KR100335423B1 - Recording medium with test management information, maintaning method for test management information, and recording/reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A recording medium further comprising a management area for recording test management information for a drive test area, and a method and apparatus for maintaining test management information suitable for the same.

The recording medium according to the present invention includes a test area for recording / reproducing test data to obtain parameters for a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing user data to adjust its recording / reproducing state; And a test management information area in which the recording / reproducing apparatus records the results obtained by the test on the test area.

The recording medium according to the present invention further has a test management information area for recording information on whether or not the drive test area is tested and information on a defective part, thereby enabling the recording and reproducing apparatus to make an accurate test with reference thereto.

Description

Recording medium for recording test management information, a method for maintaining appropriate test management information, and a recording and reproducing apparatus suitable therefor {Recording medium with test management information, maintaning method for test management information, and recording / reproducing apparatus}

The present invention provides a recording medium further comprising a management area for recording test management information for a drive test area in a recording medium having a drive test area, such as a digital versatile disc random access memory (DVD-RAM), and the like. And a recording and reproducing apparatus suitable for the same.

According to the DVD Specifications for Rewritable Disc (Part 1 Physical Specifications Version 1.0) published in July 1997, the DVD-RAM has a drive test area in a lead-in area and a lead-out area, respectively. (drive test zone). In this drive test area, the DVD-RAM recording device performs an experiment of recording and reproducing test data before recording user data on a disc to determine whether the data is normally recorded and reproduced, or to set the recording and reproducing apparatus to an optimal recording and reproduction condition. This is the area to get the parameter to adjust.

In addition, the appendix of the specification stipulates that the write operation is prohibited when no normal recording is made in the drive test area.

However, experiments run in the drive test area may not only be affected by previous recording conditions, but if there are defective parts in the test area, the exact test may not be performed or the time required for the test may be excessive. have.

In particular, in the case of using a phase change type recording medium, since the phase change type medium exhibits a difference in characteristics due to repetitive recording and reproduction, it is necessary to evaluate the final result according to the number of repetitive recording times.

The current specification only defines the existence of the drive test area but does not define the information about the status of each data block in the drive test area.

Therefore, there is a problem that accurate testing is difficult because it is not possible to know the use history of the drive test area or the existence of a defective data block.

In addition, in the case of a recording medium that can be used in different recording and reproducing apparatuses such as a DVD-RAM, the recording and reproducing apparatus can refer to test data for the recording medium by recording the results and the results of the experiments previously performed on the recording medium. It is required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved recording medium for recording management information of a test that has been conducted previously, which has been devised to solve at least some of the above problems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a test management information holding method suitable for the recording medium described above.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording / playback apparatus suitable for the above-described recording medium.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the structure of a DVD-RAM disc.

2 shows the structure of a recording medium according to the present invention.

3A to 3B are for showing contents recorded in the management area in the recording medium according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a test management information holding method according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of a preferred embodiment of a recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention.

The recording medium according to the present invention, which achieves the above object, records / reproduces test data for obtaining recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing user data to / from the recording medium to obtain parameters for adjusting its recording / reproducing state. Test area;

And a test management information area in which the recording / reproducing apparatus records the results obtained by the test on the test area.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a test management information holding method, comprising: a test area in which test data is recorded / reproduced, and a test management information area in which management information about the test area is recorded. In the method,

Selecting available parts of the test area;

A test process of checking whether or not the normal recording operation by the recording / reproducing apparatus is possible by recording and reproducing the test data in the selected portion; And a recording process for updating the management information if the normal recording operation is possible.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a recording and reproducing apparatus is rewritable and has a test area for inspecting a recording and reproducing parameter of a drive and a recording area having a management area for recording management information of the test area. In the playback device,

A recording unit for recording test data in a test area of the disc;

A reproducing unit for reproducing data recorded in the test area of the disc;

And selecting a portion to be used for the test in the test area by referring to the management information recorded in the management area, controlling the recording unit to record test data in the selected test area, and controlling the reproducing unit to record the test data. And a microprocessor for reproducing the data and for comparing and controlling the recorded data with the reproduced data to determine recording and reproduction parameters.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 schematically shows the structure of a disc according to the DVD-RAM standard. The DVD-RAM disc is largely divided into a lead-in area, a lead-out area, and a user data area as indicated on the right side of FIG. 1 according to the data to be recorded.

