WO2010035361A1

WO2010035361A1 - Information recording device, information processing device, and information processing system

Info

Publication number: WO2010035361A1
Application number: PCT/JP2009/000623
Authority: WO
Inventors: 岩渕真人; 武者義則
Original assignee: 株式会社日立製作所
Priority date: 2008-09-26
Filing date: 2009-02-17
Publication date: 2010-04-01
Also published as: JPWO2010035361A1; JP5272012B2

Abstract

An information recording device with display which displays the content of recorded content information without causing excessive increase of costs. An information processing device is composed of a host device and the information recording device with display. The information recording device with display is composed of a display unit composed of a general-purpose bus interface part, a display device control part, and a display device; and a recording unit comprising an interface control part. The host device performs control so as to record data in the recording unit via a storage interface part and sends display data for displaying information relating to the recorded data to the display unit via a general-purpose bus. The display device control part and the recording unit each has an identifier, and the host device associates both of them using the identifiers.

Description

Information recording apparatus, information processing apparatus, and information processing system

The present invention relates to an information recording apparatus, an information processing apparatus that drives the information recording apparatus, and an information processing system including these as constituent elements.

In recent years, electronic data has been generated daily with the development of information electronic devices such as computers, digital cameras, digital video cameras, and digital broadcast recorders. These data are ultimately stored in a storage medium, and the storage medium is often configured to be detachable from the host device.

In recent years, a removable hard disk device (for example, iVDR) is used as a recording medium for recording a program video of terrestrial digital television broadcasting (hereinafter referred to as “terrestrial digital TV broadcasting”) or taking a moving copy (move). Etc.) has been put into practical use (hereinafter referred to as “TV equipment”). The removable hard disk device has a high speed and a large capacity. Therefore, for example, large-capacity content such as high-definition video can be easily stored, and recording and moving of the large-capacity content can be performed at high speed. In addition, it is possible to store and store a large amount of video content, which is large-capacity data, by repeatedly replacing and recording a removable hard disk device to be inserted into a TV device as a host device.

On the other hand, since the data stored in the storage medium is electronic data, it is not readable, and in order to search, it must be mounted on the host device and read out and displayed on the display.

Therefore, the recording contents can be grasped by displaying an index or a label indicating the contents of information recorded on the recording medium or additional information related to the information on a rewritable recording medium. Such a technique has been proposed.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes a liquid crystal display unit provided on a memory card that can be attached to and detached from a digital camera to enable screen display. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-260260 describes a display unit housed in an envelope so that the recorded contents of the magneto-optical disk can be easily referred from the outside. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes that a remaining amount display unit is provided on a recording medium so that the remaining amount of memory can be recognized. In addition, Lexar's electronic paper-mounted USB memory is provided with a display unit in the USB memory housing to enable the remaining memory to be recognized (Non-Patent Document 1). In addition, in Patent Document 4, in consideration of performing display associated with the content of data stored in a medium, imaging data sent from the camera body is stored in a flash memory of a memory card, and the imaging is performed. A technique for displaying a list of thumbnail images of data on a liquid crystal display element is described.

JP-A-1-305784 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-7252 JP-A-5-81824 JP 2000-278573 A

By the way, in a digital data recording device device represented by a removable hard disk device or the like, it is represented by electronic paper or the like in order to display the contents of recorded content information or additional information of the information. When a display device is provided, how to control the display device and how to configure a recording device with the display device at a low cost are problems.

In iVDR (Information Versatile Disk for for Removable Disk Usage), a representative example of removable hard disk devices, the built-in hard disk is manufactured in large quantities and is available in serial advanced technology attachments (Serial Advanced Technology Technology). Attachment, hereinafter abbreviated as S-ATA.) It is configured based on the interface hard disk, and using a special hard disk with another interface as a component increases costs.

In addition, as in Patent Document 4, it is conceivable to connect both the recording medium and the display device to the PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) connector. However, the interface with the host device is limited to PCMCIA and the display is limited. Among recording device devices with devices, a semiconductor chip that performs signal conversion is required.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, the signal from the iVDR connector 111 is branched by a multiplexer (MUX) 115, and information related to the contents of the recording unit 116 is sent to the central processing unit (SUX) using only S-ATA. An information recording device 110 with a display configured to be generated by a central processing unit (CPU) 112 and displayed on the electronic paper 114 via the driver 113 can be considered, but it is difficult to maintain the signal quality of the S-ATA branching unit. In addition, there is a problem that the cost increases due to the installation of the CPU.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention includes an information storage unit capable of holding stored information even in a power-off state, and a recording unit for recording data. Signals can be exchanged via the general-purpose bus interface, the recording unit can exchange signals with the host device via the storage interface, and the information accumulation unit accumulates information associated with the contents of the data stored in the recording unit. Provided is an information recording apparatus configured to perform.

