JP2002245767A - Optical disk preservation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical disk preservation device by which information is surely preserved for a long period of time. SOLUTION: This optical disk preservation device is provided with a disk storage part storing recorded optical disks and non-recorded optical disks, a plurality of drives for reading and writing recording information from the optical disk, a changer for transferring/returning the optical disk stored in the disk storage part to the drive, a disk management recording part where the rewrite time of the recorded optical disk stored in the disk storage part is recorded and a control part for transferring the corresponding recorded optical disk and the non-recorded optical disk to perform copying when the rewrite time comes, returning them to the disk storage part when copying is ended and rewriting the record of the disk management recording part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical disk storage device for recording information on an optical disk and storing the information for a long time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical disk is used for storing information for a long time because it can record a large amount of information. However, optical disks naturally deteriorate over time,
Occasionally, recorded information may be lost, or in some cases, all information may not be reproduced.

[0003] For this reason, management has conventionally been performed manually, and information recorded on a new optical disk has been copied and stored before the data cannot be reproduced.

[0004]

However, such manual management is difficult, and in some cases, a mistake may occur and the information may not be reproduced from the optical disk after the copy time limit. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk storage device capable of easily and reliably storing information for a long period of time.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a disk storage unit for storing a recorded optical disk and an unrecorded optical disk, a plurality of drives for reading and writing recorded information from the optical disk, A changer for transferring / returning the optical disk stored in the disk storage unit to / from the drive, a disk management recording unit recording a rewrite time of a recorded optical disk stored in the disk storage unit, When the time comes, the corresponding recorded optical disk and unrecorded optical disk are transferred to the drive for copying, and after completion of the copying, the control unit returns the disk storage unit and rewrites the record of the disk management recording unit. And.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the rewriting time corresponds to the type of the optical disk. According to the third aspect of the present invention, a rewritable period table that records a rewritable period corresponding to the type of the optical disk is provided, and when an unrecorded optical disk is stored in the disk storage unit, the rewritable period table is referred to. Thus, the rewriting time of the disk management unit is recorded.

[0007] In the invention of claim 4, the information is stored in the RAI.
A RAID recording / reproducing unit for recording / reproducing data on / from the optical disc in the D format is provided, and information is recorded / reproduced on / from the optical disc. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a drive management table which records the time for replacing the drive is provided, and when the time for replacement is reached, a replacement request is sent to the host.

[0008] In the invention of claim 6, means for checking the status of the drive is provided, and when it is determined that the status of the drive is degraded, an exchange request is sent to the host. In the invention according to claim 7, the recorded optical disk stored in the disk is stored in a package.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the package containing the recorded optical disk is filled with nitrogen gas. In a ninth aspect of the present invention, the package containing the recorded optical disk is evacuated.

[0010] In the tenth aspect of the present invention, the disk storage section, the changer and the drive are sealed, and the inside is filled with nitrogen gas. In the invention according to claim 11, a disk supply unit of the disk storage unit,
An opening / closing mechanism is provided between the disk storage section and the changer, a drive exchange section of the drive and between the drive and the changer, and when the disk is supplied or the drive is replaced, the opening / closing mechanism is operated so that the internal nitrogen is removed. Avoid outgassing.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a main part according to the present invention, wherein 1 is a disk storage for storing an optical disk, 2 is a drive for recording and reproducing information on the optical disk, and 3 is a drive for taking out the optical disk from the disk storage 1 and storing it in the drive 2. Changer for transport or return, 4 is a disk management recording unit, 5 is a RAID
A recording / reproducing unit, 6 is a drive management recording unit, 7 is an input unit, 8
Is a control unit, 9 to 11 are interfaces (I / O), 12
Is a processor (CPU) that performs processing.

First, the disk management recording section 4 will be described with reference to FIG. The disk management recording unit 4 is composed of a non-volatile memory, and has a disk management table as shown in FIG. 4A and a rewriting period table as shown in FIG.

The storage numbers in the disk management table correspond to the disk storage fences of the disk storage unit 1, and the storage numbers 1 to 3
Denotes an optical disk on which information is recorded, and K to P store unrecorded optical disks. When a new optical disk is stored in the disk storage unit 1, the operator records the number corresponding to the storage fence stored from the input unit 7, the type of the stored optical disk, and the storage date in the disk management table.

FIG. 4 (B) shows the disk management recording section 4.
Is provided. The rewriting period table records the type of the optical disk and the storage term corresponding to the type (a period during which information recorded on the disk can be reproduced without losing information).