In addition, as shown on the left side of FIG. 1, the embossed data zone in which the data is pit-shaped and the rewritable data zone in which the data is pit-shaped, the rewritable data zone, and the like, are shown in FIG. It is divided into a mirror zone that serves to connect the zones.

The lead-in area is composed of an embossed data area, a mirror area and a rewritable area. In the embossed data area of the lead-in area, information on the physical characteristics of the disc is recorded. The rewritable area of the lead-in area is a guide track zone that acts as a buffer, a disc test zone, a drive test zone, a disc identification zone and defect management It consists of information areas DMA1 & DMA2. Here, the disc test area is used for evaluating the disc in the disc production maker, and the drive test area is used for testing the recording and reproduction characteristics in the recording and reproducing apparatus.

In the 2.6 GB DVD-RAM disc, the lead-out area is composed of only rewritable areas, and the rewritable areas of the lead-in area are arranged in reverse order.

That is, it consists of a defect management information area, a disc recognition area, a guard track area, a drive test area, a disc test area and a guard track area.

According to the 2.6 GB DVD-RAM disc standard, the drive test area in the lead-in and lead-out areas consists of 112 data blocks each. Here, the data block refers to a block which is a unit of error correction in a DVD-RAM, and is composed of 32 KByte user data and additional data.

Fig. 2 shows the configuration of the drive test area in the recording medium according to the present invention and shows an example applied to a 2.6GB DVD-RAM disc. According to the 2.6GB DVD-RAM disc standard, there is one drive test area composed of 112 data blocks each in the lead-in area and the lead-out area.

In the present invention, the first two data blocks in each drive test area are used as areas 20a and 22a for recording test management information (hereinafter referred to as test management information area), and the remaining 109 data blocks are used for test ( (Hereinafter referred to as test area) (20b, 22b).

That is, in the conventional DVD-RMA disc, all 112 data blocks of the drive test area were used for testing, but the disc of the present invention divides the drive test area into two areas and one area for recording test management information (test management information). Area) and the other one as the test area.

The reason why two data blocks are arranged in each of the test management information areas 20a and 22a is because of backup in preparation for errors. That is, the same test management information for the test areas 20b and 22b is recorded in the four data blocks TBST0 to TBST3 provided in the test management information areas 20a and 22a to prepare for an error occurrence.

3A shows the contents recorded in the test management information areas 20a and 20b shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3B shows the contents of the test management information area (table entry) for each data block of FIG. 3A.

As shown in Fig. 3A, the first two bytes BP0 and BP1 of the test management information areas 20a and 20b are allocated for the identification number of the test management information area. That is, in BP0 and BP1, a recognition number indicating which of the four test management information areas TBST0 to TBST3 is recorded.

The third byte BP2 to the 881th byte BP881 are configured of test management information areas for 220 data blocks grouped by four. In the drive test area of the lead-in area and the drive test area of the lead-out area (total of 224 data blocks), 220 data blocks are allocated for the test because four data blocks are used as the test management information area. Therefore, 220 test management information areas for each data block are required. The remaining bytes are reserved for future use.

The test management information area for each data block is composed of 4 bytes, and the position, use, defect, and number of records of the test data block are recorded.

As shown in FIG. 3B, in the test management information area for each data block, the first byte DBP0 represents a block number of the corresponding data block, and the second byte DBP1 indicates whether the corresponding data block is used or not defective. The remaining two bytes DBP2 and DBP3 represent the number of writes of the data block.

The location of the data block is determined by the block number recorded in the first byte DBP0.

In the second byte DBP1, when the most significant bit is b7 and the least significant bit is b0, b0 indicates whether a corresponding data block is used or not, and b1 indicates whether a corresponding data block is defective. b2-b7 are reserved for future use.

For example, if b0 is set to "1", it indicates that the data block has been used, and if b1 is set to "1", it indicates that the data block is defective and cannot be used for further testing.

The reason for recording the number of recordings of the data block in the last two bytes (DBP2, DBP3) is about 100,000 records in the case of a phase change type recording medium, and because the characteristics of the medium deteriorate depending on the number of recording, The test requires knowing how many times the area to be tested is used.

On the other hand, although not defined in the present specification, it is preferable that the data blocks of the drive test areas 20b and 22b be used sequentially unless there is a special reason for the trial.

Further, it is preferable that the test management information areas 20a and 22a as shown in Figs. 3A to 3B are recorded only when data can be normally recorded on the disc. That is, it is preferable that the test management information be updated only after the recording and reproducing test is completed and it is found that the recording and reproducing apparatus can record data normally.

