RU2416130C2 - One-time recording optical disc and method and device for recording/reproducing control information onto/from optical disc - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: information technology.

SUBSTANCE: recording medium includes a temporary defect management area. The temporary defect management area includes a first indicator. The first indicator indicates whether the recording medium is closed. The first indicator lies in the front-most position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas.

EFFECT: faster access to the used temporary defect management areas.

22 cl, 8 dwg

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a write-once optical disc, as well as to a method and apparatus for recording / reproducing control information to / from an optical disc, such as a Blu-ray write-once disc (BD-WO).

State of the art

Optical discs on which large data can be recorded are widely used as an optical information carrier. Among them, new high-density optical storage media (HD-DVDs), such as a Blu-ray disc, have recently been developed to record and store high-definition video and high-quality audio data over a long period.

The Blu-ray Disc includes next-generation HD-DVD technology and is the next generation optical recording solution that has the great ability to store more data than existing DVDs. Recently, the technical specification of the international standard for HD-DVD has been adopted. Various standards are being prepared for Blu-ray discs. In particular, standards for Blu-ray disc write once (BD-WO) are offered.

1 schematically illustrates the structure of a recording region of a rewritable Blu-ray disc (BD-RE) according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the disk is divided into a start region, a data region, and an end region located in a direction from the inner to the outer radius. The data area is provided with an internal spare area (ISA) and an external spare area (OSA) located respectively on the inner and outer radii to replace the defective areas, and a user data area provided between the spare areas for recording user data there.

If a defective area is formed in the user data area while the data is being recorded onto a Blu-ray disc (BD-RE), the data is transferred from the defective area to the spare area and written to part of the spare area. This part of the spare area is known as the replacement area for replacing the defective area. In addition, location information related to the defective area, i.e. location information about the defective area and the corresponding replacement area, is recorded in the defect management areas (DMA1, DMA2, DMA3 and DMA4) that are provided in the start / end areas for performing defect management. BD-RE has a cluster as a minimum unit of record. One cluster contains a total of 32 sectors, and one sector contains 2048 bytes.

Since dubbing can be performed in any area of the BD-RE, the entire area of the disc can be used randomly, regardless of the particular recording method. Also, since defect management information can be recorded, deleted, and overwritten in the defect management areas (DMA), it does not matter that the size of the defect management area is small. In particular, BD-RE allocates and uses 32 clusters for each of the defect management (DMA) areas.

On the other hand, in a write-once disc, for example BD-WO, recording can only be done once in a specific area of the disc, and accordingly, the recording method is very limited. Essentially, defect management becomes one of the important issues when you need to write data to high-density write-once discs, such as BD-WO. Accordingly, a write-once disc requires a management area to record defect management and disc management information there. In this regard, a write-once optical disc requires a larger management area for recording information about defect management and disc usage, due to its exceptional “write once" feature.

However, a single standard that satisfies the above requirements is not available for a write-once disc, such as BD-WO. Moreover, any standard related to the write-once optical discs declared today cannot solve the aforementioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the present invention is directed to a write-once optical disc, as well as a device and method for recording / reproducing control information on / from the optical disc, which essentially eliminate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for separately recording and managing control information on a write-once disc, thereby increasing the efficiency of using the plurality of temporary disc / defect management areas (TDMA) provided on the disc. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for efficiently recording and reproducing information using an optical disc that controls.

Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to ordinary specialists in the art after studying the following, or may be learned from the practical application of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention can be realized and achieved by the construction shown in detail in the written description and claims, as well as in the accompanying drawings.

In order to achieve these objectives and other advantages, and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as implemented and described generally herein, a recording medium is provided comprising at least one recording layer, a plurality of temporary defect management areas (TDMA) in said at least one recording layer and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one recording layer, wherein at least one of said TDMA areas includes a first and a second указ pointers, the first pointer indicating which TDMA is the used TDMA, and the second pointer indicating whether the recording medium is closed.

In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium comprising at least one recording layer, a plurality of temporary control areas on said at least one recording layer, and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one recording layer, wherein at least one of said temporary control areas includes a DMA access indicator indicating whether the recording medium is closed. In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of recording control information on a recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes a plurality of temporary defect management areas (TDMA) on at least one recording layer and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one recording layer, the method comprising writing the first and second pointers to at least one of the TDMAs, the first pointer indicating which TDMA is used TDMA, and the second pointer indicates whether the recording medium is closed.

In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of recording control information on a recording medium, the recording medium including a plurality of temporary control areas on at least one recording layer and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one recording layer, this method comprises the step of recording at least one of said temporary control areas a DMA access indicator indicating whether the recording medium is closed.

In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for quick access to a recording medium, comprising the steps of: reading access information (TAI) to TDMA (temporary disc management area) information from a loaded recording medium; determining, based on the TAI information, whether the recording medium is closed; and accessing control information from the used TDMA based on the TAI information, if it is determined in the determination step that the recording medium is not closed.

In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing control information on a recording medium, the recording medium including a plurality of temporary defect management areas (TDMA) on at least one recording layer and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one a recording layer, wherein the device comprises a recording unit for recording the first and second pointers in at least one of the aforementioned TDMA areas, the first pointer being indications AET which TDMA is the TDMA is used, and the second indicator indicating whether the recording medium is closed.

In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for providing control information on a recording medium, the recording medium including a plurality of temporary control areas on at least one recording layer and a plurality of defect management areas (DMA) on said at least one recording layer, the apparatus comprises a recording unit for recording in at least one of said temporary control areas of the DMA access indicator indicating whether the medium is closed records.

In another further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for quick access to a storage medium, comprising: a head module; a controller controlling the head module for reading TDMA access index (TAI) information from the loaded recording medium, determining, based on the TAI information, whether the recording medium is closed, and accessing control information from the TDMA used based on the information TAI, if the recording medium is defined as not being private.

