KR100709656B1 - Recording apparatus and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

Recording management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system in a predetermined area of the disc-shaped recording medium, and treating an unused area of the predetermined area as a special file, wherein the disc corresponds to a hierarchical file system. A recording method for recording data on a type recording medium is disclosed.

Hierarchical file system, management information, recording media, root directory, subdirectory

Description

RECORDING APPARATUS AND RECORDING METHOD {RECORDING APPARATUS AND RECORDING METHOD}

1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of data allocation on a disc according to a conventional UDF;

2 is a schematic diagram showing a logical format of a disc shaped recording medium according to the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of contents of a volume information area;

4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method of managing directories, files and empty areas in accordance with the present invention;

5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method of managing directories, files and empty areas in accordance with the present invention;

6 (a) to 6 (e) are schematic diagrams illustrating a method of disposing an EIF in a DAN-2 region;

7A to 7D are schematic diagrams illustrating a method of adding a sub directory after performing a format process;

8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of adding a file to a root directory;

9 is a block diagram showing newly added areas DAN-2 'and DAN-3'; And

10 is a block diagram showing a structural example of a drive device according to the present invention;

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: Disc-type recording medium

10: lead-in area

11, 12: volume information area

13: lead-out area

The present invention relates to a recording method and a recording apparatus for recording data on a large capacity disk-type rewritable recording medium. The invention also relates to such a recording medium.

In recent years, high density optical discs such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) have been developed and standardized. A logical format referred to as UDF (Univesal Disc Format) has been proposed. For DVD-Random Access Memory (DVD-RAM), a UDF is used. The UDF can also be applied to CD-R, which is a disk capable of writing only CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), and CD-RW, which is a rewritable disk.

For UDFs, a hierarchical file system is used. Corresponding to the information stored in the root directory, the sub directory and its actual file are referenced. Corresponding to the information stored in the sub directory, other sub directories and their actual files are referenced.

Next, the hierarchical file system of the UDF will be described in detail. In the recording area of the disc, data is accessed in sector units. In a DVD-RAM, the recording area is accessed from the inner circumference of the disc to the outer circumference. The volume information area is formed from the innermost area of the disc to its lead-in area. The volume information area is referred to as the system area. The system area indicates the location of a file entry (hereinafter, 'FE') of the root directory. The FE consists of an allocation descriptor (hereinafter referred to as 'AD'). AD is information indicating the address and length of a root directory, subdirectory, or file.

The AD of the FE of the root directory represents the logical address and length of the root directory as an entity. The root directory contains at least one file identification descriptor (hereinafter referred to as 'FID'). The FID indicates the FE of the sub directory included in the root directory and the FE of the file included in the sub directory. These FEs refer to the substance of subdirectories and files, respectively. The substance of the sub directory contains at least one FID. In other words, in the UDF, except for the root directory, the FIDs, FEs, and entities are accessed in order, corresponding to the FIDs and FEs as pointers.

In the UDF, the above-described FID, FE, and substance can be written to any recordable area. Even if the information of subdirectories and files is related, their FIDs, FEs, and entities can be written to other addresses. The addresses of the FIDs, FEs, and entities may be assigned regardless of the access order.

1 shows an example of allocating data to a disc corresponding to a conventional UDF. Referring to FIG. 1, a lead-in area 201 is formed at the innermost circumference of the disc 200. System area 202 is formed outside of lead-in area 201. For example, the substance 203 of the root directory is formed outside of the system area 202.

Next, as an example, the case where a file is accessed from a root directory via a sub directory will be described. Corresponding to the FID of the substance 203 of the root directory, the FE 204 of the sub directory at an address physically separated from the substance 203 of the root directory is referred to. Corresponding to the AD of the FE 204 of the sub directory, the entity 205 of the sub directory at an address physically separated from the FE 204 of the sub directory is referenced. In this way, the FID of the substance 205 of the sub directory is referenced. Reference is made to the FE 206 of the file at an address that is physically separate from the entity 205 of the subdirectory. Corresponding to the AD of the FE 206 of the file, the substance of the file 207 at an address physically separated from the FE 206 of the file is referenced.