In addition, in the case of a bit indicating a defect (b0 of DBP2), even if it is determined that an error has occurred as a result of regenerating the block, it is desirable to set it only when the test is finally made and the defect is finally determined as long as normal recording and reproduction is possible. . This is because in the test of the drive test area, there is a possibility that it may turn out to be a defect by improper recording.

The test management information areas 20a and 22a are preferably set when the disk is physically initialized. Otherwise, the recording and reproducing apparatus judges the presence or absence of the test management information areas 20a and 22a, and if there is no data from the third block of the drive test areas 20b and 22b, i.e., the area except for the area where the management information is recorded. After completing the necessary recording and reproducing test using the block, it is preferable to perform the normal initialization procedure after recording the management information for the data block used for the test in the test management information area. Of course, the test management information is recorded only when it is determined that the normal recording is possible by the recording and reproducing test.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a test management information holding method according to the present invention. When the disc is inserted, the recording and reproducing apparatus judges whether management information exists in the test management information areas 20a and 22a of the lead-in area and the lead-out area of the disc (S101).

If there is no test management information in the test management information areas 20a and 22a, it is determined that the disc is not used for the test, and it is appropriate to perform a recording / playback test from the third data block BP2 of the drive test area of the lead-in area. A number of data blocks are selected (S102).

A recording / playback test is performed on the selected data blocks (S103-S104).

When the recording and reproducing test is finished, it is determined whether or not normal recording is possible by the recording and reproducing apparatus. (S108)

If it is determined that normal recording is possible in S108, test management information is created / updated (S109), otherwise, the process ends.

On the other hand, if there is test management information in the test management information areas 20a and 22a, the data blocks to be tested are selected by referring to the test management information (S105).

A recording / playback test is performed on the selected data blocks. (S106-S107)

If it is determined that normal recording is possible in S107, test management information is created / updated (S109), otherwise, the process ends.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of a preferred embodiment of a recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention. In the apparatus shown in Fig. 5, reference numeral 50 denotes a disc having a management area in which test information and management information for the test area are recorded, and 600 is a recording / playback apparatus according to the present invention.

The recording and reproducing apparatus 100 includes a pickup unit 110 for recording or reproducing data on the disc 50 and a circuit unit 200 for processing data reproduced from the disc 50 or generating data recorded on the disc 50. It includes.

The circuit unit 200 may include an I / V converter 200a for converting an optical signal generated by the pickup unit 100 into an electrical signal, and an RF circuit 200b for generating a binary data signal corresponding to data recorded from the reproduction signal. And a demodulation circuit 200c for demodulating the data recorded from the binary data signal by the EFM + method, and an error correction decoding unit 200d for correcting an error that may be included in the demodulated data.

In addition, the interface unit 200e for interfacing with a host computer (not shown), an error correction encoding unit 200r for adding an error correction code to data to be recorded, and the data to which the error correction code is added in accordance with the EMPM scheme. A modulation circuit 200g for modulating, a recording waveform generator 200h for generating a recording waveform for recording the modulated data, and a laser diode of the pickup section 100 for generating a laser signal corresponding to the recording data And a laser driver 200i. The microprocessor 200j controls the overall operation of the recording / playback apparatus.

In the apparatus shown in Fig. 5, the test operation using the disc shown in Figs. 2 to 3A and 3B will be described in detail. When the disk 50 is mounted, the microprocessor 200j recognizes the mounted disk. Here, the disc 50 is rewritable as shown in Figs. 2 to 3A and 3B, and the test areas 20b and 22b for checking the recording and playback parameters of the drive and the management area in which the management information of the test area are recorded. 20a, 22a are provided.

After the disc 50 is recognized, in order to determine the bit error rate, the reproduction speed, and the like, the microprocessor 200j performs a test of recording the test data in the test area of the disc 50 and reproducing it.

To this end, the microprocessor 200j selects a data block to be used in the test areas 20b and 22b of the disc. The data blocks of the test area are preferably used sequentially unless there is a special reason for the trial. At this time, the microprocessor 200j determines the data block to be used for the test by referring to the management information shown in FIGS. 3A to 3B.

Record the test data in the selected data block and play it back. The bit error rate, jitter rate, etc. are checked by comparing the recorded data with the reproduced data. According to the result of inspection, parameters such as whether recording is possible, a recording pattern, an optical output for recording, a reproduction speed, and a reflectance to be referred to during reproduction are determined.

