JPH06111479A - Information recording and reproducing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To restore a transfer rate to a considerable level by performing the alternate processing of a defective sector by slipping processing for the defective sector detected after recording data on a user sector, in an information recording and reproducing device recording or reproducing information in sector. CONSTITUTION:The verify RAW checking at the time of writing user data is defined to be performed by a CPU 6. Then, when the transfer rate of read/ write in the user data is lowered due to the increase of the alternate processing by linear displacement caused by the frequent occurrence of a defect in the user sector, a user issues a command called as 'reformat' for the information recording and reproducing device 1, and can restore the transfer rate. By the reformat command, a check similar to be performed before shipping to the user is performed again for an object sector, and when the defective sector exists, the alternate processing by slipping is performed for the sector.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording / reproducing apparatus such as an optical disk device and a fixed disk device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an information recording / reproducing apparatus such as an optical disk device and a fixed disk device, a disk as a recording medium has concentric or spiral tracks formed on a recording surface, and the track is an area called a sector. Is divided into Recording or reproduction is performed in sector units.
As for sectors, alternative sectors are prepared together with user sectors for reading and writing user data.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a disk configuration diagram in the prior art. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 500 is a disk track, 501 is an area in which user sectors are arranged, 502 is an area in which alternative sectors are arranged, and 503 is an area in which defect management sectors are arranged. In FIG. 5, the user sector and the alternative sector are arranged on the disk surface with N user sectors and M alternative sectors as one group.

The alternative sector is defined as a defect such as a defect in the disk that causes a user sector to fail in reliable data reading and writing.
It is a sector used as a substitute for the user sector.
The defective sector is generated by inspecting all user sectors before shipping the disc to the user, or when the user uses the disc (that is, when the user uses the information recording / reproducing device to disc When recording and playing back)
It is detected by the verify check (RAW check) when writing the data. The RAW (Read After Write) check is a process of checking whether or not the contents recorded in a sector can be read normally by reproducing the sector immediately after writing the user data in the sector. Is.

The defect management sector is a sector for storing information on all alternatives generated as a result of the above processing, and in subsequent reading and writing, the target sector is accessed based on the information stored in the defect management sector. do. The process of replacing the defective user sector with the alternative sector is called the alternative process. In the information recording / reproducing apparatus for the user to record or reproduce the information recorded on the disk as described above, the RAW check is performed. When a bad sector is found, it is generally replaced with a replacement sector by a linear replacement process. After the completion of the replacement process, information about all the replacement processes that have occurred is stored in the defect management sector.

[0006]

The above linear replacement process will be further described. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the linear replacement process, where 400 is a user sector and 401 is an alternative sector.
When the sector L becomes defective in FIG. 4, the alternative sector 1 is assigned to the alternative sector of the sector L.

Now, consider the case where the sectors are continuously read (or written). First, it is considered that the read (or write) for the continuous number of sectors that does not include the defective sector can be performed by one processing (1) the continuous read (or write) for the continuous number of sectors. On the other hand, when reading (or writing) several consecutive sectors including defective sectors, when the linear replacement process as shown in FIG. 4 is performed, (1) consecutive reading (or writing) of several sectors before the defective sector is performed. Write) (2) Move to the alternate sector corresponding to the defective sector [Waiting for rotation (when the defective sector and the corresponding alternate sector exist on the same track) or seek (the defective sector and the corresponding alternate sector on the same track) (If it does not exist)) (3) Read (or write) to the alternate sector (4) Move to the sector after the bad sector (waiting for rotation or seek) (5) Continuous read (or write) to several sectors after the bad sector Will be processed. The processing time is increased because the processing is increased as compared with the read (or write) for the continuous number of sectors not including the defective sector, but there is a problem that the processing time is increased particularly by the processing of (2) and (4).

On the other hand, as an alternative process, a method called slipping process is known in addition to the linear replacement process described above. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the slipping process, where 300 is a user sector and 301 is an alternative sector. When the sector L becomes defective in FIG. 3, the sector L + 1 is assigned to the alternative sector of the sector L, the sector L + 2 is assigned to the sector L + 1, the sector L + 3 is assigned to the alternative sector of the sector L + 2, and finally the alternate sector 1 is assigned. Are assigned to the alternative sectors of sector N.

