KR100704078B1 - Method and apparatus for printing on a label side of a disc medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for printing a picture or the like on a label side of a disc medium to allow a user to know the printing progress. While printing a picture by entering a recording beam according to printing data onto the label surface, the ratio of the size of the data currently being printed to the total size of the coded printing data, or the number of the last printing line of the coded printing data is present. A print progress degree expressed by the ratio of the number of print lines of the data to be printed is displayed on the screen.

Light scribe, print, progress, display

Description

Method and apparatus for printing on a label side of a disc medium}

1A shows the label side of a disc medium that supports write scribe,

FIG. 1B illustrates some patterns of the control feature zone of FIG. 1A,

FIG. 1C shows each divided area of the label surface of the disk medium supporting Light Scribe, FIG.

2 illustrates a process of printing a picture or the like by focusing a recording beam on a label surface according to a conventional method;

3 shows a partial configuration of a disc recording apparatus capable of printing on a label surface of a disc recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 schematically shows a method of coding a disc-shaped sheet containing a given picture with data for light scribes,

FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which information on a degree of printing on a label surface is displayed in a disk shape according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram for one example of displaying information on a degree of printing on a label surface according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10,11: light sensor 12,13: slice part

21: optical pickup 22: servo unit

23: optical drive 24: RF section

30: control unit 31: buffer

100: LS application 101: disc shaped sheet

110: video signal processing unit

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for allowing a user to know the degree of printing progress while printing a picture or the like on a label surface of a disc recording medium.

With the development of disc recording media and digital technology, many users have recorded their favorite video or audio contents on disc recording media to watch or listen to them through the player. It is included in.

As the number of disk recording media containing contents increases, the user may feel the necessity of distinguishing each disk media, and may also indicate that his or her favorite video or audio contents are recorded. To this end, manufacturers of disc media provide stickers and the like so that letters and the like can be recorded on the stickers and attached to the label surface or the case of the disc media.

However, when the disk medium is separated from the case, the information contained in the medium cannot be recognized, and when the sticker is attached to the label surface of the disk medium, the interface becomes dirty due to the adhesive.

For this reason, a method of writing a desired picture or text by irradiating a recording beam directly onto a label surface of a disk medium coated with a material burned by light has been proposed. This is called a 'light scribe'.

Disc media supporting write scribes have a control feature zone 2 on the label side, after the clamping zone 1 as shown in Fig. 1A. The control feature zone 2 is composed of a speed control feature band 2a, a control feature outer ring 2b, and a mirror region 2c, as shown in FIG. 1B. 400 spokes are marked on the speed control feature band 2a, and a spherical or serrated pattern is formed on the outer ring 2b of the control feature. The media ID field 1, the sawtooth wave, the media ID field 2, the sawtooth wave, and the media ID field 3 are respectively divided into areas.

The pattern formed in the control feature zone 2 is detected by an encoder located at the inner circumference of the disk seating surface of the recording apparatus, which is a spherical pulse detected by the encoder from the spoke when the disk medium of FIG. 1A rotates. Depending on the period of the disk rotation speed can be identified. Therefore, the input data is synchronized (recorded) on the label surface based on the end point 2d of the index mark.

However, in order to print graphics or text on the label side of the disc recording medium, the radial position on the disc (hereinafter, the term 'position' means 'radial position' unless otherwise specified) must be correctly recognized. However, the information formed in the control feature zone 2 does not provide information about the radial position. The recorder focuses the beam on the label surface during the initial operation of the light screen, because it is necessary to accurately determine an arbitrary position on the disc so that the graphic or character desired by the user on the label surface is recorded without error. After that, starting from the inner circumference, the recording beam is moved to the outer circumference side by the amount corresponding to one printing line (print circle) of the figure, and the portion of the figure to be drawn on the circumference of the moved position is recorded.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the above light scribe operation, with each print line running at the recording speed, eg, 1/4 times (X / 4), starting from the innermost circumference of the printing area, somewhat larger than the diameter of the beam Since the width Lw_o (corresponding to one printing line) is moved to the outer circumferential side (201), it takes a very long time to complete printing of a picture or the like.