It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are illustrative and explanatory, and are intended to provide further explanation of the claimed invention.

List of drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment (s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings:

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a rewritable Blu-ray disc according to the prior art;

2A and 2B are views illustrating, respectively, a structure of a single-layer write-once optical disc and a structure of a double-layer write-once optical disc according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3A-3E are views illustrating a structure of a TAI and a method for recording and applying a TAI for a single-layer write-once optical disc and a double-layer write-once optical disc according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4A-4C are views illustrating a structure of a TAI and a method for recording and applying a TAI for a single-layer write-once optical disc and a double-layer write-once optical disc according to another embodiment of the present invention;

5A is a view illustrating a variety of disc defect management information and disc usage status information recorded in TDMA according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5B is a view illustrating a structure of a TDDS according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6A and 6B are views illustrating two examples of TAI contents according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a block diagram illustrating an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a flowchart illustrating an optical recording / reproducing method using an optical recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The optimal mode of carrying out the invention

Detailed reference will now be made to preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or similar elements.

For convenience of description, a write-once optical disc is shown as an example of a Blu-ray disc write-once (BD-WO).

2A and 2B are views illustrating the structure of a write-once optical disc, such as BD-WO, and a method for recording control information on a disc according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In particular, FIG. 2A illustrates a single-layer write-once optical disc having one recording layer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2B illustrates a dual-layer write-once optical disc having two recording layers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2A, a single layer optical disk includes a start region 30, a data region 32, and an end region 34 in a direction from the inner to the outer radius. The data area 32 includes an internal spare area (ISA) and an external spare area (OSA) for replacing defective areas, and a user data area for recording user data there. A write once optical disc also includes a plurality of temporary TDMA disc / defect management areas in addition to a plurality of disc / defect management areas (DMA). DMAs (DMA1-DMA4) are provided in the start and end areas 30 and 34. TDMAs store temporary control information, while DMAs store more permanent control information. For example, when a disk needs to be finished (finalized) or closed, the control information stored in TDMA is transferred to each of the DMAs and stored in each of the DMAs. The same information is re-stored four times using multiple DMAs.

In this case, two TDMAs are provided on the disc, which are referred to as TDMA0 and TDMA1. A TDMA0 having a constant size (for example, 2048 clusters) is located in the start area 30, and a TDMA1 having a variable size is provided in a spare OSA area having a variable size. TDMA0 must necessarily be presented on disk, while TDMA1 is selectively allocated with different sizes, respectively. For example, the size of TDMA1 may be equal to 1/4 of the size (N * 256 clusters) of the OSA, so that P = (N * 256/4) clusters, where P is equal to the size of TDMA1, and N is a positive integer.

Moreover, said plurality of TDMAs are used in a specific order of use. For example, the usage sequence is such that TDMA0 is used first, and then TDMA1.

Identification numbers (TDMA0 and TDMA1) are given by TDMA in a sequential order, depending on the order of use.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, control information for managing a plurality of TDMAs is recorded in the head portion of TDMA0. This TDMA control information is referred to herein as a TDMA Access Index (TAI), for example, element 50 in FIG. 2A. TAI may also be called TLI (TDMA Location Indicator). The TAI identifies which TDMA of all TDMAs to be used in a particular sequence / order of use is “used TDMA”. “Used TDMA” is a TDMA that is currently being used / accessed, or which is currently available for use among all TDMAs having a designated use order. TAI also provides information on whether the disk is currently closed / finished.

TAI can significantly reduce the initial disk access time, since the TAI identifies the TDMA in use and, therefore, information about the last defect management and disk usage status can be quickly obtained from the identified TDMA in use. This is useful, especially when the disk is initially loaded. Without TAI, it is necessary to scan all TDMAs to determine which TDMA is the used TDMA in order to obtain the necessary control information from that used TDMA.

In the single-layer write-once disc of FIG. 2A, the TAI 50 is provided by the first two main clusters 50a and 50b from among the 2048 permanent TDMA0 clusters. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, a dual-layer write-once optical disc includes a first recording layer (Layer 0) and a second recording layer (Layer 1). The first recording layer (Layer 0) includes an initial region 40 and an outer zone 0, respectively, in regions along the inner and outer radii of the disc. The second recording layer (Layer 1) includes an end region 41 and an outer zone 1, respectively, in regions along the inner and outer radii of the disk. The start and end regions 40 and 41 are known as inner zones.

In addition, the disc includes a data area 42 on each of the recording layers. The data area of the first recording layer (Layer 0) includes the internal and external backup areas ISA0 and OSA0 and the user data area 43 between them. The data area of the second recording layer (Layer 1) includes internal and external backup areas ISA1 and OSA1 and a user data area 44 between them. ISA0 has a fixed size, for example 2048 clusters. ISA1, OSA0 and OSA1 are variable in size. For example, the size of ISA1 can be (L * 256) clusters, and the size of each of OSA0 and OSA1 can be (N * 256) clusters, where L and N are positive integers. The disc also includes a plurality of DMAs (DMA1-DMA4) in the start area 40, the outer areas 0, 1 and the end area 41. The same information is re-recorded in the DMA for the purpose of redundancy.

In addition, the disc includes a plurality of TDMAs (TDMA0, TDMA1, TDMA2, TDMA3, and TDMA4) in addition to DMA. TDMA0 and TDMA1 are in the start and end areas 40 and 41 (inner zones) and have fixed sizes (e.g., 2048 clusters). TDMA2, TDMA3 and TDMA4 are provided with variable sizes, which vary in accordance with the variable sizes of the respective spare areas. For example, the size of each of TDMA2, TDMA3, and TDMA4 may be ¼ the size of the corresponding spare area. In one example, each of TDMA2 and TDMA3 has a size of P = N * 256/4 clusters, and TDMA4 has a size of Q = L * 256/4 clusters.