In the present invention, the information processing apparatus includes a host device and an information recording device that is detachable from the host device, and the information recording device can hold stored information even in a power-off state. An information storage unit, a recording unit for recording data, a storage interface, and a general-purpose bus interface. The host device records data in the recording unit via the storage interface, and stores information related to the data to be recorded. Provided is an information processing apparatus configured to control display on an information storage unit via a general-purpose bus interface.

Furthermore, in the present invention, a reader device that reads information associated with the content of data stored in the information recording device, a storage that stores the information recording device, and information read from the information recording device are managed. Provided is an information processing system for managing storage of an information recording apparatus, which comprises a management database.

In the present invention, preferably, the control unit of the recording unit and the information storage unit is provided with an identifier, respectively, and the host device determines the coincidence using both identifiers. Furthermore, the information storage unit is a display device such as electronic paper that can hold displayed information even in a power-off state.

With the above-described configuration of the present invention, an information recording apparatus with a display can be provided without causing an excessive cost increase.

In addition, by configuring the interface between the host device and the information recording device with two independent interfaces, a general-purpose bus and a storage interface, it is possible to easily display an information recording device with display and an information processing device using a generally available chip. Can be configured.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the whole structure of the information processing apparatus using the information recording device with a display based on 1st Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus using the information recording device with electronic paper based on 2nd Example. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus using two information recording devices with electronic paper based on a 2nd Example. It is a functional block diagram which shows the whole structure of the information processing apparatus using the information recording device with a display concerning a 3rd Example. It is a flowchart figure for demonstrating the data writing process of the information processing apparatus based on 3rd Example. It is a figure which shows the external appearance structure of iVDR with electronic paper concerning a 4th Example. It is a figure which shows an example of pin arrangement | positioning of the plug connector of iVDR with a display concerning a 5th Example. It is a figure which shows the pin assignment table | surface of the plug connector of iVDR with a display concerning a 5th Example. It is a figure explaining the preservation | save management system of the information recording device with a display concerning a 6th Example. It is a functional block diagram which shows the whole structure of the information processing apparatus using the information recording device with RF tag based on a 7th Example. It is a figure for demonstrating the subject of the information recording device with electronic paper.

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

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an overall configuration of an information processing apparatus including an information recording apparatus with display and a host device that drives the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment.

The information recording device 2 with display has a display part and a recording part. The display unit includes a display device 23 that can hold the displayed information even in a power-off state, a display device control unit 22, and a general-purpose bus interface unit 21. The display unit can exchange signals with the host device 1 via the general-purpose bus 17, and the recording unit 24 includes a magnetic disk device (Hard Disk Drive: HDD) or a semiconductor memory device (Solid State Drive: SSD), and a storage interface. Signals can be exchanged with the host device 1 via the unit 18.

The host device 1 has a normal computer configuration, and includes a central processing unit (CPU) 11, a ROM 12, a general-purpose bus control unit 13, a bus line 15, an I / O controller (I / O controller). Controller) 16, a general-purpose bus 17, and a storage interface unit 18. The CPU 11, ROM 12, general-purpose bus control unit 13, and I / O controller 16 are connected to each other through a bus line 15. The CPU 1 includes a RAM 14. The I / O controller 16 and the interface control unit 25 on the display-equipped information recording device side 2 are connected through the storage interface unit 18 when the display-equipped information recording device 2 is inserted into the host device 1.

Although not shown or described, the host device 1 includes a stabilized DC power supply circuit for supplying DC power to each unit of the host device 1 described above with a stable voltage in addition to the components illustrated in FIG. Is built-in. In this specification, the general-purpose bus 17 and the general-purpose bus interface unit 21 may be collectively referred to as a general-purpose bus interface, and the storage interface unit 18 and the interface unit 25 may be collectively referred to as a storage interface.