Therefore, the user has to wait a long time tediously, and if the printing does not end even after waiting a considerable time, the user does not know how much longer it will take and stops printing without printing. Also occurs.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a printing method and apparatus for allowing a user to know how much printing is progressing in printing a desired picture or the like on a label surface. Its purpose is to.

A method and apparatus for printing a picture on a label surface according to the present invention for achieving the above object, by scanning a picture to be printed on the label surface of the disk medium, the recording beam according to the coded printing data is incident on the label surface The feature is that the printing progress can be displayed while printing the picture.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the degree of printing progress is expressed based on the ratio of the size of the data printed on the label surface to the total size of the coded printing data.

In another embodiment according to the invention, the number is expressed based on the ratio of the number of printed lines of the data printed on the label surface to the number of the last printed lines of the coded printing data.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, in addition to the degree of printing progress, the position where the end of printing is also displayed.

In one embodiment according to the present invention, the degree of printing progress is indicated on the shape of the disc containing the given picture to be printed.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a part of a configuration of a disc recording apparatus capable of printing on a label surface of a disc recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 shows only the components related to the light scribe, and the configuration of the disc recording apparatus related to the recording or reproducing of data not directly related to the present invention is omitted. In the following, description of general known operations of the recording apparatus not related to the present invention will be omitted.

Referring to the configuration of Fig. 3, the spoke optical sensor 11 for detecting the beam reflected from the speed control feature zone of the light scribe supporting disk medium, and the ring optical sensor for detecting the beam reflected from the pattern formed in the outer ring of the control feature ( 10) the slice units 12 and 13 for converting and outputting the electric signals detected and pre-amplified from each of the optical sensors 10 and 11 into square waves, respectively, by comparing with the reference level Vref, according to the input recording signal. An optical drive 23 for outputting an optical beam driving signal, an optical pickup 21 for irradiating a disk medium with an optical beam corresponding to the optical beam driving signal, and converting reflected light of a recording beam or a reading beam into an electrical RF signal; An actuator of the optical pickup 21 according to a binarized signal from an electrical RF signal, an RF unit 24 for outputting a focusing error (FE) signal and a tracking error (TE), a servo error signal, or a control signal. actuator) A servo unit 22 for controlling and controlling a sled motor for moving the optical pickup 21 and a spindle motor for rotating the mounted disk, a controller 30 for performing a light scribing operation based on each square wave; LS, which is an application program executed on the host, for converting data to a host (not shown) and a buffer 31 for exchanging a command / response, a picture for a light scribe provided from a user, and the like into data in a recording format. Light Scribe) application 100, and a video signal processor 110 for converting the input data into a video signal and output.

In FIG. 3, the LS application 100 and the image signal processor 110 are configured in a host that is physically separated from the recording apparatus, but these components may be integrally formed in the disk recording apparatus.

Hereinafter, the operation of the light scribe performed by the apparatus of FIG. 3 will be described in detail.

The LS application 100 codes a bit stream starting from the innermost circumference of the scan area corresponding to the print area for the disk-shaped electronic sheet 101 including the picture 101a given or selected by the user. .

In FIG. 4, a coding method according to this is illustrated in detail. Based on an arbitrary reference line, for example, an upper vertical line 5a of an electronic sheet with a picture to be printed, each virtual scan line (scan circle) is actually used. Corresponds to the virtual printing circle on the label surface having the same width as the track pitch of the recording side of the disc.) Bit '1' on the part with pictures and bit '0' on the part without pictures. Corresponding (or vice versa) bit streams are generated and stored on a storage means, for example a hard disk. Since each scanline has a different circle circumference, a different amount of data is allocated. If K bytes are processed per second at a write speed of v0 during a write scribe, the bits allocated by the LS application 100 to each scanline Nc are used. The number fn (Nc) is shown in the following equation (1).

fn (Nc) = 8K2π (NcLw + r0) / v0 (bits) Equation (1)

Where r0 is the radius of the innermost circumference of the print area, v0 is the writing speed for performing a light scribe to the disk medium, and Lw is the width of the scan line, and (Nc · Lw + r0) is the position where the scan line of Nc is located. It is a value indicating the radius r.