As another example, when a file is referenced directly from the root directory, the FID of the entity 203 of the root directory is referenced. Reference is made to the FE 208 of the file at an address that is physically separate from the substance 203 of the root directory. Corresponding to the AD of the FE 208, the substance 209 of the file at an address physically separated from the FE 208 of the file is referenced.

In the past, if directory and file information were distributed on a disk, the information could not be read quickly.

In other words, when one file is accessed with reference to pointers at different addresses, the disk seek time becomes long. In other words, the information on the disk cannot be accessed quickly. In particular, this is a serious problem in a disk type recording medium having a longer access time such as a hard disk.

To solve this problem, pointer information such as FID and FE may be recorded together in a predetermined area. In this case, however, when a file is deleted from the disc, since the FE is deleted, another file can be written to the blank address for the FE. In such a situation, the pointer information recorded in the predetermined area can be separated. As a result, the problem described above will occur.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording method, a recording apparatus, and a recording medium in which a file can always be quickly accessed without separation of pointer information.

A first aspect of the present invention is a method of recording data on a disc-shaped recording medium corresponding to a hierarchical file system, wherein the management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system is recorded in a predetermined area of the disc-shaped recording medium. And treating the unused area of the predetermined area as a special file.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a recording apparatus in which data is recorded on a disc-shaped recording medium corresponding to a hierarchical file system, the management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system is recorded in a predetermined area of the disc-shaped recording medium. And means for treating the unused area of the predetermined area as a special file.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a disc-shaped recording medium in which data is recorded corresponding to a hierarchical file system, management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system is recorded in a predetermined area, and an unused area of the predetermined area. Is treated as a special file.

As described above, according to the present invention, when data is recorded on the disc-shaped recording medium corresponding to the hierarchical file system, management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system is recorded in a predetermined area of the recording medium. In addition, the unused area of the predetermined area is treated as a special file. As a result, management information can be reliably added and secured in a predetermined area.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the best embodiment as shown in the drawings.

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 2 shows the logical format of the disc-shaped recording medium 1 according to the present invention. The logical format of the disc shaped recording medium 1 is based on the above-described UDF. The lead-in area 10 is formed at the innermost circumference of the disc-shaped recording medium 1 (hereinafter referred to as 'disk'). Logical sector numbers (hereinafter referred to as 'LSN') are allocated in order from the outside of the lead-in area 10. The volume information area 11, the DAN-1 (Data Area Number 1) area, the DAN-2 area, the DAN-3 area, and the volume information area 12 are formed in this order. In the outermost circumference, the lead-out area 13 is formed. Logical block numbers are assigned to the areas DAN-1 to DAN-3.

3 shows an example of the contents of each of the volume information areas 11 and 12. The volume information area 11 includes a Volume Recognition Sequence (VRS) corresponding to the UDF, a Main Volume Description Sequence (MVDS), and a Logical Volume Sequence (VIS). An anchor point is disposed at the end of the volume information area 11. The contents of the volume information area 11 are written twice as RVDS (Reserve Volume Descriptor Sequence) in the volume information area 12 formed inside the lead-out area 13. One anchor point is arranged at the head and end of the volume information area 12. The anchor point at the end of the volume information area 12 corresponds to the last logical sector number.

The area from logical sector number 272 to (final logical sector number-272) is a partitioned area referred to as Logical Volume Space (LVS). In the LVS, the areas DAN-1 to DAN-3 are formed. The area DAN-1 formed on the innermost circumferential side of the LVS includes a File Set Descriptor (FSD) and a Space Bitmap Descriptor (SBD) corresponding to the UDF. The SBD represents the free area information of the disc 1 with flags for individual sectors. The area DAN-1 represents the FE address of the root directory of the file system hierarchy.