Moreover, all TDMAs are used in a specific order of use. For example, TDMA0-TDMA4 are used in order from TDMA0 to TDMA4. This means that whenever a write to TDMA is required, TDMA0 is used first to write to it. When TDMA0 is full, that is, completely used up, then TDMA1 is used next to write to it. When TDMA1 is full, then TDMA2 is then used to write to it, etc. Identification numbers (TDMA0 to TDMA4) are given by TDMA in a sequential order, depending on the order of use.

As in the single-layer write-once disc of FIG. 2A, the dual-layer optical disc of FIG. 2B also includes a TAI 57 in the TDMA0 head region, preferably located in the initial region 40 of the disc. In general, since more TDMA regions are provided on a dual-layer optical disc compared to a single-layer disc, providing TAIs on a dual-layer optical disc is of great importance.

In a two-layer optical disc, the TAI is represented by the first five head clusters 57a-57e from among the 2048 permanent TDMA0 clusters.

3A-3B are views illustrating a structure of a TAI according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3A illustrates the structure and use of TAI in a single-layer write-once optical disc, for example, a single-layer BD-WO, and Fig. 3B illustrates the structure and use of TAI in a single-layer write-once optical disc, for example, a double-layer BD-WO. The TAI structures, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, are applicable to the discs shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

As shown in FIG. 3A, in a single-layer write-once optical disc, the TAI 50 consists of the first two head clusters 50a and 50b of the TDMA0 region on the disc. One of the two TAI indicator clusters 50a and 50b is used as a DMA disk close indicator 51 to indicate whether the optical disk is closed / finished, and the other of the two TAI indicator clusters 50a and 50b is used as a pointer 52 used by TDMA1 to indicate whether TDMA1 is used by TDMA. In this example, the first head cluster 50a of the TAI indicator 50 functions as the DMA disk close indicator 51, and the second head cluster 50b functions as the indicator of used TDMA1. However, this assigned order can be changed as needed.

The indicator 52 used TDMA1 indicates directly whether the corresponding TDMA1 used TDMA. This indication is accomplished by providing a specific entry in the second cluster 50b of the TAI 50. If the TAI cluster 50b has this specific entry in it, then it is considered that the TAI cluster 50b is in a “recorded state”. If the TAI cluster 50b does not have this specific entry in it, then it is considered that the TAI cluster 50b is not in a “recorded state”. If the TAI cluster 50b (indicator 51 of the used TDMA1) is not in the recorded state, this means that the first TDMA0 used is the used TDMA. If the TAI cluster 50b is in the recorded state, this means that the next TDMA1 is the used TDMA, which means that the used TDMA0 is full, that is, completely used up, so there is no space for writing to the TDMA0.

Accordingly, by checking the recorded / unrecorded status of the TAI cluster 50b, the recording / reproducing apparatus can quickly determine which TDMA can and should be used at present during the disk data recording operation. This significantly reduces disk access time and provides an efficient and effective way to perform disk write operations.

The DMA disc close indicator 51 is operable to inform whether the write-once optical disc is closed / finished. This can be accomplished by writing certain data to the first TAI indicator cluster 50a. If there is such a record in the first TAI cluster 50a, then it is considered that the first TAI cluster 50a is in a recorded state, and the recorded state of the first TAI cluster 50a means that the disk is finished / closed. If there is no such record in the first TAI cluster 50a, then it is considered that the first TAI cluster 50a is not in the recorded state, which, in turn, means that the disk is not yet finished / closed.

The user or the host device may require closing the disk, or closing the disk can be started automatically if there is no user data area or control data area in order to write user / control data there. After the disc is closed, the disc is essentially in a read-only state, thereby making it impossible to subsequently write user data. Closing a disc is also called ending a disc or ending a disc.

If the disc needs to be closed as described above, the optical recording / reproducing apparatus transmits and records the latest control information from the most recent TDMA to each of the DMAs. At this time, the first TAI cluster 50a (DMA disk close indicator cluster 51) is recorded with data (e.g., dummy data or some other data) to put it into a recorded state. The recorded status of the first TAI cluster 50a indicates that the disk is closed. As shown in FIG. 3C, if none of the TAI clusters 50a and 50b is in the recorded state, this means that the TDMA used is TDMA0 as the first TDMA and the disc is not closed.

The TAI clusters 50a and 50b are brought into a recorded state by recording some TAI clusters 50a and 50b. This can be done by recording TAI clusters 50a and 50b with high frequency signals, dummy data, or real data (meaningful information). For example, the latest information of a temporary disc description structure (TDDS) of a corresponding TDMA may be recorded in a corresponding TAI cluster as an example of using real data to set a TAI cluster in a recorded state. Examples of recording such real data in TAI clusters will be described later with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B.

Thus, the TAI includes disk closure information as well as information about the TDMA used from among the TDMAs.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a two-layer disc may have up to five TDMA (TDMA0-TDMA4). In this case, the TAI for such a disk is composed of the first five TDMA0 head clusters, where the first TDMA0 head cluster functions as a DMA disk close indicator, and the next four TDMA0 head clusters (second to fifth) function as indicators of the used TDMA. The second through fifth clusters TDMA0 relate respectively to TDMA1-TDMA4, so that they function as indicators used TDMA1-TDMA4, respectively. Each of these used TDMA handles, as discussed in connection with FIG. 3A, indicates whether the corresponding TDMA is a used TDMA.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of a TAI structure 57 for a dual-layer write-once disc of FIG. 2B according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3B, TAI 57 is composed of head clusters 57a-57e of the first to fifth TDMA0 regions. The first TAI cluster 57a functions as a DMA disk close indicator 51. From the second to the fifth clusters 57b-57e, the TAIs function respectively as pointers 55-52 of the used TDMA4-TDMA1. Essentially, second to fifth TAI clusters 57b-57e are used in decreasing order of address, which is indicated by the "write direction" arrow. That is, writing to TAI clusters 57b-57e occurs sequentially from cluster 57e to cluster 57b. However, these clusters can be used in the opposite direction.

