JPS62279564A - Information memory device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate file management and the compatibility of recording materials by providing recording materials, a storage means, a processor, and a signal transfer means in an information storage medium and providing interface means independent of each other for recording materials and the storage means. CONSTITUTION:The information storage medium 11 consists of recording materials 1, a signal transfer means 2, a processor 3, a storage means 4, etc. Information related to materials 1 such as the classification of recording materials and the format is already recorded in the means 4. Consequently, an interface means 103 discriminates whether materials 1 are only reproducing type, recording and erasing type, logical address-physical address correspondence type, or the like when the medium 11 is loaded to a drive 105. This information is transferred to an interface means 102, and the means 102 executes the recording and reproducing of materials 1 after setting an information transfer route, a recording format, etc., in accordance with this information. Thus, the file management and the compatibility of the recording materials are easily obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] 3. Detailed Description of the Invention Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an information storage device consisting of an information storage medium composed of a recording material and a cartridge for protecting the same, and a drive for the information storage medium. be.

Conventional tatami technology In recent years, the development of office automation equipment has been remarkable. The landscape of offices has changed dramatically, especially with the spread of office automation equipment for information management purposes. While a pile of papers on a desk used to be the symbol of a lively office, these days computers and floppy disks have taken over. The floppy disk system is an excellent information storage device that can store hundreds of pages of documents in an area as small as a square inch and is extremely easy to handle.

An example of the above-mentioned conventional information storage device will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a conventional information storage device. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 10 denotes a recording medium comprised of a recording material 1 coated with a magnetic material and a cartridge 7 for protecting the recording material and facilitating its handling. 105 is a drive having a recording/reproducing head 106 for recording and reproducing information on the recording medium 10; 100 is an interface means for exchanging information between the drive 105 and the host computer 101. 20 is a display label. The user manages each information storage medium by writing his or her name here or specifying the file name, etc. on the storage medium. 50 is an identification means.

This is to notify the system side of the characteristics of this information storage medium. For example, write protection etc. As identification means, a method of attaching and removing an adhesive tape to a specific location, or a method of shifting the position of a knob as shown in FIG. 6 is used. drive 10
5 has a detection means 107 for detecting it, and the signal is sent to the interface means 100 for consumption.

The operation of the conventional example configured as described above will be explained below. When recording a file created on the host computer 101 onto the information storage medium 1o, the user only has to specify an address and then transfer the information to the interface means 100.

The address may simply be an extension of the address space of the host computer's main memory, ie, a logical address. The interface means 100 has a function of converting the logical address into a physical address represented by the actual position of the recording/reproducing head 106 or the like. When reading a file from the information storage medium 10, the reverse procedure is performed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above configuration, as the capacity of recording materials increases, the following problems arise.

The first problem is file management. Conventional information storage devices are designed for recording and reproducing information using magnetic means, such as floppy disks or similar devices. The storage capacity of a floppy disk is at most IMB. On the other hand, optical discs, which have been rapidly developed in recent years, have a storage capacity of 100 MB or more.

Since the number of files stored on a floppy disk is limited, display the file name Rahel 20
It was also possible to write it down. However, that 100
It is almost impossible to manage files in this way on optical discs that have twice as many files.
Problems such as file loss are inevitable.

The next concern is the compatibility of recording materials.

In the case of magnetic recording, these problems did not arise because the types of recording materials were limited. There are a wide variety of recording materials for optical discs. Optical disk recording materials can be broadly classified into three types: those that are only for reproduction, those that can be reproduced and recorded once, and those that can be reproduced, recorded, and erased.

Furthermore, they are classified according to the type of material, such as those using metals or metal alloys, those using metal oxides, and those using organic dyes. Each of these optical disk recording materials has its own characteristics in terms of recording density, transfer speed, reliability, etc., and users will have to use these different materials to some degree depending on the situation.

However, having to prepare a drive for each type of recording material reduces work efficiency and is also problematic from an economic standpoint.

In order to be able to use a somewhat common system,
The type of recording material must be accurately communicated to the system side. For this purpose, conventional identification means that determine the presence or absence of a tape, the position of a knob, etc. are insufficient.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an information storage device that allows accurate file management and does not depend on the type of recording material.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the information storage device of the present invention includes:
An information storage medium having a recording material, a storage means, and a processing means for reading or writing information to the storage means, and a recording/reproducing method for reading or writing information to the recording material in the information storage medium. A head, a first interface means for exchanging information between the recording/reproducing head and a host computer, and a second interface means for exchanging information between the processing means and the host computer. It is.

Effect of the present invention With the above-described configuration, the type of the recording material or the file name of information recorded in the recording material can be recorded in the storage means, and as a result, file management and compatibility of the recording material are improved. can be easily realized.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an information storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an information storage device in a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a recording material, and 4 is a storage means composed of a semiconductor storage element or the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a processing device for recording or reading information into or from the storage means 4. Reference numeral 2 denotes a signal transfer means for transmitting and receiving signals to and from the host computer 101. 5 is an input means for inputting commands or data to the processing device 3; 6 is a display device configured with a front panel display such as a liquid crystal display.