The area DAN-2 includes a file entry (FE) of the directory and a file ID (FID) of the substance of the directory. In other words, the FE of the directory and the FID of the substance thereof are recorded together in the area DAN-2. When the disc is formatted (to be described later), a predetermined recording capacity is allocated for the area DAN-2. As will be described later, an unused area of the area DAN-2 is allocated as a file to which a specific attribute is assigned. Hereinafter, a file composed of an unused area of the area DAN-2 is referred to as an entry information file (EFI). When the unused area of the DAN-2 area is treated as an EIF, the above-mentioned SBD is suppressed from recognizing the unused area as an empty area.

As described with reference to the prior art, the FE represents the location (address) and size of the entity of the file or directory. The Allocation Descriptor (AD) of the FE indicates such information. The FID indicates the name, location (address), and size of the file or directory. The Information Control Block (ICB) of the FID represents this information.

The area DAN-3 is an area including the FE of the file and the substance thereof. In the area DAN-3, the FE of the file and the file corresponding to the FE are arranged at consecutive addresses. When a file is added, the FE and the entity of the file are placed at successive addresses preceded by the consecutive addresses of the existing file and the FE of that entity. Since the file and its FEs are placed at consecutive addresses, the file can be accessed quickly.

4 and 5, a method for managing directories, files, and empty areas according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a partial view illustrating only the DAN-1 to DAN-3 areas shown in FIG. 2. As shown in Fig. 4, data is recorded in the counterclockwise direction. 5 shows a hierarchical structure of FEs, FIDs, and entities.

For example, the FE of the root directory starts at LSN = a. The AD of the FE of the root directory indicates the address and size of the substance of the root directory. The substance of the root directory and the FE of the root directory are placed at consecutive addresses. For example, the address of the substance of the root directory is LSN = a + 1. The substance of the root directory contains at least one FID. The FID indicates the name, address, and size of the sub directory of the root directory. The FE of the sub directory and the substance of the root directory are placed at consecutive addresses. For example, the address of the FE of the sub directory is LSN = a + 2. The AD of the FE of the sub directory indicates the address and size of the substance of the sub directory. The substance of the sub directory and the FE of the sub directory are arranged at consecutive addresses. For example, the address of the substance of the sub directory is LSN = a + 3. The substance of the sub directory contains at least one FID. The FID represents the name, address, and size of a file or other subdirectory.

Since the FE, FID, and the substance are referred to as shown in Fig. 5, the substance of the root directory, information of the sub directory of the root directory, and the like are consecutive addresses with respect to the FE address of the root directory, as shown in Fig. 4. It is arranged at a predetermined position of the innermost circumference of the area DAN-2.

5, the FID of the substance of the root directory indicates the name, address, and size of the FE. The AD of the FE of the EIF indicates the address and size of the substance of the EIF. In this way, since the EIF is treated as a file, like other files, the FE indicates the address and size of the EIF.

As shown in Fig. 6A, the FE of the EIF is disposed behind the substance of the EIF. As will be described below, the start address and / or end address and size of the EIF change depending on the amount of each information written in the DAN-2 area.

The FE of the root directory, the substance of the root directory, the FE of the subdirectory of the root directory, the substance of the subdirectory of the root directory, the FE of the EIF, and the substance of the EIF are placed in the area DAN-2.

The FE of the file and its substance are placed in the area DAN-3. The substance of the file is an area for user data and the like. As shown in Fig. 5, the FID of the substance of the root directory indicates the name, address, and size of the FE of the file. The FE of the file is placed in the area DAN-3. At that point, the starting address of the FE of the file is LSN = d. The AD of the FE of the file indicates the address and size of the substance of the file. The substance of the file and the FE of the file are placed at consecutive addresses. For example, the starting address of the substance of the file is LSN = d + 1.