If none of the second to fifth TAI clusters 57b-57e are in a recorded state, this means that the first TDMA0 used is the used TDMA. If the fifth TAI cluster 57e (indicator 52 of used TDMA1) is the only one in the recorded state, this means that TDMA0 is full and TDMA1 is used TDMA. If only the fifth and fourth TAI clusters 57e and 57d are in a recorded state, this means that TDMA0 and TDMA1 are full, and TDMA2 is a used TDMA. This is illustrated in FIG. The rest of the clusters are used in a similar way.

If all TAI 57 clusters 57a-57e are in a recorded state, as shown in FIG. 3E, this means that the disc is closed and no data can now be written to any area of the disc. Accordingly, only disc playback can be allowed.

4A to 4C are views illustrating a structure of a TAI according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4A illustrates the structure and use of TAI in a single-layer write-once optical disc, such as a single-layer BD-WO, and Figs. 4B and 4C illustrate the structure and use of TAI in a single-layer write-once optical disc, e.g., a dual-layer BD-WO. The TAI structures, as shown in FIGS. 4A-4C, are applicable to the discs and TAIs (57) shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.

In this embodiment, the TAI indicates which TDMA is the used TDMA by indicating which TDMA is full. In the example of FIGS. 4A-4C, suppose that TDMAs are used sequentially from TDMA0 to TDMA1 (single layer disc), or to TDMA4 (dual layer disc), as discussed above.

Also, TAI is used in the order starting from a TAI cluster having a lower PSN to a TAI cluster having a senior PSN.

As shown in FIG. 4A, in the example of a single layer disc, two clusters 172a and 172b are allocated to TAI 172. The first and second clusters TAI pointer 172a and 172b function respectively as TDMA0 fill indicator 173 and TDMA1 fill indicator 174. Accordingly, if only TDMA0 is full, the first TAI cluster 172a (TDMA0 fill indicator 173) is only indicated as being in a recorded state. This means that TDMA1 is a used TDMA and can be used. If the first TAI cluster 172a is not in a recorded state, this means that TDMA0 is not yet full and is available for use. That is, TDMA0 is a used TDMA and can be used. If the first and second TAI clusters 172a and 172b are both in the recorded state, then TDMA0 and TDMA1 are all full, which means that there is no TDMA available for recording control information, and that the disk is closed / finished.

As shown in FIG. 4B, in a two-layer write-once disc, first through fifth clusters 175a-175e are allocated to TAI 175 and recorded sequentially in that order in this example. The first to fifth clusters 175a-175e relate to TDMA0-TDMA4, respectively, and function as TDMA0-TDMA4 fill pointers 176-180, respectively. Each TAI cluster indicates whether the corresponding TDMA is full.

Accordingly, for example, if there is no TAI cluster in the recorded state, this means that TDMA0 is a used TDMA. If only the first TAI cluster 175a is in a recorded state, this means that TDMA0 is full and the TDMA used is TDMA1. If only the first and second TAI clusters 175a and 175b are in a recorded state, this means that TDMA0 and TDMA1 are full and TDMA2 is now available for use. If all five TAI clusters 175a-175e are in a recorded state, as shown in FIG. 4C, this means that the TDMA0-TDMA4 is completely exhausted and there is no usable TDMA. In this case, since the corresponding disk does not have an area for recording TDMS information therein, the disk ends / closes.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 4A-4C, TDMA TDI padding indicators can be used to determine if a disk is finished / closed, and therefore can function like a disk close indicator. For example, if the TAI cluster 174 (TDMA1 fill indicator) in the example of FIG. 4A is in a recorded state, this means that the disc is closed / finished. In the example of FIG. 4C, if the TAI cluster 180 (TDMA4 padding indicator) is in a recorded state, this means that the disk is closed / finished.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the TAI clusters shown in FIGS. 3A-4C can be used sequentially in decreasing order of address or increasing address. However, it is desirable that the TAI clusters are written in the order starting from the cluster having the highest PSN (physical sector number) to the cluster having the lower PSN, as shown in FIG. 3B. This will prevent a violation of the OPC (Optimum Power Calibration, not shown) located in the inner radius direction near TDMA0.

According to the present invention, since the recording / reproducing apparatus checks the recorded state in the TAI to determine the location of the used TDMA, if the disc is loaded, the recording / reproducing apparatus can quickly move to the starting position of the used TDMA to read from there the last recorded TDMS information (temporary control structure disk), thereby initially obtaining a variety of initialization information for playback. However, if there is no TAI, the recorder / player is forced to scan all TDMAs starting with TDMA0 in order to find available TDMA. This is a disadvantage because it takes a long time to access the disc for initial playback. Thus, the present invention effectively overcomes the aforementioned disadvantage by providing and using TAI. In addition, the TAI pointer DMA disk close indicator quickly indicates whether any writing to the disk can be made.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, if a single-layer write-once disc has more than two TDMAs, or if a double-layer write-once disc has a certain number of TDMAs, then the total number of TAI clusters present in the TAI as indications of used TDMAs varies according to the total number of TDMAs present on drive. For example, if there is a TDMA of X on the disk, then there are (X-1) TAI clusters that function as indications of the TDMA used. Each of these TAI clusters would correspond to one of the TDMAs, typically excluding the first TDMA (TDMA0), in order of use of TDMA.

TAIs 50, 57, 172, 175 are located in the TDMA0 header located in the initial region of a single layer or double layer disk, as shown in 2A and 2B. However, any location of the TAI on the disc is acceptable if it is located inside an area that the recorder can initially recognize as a control area. In this regard, the data area of the disc can be excluded. For example, alternatively, TAI may be provided at the end of TDMA0. As another alternative, a TAI may be provided in one, some, or each of the DMA single-layer / double-layer write-once discs.

