JPH11162106A - Recording and reproducing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve substantial recording and reproducing rates when data of a small size is intermittently transferred from an external apparatus to a recording and reproducing apparatus by effectively utilizing a buffer memory in the recording and reproducing apparatus. SOLUTION: A transfer data from an external apparatus is temporally stored in a buffer memory 18. The data stored in the buffer memory 18 is rearranged in accordance with data multiplexing information received from the external apparatus so as to perform a multiplexing process and, if necessary, additional data is added, thereby obtaining a data block of a fixed length. This data block is written onto a memory medium 11 by writing means 20, 12, 21 and the like. Data read out from the memory medium 11 is converted into a variable length data by removing the additional data therefrom, temporally stored in the buffer memory 18, and then transferred to the external apparatus. In both cases of writing and reading out, the variable length data is transferred between the external apparatus and the recording and reproducing apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording / reproducing apparatus such as a magnetic disk drive, and more particularly, to a recording / reproducing apparatus in which a recording / reproducing speed is increased by effectively utilizing a temporary storage circuit built in the recording / reproducing apparatus. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, disk devices such as a magnetic disk device and an optical disk device have been increasingly used for recording and reproducing moving image data with rapid improvements in recording capacity and transfer speed. A multi-channel moving image data recording / reproducing system using a disk device has also been developed.

When recording and reproducing moving image data using a disk device, it is necessary to guarantee that data can be continuously recorded and reproduced without interruption. For this purpose,
The disk device generally has a buffer memory, that is, a temporary storage circuit. For example, US Pat. No. 5,465,343
Has a built-in buffer memory for improving recording / reproducing performance, and is used as a buffer or cache memory between an external device and the disk device main body.

FIG. 8 shows a method of using a buffer memory in a conventional disk device as described above, particularly a method of controlling division of the buffer memory. FIG. 8A shows an adaptive segment division method, and FIG. 8B shows a fixed segment division method.

In the adaptive segment dividing method shown in FIG. 8A, a buffer memory is divided into a plurality of segments, and the segments are assigned to a buffer for write data and a cache for read data. In this method, the size of each segment can be changed according to the transfer data size of the write / read command.

In the fixed segment dividing method shown in FIG. 8B, the buffer memory is divided into a plurality of fixed-size segments in accordance with a setting command from an external device. For example, SCSI-3 (SCSI: Small Comp)
In a disk device that conforms to the U.S. System (Interface), the number of segments and the segment size of the buffer memory can be set. The size of each segment is the same fixed size.

As described above, the conventional disk device uses a buffer memory divided into segments to support multitask processing and improve the recording / reproducing speed.

[0008]

When recording a digital signal generated from an analog signal such as a moving image, a sound or the like on a disk device, data divided into small units is often transferred intermittently.

If such intermittently generated data is to be sequentially recorded on a disk device, even if the data is sequentially written to a continuous area on the disk, as shown in FIG. become longer.

In a system for recording and reproducing analog video and audio signals using a disk drive, the analog video and audio signals are converted from analog to digital by an asynchronous sampling clock and then subjected to high-efficiency encoding using different compression algorithms. Then, digital video data and digital audio data to be recorded are generated. These video / audio data are rearranged and multiplexed in an order different from the order in which they were generated, and are stored on a disk.

In a conventional disk device, if digital data is to be recorded in the order of generation, the order in which digital data is transferred from the external device to the disk device is different from the recording order on the disk. Occurs every time data is transferred, and the recording / reproducing speed decreases.

Also, widely used MPEG, JP
In standards such as EG, additional data called stuffing bytes are added to the end of variable-size data generated by compression processing and transmitted. On the other hand, the disk device performs data transfer with an external device in a predetermined data size unit. For example, a magnetic disk device performs data transfer in units of 512 bytes or the like, and an optical disk device performs data transfer in units of 2048 bytes or the like. For this reason, in an external device, stuffing bytes are added to the end of data to be recorded, and quantization is performed in sector units.

The stuffing byte is data that is discarded by an external device during data reproduction. That is, the data transfer capability of the disk device for data actually used by the external device is reduced by the amount of transferring the stuffing bytes.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention employs a new buffer memory control method for effectively utilizing a buffer memory in a recording / reproducing apparatus, thereby improving a recording / reproducing speed substantially. It is an object to provide a playback device.

[0015]

A first configuration of a recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a storage medium for recording / reproducing data (such as a magnetic disk) and a temporary storage circuit for storing data temporarily (ie, a buffer memory). A data transfer means for storing transfer data from the external device in a temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device, and multiplexing information for receiving data multiplexing information corresponding to the data transfer request from the external device Receiving means, data multiplexing means for multiplexing data based on the data multiplexing information to generate a data block, write permission receiving means for receiving data write permission information corresponding to the data block from an external device, and data write permission Data writing means for writing a data block to a storage medium according to information. To.