As described above, when the disk 1 is formed, the area DAN-2 is allocated. Next, an example of the format method for the disc 1 will be described briefly. In this example, the lead-in area 10 and the lead-out area 13 are formed when the disc 1 is manufactured. The formatting process is performed from the inner circumference of the disk 1 to the outer circumference.

When the formatting process begins, the above-described VRS, MVDS, and LVIS are formed from outside of the lead-in area 10. After that, LVS is formed. In the LVS, the area DAN-1 is formed first. Then, an FDS is formed, and the location of the root directory is specified. Thereafter, an SBD is formed. At that point, the area of the above-described EIF is treated as the area where SDB is used. As a result, the area of the EIF is allocated.

After the SBD and DAN-1 regions are formed, the DAN-2 region is formed from outside of the DAN-1 region. When the area DAN-2 is formed, corresponding to the FSD of the area DAN-1, the FE of the root directory and the substance thereof are placed at a predetermined consecutive address. Next, the FID of the EIF is added to the substance of the already formed root directory. FID represents the address of the FE of the EIF.

At that point, attributes of the EIF are assigned to the FID and FE. Alternatively, the FID specifies a "hidden file attribute". The attributes of the EIF prevent the EIF from being erased, rewritten, or moved by other devices or operating systems. For example, "hidden file attribute", "system file attribute", and "read-only file attribute" are also designated as attributes of the EIF.

A "hidden file attribute" is an attribute that prevents files from being browsed in the usual way. "System file attribute" is an attribute that indicates that a file is a system file required for that system. "Read-only file attribute" is an attribute that indicates that the file is a read-only file that prevents the system from being altered or erased. When these three attributes are assigned to a file, the file is prevented from erasing, rewriting, and moving. These attributes can be removed in some way.

Next, the FE of the EIF is formed. As mentioned above, the FE represents the address and size of the file. Therefore, when FE is specified, a dummy file is allocated. In the FE of the EIF, two attributes "read-only file attribute" and "system file attribute" may be specified.

Therefore, when the EIF is placed in the area DAN-2, an empty area of the area DAN-2 may be allocated. As described above, after the disk 1 is formatted, the FE of the sub directory and its substance are placed in the area DAN-2. At that point, the area of the EIF of the area DAN-2 is reduced for the FE of the sub directory and its substance.

As described later, the DAN-2 region may be formed in a manner other than the manner described above. In this case, the positions of the individual information components of the area DAN-2 change.

In this way, the area DAN-2 is formed. Although the DAN-3 region is formed outside the DAN-2 region, no process is performed for the DAN-3 region. For example, the area DAN-3 is skipped. Thereafter, RVDS is formed. After the RVDS is formed, the format process for the disk 1 is completed.

In the above example, the FE of the root directory, its substance, the EIF, and its FE are placed in the DAN-2 area in order. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the address of the FE of the EIF is fixed. The position of the FE of the EIF may be (1) before the root directory, (2) after the root directory, or (3) between the DAN-2 area and the DAN-3 area. Next, referring to Figs. 6A to 6E, a method for placing an EIF in the area DAN-2 will be described corresponding to each case.

6 (a) to 6 (e) each show a DAN-2 region. The area DAN-1 precedes the area DAN-2 (that is, the area DAN-1 is formed on the left side of the area DAN-2). Thus, the LSN increases to the right. 6 (a) to (e) and 7 (a) to (d), the directory is abbreviated as "Dir".

In Fig. 6A, the FE of the root directory and the substance thereof are arranged at the head side of the area DAN-2. The FE of the EIF is placed at the end side of the area DAN-2. The substance of the EIF is placed between the end of the substance of the root directory and the head of the FE of the EIF. In the example shown in Fig. 6A, the FID of the EIF of the substance of the root directory represents the address of the FE of the EIF arranged on the end side of the area DAN-2. The FE of the EIF indicates the start address of the substance of the EIF. In other words, the substance of the EIF precedes the FE of the EIF.