Next, referring to FIG. 2, a recording operation when an information recording instruction is issued from the host will be described. In step S1, when the disk to be recorded is transferred from the host from the I / O 11, the process proceeds to step S2, where the control unit 8
It is determined whether or not the disc type transferred in step S1 refers to the unrecorded area of the disc management table of the disc management recording unit 4.

If there is no corresponding disk type, the flow shifts to step S3 to notify the host that there is no corresponding disk, and shifts to step S1. If there is a corresponding disk type, the process moves to step S4, and the fact that there is a corresponding disk is transferred to the host.

In step S5, the control unit 8 designates a disk determined as having a corresponding disk in step S2, for example, a DVD-R from the host in step S1, and in step S2 the unrecorded area in FIG. DV with storage number 0
If it is determined by DR, the disk stored in the storage number 0 of the disk storage unit 1 is taken out and the drive 2
To the specified drive.

In step S6, the controller 8 requests the host to transfer the information to be recorded when the setting of the disk in the drive is completed. In step S7, the information transferred from the host is recorded on the disk set in the drive 2.

In step S8, the control unit 8 stores the recorded disk in the fence corresponding to the empty number of the recording area of the disk storage unit 1 when the information on the disk is completed. In step S9, the control unit 8 requests an identification number (may be a file name) for the disc on which the information is recorded, to the host. When the identification number is returned, step S1
Then, the process proceeds to 0, and the data is recorded in the disk management table, and the processing ends.

That is, when information is recorded on the disk stored in the storage number 0 of the unrecorded area of the disk management table shown in FIG. 3A, and is returned and stored in the storage number 3 of the recording area after recording. Copies the disc type and supply date recorded in storage number 0 to storage number 3, records the identification number, and deletes the record of recording number 0.

Next, the term management operation will be described with reference to FIG. The period management operation is performed periodically, such as once a day or once a week. In step S11, the control unit 8 executes the processing shown in FIG.
The supply date of the first disk recorded in the recording area of the disk management table shown in (A) is read, and the process proceeds to step S12 to determine whether the time limit has passed. If the determination is NO, step S21 is performed. And the judgment is YES
In the case of, the process moves to step S13.

The determination as to whether or not the time limit has passed is made if the first read disk is a CD-ROM.
Referring to the rewriting period table shown in (B), the CD-RO
Since the storage period of M is 20 years, if the value obtained by adding 20 years to the supply date is smaller than the current date, it is determined that the period is exceeded.

In the embodiment, the supply date is recorded in the disk management table. However, when an unrecorded disk is stored in the disk storage unit 1, the expiration date is recorded instead of the supply date when the disk is stored. You may make it determine whether the time limit is over.

If it is determined in step S12 that the time limit has expired, the process proceeds to step S13, where the control unit 8 determines that a disk of the same type as the disk determined to have exceeded is in an unrecorded area of the disk management table. Then, if the determination is YES, the process moves to step S14 to transfer to the host that there is no unrecorded disk for copying, and moves to step S21.

If it is determined in step S13 that there are disks of the same type, the process proceeds to step S15, where the control unit 8
Removes the disk determined to be overdue in step S12 from the disk storage unit 1, transports it to the drive 2, and sets it.

In step S16, the control unit 8 takes out the unrecorded disk determined to have the same disk in step S13 from the disk storage unit 1, conveys it to the drive 2, and sets it. In step S17, the control unit 8 instructs the drive 2 to execute copying on an unrecorded disk.

In step S18, the control unit 8 instructs the changer 3 when the copying is completed, and stores the copied disk set in the drive 2 in which the time limit of the disk storage unit 1 has expired. The expired disk set in the drive 2 is transported and stored on the fence, and is transported and stored on the fence of the disk storage unit 1 which stores the expired disk.

In step S19, the control unit 8 rewrites the recording of the disk management table of the disk management recording unit 4. That is, for example, when the storage number 1 in the disk management table shown in FIG. 3A is overdue and copied to the disk with the storage number K, the supply date of the storage number 1 is changed to the supply date of the storage number K. And erase all records of the storage number K.

In step S20, the control section 8 transmits to the host that the disc has been copied. Step S
At 21, it is determined whether or not there is any disk for which period management is not performed. If the determination is YES, the process moves to step S11, and steps S11 to S21 are repeated.

Next, the RAID recording / reproducing unit 5 will be described. When the time limit management operation described above is performed, there is a case where the recorded information is spontaneously deteriorated even though the time limit has been reached, and cannot be reproduced from the disc.

The RAID recording / reproducing section 5 is intended to reproduce the information correctly and to copy or output the information to the host even if such a case occurs. That is, when recording information on a disk, a RAID (Redundant Array of Ine
xpensive Disk) format.