According to such a configuration, the transfer data from the external device can be stored in the buffer memory, and the stored data can be multiplexed on the buffer memory and then written to the disk. Thus, the recording speed can be greatly improved. In addition,
The data write permission information may be an independent write command, or may be bit information added to the end of the transfer data.

A second configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and data transfer means for storing transfer data from the external device in the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. Multiplexing information receiving means for receiving data multiplexing information corresponding to a data transfer request from an external device, write permission receiving means for receiving data write permission information from an external device, and data to be written to a storage medium according to the data write permission information. A data multiplexing means for multiplexing the data selected by the write data selecting means in accordance with the data multiplexing information to generate a data block, and a data writing means for writing the data block to a storage medium. It has.

Also in this configuration, since the transfer data from the external device can be stored in the buffer memory and the stored data can be multiplexed on the buffer memory and then written to the disk, the access operation in the disk device can be reduced. hand,
The recording speed can be greatly improved. Further, the data can be easily rearranged by the write data selecting means.

Preferably, in each of the above structures, the multiplexing information receiving means receives data storage position information on the temporary storage circuit corresponding to the transfer data from the external device as data multiplexing information from the external device, Selects a data storage position on the temporary storage circuit based on the data storage position information. Thereby, the data can be rearranged when the data is temporarily stored in the temporary storage circuit. Alternatively, the multiplexing information accepting unit receives the writing order corresponding to the data transfer request from the external device as data multiplexing information from the external device, and the data writing unit reads the data on the temporary storage circuit based on the writing order. The data may be rearranged and written on the storage medium.

As a more specific configuration, it is preferable that the temporary storage circuit temporarily stores the data transferred from the external device in order and transfers the temporarily stored data to the data writing means in the order transferred from the external device. The recording / reproducing apparatus further includes a storage circuit selection unit that selects a storage unit to be a data transfer source from the plurality of storage units based on storage circuit selection information notified from an external device. The data writing unit multiplexes data stored in two or more storage units selected by the storage circuit selection unit and writes the multiplexed data to a storage medium in response to a data writing request from an external device.

Further, means for searching for a data storage area to be discarded in response to a data discard request from an external device, and free space management means for registering the searched data storage area as a free area in which no data is stored. It is preferable to further include the following. This makes it easy to delete a part of the data stored in the temporary buffer memory before writing it to the recording medium.

A third configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is as follows.
A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and data transfer means for storing transfer data from the external device in the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. A write size information receiving unit that receives write data size information from an external device, an area specifying unit that specifies a data storage area on a temporary storage circuit according to the write data size information, and a data write request from the external device. Data writing means for writing all data stored in the data storage area to the storage medium.

According to this configuration, even when a fixed-length data block is recorded on the recording medium, the data transferred from the external device to the recording / reproducing device may be variable-length data. That is, the size of data transferred from the external device to the recording / reproducing device can be reduced, and the substantial recording speed can be improved.

A fourth configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and data transfer means for storing transfer data from the external device in the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. An additional data generating means for generating additional data according to additional data information from an external device, a data multiplexing means for generating a data block in which additional data is added to data stored in a temporary storage circuit, Data writing means for writing a data block to a storage medium in response to a data write request from the storage device.

In this configuration, the data transferred from the external device to the recording / reproducing apparatus may be variable-length data. Additional data such as stuffing bytes are added when writing to a recording medium inside the recording / reproducing apparatus. Therefore, the data size transferred from the external device can be reduced, and the substantial recording speed can be improved.

A fifth configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention is as follows.
A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, data reading means for reading data from the storage medium in response to a data read request issued from an external device, and From the storage medium according to the discarded data information, and data extracting means for storing the remaining extracted data in the temporary storage circuit in accordance with the discarded data information. I have.

According to the above arrangement, when the recording / reproducing apparatus reads data from the storage medium in response to a read request from an external device, the additional data at the end of the read data is discarded inside the recording / reproducing apparatus and extracted. Only the effective data thus obtained is temporarily stored in the buffer memory, and the effective data length is notified to the external device. Therefore, the external device only needs to secure a minimum necessary area in securing a memory area for receiving read data. Further, the read data transferred from the recording / reproducing apparatus to the external device is variable-length data in which the additional data is discarded, so that the read speed is substantially improved.

A sixth configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and a data transfer unit for storing transfer data from the external device in the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request from the external device; Data writing means for periodically writing data stored in a specific area on a temporary storage circuit set by an external device to a storage medium.

According to the above configuration, for example, when data such as control parameters that are updated irregularly is stored in the specific area of the temporary storage circuit, the data stored in the specific area is periodically written to the disk. In addition, even in the event of an abnormality such as a power failure, data loss can be prevented, and the reliability of the system can be improved.