In the example shown in Fig. 6A, the information (FE and the substance) of the sub directory is added after the substance of the root directory disposed in the area DAN-2. The substance of the EIF is reduced from the head for the information in the subdirectory. As a result, the start address of the EIF written in the AD of the FE of the EIF is rewritten.

In the example shown in Fig. 6A, when the address of the FE of the EIF is predesignated, the EIF can be accessed without referring to the FID of the substance of the root directory. Thus, the FID corresponding to the EIF of the substance of the root directory can be prevented from being rewritten. As a result, even if the FE of the EIF is rewritten for some reason, if the FID of the EIF is not lost, the EIF can be easily restored.

FIG. 6B shows an example in which the FE of the EIF and its substance are arranged at the head side of the area DAN-2, and the substance of the root directory and its FE are placed at the end side of the area DAN-2. The FID of the substance of the root directory represents the FE of the EIF. The AD of the FE of the EIF represents the substance of the EIF.

In the example shown in Fig. 6B, the substance of the EIF is reduced from the head for the information of the sub directory added to the area DAN-2. As a result, the FE of the EIF is rewritten. In the example shown in Fig. 6B, the FE of the root directory disposed at the end side of the area DAN-2 is designated after the format process is performed. For example, after the format process is performed, the root directory is placed. At that point, the FE of the root directory is placed.

Typically, in computer systems, disks are accessed from the root directory. Thus, as shown in Fig. 6B, when the FE of the EIF and its substance are placed after the FE of the EIF and its substance, the FE of the root directory and its substance are guaranteed with respect to the FE of the EIF and its substance. .

Similarly, FIG. 6C shows an example in which the FE of the EIF is arranged before the FE of the root directory. In other words, the FE of the EIF and the FE of the root directory are arranged at the head of the area DAN-2. Subsequently, the substance of the root directory and the substance of the EIF are placed, and the FE of the root directory and the substance thereof are placed on the end side of the area DAN-2. FIG. 6E shows an example in which the FE and its substance of the root directory are arranged at the head side of the area DAN-2, and the FE and its substance of the EIF are arranged at the end side of the area DAN-2.

Next, a method for adding a sub directory after the format process will be described in detail. As described above, the FE of the sub directory and its substance are placed in the reduced area of the substance of the EIF of the area DAN-2. Next, with reference to Figs. 7A to 7D, an example of the case shown in Fig. 6A will be described. The information components shown in (a) to (d) of FIG. 7 are the same as those shown in (a) to (e) of FIG.

Fig. 7A shows the contents of the area DAN-2 in the state where the format process has just been performed. FIG. 7A corresponds to FIG. 6A. In the state shown in Fig. 7A, a sub directory is added. As shown in Fig. 7B, the FID representing the sub directory is added after the substance of the root directory. At that point, the area size of the substance of the EIF is reduced. In fact, if the last sector of the substance of the root directory is full, the substance of the EIF is reduced. Otherwise, there is no need to reduce the identity of the EIF.

Then, in order to add the FE of the sub directory, the size of the EIF is further reduced (see FIG. 7C). In this case, it is necessary to reduce the size of the substance of the EIF. Also, as shown in Fig. 7D, in order to add the substance of the sub directory, the size of the EIF is further reduced. In addition, in order to reflect the change in the size of the substance of the EIF, the information of the FE of the EIF is rewritten.

In the above example, the case where the sub directory is added has been described. However, note that this method can be applied even if the file is added to the root directory.

As in the example shown in Fig. 6E, the FE of the EIF may be arranged at the position of the FE of the sub directory. In this case, it is necessary to update the address information of the FID corresponding to the EIF after moving the FE of the EIF to another sector. In the structure shown in Fig. 6A, this process is not necessary.

Next, referring to Fig. 8, a process for adding a file to the root directory will be described. As described above, the FE of the file and its substance are placed in the area DAN-3. When a file is added to the root directory, the FID of the file is written to the substance of the root directory. When necessary, the size of the EIF in the area DAN-2 is reduced. As a result, the FE of the EIF is rewritten.

