JPS63131330A - Optical recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the efficiency of the on-line processing or the off-line processing by providing an area to record a mark representing the data write finish in the track width direction to each of plural tracks. CONSTITUTION:A track 2 is separated by a guide track 6 with a low reflectance to detect a focus error and a tracking error of a recording/reproducing head and a data is written in a data area 7 between ID sections 4a, 4b with a track address recorded in advance in a pit form (the pit part has a low reflectance), and a mark 8 representing the written state is written over nearly the entire area of the mark areas 5a, 5b in the track width direction to bring the part into a low reflectance. The optical card is used and the mark 8 representing the end of write is recorded to the mark areas 5a, 5b, then the final track of finished write is detected easily and quickly. Thus, the processing time is decreased and the system efficiency is improved.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to optical recording media.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, write-once type optical discs, optical cards such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-500462, and the like have been proposed as optical recording media. When recording data on such an optical recording medium using multiple tracks in ascending order, it is necessary to detect the last written track. A method of detecting the final track by scanning and reading data; ■ A method of storing the address of the final track in a floppy disk or the like in a host computer connected to a recording/reproducing device and reading and detecting the address; etc. have been proposed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, method (2) above has a problem in that it takes time to detect the final track because a plurality of tracks are sequentially scanned. For example, an optical card usually has a capacity of several MB and the number of tracks can reach several thousand. Therefore, it may take several minutes to scan and read the trunk sequentially from the beginning, and it also takes a considerable amount of time to search by dividing the trunk into 1/2 sections using the binary search method instead of reading sequentially from the beginning. It takes.

On the other hand, according to method (2) above, since the final track is stored on a floppy disk or the like on the recording/reproducing device side, there is an advantage that high-speed access is possible by reading this. However, with this method, if you try to perform predetermined processing on separate recording/playback devices connected to different host computers, the optical recording medium itself does not have information representing the final track. It is necessary to exchange information. Therefore, if you try to implement this using an online system, it will be expensive and the system must be kept running all the time, and if you try to implement it offline, you will need to exchange data every day using floppy disks, etc. The problem is that it cannot be used in remote areas.

The present invention has been made in view of these conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical recording medium that can realize online processing or offline processing efficiently and at low cost.

[Means and operations for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention records marks indicating that data has been written along the track width direction in each of a plurality of tracks of an optical recording medium. Create an area for

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention. This embodiment shows an optical card, and an optical card 1 is provided with a recording layer 3 in which a plurality of trunks 2 extending in the longitudinal direction of the card are formed in parallel to the width direction of the card. In the recording layer 3, in order to enable the card to be read from both left and right directions, there are 10 track addresses 4a, 4 on which track addresses are pre-recorded at a predetermined interval from the track end at both ends of each track.
form b. In this embodiment, the areas from both ends of each trunk to 10 parts 4a + 4b are marked areas 5a and 5b, respectively, and a mark indicating that data has been written to track 2 is placed in these mark areas 5a.
, 5b so that it can be recorded on the corresponding track 2 portion.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of one trunk 2. As shown in FIG.

The track 2 is defined by a low-reflectance guide trunk 6 for detecting focus errors and tracking jig errors of the recording/reproducing head, and data is stored in a data area 7 between ID sections 4a and 4b in which a track address is recorded in advance. can be written in a focused manner (the bit portion has low reflectance), and a mark 8 indicating that writing has been completed in the mark areas 5a and 5b can be written over almost the entire track width direction to make that part low reflectance. do it like this. The mark 8 is recorded in the mark areas 5a and 5b in the data area 7.
This can be done by, for example, scanning the mark area 5a+5ha of the track 2 without modulating the laser beam with a write power after or prior to writing data on the track 2.

In FIG. 1, area 9 represents a written track portion, and area 10 represents an unwritten track portion.

If the optical card l according to this embodiment is used to record a mark 8 indicating that writing has been completed in the mark areas 5a and 5b, one of the mark areas 5a and 5b can be read by the reading head as shown in FIG. 3A. When the optical card 11 is scanned in the track width direction and optically read as shown in FIG. 3B, the level of the read signal differs between the part with the mark and the part without the mark, as shown in FIG. 3B. Therefore, by detecting whether this read signal exceeds an appropriate level vth, the last written track can be easily and quickly detected.

In the above example, in each track 2, its mark area 5
Mark 8 was recorded over almost the entire track width direction on tracks a and 5b, but the diameter of the writing beam was made narrower so that mark 8 was recorded only in the center of track 2 as shown in Figure 4A. It can also be recorded. In this case, mark 8
When the mark area 5a or 5b is scanned by setting the resolution of the optical system of the reading head and the frequency characteristics of the signal processing system so that the mark area 5a or the guide track 6 can be read separately.
The cycle of the level change of the read signal corresponding to the brightness and darkness of the area is 172 at the part where the mark 8 is located, as shown in FIG. 4B. Therefore, by detecting the change in the cycle, the last written track can be detected easily and quickly, as in the above case. Note that it is effective to provide a bandpass filter in the signal processing system in order to more reliably detect the 1/2 period signal.