5A illustrates a variety of disc defect management information and disc usage status information, where this information is recorded in TDMA. Whenever recording to a disc is performed, recording is usually performed through more than one cluster, usually the smallest unit of recording. A variety of disc management information recorded in a TDMA (e.g., TDMA0, TDMA1, TDMA2, TDMA3 or TDMA4) are collectively referred to herein as TDMS (temporary disc management structure) information. TDMS information may be changed or added depending on the standard.

As shown in FIG. 5A, TDMS information includes, but is not limited to, a temporary defect list (TDFL) for recording disk defect management information, sequential recording range information (SRRI) used in sequential recording mode as information for disc usage mode representations, a separation bitmap (SBM) used in a random recording mode, and disc description temporary structure (TDDS) information including the latest TDFL and SRRI (or SBM) position information. SRRI and SBM cannot be used at the same time, and either SSRI or SBM is written to disk depending on the recording mode.

For example, in the context of the disc structure shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, each of the TDMA0 ~ TDMA4 includes one or more TDFL / SBM / SRRIs, each of which is recorded with TDDS in one cluster during each recording / update, as shown on figa. That is, for each TDFL / SBM / SRRI record with TDDS, one cluster is provided. Typically, the last sector of each such cluster is intended to store TDDS information therein, as shown in FIG. 5A. However, the first sector, instead of the last sector of each such cluster, can also be used to store TDDS information.

The TDDS information includes general information about recording / reproducing a disc, and is usually always checked when loading a disc into a recording / reproducing apparatus, as it includes reference information for indicating recent TDFL and SRRI (or SBM) locations, as described above . According to the disk usage status, the TDDS information is continuously updated, and the updated TDDS information is recorded in the TDMA during each update / recording. Therefore, the latest TDDS in the most recently used TDMA should be checked to access a variety of control information about the current disk usage status.

5B is a view illustrating a structure of a TDDS according to an embodiment of the present invention. This structure can be applied to any disk structure that has TDDS in it. 5B, the variety of information recorded in a TDDS includes, but is not limited to: a TDDS identifier field 61 and a TDDS format field 62 for recognizing a TDDS property; field 63 "TDDS update counter" to indicate the number of TDDS updates; a “First Drive Area PSN” field 64 for recording various drive information; field “First PSN of the list of defects” for indicating the number of the first physical sector of the list of defects in the case when the disk is closed; field 66 "LSN position 0 of the user data area" (LSN = number of the last sector) and field 67 "last LSN of the user data area" to indicate the beginning and end of the user data area; field 68 “Size of internal reserve area 0”, field 69 “Size of external reserve area” and field 70 “Size of internal reserve area 1” to indicate the size of the corresponding reserve area; field 71 “Flags for filling the reserve area” for selective indication of whether the reserve areas are fully used (filled); a Recording Mode field 72 for indicating a disc recording mode, for example, a sequential recording mode or a random recording mode; field 73 "General flag bits" to indicate whether there is write protection disk; incompatibility flag field 74 for indicating the update status of the TDMS information; field 75 "Last recorded address of the user data area" for indicating the location of the last recorded user data within the user data area; field 76 "TDMA Size in the external spare area" and field 77 "TDMS Size in the internal spare area 1" to indicate the size of the corresponding TDMA located in the spare area; field 78 "First PSN of the first cluster of the defect list" to indicate the first physical sector number of the most recent defect list in the most recent TDMA to field 79 "First PSN of the eighth defect list cluster" to indicate the eighth physical sector number (the list of defects usually does not exceed four clusters in a single-layer optical disk and eight clusters in a two-layer optical disk); field 80 "First PSN SRRI / SBM for L0" and field 81 "First PSN SBM for L1" to indicate the location of SRRI (or SBM), which is recorded finally in sequential or random recording mode; field 82 “Next available PSN ISA0”, field 83 “next available PSN OSA0”, field 84 “next available PSN ISA1”, field 85 “next available PSN ISA1” to indicate the next available physical sector number in the corresponding spare area; and field 86 "Year / month / day of recording" for indicating the time of recording, and field 87 "ID of the drive" for indicating the manufacturer, additional identification, serial number, etc.

Some of these TDDS fields may be immutable fields (not updated). Such fields may include field 61 “TDDS ID”, fields 68-70 “Internal backup area size 0, 1”, field 69 “External backup area size”, field 72 “Recording mode”, field 76 “TDMA size in external spare area ”, field 77“ TDMA size in internal spare area 1 ”among the TDDS information discussed above. For convenience of description, the information included in these immutable fields is called “unchanged control field” information. Since the information of an unchanged control field also does not matter which TDDS is played, the full disc structure, recording method, etc. can be determined by this information.

Moreover, some of the TDDS fields may need to be updated continuously, on demand. Such fields may include fields 78 ... 79 “First PSN of the first defect list cluster” ... “First PSN of the eighth defect list cluster”, field 82 “Next available PSN ISA0”, field 83 “Next available PSN ISA1” and field 85 “Next available PSN OSA1. " For convenience of description, the information included in these variable fields is called “variable control field” information.

Thus, if TDDS information is recorded in the TAI and reproduced according to an embodiment of the present invention, the complete disc structure, recording method / mode, and the like. can be, first of all, determined by the information of an unchanged control field. For example, the corresponding TDMA is readily available from the TDMA area size information included in the unchanged control field information.

6A and 6B illustrate two examples of different contents of a TAI cluster according to an embodiment of the present invention. Although FIGS. 6A and 6B show one TAI cluster, each TAI cluster discussed herein may have the same or similar content structure.