The FE of the file to be added (file A) is placed at the address represented by the FID added to the substance of the root directory. The substance of File A and the FE of File A are placed at consecutive addresses. When files B, C and the like are written to the disc, the FE of file B is placed after the end of the substance of file A. The FE of file B and its substance are placed at consecutive addresses. This behavior also applies to file C. In other words, the substance of file B and the FE of file C are placed at consecutive addresses. The FE of file C and its substance are placed at consecutive addresses.

Because the substance of the file is placed immediately after the FE, the files can be accessed in order. When a plurality of files are placed in order, they can be accessed more quickly.

When multiple subdirectories are added to the root directory of the area DAN-2, multiple FIDs of entities of the root directory, multiple FEs of subdirectories, and multiple entities thereof are added. As a result, the area DAN-2 is filled with the FID, FE, and the substance of the sub directory.

In order to solve this problem, according to the present invention, when the disk 1 has sufficient space, a new DAN-2 area and a DAN-3 area can be formed after the end of the pile of the DAN-3 area. Hereinafter, the newly formed DAN-2 region and the DAN-3 region are referred to as the DAN-2 'region and the DAN-3' region, respectively.

9 illustrates a region DAN-2 'and a region DAN-3'. The area DAN-2 'is formed in such a manner that AD' is added after the AD of the FE of the EIF in the area DAN-2, so that the size of the EIF is increased. AD 'represents the end address of the file in the area DAN-3 and the size of the EIF' added as the area DAN-2 '. The DAN-3 'region is formed after the substance of the EIF'. The FE and the substance of the sub directory added to the root directory are written in the area DAN-2 '. The file is written in the area DAN-3 '.

At that point, the SBD of the area DAN-1 is rewritten corresponding to the EIF 'disposed in the area DAN-2'. As a result, an area of EIF 'disposed in the area DAN-2' is allocated.

EIF may be destroyed for some reason. When the EIF is destroyed, the substance of the FE of the sub directory is not lost. At that point, an empty area of DAN-2 is not allocated. The substance of the file is rewritten in the area DAN-2. Therefore, it must be restored when the EIF is destroyed.

EIF is restored as follows. For example, when an EIF is erased and a file is added to the same directory, the FID of the EIF of the substance of the root directory is erased.

In the first case, only the FID of the substance of the root directory will be erased. The position of the FE of the EIF remains. In addition, the position of the FE of the EIF is known. In that case, the FID of the EIF is generated corresponding to the FE of the EIF. The generated FID is added to the substance of the root directory. As a result, the EIF is restored.

In the second case, the location of the FE of the EIF is unknown. In that case, all DAN-2 regions are scanned and recalculated to extract the remaining portion of the EIF. By calculating the difference between the extracted portion and the DAN-2 region, the region of the EIF can be obtained. Since the EIF is allocated as a single area in the DAN-2 area, this restoration method can be used.

10 shows a structural example of a drive device according to the present invention. In this example, the disk 1 has a recording layer made of a phase change metal material. The drive device adjusts the laser output, controls the temperature of the recording layer, and changes the crystal / amorphous state in order to record data on the disc 1.

The disk 1 is rotated and driven by the spindle motor 22. The optical pickup 23 records data on the disc 1 and reproduces data from the disc 1. The optical pickup 23 is moved in the radial direction of the disk 1 by the feed motor 24.

Data is supplied to the drive from an external host computer 30 via an interface 29 (eg, Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)). Encoder / decoder block 25 is connected to interface 29. The buffer memory 26 is connected to the encoder / decoder block 25. The buffer memory 26 stores write data or read data.

Write data is supplied to the encoder / decoder block 25 via the interface 29. When data is recorded, the encoder / decoder block 25 generates data in the above-described format. The encoder / decoder block 25 then encodes the data corresponding to that format. When the data is reproduced, the encoder / decoder block 25 performs a decode process on the data and outputs digital data to the host computer 30 via the interface 29. Encoder / decoder block 25 adds an address to the header of the data as a sub code.