The information recording device 2 with display in the present embodiment is, for example, an iVDR using a semiconductor memory or a magnetic disk device, and is used in a state of being inserted into an iVDR-compatible host device 1. On the other hand, the display device 23 of the display unit of the information recording apparatus with display 2 uses, for example, electronic paper or a liquid crystal having a memory property, and displays various data under the control of the display device control unit 22. As data (display target data) displayed on the display device 23, for example, various contents stored in the recording unit 24, various information related to these contents, free space of the recording unit 24, and information with display Information related to the owner of the recording apparatus 2 can be mentioned.

Now, in the host device 1, the ROM 12 stores, for example, a control program and non-volatile fixed data. In addition to the above, the ROM 12 further stores data (hereinafter referred to as “display target data”) displayed on the display device 23 of the display-equipped information recording apparatus 2 with data recorded in the recording unit 24 ( An application program (hereinafter referred to as “conversion AP”) for conversion from “recording target data”) is also stored.

The general-purpose bus control unit 13 passes various commands and display target data through the general-purpose bus 17 under the control of the CPU 11, and the general-purpose bus interface unit 21 and the display device control unit 22 of the information recording apparatus with display 2. Output to. On the other hand, the I / O controller 16 inputs / outputs various commands and data to / from the interface control unit 25 of the information recording apparatus with display 2 through the storage interface 18 under the control of the CPU 11. The I / O controller 16 further supplies DC power output from the above-described DC stabilized power supply circuit (not shown) to the interface control unit 25 as drive power for the recording unit 24.

The CPU 11 controls the operation of each unit constituting the host device 1 including the I / O controller 16 in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM 12. For example, the CPU 11 activates the above-described display target data temporarily stored in the RAM 14 by starting the conversion AP stored in the ROM 12 ("recording target data"). )).

According to the present embodiment, the display target data and the recording target data generated by the host device 1 can be directly supplied to the information recording apparatus with display 2 via the general-purpose bus 17 and the storage interface unit 18, respectively. Thus, it is possible to prevent an increase in the cost of the information recording apparatus 2 with display.

Subsequently, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the information processing apparatus of the second embodiment. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. In this embodiment, the universal bus 17 shown in FIG. 1 is a universal serial bus (Universal Serial Bus, hereinafter abbreviated as USB), the storage interface unit 18 is S-ATA, and the universal bus interface unit 21 is a USB interface. The electronic paper 231 is used as the unit 211 and the display device 23. According to this configuration, S-ATA, which is the interface of the current iVDR standard, can be used as it is as a storage interface, and by having USB as a general-purpose bus interface for display target data, an information recording device with display can be easily configured. can do.

The electronic paper 231 displays various data under the control of the display device control unit 22. The display target data displayed on the electronic paper 231 is the same as in the first embodiment, for example, various contents stored in the recording unit 24, various information related to those contents, the free capacity of the recording unit 24, Information relating to the owner of the recording unit 24 is included. As the electronic paper 231, segment type electronic paper or matrix type electronic paper can be used.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, a segment type electronic paper 232, a matrix type electronic paper 233, and two types of electronic paper are installed as the electronic paper, and the display device control unit 22 controls each display. You can also In addition, segment type electronic paper is inexpensive, for example, it can be used for displaying remaining amount, and matrix type electronic paper can be used in various ways such as content display and design display. Become.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the information processing apparatus of the third embodiment. The present embodiment shows an example of an information processing system capable of obtaining a coincidence that the recording unit 24 and the display unit 20 are in the same information device housing as viewed from the host device 1. In the first and second embodiments described above, it may be necessary to agree that the display unit 20 and the recording unit 24 are in the same information device casing. For example, this is a case where a plurality of information recording devices with display are connected to the host device.

For this reason, the recording unit 24 and the display device control unit 22 of the display unit 20 of the present embodiment each have an identifier (ID), and the CPU 11 of the host device 1 operates so as to associate the two. Hereinafter, in order to explain the association in the CPU 11, a writing flow for recording information in the recording unit 24 will be described as an example. 4 schematically shows the flow of data, display data, or an identifier (ID) between the host device 1 and the information recording apparatus 2 with display.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a write flow in the information processing system of the present embodiment. First, when the CPU 11 of the host device 1 detects the insertion of the information recording apparatus 2 with display (S51), it acquires the ID of the display unit of the inserted information recording apparatus 2 via the general-purpose bus 17 (S52). Subsequently, the ID of the recording unit 24 is acquired via the storage interface unit 18 (S53). As a result, it is recognized that the display unit 20 and the storage unit 24 each having an ID are accommodated in the single information recording apparatus 2 with display, and stores them in the RAM 14 which is a storage unit in which both IDs are associated. (S54).