When the slipping process as shown in FIG. 3 is performed, the read (or write) of several consecutive sectors including the defective sector is as follows: (1) Continuous read (or write) of several sectors before the defective sector (2) Move to the sector after the defective sector (waiting for rotation) (3) Perform continuous read (or write) processing for several sectors after the defective sector. The processing time is slightly increased by waiting for the rotation of (2) compared to the read (or write) for the continuous number of sectors not including the defective sector, but the processing time is shorter than that when the linear replacement processing is performed.

However, in the slipping process, all sectors after the defective sector in the group are changed to replacement sectors of the preceding sector in the group, so that user data is written in the sectors after the defective sector in the group. If so, there is an inconvenience that the data becomes unreadable. Therefore, although the slipping process is effective at the time of disc inspection before shipment to the user (the user data is not written on the disc at all), the disc on which the user data is written is effective. In general, a linear replacement process is used for the defective sector replacement process, and the conventional information recording / reproducing apparatus has only a function of performing the linear replacement process as a replacement process function. .

As a result, when a defective sector frequently occurs due to the change over time of the disk as a recording medium, there is a problem that the processing time for reading and writing increases and the transfer rate decreases. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an information recording / reproducing apparatus capable of suppressing a decrease in read / write transfer rate even when defective sectors frequently occur.

[0012]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 states that "a recording surface is divided into a plurality of sectors, and the plurality of sectors are user sectors for reading and writing normal data. , A replacement sector used as a replacement for the user sector when the user sector is defective, and a defect management sector for storing information on replacement of the sector, and N number of user sectors and M number of replacements In an information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording / reproducing information on a sector-by-sector basis with respect to an “information recording medium in which sectors are arranged as one group”, a defective sector detected after data recording in the user sector is performed. The defective sector is replaced by a slipping process.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, "the recording surface is divided into a plurality of sectors, and the plurality of sectors are user sectors for reading and writing normal data, and the user sector when the user sector is defective. An information recording medium consisting of a substitute sector used as a substitute for a sector and a defect management sector for storing information about sector substitution, and having N user sectors and M substitute sectors arranged as one group " On the other hand, in an information recording / reproducing apparatus which records or reproduces information in sector units, it has a buffer memory capable of storing N sectors of user data,
For the defective sector detected after data recording in the sector, after storing the user data after the defective sector in the group including the defective sector in the buffer memory, the defective sector is stored by the slipping process. Alternate processing is performed, and then the user data stored in the buffer memory is written to the corresponding sector.

[0014]

Since the information recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention has the function of performing the slipping process on the defective sector, if the user sector frequently fails due to the change with time of the information recording medium, the defect by the slipping process occurs. By performing the sector substitution process, it is possible to reduce the decrease in the read / write transfer rate.

Further, by having a buffer memory capable of storing N sectors of user data, it is possible to store user data after the defective sector in the group including the defective sector before performing the slipping process.

[0016]

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is an information recording / reproducing apparatus. Reference numeral 2 is a disk, which is composed of a user sector, a substitute sector, and a defect management sector. These sectors are arranged on the disk surface as shown in the conventional disk structure diagram of FIG. It is assumed that the disk 2 is inspected for all the user sectors in the disk inspection before shipment to the user (user data is not written in the disk 2 at all). In the inspection at this time, if a user sector in which a defect that cannot perform reliable data read / write is not detected is detected, the defective sector is detected in the group in which the defective sector exists. As the alternative process, the above-mentioned slipping process is performed, and information about the alternative process is stored in the defect management sector. This inspection is carried out by a dedicated inspection machine.