Encoder / decoder block 25 supplies write data to laser driver 28 via equalizer 27. The laser driver 28 generates a drive waveform having a predetermined level necessary for recording data on the disk 1. The output signal of the laser driver 28 is supplied to the optical pickup 23. The optical pickup 23 records data on the disc 1. The laser driver 28 appropriately controls the laser power in response to the APC (Automatic Power Control) operation of the RF signal processing block 31. In addition, a signal corresponding to the reflected light of the disk 1 is supplied to the RF signal processing block 31. The address extraction circuit 32 extracts address information from the signal supplied from the RF signal processing block 31. The extracted address information is supplied to the controlling microcomputer 33 (described in detail below).

In the RF signal processing block 31, the matrix amplifier calculates the detection signal of the photo detector and generates a tracking error signal TERR and a focus error signal FERR. The tracking error signal and the focus error signal are supplied to the servo block 34.

The controlling microcomputer 33 uses the extracted address to control the search operation. The control microcomputer 33 also controls the laser power using a control signal. The control microcomputer 33 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory (RAM), and a read only memory (ROM). The controlling microcomputer 33 controls all components of the drive, which are the interface 29, the encoder / decoder block 25, the RF signal processing block 31, the servo block 34, and the like. The memory 36 may be connected to the control microcomputer 33.

The RF signal reproduced from the disc 1 is supplied to the encoder / decoder block 25. The encoder / decoder block 25 performs a decode process (i.e., an error correction process) for decoding an error correction code and a decode process corresponding to a predetermined format, such as a demodulation process for demodulating modulated write data. The encoder / decoder block 25 stores the reproduction data in the buffer memory 26. When the encoder / decoder 25 block receives a read command from the host computer 30, the encoder / decoder block 25 sends the read data to the host computer 30 via the interface 29.

The frame sync signal, tracking error signal, and focus error signal are supplied from the RF signal processing block 31 to the servo block 34. The address information is also supplied from the address extraction circuit 32 to the servo block 34. The servo block 34 performs tracking servo operation and focus servo operation for the optical pickup 23. The servo block 34 also performs a thread servo operation on the feed motor 24.

In the above example, the host computer 30 is connected to the drive device. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to this structure. Instead, other devices can be connected to the drive device as long as the connected device inputs and outputs digital signals and is compatible with the drive device's interface. For example, the drive device may be embedded in a portable digital video camera recorder for recording a photographed image on a disc shaped recording medium.

In the above example, the format data for the disc 1 is generated by the encoder / decoder block 25. However, the present invention is not limited to this example. In other words, the format data can be generated by the controlling microcomputer 33. Alternatively, format data may be supplied from the host computer 30.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above example, the empty area of the area DAN-2 is managed as a file. The FE of the subdirectory of the root directory and its substance are added by reducing the size of the EIF allocated in the format process as a dummy file of the area DAN-2. In contrast, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, an empty area of the area DAN-2 is managed in the memory.

The format of the disk 1 and the structure of the drive device according to the second embodiment are almost the same as those according to the first embodiment.

When the disk 1 'is formatted, the DAN-1 area and the DAN-2 area are formed. At that point, unlike the first embodiment, no specific file EIF is formed for the empty area of the area DAN-2. In other words, a specific area as the area DAN-2 is allocated, but no dummy file for that empty area is placed. Therefore, the SBD disposed in the area DAN-1 indicates that the area is an empty area.

When the disk 1 'formatted in this manner is mounted in the drive device or its power is turned on, the drive device scans all the DAN-2 areas and detects the free areas. The drive device stores information about the detected free area in the memory as the free area management table. The empty area management table is stored in the memory 36 of the structure shown in FIG. The free area management table includes a list of start addresses or end addresses and lengths of free areas.