[0032] Figures 5-7 are diagrams for explaining a recording in a RAID format, the RAID0 + 1, data recorded information transferred from the host _{A 1, A 2, A 3} , A 4,
.. Are recorded using four disks as shown in FIG.

By recording in this way, even if the information is not reproduced from one of the four disks, the data A ₁ , A ₂ ,... Of the information recorded from the other three disks can be reproduced. it can.

In RAID 1, as shown in FIG. 5B, two disks on which data A ₁ , A ₂ ,... Are sequentially recorded are stored. In RAID2, data is divided into blocks and encoded using an erroneous correction code, and data and inspection data are recorded on a plurality of disks as shown in FIG.

In RAID3, as shown in FIG. 6B, data is divided into units of size such as sectors (A ₁ , B ₁ ,...), And the divided A ₁ (= a ₁ ,
a ₂ , a ₃ , a ₄ ) and B ₁ (= b ₁ , b ₂ , b ₃ ,
b ₄ ) is sequentially recorded on separate disks, and parity data for A ₁ and B ₁ is recorded on another disk.

In RAID 4, as shown in FIG. 7A, data is divided into blocks, divided into disks, and parity data for the divided data is recorded on another disk.

RAID5 generates data division and parity data in the same manner as RAID4, but parity data is recorded in a distributed manner on disks as shown in FIG. 7B.

The RAID recording / reproducing unit 5 records the data transferred from the host in one of the above-mentioned formats, and reproduces the data from a plurality of disks when the host requests to transfer the recorded data. Then, the data is corrected and transferred to the host.

When data is not reproduced when the above-mentioned time limit management operation is performed, data is reproduced from a plurality of related disks to generate data recorded on the disk that cannot be reproduced. To make a copy on an unrecorded disk.

Next, the drive management operation will be described with reference to FIG. Every time a drive is replaced in the drive management recording section 6, the drive number is replaced with the drive number corresponding to the mounted drive 2-1,..., 2-4 as shown in FIG. The type of the drive and the date when the drive was replaced are input from the input unit 7 and recorded.

The drive management operation is started every predetermined period. In step S30, the control unit 8 reads the replacement date of the first drive from the drive management table (FIG. 9A) provided in the drive management recording unit 6,
The process proceeds to step S31 to determine whether the replacement period has expired. If the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step S33.

The determination as to whether or not the replacement period has passed is made based on whether or not a period obtained by subtracting the read replacement date from the current date is equal to or longer than a predetermined period. If it is determined in step S31 that the time limit has passed, the process moves to step S32, and the host is notified that the drive replacement time limit has passed.

In step S33, it is determined whether or not the time limit management operation of the last drive has been completed. If the determination is NO, steps S30 to S33 are performed until the last drive is reached.
Is repeated.

FIG. 9B shows the drive management recording section 6.
The drive management table shown in FIG. 9 is provided, the drive is operated at the start of the drive management operation described with reference to FIG. 8 or at the start of the drive operation, and the state value of each unit is compared with the corresponding value recorded in FIG. If there is any deterioration, the host may be notified.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The configuration of the second embodiment is as follows.
An empty package storage unit 14, a package unit 15, a nitrogen filling unit 16 and a nitrogen cylinder 17 shown in FIG. 10 are added to the configuration of the first embodiment described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 11A shows the empty package storage section 4.
As shown in FIG. 1, a resin or metal package 13 for hermetically storing a disk is stored. In addition, the package 13 is provided with an injection valve 17A for injecting nitrogen gas, which will be described later, and a discharge valve 13B for discharging air in the package 13.

In the first embodiment, when the recording of the information on the disc is completed, the information is stored in the recorded area of the disc storage unit 1. In the second embodiment, the empty package storage unit 14 is stored.
The changer 3 takes out the empty package 13 stored in the
The disk on which the information has been recorded is also conveyed to the package section 15 and the disk is stored in the package 13.

When a disk is stored in the package 13, the nitrogen filling section 16 operates to inject nitrogen gas from the nitrogen cylinder 17 through the injection valve 13A of the package 13, and to discharge air in the package 13 through the discharge valve 13B. Drain through. The package 13 sealed with nitrogen gas is conveyed to the disk storage unit 1 by the changer 3 and stored in the recorded area.

Thus, by storing the disk in the package and filling it with nitrogen gas, natural deterioration of the disk can be suppressed and long-term storage can be achieved. In the embodiment, the package is filled with nitrogen.
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 11B, an air vent valve 13C may be provided to evacuate the air in the package 13 and store it in a vacuum state.