In particular, FIGS. 6A and 6B are examples of writing some real data to TAI clusters in order to selectively place TAI clusters in a recorded state. Some or all of such real data recorded in the TAI can be directly used to indicate whether the TAI cluster (s) are in the recorded state in order to identify the TDMA used, as discussed above. The use of such real data has the advantage that additional substantial information can be provided through the TAI in addition to indicating the currently used TDMA. It should be noted, however, that dummy data or any other designated signals can be recorded in TAI clusters to indicate the recorded / unrecorded status of TAI clusters. The TAI content structures of FIGS. 6A and 6B are applicable to the TAI and disc structures shown in FIGS. 2A-5B and the methods of FIG.

According to one example, as shown in FIG. 6A, a TAI cluster that corresponds to a particular TDMA (or the most recent TDMA when the TAI cluster indicates disk closure) as discussed above includes the most recent TDDS information associated with the TDMA corresponding to the TAI cluster, in addition to information indicating whether the corresponding TDMA is a used TDMA. In the case where the last TDDS is recorded in the last cluster of each TDMA, the TDMA including the latest TDDS and the used TDMA may differ from each other, which may, in turn, cause errors when accessing the disk. By providing additional information to the TAI, as in FIG. 6A, such an error can be prevented.

A detailed description of this situation will follow with reference to FIG. First, suppose that TAI is written to cluster elements, the cluster is the minimum unit of record. In the first sector (Sector 0) of the TAI cluster having 32 sectors, there is an identification field 92 (“TAI Identifier”) to enable recognition of TAI information, a TAI format information field (“TAI format”) 93 associated with a version of the present disc, and TAI update counting field 94 (“TAI Update Counter”) to increase the count value by 1 whenever a TAI is updated. The update counting field 94 can also be used even as information to indicate how many clusters can be present in the TAI. Moreover, there is field 95 is located TDDS (“Last TDDS Location”) to provide TDMA information in which the latest TDDS information is located.

The remaining area 96 of the first sector (Sector 0) of the TAI cluster is used to indicate the recorded or unrecorded status of the TAI cluster by using a predetermined value (for example, setting the field to “00h”). For example, if the remaining area 96 of Sector 0 of the TAI cluster has a specific assigned record, as discussed above, then the TAI cluster is considered to be in a recorded state to indicate the usage status of the corresponding TDMA or to close the disk, as discussed above with respect to FIGS. 3A-4C.

The TDDS location field 95 in the first sector (Sector 0) of the TAI cluster identifies the TDMA into which the latest TDDS information is recorded, regardless of whether that TDMA is used up. For example, the values of this field 95 can be set so that “0000 0000b” means that the last TDDS itself exists in TDMA0, “0000 0001b” means that the last TDDS itself exists in TDMA1, “0000 0011b” means that the last TDDS itself exists in TDMA3, and “0000 0100b” means that the last TDDS itself exists in TDMA4. Other examples are possible. Accordingly, in the example of FIG. 3C, if only the second TAI cluster 50b cluster 50b is in the recorded state (for example, the TAI cluster region 50b 96b in FIG. 3C is in the recorded state) and the TDDS location field 95 (i.e., the second TAI cluster 50b on figs) has the value "0000 0000b", this means that the used TDMA is TDMA1, but the latest updated TDDS (the latest TDDS information) is located in the TDMA0 of the disk.

In addition, the latest TDDS information is recorded in the TDDS information field (“Latest TDDS”) 97 of the second sector (Sector 1 of the TAI cluster). As a result, TAI can be applied directly even to recover the latest TDDS information. This is useful because even if the latest TDDS information recorded in the latest TDMA as part of the TDMS information is corrupted, important TDDS information will not be lost since it can be recovered from the TAI recorded in TDMA0. Some or all of the remaining sectors (98) of the TAI cluster may have a copy of the latest TDDS information stored in the TDDS information field 97. Each TDDS information is recorded in the size of one sector. So, for example, if 3 sectors of a TAI cluster are each recorded with the same latest TDDS information, this means that the latest TDDS information is stored three times in the TAI.

The latest TDDS information stored in the TAI cluster field 97 may be the latest TDDS information or the first TDDS information. For example, if the TDMA corresponding to the TAI cluster becomes used TDMA, then an entry is made in field 96 to indicate that the corresponding TDMA is currently in use. At this time, the first TDDS information recorded in the corresponding TDMA is copied and recorded in the TDDS cluster TAI information field 97 as the latest TDDS information. The first TDDS information is recorded in field 97 because the corresponding TDMA is still in use and is not full at this time. Thus, according to the point in time when the TAI is updated, the latest TDDS information recorded in the TAI may be the last TDDS recorded in the corresponding TDMA (for example, when the corresponding TDMA is full), or it may be the first TDDS recorded in the used TDMA (then there when appropriate TDMA is currently available for use).

As another example, the latest TDDS information can be copied up to 32 times in a TAI cluster. Any remaining sector of the TAI cluster can be given a specific value, for example 00h, if it is not used. Since each recording of TDDS information is allocated a size of one sector, this means that the TAI cluster as a whole can be recorded with the same latest TDDS information up to 32 times, as shown in FIG. 6B. In this example, the first TDDS information recorded in the corresponding TDMA is recorded 32 times in the TAI cluster. And the recording of the first TDDS information in the TAI cluster is applied directly as a pointer to the used TDMA / disk close of the TAI cluster. This is an example of using recording real data (such as TDDS information) in a TAI cluster to selectively indicate whether a TAI cluster is in a recorded state. Thus, the TAI cluster not only indicates which TDMA is used by TDMA or whether the disc is closed, but also provides the latest TDDS information associated with the corresponding TDMA.

Accordingly, the optical recording / reproducing apparatus can check the TAI from the loaded disc to determine if the disc is closed. If the disc is closed, the latest TDDS information of the disc can be obtained by reading the latest TDDS information recorded in the TAI cluster. Moreover, the TAI can be checked to identify the location of the used TDMA, as it indicates which TDMA is currently used by the TDMA. Then, by accessing and using the “fixed control field” information in the TDDS information recorded in the corresponding TAI cluster, spare areas may or may not be allocated on the disk, and the size of the allocated spare areas and / or TDMA may be obtained.