The seek control unit 4 moves the head 3 to a specific sector of the disk 2 to read user data,
Write. When writing the user data, the recording / reproduction control unit 5 converts the user data transferred from the host computer 9 into a recording signal for writing on the disk 2, and transfers the recording signal to the head 3. At the time of reading, user data is extracted from the reproduction signal transferred from the head 3 and transferred to the host computer 9. At the time of RAW check, it is checked from the reproduction signal transferred from the head 3 whether or not there is a defect such that reliable data read / write cannot be performed in the user sector, and the result is checked by the CPU.
A CPU 6 sent to 6 controls the seek controller 4 and the recording / reproducing controller 5 in accordance with an instruction from the host computer 9. Reference numeral 7 denotes an external RAM of the CPU, which stores the defect management information read from the head 3, the seek control unit 4, and the recording / reproduction control unit 5 from the defect management sector after power-on. The defect management information is composed of a list of sectors on which slipping processing is performed and a list of sectors on which linear replacement processing is performed. 8 is an external ROM of the CPU
A program for the CPU 6 to control the information recording / reproducing apparatus 1 is stored. The program includes a reformatting command execution routine described later.

The CPU 6 performs R when writing user data.
If a defect in the user sector is detected in the AW check, a replacement process by linear replacement is performed. That is,
An alternative sector used as a substitute for this defective sector is specified, the recording / reproducing control unit 5 writes user data to the alternative sector, and then a RAW check is performed. After the completion of the error-free operation, the sector numbers of the defective sector and the corresponding alternative sector are added to the list of the sectors to be subjected to the linear replacement processing of the defect management information stored in the external RAM 7, and the recording / reproducing control unit 5 further writes the sector numbers. Write information to defect management sector.

In the first embodiment, when the user data read / write transfer rate is lowered due to an increase in the substitution process due to the linear replacement due to the frequent occurrence of defective user sectors, the user records / reproduces information. The transfer rate can be recovered by issuing a command "reformat" to the device 1. This reformatting command performs the same check on the target sector as it did before shipment to the user (hereinafter referred to as format check).
Is carried out again, and if there is a defective sector, an alternative process by slipping is carried out for the sector.

Therefore, if the target sector to be processed by the command is all bad sectors which have become defective in the RAW check and have been subjected to the replacement processing by linear replacement, the replacement processing by linear replacement is replaced by the replacement processing by slipping. The transfer rate can be recovered. It should be noted that the target sectors may be only all the above defective sectors, or if it is desired to re-inspect the entire surface of the disk, it may include all the user sectors currently used + alternative sectors in use, but not the unused sectors. It may include sectors.

Specifically, when the above command is issued, the CPU 6 executes the following processing for the target sector based on the reformatting execution program stored in the external ROM 8. (1) The recording / reproducing control unit 5 writes specific data to the target sector. (2) The recording / reproduction control unit 5 performs a format check on the target sector. The recording / reproducing control unit 5 includes the head 3
Based on the reproduced signal transferred from the device, whether or not there is a defect such that highly reliable data reading and writing cannot be performed in the target sector is as rigorous as the check performed before shipment to the user. Carry out the result of judgment by the CPU 6
Send to. (3) If the inspection is OK, it is determined that the target sector will continue to be used as a user sector. On the other hand, in the case of the inspection NG, the target sector is determined to be a defective sector, and a defect stored in the external RAM 7 is checked after checking an alternative sector used instead of the defective sector (writing of specific data and format check). The sector number of the defective sector is added to the list of sectors subjected to the slipping process in the management information. If the defective sector has been previously subjected to the linear replacement processing, the information of the defective sector is deleted from the list of the sectors to be subjected to the linear replacement processing in the defect management information stored in the external RAM 7. (4) When the processes (1) to (3) are completed for all target sectors, the recording / reproducing control unit 5 writes the defect management information stored in the external RAM 7 to the defect management sector.

In the first embodiment, after reformatting, a part of the user data written on the disk surface is erased during command execution. Therefore, the user preferably backs up the necessary data before issuing the command. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, 201 is an information recording / reproducing apparatus.
In FIG. 2, components designated by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 1 have the same functions as those in FIG.