Subsequently, a data writing process is executed (S55). As described above, data is written to the recording unit 24 through the I / O controller 16 and the storage interface 18. When the writing is completed (Y in S56), display data writing processing is subsequently executed on the display unit 20 associated with the ID (S57). The write data may be extracted by reading the data written in the recording unit 24 and extracting from the read data, or may be created at the same time when the host device 1 writes the data.

In any case, using the ID stored in the RAM 14, it is possible to display on the display unit 20 in the same housing a display corresponding to data writing to the same information recording apparatus 2 with display. As described above, the display data displayed on the display unit 20 includes the free space of the recording unit 24 after the completion of the data writing to the recording unit 24, various information related to various contents of the written data, and the like. Needless to say.

FIGS. 6 (a), 6 (b), and 6 (c) show a fourth embodiment, which is an external configuration example of an iVDR with electronic paper, which is an information recording apparatus with a display. FIG. 5A illustrates an indicator 61 indicating the remaining amount or the like as the display unit 20. FIG. 6B illustrates a label 62 for displaying content contents and the like as the display unit 20, and FIG. 6C illustrates a case where the display unit 20 includes both the indicator 61 and the label 62. Here, the segment 61 can be used for the indicator 61 and the matrix electronic paper can be used for the label 62.

Next, FIG. 7 shows an example of a configuration of an iVDR plug connector (iVDR Plug Connector, hereinafter referred to as a connector) as the information recording apparatus 2 with display of the above-described first to third embodiments as the fifth embodiment. FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the display-equipped information recording apparatus 2, an example of the external structure of the connector formed at the end, and an example of the connector pin arrangement. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining pin assignment in this pin arrangement. Although not shown in the drawings, it goes without saying that a connector fitting portion corresponding to this connector is formed on the host device 1 side.

As shown in FIG. 7, the information recording apparatus 2 with a display composed of iVDR having the display unit 20 has a connector 26 having the number of pins defined by the standard of the iVDR consortium. The current standard has a connector structure of 26 pins in total, and pin numbers (Pin No.) 1-7 are assigned as port A to S-ATA. In the configuration of this embodiment, the pin numbers 11-14 are assigned to the USB functioning as a general-purpose bus interface to the display unit 20 described above. Note that the pin number 15-20 is a power / ground part, the pin number 21-22 is a power ID section, and the pin number 23-25 is an I / F-ID section.

8 is a table showing details of an example of the assignment. The correspondence with the first to third embodiments will be described. The pin numbers 1-7 and 11-14 correspond to the general-purpose bus 17 and the storage interface 18, respectively. In the iVDR hardware standard, among the pins of the ID section,

pin numbers

21 and 22 set voltage values that can be supplied to the iVDR drive, and pin numbers 23 to 25 set port A and port B. Used for. By setting the I / F-ID of pin numbers 23-25, the information recording device with display 2 can be used for both port A and port B, that is, S-ATA of the storage interface unit 18 and USB which is a general-purpose bus. Can do.

Subsequently, an application example to the storage management system or the shipping management system of the information recording apparatus with display of each embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIG. In the present system, the information recording apparatus with display 92 is provided with a label 93 as a display unit. For example, video information captured by the camcorder 91 is recorded in the information recording apparatus 92 with display. The label 93 displays code information and characters corresponding to data indicating the contents of the recorded video and data relating to organization. As this code information, for example, a two-dimensional code such as a QR code (registered trademark) is displayed. When storing and managing the information recording device 92 with display, the reader 94 or the like is used to read characters and codes displayed on the label 93 and register them in the management database (DB). The product is stored in a predetermined shelf 97 serving as a storage by an automatic conveyance vehicle 96. Then, when necessary, it can be automatically taken out from the shelf 97, reused for editing and broadcasting, or shipped.