After that, the recorder / player can move the head to the used TDMA area to scan from the beginning of the corresponding TDMA area, thereby confirming the last recorded TDDS.

Therefore, the “variable control field” information recorded in the TDDS can be confirmed, and the confirmed information can be used to enable reading of the last TDFL, SRRI (or SBM), thereby reading information about the recording status of the disc and the defective areas in general.

An optical recording and reproducing method and apparatus using TAIs according to an embodiment of the present invention is discussed below. 7 illustrates a recording / reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The methods of the present invention may be implemented by the device of FIG. 7 or other suitable device / system. The recording / reproducing apparatus includes a recording / reproducing module 10 for performing reproduction and / or recording from / to the optical disc, and a control unit (or main device) 20 for controlling the recording / reproducing module 10. The control unit 20 sends to the recording / reproducing unit 10 a recording command or a playback command for a specific area on the disc. The recording / reproducing unit 10 performs recording / reproduction in a specific area in accordance with the command of the control unit 20. The recording / reproducing module 10 may use an optical drive.

The recording / reproducing module 10 may include an interface module 12 for exchanging information with an external device, such as a control module 20; head module 11 for directly recording or reproducing data to / from an optical disc; a data processing processor 13 for receiving a playback signal from the head module 11 to convert the received signal to appropriate signal values, or to modulate the signal to be recorded into a corresponding recording signal for the optical disk; a servomechanism 14 for controlling the head module 11 to accurately read signals from an optical disk, or to accurately record signals to an optical disk; a memory 15 for temporarily storing a variety of information, including control information and data; and a microprocessor 16 for controlling operations and structural elements within the module 10.

A description will now be made of a disc reproduction method using the TAI in a recording / reproducing apparatus according to any embodiment of the present invention, referring to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, if the write-once optical disc is loaded in the optical recording / reproducing apparatus, the apparatus proceeds to the TDMA0 of the disc to read the TAI (S10). It is determined whether the loaded disc is closed by checking the TAI information, in particular the DMA disc closing indicator, the TAI indicator (S20).

At this stage, if it is determined that the disk is closed, since the cluster of the DMA disk close indicator is in the recorded state, the device moves the head module to the designated area (for example, DMA) to read the last recorded control information (S30). In the case when the disc is closed, as described above, writing to the disc can no longer be performed. Therefore, the control information is used to perform data reproduction (S40).

On the other hand, if it is determined that if the disc is not closed, the recorder / player proceeds to the used TDMA indicated by the cluster (s) of the used TDMA of the TAI to read control information, including the latest TDDS information recorded in the used TDMA (S50 ) Such TDDS information may also be obtained from TAI. Also, the recording / reproducing apparatus first reads the “constant control field” information from the TDDS recorded in the TAI to obtain information about the complete structure of the disc and the like, and then can also go to the currently used TDMA area to read the latest information of the "variable control field".

Industrial applicability

As described above, after the last disc management information has been read, data is recorded or reproduced at the choice of the user or as necessary (S60).

Applying the method of FIG. 8 to the device of FIG. 7, if the optical disc is loaded, the recording / reproducing unit 10 obtains a variety of recorded disc information from the loaded disc. Specifically, if the loaded optical disc is a write-once optical disc, such as BD-WO, the microcomputer 16 accesses the TAI and obtains the TAI information recorded in the TDMA0 area to determine if the loaded disc is closed and obtain the location of the used TDMA.

If the disc is determined to be closed due to TAI information, recording to the disc can no longer be performed. Therefore, the recording / reproducing module 10 performs disc playback by the playback command of the control module 20 under the control of the microcomputer 16. If the disc is not closed due to TAI information, the location used by the TDMA to obtain the latest TDMS information recorded in the used TDMA is obtained from the TAI and the obtained TDMS information used to perform playback by the recording / reproducing unit 10 under the control of the microcomputer 16, by the playback command of the control unit 20. On the other hand, the TAI recording method using the optical recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 7 according to an embodiment of the present invention is described as follows.

The microcomputer 16 in the reproduction unit 10 records TDMS information in a plurality of TDMAs in a specific usage order. For example, TDMA0 is used first. If TDMA0 is completely used up, the TAI pointer TDMA1 used indicator cluster in TDMA0 changes to be in a recorded state to indicate that TDMA1 is currently in use. The recorded state of the indicator cluster used by TDMA1 can be implemented by recording the recorded TDDS information already recorded in TDMA0, or some other assigned data, as discussed above.

In the event that there is no longer any cluster for recording or the disc is closed by a command to close the control module 20 according to a user request or the like. when recording, the microcomputer 16 controls the transmission and recording of the latest TDMS information, which is recorded in the most recent TDMA in each of the DMAs (duplicate recordings for redundancy purposes), and controls the change in the cluster of the DMA disc close indicator TAI indicator to accept the recorded state.

When the disk is in the idle state or in the ejected state after the entire disk recording is completed, the location of the TDMA used is determined so that the above operation can change a particular cluster in the corresponding TAI to the packet recording state.

