, the drive device may perform recording / reproducing in accordance with the format. Can be set freely.

When a blank area is provided at the beginning of the header, by recording the data indicating the version number in this blank area, a new compatible format is set regardless of the conventional format. The effect is that you can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a recording system of an information recording medium of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an example in a first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a first version of a second embodiment of the recording system of the information recording medium of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a next-generation version of a second embodiment of the recording system of the information recording medium of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 4 Gap 2, 5 Sync signal 3 ID area 3a Cylinder number 3b Head number 3c Record number 3d Sector length 3e, 3f Blank area 3g Data indicating version number 6 DATA area 6a, 6i Identifier 6b, 6j File name 6c, 6k Record length 6d to 6f Pointer 6g Grammar identifier 6h Logical format description 6l Sector map

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An information recording medium in which a physical format and a logical format are recorded at a head position of a header portion for starting reading of recorded contents. 2. A blank area is provided in advance of the physical format at the head position of the header portion for starting the reading of the recorded contents, and the data indicating the version number of the format of the next generation or later is recorded in this blank area. Characteristic information recording medium.