That is, the LS application 100 allocates fn (Nc) bits to each print line Nc according to Equation (1), starting from the print line of the innermost circumference r0, and the picture is displayed at the corresponding bit position. If it is present, the bit is set to '1' and if it is set to '0' (or vice versa), the data 51 for write scribe (LS) is constituted. At this time, data is not generated for the outer periphery areas r1 to r2 where there are no more pictures. Then, the number of the last generated scan line, that is, the number N _TOT of the total scan lines (print lines) in which the light scribe data was generated (this is the same as the number of the last scan line) or the total amount of data generated ( DS _TOT ) is stored, and a message of a write end command is added to the end of the configured data.

The LS data generated and stored as described above is sequentially read in a storage order from a storage means after a command for write scribing is requested to the controller 30, and is transmitted to the controller 30 through the buffer 31. Is provided.

The LS application 100 transmits the stored LS data to the buffer 31 and simultaneously outputs image data depicting a disk-shaped electronic sheet with a picture to be printed input by a user. ), So that an image as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on a separate display device, for example, a monitor or a television of a PC. At this time, the LS application 100 transmits the image data to the image signal processor 110 such that a mark 501 indicating a printing end point is displayed at a position corresponding to the last scan line of the LS data generated by the LS application 100. to provide.

Then, the generated LS data is read from the storage means and transmitted in a stored order until the buffer 31 overflows. At this time, according to the amount of data to be transmitted, it is checked based on Equation (1) to determine how many scan lines of data are currently being transmitted. Then, the image signal is formed by configuring the image data such that the display 502 indicating that printing is performed on the disk-shaped electronic sheet shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the scan line of the data transferred to the buffer 31. To the processor 110.

On the other hand, upon receiving the command for writing the light scribe, the controller 30 performs an initial operation such as servo setting for label surface printing, and then directs the beam of the optical pickup 21 to the innermost perimeter r0 of the printing area. ) Information and data buffered in the buffer 31 from the LS application 100 and processed.

Then, the rotational speed of the disk is adjusted through the servo unit 22 so as to have a predetermined linear speed v0 at the current position of the beam. The rotational speed of the disk can be maintained at a desired speed based on the number of pulses per unit time detected from the spoke photosensor 11. Then, it is monitored whether an index mark is detected from the pattern of the signal detected by the ring optical sensor 10, and when the index mark is detected, the LS data received in the buffer 31 is read in synchronization with the end point. It prints a picture on the label surface according to the value of each bit.

That is, by applying a recording signal corresponding to the value of each bit of LS data to the optical drive 23, a picture corresponding to one print line is printed. Of course, if a bit of data indicates no picture, the recording beam passes by not being applied. After all the data amount for the current print line is read from the buffer 31 and processed, the beam of the optical pickup 21 is moved by the preset print line width Lw_o to move to the next print line. Shift.

In this manner, picture printing is performed one by one printing line, and the buffer 31 buffering the LS data is gradually emptied. When the buffer 31 is underrun or the empty space is more than a predetermined reference value, the LS application 100 reads the LS data stored in the storage means again to clear the empty space of the buffer 31. In this case, image data indicating that the number of print lines corresponding to the LS data moved to the buffer 31 is further printed is configured and applied to the image signal processor 110. In this manner, the progress of printing on the label surface of the disk medium is displayed to the user. The LS data refilled in the buffer 31 is recorded in the corresponding print line in the manner described above.

The write scribe operation, which proceeds with the indication of the printing progress degree as described above, proceeds until a write end command message is transmitted to the buffer 31 to stop the write operation.