As described above, the present invention has the advantage that the write-once optical disc is used efficiently by the method of recording and using the TAI, including both the TDMA used (s) and the disc close indicator. By initially accessing the TAI, the identification data of the used TDMA can be quickly obtained at that moment, information about whether the disc is closed can be easily obtained, and control information, for example, the latest TDDS information, can also be easily obtained. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (22)

1. Device for recording control information on a recordable
a recording medium, the recording medium including one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium is closed, and a defect management area for storing in this control area final information when the recording medium needs to be closed, and the device contains:
a head adapted for recording data on a recording medium; and
a microcomputer configured to control the head for writing data to the first pointer when closing the recording medium, to indicate that the recording medium is closed, the first pointer is located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas. 2. A device for recording control information on a recordable recording medium, the recording medium includes one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium is closed, and a defect management area for storing in this the area of the final control information when the recording medium must be closed, and the device contains:
a head configured to directly record / reproduce data regarding the recording medium,
a processor for processing data configured to convert the signal from the head to an appropriate signal value or to modulate the signal to be recorded into a corresponding recording signal for the recording medium,
a servo module configured to control the head for accurately reading / writing signals from / to the recording medium,
a memory configured to temporarily store information associated with the recording medium; and
a microcomputer configured to control the operations performed by the aforementioned elements - a head, a processor for processing data, a servo module and memory in the device, the device is configured to write data to the first pointer under the control of the microcomputer when the medium is closed, to indicate that the recording medium is closed, the first pointer is located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary control areas for Fecteau. 3. The device according to claim 2, in which the first pointer consists of one cluster, and the first head cluster of the first temporary defect management area is used as the first pointer. 4. The device according to claim 2 or 3, in which the device is configured to record the latest information of the temporary disk description structure stored in one or more temporary defect management areas to the first pointer under the control of the microcomputer when the recording medium needs to be closed. 5. The device according to claim 3, in which the first temporary defect management area is located in the initial area of the recording medium. 6. The device according to claim 5, in which the device is configured to write data to a second pointer among one or more second pointers under the control of a microcomputer, to indicate which temporary defect management area is currently available for use, where one or more second pointers respectively, refer to temporary defect management areas other than the first temporary defect management area. 7. The device according to claim 6, in which each of the one or more second pointers consists of one cluster, and one or more clusters starting with the second head cluster of the first temporary defect management area are used as one or more second pointers. 8. The device according to any one of claims 2, 3, 5-7, further comprising a host device configured to send a recording / reproducing command for a specific area of the recording medium via the device interface, and the device is configured to record / reproduce in relation to that specific area according to the write command from the host device. 9. A device for reproducing control information from a recordable recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium closes, and a defect management area for storing in this area of the final control information when the recording medium needs to be closed, and the device contains:
a head configured to reproduce data from the recording medium;
microcomputer configured to control the head
to access the first pointer located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas; and determining whether the recording medium was closed or not based on whether the first pointer has recorded data or not. 10. Device for reproducing control information with
a recording medium, the recording medium including one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium is closed, and a defect management area for storing final control information in this area when the medium records must be closed, and the device contains:
a head configured to read data from a recording medium; and
a processor for processing data configured to convert the signal from the head into an appropriate signal value;
a servo module configured to control the head for accurately reading signals from the recording medium;
a memory configured to temporarily store information associated with the recording medium; and
a microcomputer configured to control the operations performed by the aforementioned elements — a head, a processor for processing data, a servo module, and memory — in the device, the device being configured to access the first pointer located in the forward position of the first temporary defect management area under the control of the microcomputer, used first among one or more temporary defect management areas; and
determining whether the recording medium was closed or not based on whether the first pointer has recorded data or not. 11. The device according to claim 10, in which the first pointer consists of one cluster and the first head cluster of the first temporary defect management area is used as the first pointer, the device is configured to access the first head cluster under the control of the microcomputer to determine if there was media record is closed or not. 12. The device according to claim 11, in which, when the recording medium is closed, the device is configured to read the final control information from the defect management area under the control of the microcomputer. 13. The device according to item 12, in which, when the recording medium is not closed, the device is configured to access one or more second pointers under the control of a microcomputer to determine the temporary defect management area currently available for use, where one or more second pointers respectively, refer to temporary defect management areas other than the first temporary defect management area. 14. The device according to item 13, in which the device is configured to access the first temporary defect management area located in the initial area of the recording medium under the control of a microcomputer to access the first and second pointers. 15. The device according to item 13 or 14, in which each of one or more second pointers consists of one cluster and one or
more clusters starting from the second head cluster of the first temporary defect management area are used as one or
more than two pointers, the device being configured to access one or more clusters to determine which temporary defect management area is currently available for use under the control of a microcomputer. 16. The device according to item 13, in which the device is configured to determine a temporary defect management area related to the second pointer having the latest recorded data as a temporary defect management area that is currently available for use. 17. The device according to clause 16, in which the device is configured to play from at least one of the sectors that configure the second pointer having the last recorded data, information of the temporary structure of the disk description, identical to the information of the temporary structure of the disk description stored first in the temporary a defect management area defined as being available for use at the current time under the control of a microcomputer. 18. The device according to clause 16 or 17, in which the device is configured to reproduce temporary control information from the temporary defect management area, defined available for use at the moment under the control of the microcomputer. 19. The device according to any one of paragraphs.10-14, 16, 17, further comprising: a main device configured to send a recording / playback command for a specific area of the recording medium via the device interface, while the device is configured to record / playback in relation to this particular areas according to command from the main unit. 20. A method of recording control information on a recordable recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium is closed and the area defect management for storing there final control information when the recording medium needs to be closed, the method comprising the step of:
write data to the first pointer when the recording medium is closed, to indicate that the recording medium is closed, the first pointer is located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas. 21. A method for reproducing control information from a recordable recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes one or more temporary defect management areas used in the prescribed manner to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium closes, and a defect management area for storing in this areas of final control information when the recording medium needs to be closed, the method comprising the steps of:
accessing a first pointer located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas; and
determining whether the recording medium is closed based on whether the first pointer has recorded data or not. 22. A recordable recording medium comprising:
one or more temporary defect management areas used in a specific order to store temporary control information in these areas until the recording medium is closed;
a defect management area for storing final control information in this area when the recording medium needs to be closed; and
a first pointer located in the frontmost position of the first temporary defect management area used first among one or more temporary defect management areas and indicating whether the recording medium is closed.

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