The signal transfer means 2, the storage means 4, and the display device 6 are the processing device 3.
are interconnected through. 7 is a cartridge for protecting the recording material 1; The information storage medium 1) is composed of the above elements.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a recording/reproducing head that reads and writes information to and from the recording material, and is provided in the drive 105. 102 is an interface means for connecting the recording/reproducing node 106 and the host computer 101. 103 is the signal transfer means 2 and the host computer 1
In this embodiment, it is connected to the host computer 101 via an interface means 102.

The operation of the information storage device configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

First, FIG. 2 shows how the information storage medium 1) is loaded into the drive 1.05 and functions as an external memory of the host computer 101. That is, the recording/reproducing head 106 provided in the drive 105 performs recording and re-reading on the recording material l. head 10
An interface means 102 is interposed between the computer 6 and the host computer 101. The interface means 102 has a function of converting a logical address as an external memory into a physical address unique to the drive.

The host computer 101 is further connected to the signal transfer means 2 via an interface means 103.

That is, in this embodiment, there are two information routes. The route in which the interface means 102 intervenes is used to perform recording and reproduction on the recording material 1, as in the conventional route. The route through which the interface means 103 intervenes is for writing to and reading from the storage means 4.

Information regarding the recording material 1, such as the type of recording material, formant format, etc., is already recorded in the storage means 4. That is, at the time when the information storage medium 1) is loaded into the drive 105, the interface means 103 determines whether the recording material 1 is for reproduction only or for recording and erasing, or what is the correspondence format between logical addresses and physical addresses. etc. can be known. If the information is transferred to the interface means 102, and the interface means 102 sets the information transfer rate, recording format, etc. according to the information, and then executes recording and reproduction on the recording material l, any recording material can be transferred to the recording material according to its type. It becomes possible to use it in the same system without being aware of it. However, the system needs to be highly compatible to some extent. Even if a recording/reproducing type recording material is loaded into a drive that originally only has a playback function, recording cannot be executed. Compatibility of recording materials can only be obtained with respect to reproduction.

It is also possible to write information into the storage means 4 from the interface means 103. For example, the file name of the information currently recorded on the recording material 1 may be written in the storage means 4. If you do this, you can know the information without loading it into the drive as shown in FIG. By displaying the contents of the storage means 4 on the display device 6, the file name of the information stored in the recording material 1 can be known.When a huge amount of files, such as optical disk files, must be managed. etc., this method is effective.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the recording material, the storage means, the processing device, and the signal transfer means are provided in the information storage medium, and separate interface means are provided for the recording material and the storage means, respectively. By providing this, it is possible to provide an information storage device that allows accurate file management and does not care about the type of recording material.

Other embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of an information storage device showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a recording material 1 is formed into a disk shape, and its center can be clamped by a motor provided in a drive 105. As shown in the figure, the input means 5 is a pushbutton key, allowing manual input. The display device 6 is composed of a liquid crystal display. Since a liquid crystal display is a display device with low power consumption, it can be sufficiently driven by a battery that has a built-in information storage medium.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an information storage device showing a third embodiment of the present invention. There is no need to load the information into the drive in order to know the information recorded in the storage means 4. In this embodiment, the interface means 103 and the signal transfer means 2 can communicate wirelessly. In other words, when searching for a file from among multiple information storage media, first access the storage means 4 to search for the file name, and then load the information storage medium with that file name. The effort can be significantly reduced.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides recording material in an information storage medium,
By providing a storage means, a processing device, and a signal transfer means, and further providing separate interface means for the recording material and the storage means, easy and accurate file management becomes possible, and moreover, it is possible to manage different kinds of records. Compatibility of materials can be easily achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information storage device in the first embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing the operation of the information storage device in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. A perspective view of an information storage device in a second embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an information storage device according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional information storage device. l... Recording material, 2... Signal transfer means, 3... Processing device, 4... Storage means,
5... Input means, 6... Display device, 7
... Cartridge, 1) ... Information storage medium, 102.103 ... Interface means, 106 ... Recording and reproducing head. Agent's name Patent attorney Toshio Nakao Haka 1 Meika 2 Figure 3? 5th stage Figure 6

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) A recording medium having a first storage means, a second storage means, and a processing means for reading or writing information to the second storage means, and information to the first storage means. a recording and reproducing means for reading or writing information; a first information relay means for transmitting information between the recording and reproducing means and an external device; and a first information relay means for transmitting information between the processing means and the external device. An information storage device having a second information relay means for performing. (2) The information storage device according to claim (1), wherein the first storage means is capable of recording or reading information by magnetic means or optical means. (3) The information storage device according to claim (2), wherein the second storage means is capable of recording or reading information by electrical means. (4) The information storage device according to claim (2), wherein the second storage means is formed of a semiconductor element. (5) The information storage device according to claim (1), wherein the second information relay means and the processing means are connected by wireless communication means. (6) Information is transferred between the first storage means and the second storage means via the first information relay means and the second information relay means. 1) Information storage device described in section 1).