If it is determined that recording is possible after the test is finished, the microprocessor 200j updates the management information and records it in the management area of the disc.

As described above, the recording medium according to the present invention further has a test management information area for recording whether the drive test area is to be tested or not, so that the recording / playback apparatus can make an accurate test with reference thereto.

In addition, by recording the defective data block of the drive test area in the test management information area, the recording and reproducing apparatus can test except the defective data block, thereby increasing the test speed.

Claims (26)

A recording medium capable of recording and reproducing, A test area for recording / reproducing test data in order to obtain parameters for adjusting a recording / reproducing state by a recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing user data to / from the recording medium; And And a test management information area in which a recording / reproducing apparatus records the results obtained by the test on the test area. The method of claim 1, And the test management information area records at least data indicating an address of the test area and data indicating whether or not a test for the test area has been performed. The method of claim 2, And the test management information area further records data indicating the number of tests that the recording / reproducing apparatus has performed for the test area. The method of claim 3, And the test management information area further records data indicating whether or not a defect has occurred as a result of the recording / reproducing apparatus testing the test area. The method of claim 1, And the test management information area records at least data indicating the address of the test area and data indicating the number of tests performed on the test area. The method of claim 1, And the test management information area further records at least a data indicating the address of the test area and data indicating the number of tests carried out with recording for the test area. The method according to claim 5 or 6, And the test management information area further records data indicating whether or not a defect has occurred as a result of the recording / reproducing apparatus testing the test area. The method of claim 1, The test area is composed of a plurality of data blocks, And the test management information area includes a test management information area for each data block corresponding to each of the plurality of data blocks. The method of claim 8, And the test management information area for each data block records at least data indicating an address of the data block and data indicating whether or not a test has been performed on the data block. The method of claim 8, And the test management information area for each data block further records data indicating the address of the data block and data indicating the number of tests performed on the data block. The method of claim 8, And the test management information area for each data block further records data indicating the address of the data block and data indicating the number of tests performed with recording on the data block. The method according to claim 10 or 11, And the test management information area for each data block further records data indicating whether a defect has occurred as a result of the recording / reproducing apparatus testing the data block. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the test management information area for each data block further records recognition data representing the data block. The method of claim 1, And a plurality of test management information areas, each test management area having the same test management information. 15. The recording medium of claim 14, wherein each test management information area records data indicating which of the plurality of test management information areas. The recording medium of claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a DVD-RAM disk. 17. The recording medium of claim 16, wherein the test area and the test management information area are provided in a drive test area according to the DVD-RAM standard. A test management information holding method for a recording medium, comprising: a test area in which test data is recorded / reproduced and a test management information area in which management information about the test area is recorded; Selecting available parts of the test area; A test step of checking whether or not the normal recording operation by the recording / reproducing apparatus is possible by recording and reproducing the test data in the selected portion; And A test management information maintenance method comprising a recording process of updating management information when a normal recording operation is possible. 19. The test management information holding method according to claim 18, wherein the recording process records data indicating whether at least a test on the test area has been performed. 20. The test management information holding method according to claim 19, wherein the recording process further records data indicating the number of tests performed on the test area. The method of claim 20, And the recording process further records data indicating the number of tests performed with recording for the test area. 22. The test management information holding method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the recording process further records data indicating whether a defect has occurred as a result of testing the test area. 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of checking whether there is test management information for a previous test in a test management information area prior to the test procedure. If there is exam management information for a previous exam, the selection process will refer to this exam management information to select the available parts, And the recording process creates new management information and records it in the test management information area. A recording medium according to claim 23, wherein the recording medium is a DVD-RAM disk, And the recording / reproducing apparatus records the management information in the drive test area according to the DVD-RAM standard in the recording process. A recording and reproducing apparatus suitable for a recording medium which is rewritable and has a test area for inspecting recording and playback parameters of a drive, and a management area in which management information of the test area is recorded. A recording unit for recording test data in a test area of the disc; A reproducing unit for reproducing data recorded in the test area of the disc; A part to be used for a test in the test area is selected with reference to the management information recorded in the management area, the recording unit is controlled to record test data in the selected test area, and the reproducing part is controlled to record data recorded in the test area. And a microprocessor for reproducing and determining a recording and reproducing parameter by comparing and controlling the recorded data and the reproduced data. The microprocessor of claim 25, wherein the microprocessor is And if it is determined that the disc is recordable, the management information relating to the test information is updated and recorded in the management area.