Reference numeral 208 denotes an external ROM of the CPU, which is CP
A program for the U6 to control the information recording / reproducing apparatus 201 is stored. This program includes a reformatting command execution routine of a second embodiment described later. A buffer 210 can store N sectors of user data. When a defect of the user sector occurs in the RAW check at the time of writing the user data, the CPU 6 carries out the alternative process by the linear replacement as in the first embodiment.

Also in the second embodiment, when the user data read / write transfer rate is lowered due to an increase in the substitution process due to the linear replacement due to the frequent occurrence of defects in the user sector, the user is required to perform the information recording / reproducing apparatus 201. , The command "Reformat" is issued to recover the transfer rate. The reformatting command of the second embodiment also performs the format check again on the target sector, and if there is a defective sector, performs an alternative process by slipping on the defective sector. The processing is different from that of the first embodiment as follows. (1) The recording / reproducing control unit 5 reads the data of all user sectors after the target sector in the group including the target sector and stores them in the buffer 210. (2) The recording / reproducing control unit 5 writes specific data to the target sector. (3) The recording / reproduction control unit 5 performs a format check on the target sector. The recording / reproduction control unit 5 determines from the reproduction signal transferred from the head 3 whether or not there is a defect such that highly reliable data read / write cannot be performed in the target sector before shipment to the user. Checking is performed with the same severity as the check, and the judgment result is
Send to 6. (4) If the inspection is OK, it is determined that the target sector will continue to be used as a user sector. On the other hand, in the case of the inspection NG, the target sector is determined to be a defective sector, and a defect stored in the external RAM 7 is checked after checking the alternative sector used instead of the defective sector (writing of specific data and format check). The sector number of the defective sector is added to the list of sectors subjected to the slipping process in the management information. If the defective sector has been previously subjected to the linear replacement processing, the information of the defective sector is deleted from the list of the sectors subjected to the linear replacement processing in the defect management information stored in the external RAM 7. (5) The recording / reproduction control unit 5 writes the data stored in the buffer 210 to the corresponding sector based on the new defect management information. (6) Upon completion of the processes (1) to (3) for all target sectors, the recording / reproducing control unit 5 writes the defect management information stored in the external RAM 7 to the defect management sector.

In the information recording / reproducing apparatus 201 of the second embodiment, even after the reformatting, all the user data written on the disc surface is kept readable. Therefore, before issuing the above command, the user
It is not necessary to back up the necessary data.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, a defective user sector frequently occurs in the information recording medium after shipping to the user due to aging, etc., the read and write processing time increases, and the transfer rate increases. Even if it drops, the transfer rate can be restored to a considerable level.

Further, according to the second embodiment, when the user data is written in the sectors after the defective sector in the group, the inconvenience that the data becomes unreadable can be solved. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an information recording / reproducing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an alternative process by slipping.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an alternative process by linear replacement.

FIG. 5 is a conventional disk configuration diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Disk 3 ... Head 4 ... Seek controller 5 ... Recording / playback controller 6 ... CPU 8, 208 ... External CPU 210 of CPU 210 ... Buffer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording surface is divided into a plurality of sectors, and the plurality of sectors are used as a user sector for reading and writing normal data, and as an alternative to the user sector when the user sector is defective. A sector and a defect management sector for storing information about replacement of the sector, and N
In an information recording / reproducing apparatus for recording or reproducing information on a sector-by-sector basis with respect to an "information recording medium in which one user sector and M alternative sectors are arranged as one group", An information recording / reproducing apparatus characterized in that a defective sector detected after data recording is replaced by a defective sector by a slipping process. 2. A recording surface is divided into a plurality of sectors, the plurality of sectors being a user sector for reading and writing normal data, and an alternative to be used in place of the user sector when the user sector is defective. A sector and a defect management sector for storing information about replacement of the sector, and N
In an information recording / reproducing apparatus that records or reproduces information on a sector-by-sector basis with respect to an information recording medium in which one user sector and M alternative sectors are arranged as one group, user data for N sectors is recorded. For a defective sector detected after data recording to the user sector, user data after the defective sector in a group including the defective sector is stored in the buffer memory. After that, the defective sector is replaced by a slipping process, and then the user data stored in the buffer memory is written to the corresponding sector.