As described above, if the optical card 11 shown in FIG. 1 is used and the mark 8 indicating that writing has been completed is recorded in the mark area 5a + 5b of each track 2, the reading head will read one of the mark areas 5a. or 5b
The last written track can be detected by simply scanning the track in the track width direction. Here, the reading head may also be used as a normal data reading head, or a head without the tracking control t'l1 function dedicated to scanning the mark area may also be used. In addition, when the data reading head is also used, during the mark area scanning period,
It is effective to short-circuit the tracking coil for tracking control to suppress head shake.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the invention. In this optical card 11, one track 12 is divided into two tracks extending to both ends in the card length direction.
ID sections 13 and 1 each representing a trunk address.
4 and mark areas 15 and 16 are formed along the trunk width direction to form marks as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4A to indicate that data has been written to each track.
For the left track, recording can be made in the corresponding part of the left mark area 15, and for the right track, recording can be made in the corresponding part of the right mark area 16. Therefore, this optical card 11 has twice the number of recording tracks compared to the one shown in FIG.
The capacity per track is 172.

Even when using the optical card 11 according to this embodiment, the mark area 15,
By sequentially scanning only 16 in the track width direction,
The last written track can be easily and quickly detected. In FIG. 5, area 17 indicates a written trunk portion, and area 18 indicates an unwritten track portion.

FIG. 6 shows the configuration of an example of an optical system of a recording/reproducing apparatus using an optical card according to the present invention. In this embodiment, a heel 21 dedicated to scanning the marked area is provided, and the marked area is scanned in the track width direction to detect the last written track. As shown in detail in FIG. 7A, this mark area scanning head 21 illuminates the optical card 1 (11) obliquely with light from a light source 22 such as a light emitting diode through an illumination lens 23 in the form of a spot. The image of the illuminated spot is formed on a detector 25 via an imaging lens 24, and the imaging lens 24 is changed in the optical axis direction by a focus adjustment mechanism (not shown) based on the output of the detector 25. The focus is controlled by

In addition, a recording/reproducing head 26 is provided separately from the mark area scanning head 21, and this writes data to the data area of the optical card 1 (11) and writes a written mark to the mark area. and read the data area. As shown in detail in FIG. 7B, this recording/reproducing head 26 passes light from a laser diode 27 through a collimator lens 28, a beam splitter 29, and an objective lens 30 to an optical card 1 (
11) The beam is projected in a spot shape onto the beam, and the reflected light passes through an objective lens 30, a beam splitter 29, and a focusing lens 31, and forms an image on a detector 32.
The objective lens 30 is displaced by a focus adjustment mechanism and a tracking adjustment mechanism (not shown) in the direction of the optical axis and in a direction perpendicular thereto and perpendicular to the trunk direction of the optical card 1 (11) to perform focus control and track and king control. It is supposed to be done. The laser diode 27 is
When recording to the data area, this is used as a write output and is modulated by the information to be recorded, and when writing to the mark area, the write output is recorded without modulation, and the ID part and data area are During reading, the read output is lower than the write output to read track addresses and data.

Mark area scanning head 21 and recording/playback head 26
are attached to the same head feeding mechanism so that the spots for the optical card 1 (11) are located on the same track, so that they move together in the track width direction, and the spots for the optical card 1 (11) are It is made to move relatively in the direction of the track.

Note that the present invention can be effectively applied not only to the above-mentioned optical card but also to write-once optical discs and the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the optical recording medium itself is provided with an area for recording a mark indicating that writing has been completed in each track, so that by simply scanning only that area, writing is completed. The final trunk can be detected easily and quickly, so even when processing is performed using multiple different recording/playback devices, it is possible to take advantage of the features of offline portable media, reduce processing time, and improve system efficiency. Efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.
An enlarged view showing an example of recording a mark in the mark area shown in the figure; Figures 3A and B are also diagrams for explaining the reading operation of the mark area; Figures 4A and B are other examples of recording marks FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of an example of an optical system of an optical card recording/reproducing apparatus according to the present invention. The perspective views, FIGS. 7A and 7B, are detailed views of the optical system of the mark area scanning head and recording/reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 6. ■...Optical card 2...Track 3...
・Recording layer 4a, 4b...ID section 5a
, 5b...Mark area 6...Guide track 7...Data area 8...Mark 9...
・Written track portion lO...Unwritten track portion 11...Optical card 12...Track 1
3, 14...10 copies 15.16...Marked area 17...Written trunk portion 18...Unwritten track portion 21...Marked area scanning head 22...Light source 23...Illumination Lens 24...Imaging lens 25...Detector 26...Recording/reproducing head 27...Laser diode 28...Collimator lens 29...Beam splinter 30...Objective lens 31...
・Focusing lens 32...Detector patent applicant: Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Akira Sugimura Daido Patent Attorney Oki Sugimura
Figure 3 B A Figure 4 B A Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an optical recording medium having a plurality of tracks for optically readable recording of data, each of the plurality of tracks is provided with an area in the track width direction for recording a mark indicating that data has been written. An optical recording medium characterized by being provided along.