The structure of the empty area management table is not limited to this example. Alternatively, the area DAN-2 is scanned sector by sector. As a result, bitmap data having a flag for each sector can be constructed.

In other words, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, AD for the free area information of the area DAN-2 is managed in the memory. Therefore, unlike the first embodiment, it is not necessary to allocate EIF to the area DAN-2. As a result, there is no need to deploy the FE of the EIF. Thus, the DAN-2 region can be used more effectively. In addition, since the free area information of the area DAN-2 is managed in the memory, the data of the area DAN-2 can be changed more quickly. As a result, the files and directories of the disk 1 'can be quickly written, added and deleted.

According to the present invention, management information of the file system, such as information on the FE and the substance of the root directory and the sub directory, is written together in the DAN-2 area of the disk 1 '. Thus, when disk 1 'is loaded into the drive or turned on, the disk 1' may be scanned faster to create an empty area management table than if this information was placed on the disk. Can be.

As in the first embodiment, directories and files on the disk 1 'are accessed corresponding to information in the area DAN-2. When a file or directory is added, an element corresponding to the information of the area DAN-2 is written to an empty area management table stored in memory. In addition, the actual information of the area DAN-2 of the disk 1 'is rewritten.

The second embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a device for recording data generally, such as a personal computer. More preferably, the second embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a dedicated device such as a portable digital video camera video recorder for recording a photographed image on a disc shaped recording medium.

Also, in the above example, the present invention is applied to a removable disk type recording medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk. However, it should be noted that the present invention can be applied to other types of recording media as long as the recorded data is managed by specific management information. For example, the present invention can be applied to fixed drives such as hard disk drives.

As described above, according to the present invention, names, addresses, lengths, etc. of directories, files, and the like managed in the disc are recorded together in a predetermined area (DAN-2 area) of the disc. Therefore, such management information can be read quickly.

In addition, according to the present invention, since the names, addresses, lengths, etc. of directories, files, and the like managed on the disc are recorded in the area DAN-2, a time required for restoring a file when such information is destroyed due to a specific cause is increased. Can be shortened.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, an empty area of the area DAN-2 is managed as a file. Therefore, the area DAN-2 is suppressed from being written by another OS.

Further, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, when the management information and the substance of the directory are added, the file managed as the empty area is reduced for the added information. Thus, there is no need to rewrite the substance of the directory.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, when the area DAN-2 is full, the area DAN-2 can be expanded by rewriting information about a file managed as an empty area of the area DAN-2.

Also, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, since a special attribute is assigned to a file managed as an empty area of the area DAN-2, the file managed by the empty area can be prevented from being deleted by another OS. Can be.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to embodiments of the best mode, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes, omissions, and additions in form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (6)

A recording apparatus for recording data based on a hierarchical file system on a disc-shaped recording medium, Means for recording management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system in a specific area of the disc-shaped recording medium; Detection means for detecting an unused area in the specific area; Storage means for storing information of said unused area detected by said detecting means, And the storage means stores information of the unused area that is updated corresponding to the additional recording when the management information is additionally recorded and deleted in the unused area by the recording means. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means detects the unused area when the disc-shaped recording medium is mounted in the recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means detects the unused area when power is supplied to the recording apparatus in a state where the disc-shaped recording medium is mounted on the recording apparatus. A recording method for recording data based on a hierarchical file system on a disc-shaped recording medium, Recording management information for managing the hierarchical structure of the file system in a specific area of the disc-shaped recording medium; A detection step of detecting an unused area in the specific area; A storage step of storing information of the unused area detected by the detection step, And the storing step stores the information of the unused area updated corresponding to the additional recording when the management information is additionally recorded and deleted in the unused area by the recording step. The recording method according to claim 4, wherein the detecting step detects the unused area when the disc-shaped recording medium is mounted in the recording apparatus. 5. The recording method according to claim 4, wherein the detecting step detects the unused area when power is supplied to the recording apparatus while the disc-shaped recording medium is mounted on the recording apparatus.

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