Next, referring to FIG. 12, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
An example will be described. In the third embodiment, the disk storage unit 1, drive 2 and changer 3 described in the first embodiment are sealed, and the inside is filled with nitrogen gas. An opening / closing mechanism 1B and an exhaust valve 1C are provided when storing an unrecorded disk in the disk storage unit 1 and in a disk supply unit 1A for discharging an old copied disk.

The drive 2 is provided with an opening / closing mechanism 2A that opens and closes when the drive is replaced, and an exhaust valve 2B.
An opening / closing mechanism 3A is provided between the disk storage unit 1 and the changer 3, and an opening / closing mechanism 3A is provided between the drive 2 and the changer 3.
B is provided.

When storing or discharging a disk into or from the disk storage unit 1, the opening and closing mechanism 3A is closed and the opening and closing mechanism 1B is opened to store or discharge the disk. Opening / closing mechanism 1 when storage or ejection of the disc is completed
B is closed, the disc storage unit 1 is filled with nitrogen gas, and the opening / closing mechanism 3A is opened.

When replacing the drive, the opening / closing mechanism 3B is closed, and the opening / closing mechanism 2A is opened, and the drive 2 is replaced. When the replacement of the drive is completed, the opening / closing mechanism 2A is closed and filled with nitrogen gas, and the opening / closing mechanism 3B is opened.

[0054]

As described above, the rewriting time for the stored disk is recorded, and when the rewriting time is reached, copying and re-recording are performed, so that the recorded information is lost due to deterioration of the disk. Disappears, and can be reliably stored for a long period of time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a recording operation for recording information on a disc.

FIG. 3 is a specific example of a disk management recording unit.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart for performing time limit management of a disk.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a RAID recording / reproducing operation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a RAID recording / reproducing operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a RAID recording / reproducing operation.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart for performing drive management.

FIG. 9 is a specific example of a drive management recording unit.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Disk storage part 1A Disk supply part 1B Opening / closing mechanism 1C Exhaust valve 2 Drive 2A Opening / closing mechanism 2B Exhaust valve 3 Changer 3A, 3B opening / closing mechanism 4 Disk management recording part 5 RAID recording / reproducing part 6 Drive management recording part 7 Input part 8 Control part 9-11 Interface (I / O) 12 Processor 13 Package 13A Injection valve 13B Discharge valve 13C Air release valve 14 Empty package storage unit 15 Package unit 16 Nitrogen filling unit 17 Nitrogen cylinder

Claims (11)

[Claims] A disc storage unit for storing a recorded optical disc and an unrecorded optical disc; a plurality of drives for reading and writing recorded information from the optical disc; and an optical disc stored in the disc storage unit. A changer for transferring / returning to / from a drive, a disk management recording unit for recording a rewrite time of a recorded optical disk stored in the disk storage unit, a recorded optical disk corresponding to the rewrite time, A control unit for transferring an unrecorded optical disk to the drive for copying, returning the unrecorded optical disk to the disk storage unit after the copy is completed, and rewriting a record in the disk management recording unit. apparatus. 2. The optical disk storage device according to claim 1, wherein the rewriting time corresponds to a type of the optical disk. 3. A rewritable period table in which a rewritable period corresponding to a type of an optical disk is provided, and when an unrecorded optical disk is stored in the disk storage unit, the rewritable period table is referred to by referring to the rewritable period table. 3. The rewriting time of the management unit is recorded.
An optical disk storage device according to claim 1. 4. The optical disk storage device according to claim 1, further comprising a RAID recording / reproducing unit for recording / reproducing information on / from the optical disk in a RAID format, and recording / reproducing the information on / from the optical disk. . 5. A drive management table in which a time for replacing the drive is recorded, and a replacement request is sent to the host when the time for replacement is reached. An optical disk storage device according to claim 1. 6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for checking the status of the drive, and transmitting a replacement request to a host when the status of the drive is determined to be degraded. , 3, 4 or 5. 7. The optical disk storage device according to claim 1, wherein the recorded optical disk stored in the disk is stored in a package. 8. The optical disk storage device according to claim 7, wherein a package containing the recorded optical disk is filled with nitrogen gas. 9. The optical disk storage device according to claim 7, wherein the package containing the recorded optical disk is in a vacuum state. 10. The disk storage unit, the changer, and the drive are sealed, and the inside is filled with nitrogen gas.
An optical disk storage device according to any one of the above. 11. A disk supply unit of the disk storage unit, an opening / closing mechanism between the disk storage unit and the changer, a drive replacement unit of the drive, and a drive opening / closing mechanism between the drive and the changer are provided. 11. The optical disk storage device according to claim 10, wherein the opening / closing mechanism is operated when the drive is replaced so that the nitrogen gas inside is not released.