In each of the above embodiments, the information recording apparatus with display has been described. However, an RF (Radio Frequency) tag can be used instead of the display device, and the embodiment of the information processing apparatus in that case Will be explained. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an information processing apparatus including an information recording apparatus with an RF tag and a host device that drives the recording apparatus. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 4 denote the same items. Reference numeral 102 denotes an information recording apparatus with an RF tag, which includes an RF tag unit 120 and a recording unit 24, and an RF tag control unit 122 is connected to the RF tag unit 120 via a general-purpose bus interface 121. The control unit 122 controls the RF tag 123. Further, ID1221 is given to the RFD tag control unit.

The application to the system shown in FIG. 9 can be performed by using the information recording apparatus 102 with the RF tag of the present embodiment. In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, it cannot be overemphasized that the reader 94 uses an RF tag reader in this case.

The present invention is useful as an information recording apparatus, an information processing apparatus that drives the information recording apparatus, and an information processing system including these as constituent elements.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Host apparatus, 2 ... Information recording apparatus with a display, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... ROM, 13 ... General-purpose bus control part, 14 ... RAM, 15 ... Bus line, 16 ... I / O controller, 17 ... General-purpose bus, 18 ... Storage interface part, 20 ... Display part, 21, 121 ... General-purpose bus interface part, 22 ... Display device control part, 221, 1221 ... ID, 23 ... Display device, 24 ... Recording part, 241 ... ID, 25 ... Interface part , 26 ... connector, 61 ... indicator, 62 ... label, 81 ... table, 91 ... camcorder, 92 ... information recording device with display, 93 ... label, 94 ... reader, 95 ... management DB, 96 ... automatic conveyance vehicle, 97 ... Shelf, 120 ... RF tag part, 122 ... RF tag control part, 123 ... RF tag.

Claims

An information storage unit capable of holding stored information even in a power-off state, a recording unit for recording data, a general-purpose bus interface, and a storage interface, wherein the information storage unit includes a host device and the general-purpose bus. Through the interface, the recording unit can exchange signals with the host device through the storage interface, and the information storage unit stores information associated with the content of data stored in the recording unit. ,
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The information storage unit is a display unit capable of holding the displayed information even in a power-off state.
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The information storage unit is an RF (Radio Frequency) tag without visibility,
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The recording unit and the information storage unit each have an identifier for enabling association;
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1,
The information recording apparatus, wherein the recording unit is a magnetic disk device.
The information recording apparatus according to claim 1,
S-ATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is used as the storage interface, USB (Universal Serial Bus) is used as the general-purpose bus interface,
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
An information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
The information recording apparatus, wherein the display unit is electronic paper.
An information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
The display unit includes a general-purpose bus interface unit, a display device control unit, and a display device, and the display device control unit is assigned an identifier.
An information recording apparatus characterized by that.
An information processing apparatus comprising a host device and an information recording device detachable from the host device,
The information recording apparatus includes an information storage unit capable of holding stored information even in a power-off state, a recording unit for recording data, a storage interface, and a general-purpose bus interface.
The host device records data in the recording unit via the storage interface, and controls to store information related to the data to be recorded in the information storage unit via the general-purpose bus interface.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
An information processing apparatus according to claim 9,
The host device recognizes an identifier assigned to each of the recording unit and the information storage unit, and associates the recording unit with the information storage unit.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10,
The host device monitors writing of the data to the recording unit via the storage interface, creates information to be stored in the information storage unit at the time of completion of writing, and transmits the information via the general-purpose bus interface. Output to the information storage unit;
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10,
The information storage unit is a display unit capable of holding the displayed information even in a power-off state.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10,
The information storage unit is an RF tag without visibility.
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
The information processing apparatus according to claim 9 or 10,
The information stored in the information storage unit includes code information related to data recorded in the recording unit,
An information processing apparatus characterized by that.
Information including a recording unit for recording data, an information storage unit capable of holding code information related to the data even in a power-off state, a storage interface to which the data is input, and a general-purpose interface to which the code information is input A recording device;
A reader device for reading the code information of the information recording device;
A storage for storing the information recording device;
A management database for managing the code information read from the information recording device;
An information processing system for managing the information recording apparatus.
The information processing system according to claim 15,
The information storage unit is a display unit capable of holding the displayed information even in a power-off state.
An information processing system characterized by this.
The information processing system according to claim 15,
The information storage unit is an RF tag without visibility.
An information processing system characterized by this.