On the other hand, the display of the progress of the printing may be displayed in the form of a disc, and as shown in FIG. 6, the graphic and the progress rate of the progress of the printing may be easily displayed.

In the embodiment of FIG. 6, the LS application 100 is transmitted to the buffer 31 relative to the total amount of LS data DS _TOT generated for the disk-shaped electronic sheet 101 having a picture to be printed. Calculate and display a cumulative amount of data amount 601 or a scan line (print line) of data currently transmitted to the buffer 31 relative to the total number of printed lines N _TOT generated for the electronic sheet 101. The ratio 601 of the number of is calculated and displayed.

In the above-described embodiment, the LS application 100 displays the degree of printing progress or the print rate by considering the data transmitted to the buffer 31 as being actually printed, but the data transmitted to the buffer 31 There is a time difference until the actual printing. This time difference becomes larger as the size of the buffer 31 becomes larger.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such a time difference, in another embodiment of the present invention, the controller 30 checks the number CPL_N of the print line of the data currently read from the buffer 31 according to equation (1). The number CPL_N is transmitted to the LS application 100. Then, the LS application 100 determines that the actual printing is completed on the label surface for the printing line after subtracting 1 from the received printing line number (CPL_N), and the printing is completed until the printing line (CPL_N-1). 5 or 6 and the method shown in FIG.

As mentioned above, preferred embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for the purpose of illustration, and those skilled in the art can improve other various embodiments within the spirit and technical scope of the present invention disclosed in the appended claims below. Changes, substitutions or additions will be possible.

The present invention described in detail above allows the user to know the progress of the current printing on the label surface, so that it is possible to predict to some extent the time to do other things during label printing, and the printing time cannot be predicted. It is possible to prevent the printing of the cotton in the middle to improve the user's convenience.

Claims (12)

In the method for printing on the label side of a disk medium, A first step of scanning a picture to be printed on the label surface and entering a recording beam according to coded printing data onto the label surface to print the picture; A second step of displaying display data in place of the picture to be printed; And And a third step of displaying a printing progress degree on the display data based on a ratio of the size of the data printed on the label surface to the total size of the coded printing data. How to print on. delete In the method for printing on the label side of a disk medium, A first step of scanning a picture to be printed on the label surface and entering a recording beam according to coded printing data onto the label surface to print the picture; A second step of displaying display data in place of the picture to be printed; And And a third step of displaying the printing progress degree on the display data based on the ratio of the number of the printing lines of the data printed on the label surface to the number of the last printing lines of the coded printing data. To print on the label side of a disk medium. The method according to claim 1 or 3, And the display data of the second step indicates a print end point. The method of claim 1, And the display data of the second step is displayed in the shape of a disc including the picture to be printed. An apparatus for printing a picture on a label surface of a disk medium, A recording unit which applies an optical driving signal to the optical pickup according to the recording signal; A controller for applying a recording signal according to the received data to print a picture on the label surface; A signal processor for converting and outputting input image data into a video signal to display the screen; And an application which scans a given picture to be printed on the label surface, codes it into printing data, and delivers the same to the controller, And the application constructs image data indicating a printing progress level on the label surface and provides the image data to the signal processor. The method of claim 6, And the application determines the print progress level on the basis of the amount of coded data delivered to the controller. The method of claim 6, And the application determines the print progress level based on a signal generated when the controller reads coded data. The method of claim 6, And the degree of printing progress is expressed based on a ratio of the size of the data printed on the label surface to the total size of the coded printing data. The method of claim 6, And the printing progress is expressed on the basis of a ratio of the number of the printing line of the data currently being printed to the number of the last printing line of the coded printing data. The method of claim 6, And the application configures and provides image data to the signal processor so as to display the position where the printing ends in addition to the printing progress. The method of claim 6, The application is a device for printing on the label surface of the disk medium, characterized in that the image processing to configure the image data to be displayed in the shape of the disk containing the picture to be printed to the signal processor .

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