[0030]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a disk drive according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a magnetic disk as a disk-shaped storage medium, 12 denotes a head for recording and reproducing data, 13 denotes a positioning mechanism for positioning the head 12, and 14 denotes an input / output connected to an external device (computer or the like). A bus 15, an external device interface circuit for transmitting and receiving commands, data, and parameters to and from an external device via an input / output bus 14, and 16 a CPU
(Central processing unit), 17 is a CPU interface circuit for transmitting and receiving commands and data from the CPU, 18 is a buffer memory as a temporary storage circuit, 19 is a buffer control circuit for controlling data input / output to / from the buffer memory, and 20 is a magnetic disk A read / write signal processing circuit for controlling data input / output to / from 11, and an actuator drive circuit 21 for giving a drive signal to an actuator of the positioning mechanism 13 and controlling the positioning of the magnetic head 12. The disk 11 is rotated by a motor.

The external device interface circuit 15 serves as a multiplexed information receiving means, and has a transfer data size (TDS).
A register group including a register, a transfer data storage address (TDA) register, a transfer sector size (TSS) register, and a disk transfer address (LBA) register is incorporated. Further, the external device interface circuit 15 has a built-in command register for receiving the following commands input from the external device.

(A) Data transfer (CW) command: Data input from an external device is stored in the buffer memory. (B) Data transfer (CR) command: Transfers data read from the buffer memory to an external device.

(C) Data write (DW) command:
Write the data stored in the buffer memory to the disk. (D) Data read (DR) command: Data read from the disk is stored in the buffer memory.

(E) Automatic data storage command: The data stored in the buffer memory is periodically written to the disk. The external device interface circuit 15 constituting the disk device of the present embodiment receives commands, data, and parameters input from the external device via the input / output bus 14, and sends the data to the buffer control circuit 19, and the commands and parameters to the CPU. Output to the interface circuit 17. Further, the external device interface circuit 15 outputs the read data from the buffer memory 18 and the command response from the CPU 16 to the external device via the input / output bus 14.

The CPU 16 receives commands and parameters from the external device via the external device interface circuit 15 and the CPU interface circuit 17, interprets the command, and according to the result, the buffer control circuit 19 and the read / write signal processing circuit 20. And controls the actuator drive circuit 21. As a result, data transfer between the external device and the buffer memory 18 and data write / read processing between the buffer memory 18 and the disk 11 are executed. In the case of a command requiring a response, a command response is transmitted to an external device via the CPU interface circuit and the external device interface circuit 15.

The buffer control circuit 19 controls data input / output to / from the buffer memory 18 based on the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address notified from the CPU 16. The read / write signal processing circuit 20
Write data from the buffer memory 18 is input via the buffer control circuit 19, and the input data is modulated and applied to the head 12. The modulated data is recorded on the disk 11 as a recording signal. The read / write signal processing circuit 20 demodulates a signal read from the disk 11 by the head 12 and outputs the signal to the buffer control circuit 19 as read data. Actuator drive circuit 21
Outputs a drive signal to the actuator of the positioning mechanism 13 to drive the actuator, and moves the head 12 via the positioning mechanism 13.

The processing operation of each command in the disk device configured as described above will be described in order. [Data Transfer (CW) Command] In response to the data transfer (CW) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 transfers the transfer data size (TDS) register and the transfer data storage address (TD).
A) The value of the register is read, and the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address are notified to the buffer control circuit 19.

(2) The buffer control circuit 19 sequentially stores the input data from the external device in the buffer memory 18 based on the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address, and when the number of stored data matches the transfer data size. To notify the CPU 16 of the end of the data transfer.

(3) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
In response to the data transfer end notification of No. 9, the end of data transfer is notified to the external device, and the command processing ends. The above operation is performed in response to a data transfer (CW) command, and data transferred from the external device is arranged on the buffer memory 18 based on parameters set by the external device. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the transfer order of the data transferred from the external device and the storage order on the buffer memory 18 are different. The data is rearranged on the buffer memory 18 based on the parameters set by the external device.

[Data Write (DW) Command] The data write (DW) command is issued from an external device after at least one data transfer (CW) command is issued. The disk device executes the following operation in response to the data write (DW) command.

(1) The CPU 16 transfers a transfer data size (TDS) register and a transfer data storage address (TD).
A) register, transfer sector size (TSS) register,
And the value of the disk transfer address (LBA) register is read.

(2) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 19, the read / write signal processing circuit 20, and the actuator based on the transfer data size, transfer data storage address, transfer sector size, and disk transfer address read from the register group. The drive circuit 21 is controlled, and the data stored in the continuous area of the buffer memory 18 is sequentially written on the disk 11.

In a storage area on the buffer memory 18 specified by the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address, an area where data corresponding to the data transfer (CW) command is not stored (hereinafter, referred to as a blank area) The data stored by the initialization operation of the buffer memory 18 or the data stored according to the previously issued command remains as it is. Therefore, a data block in which data in a blank area is added to data transferred from an external device is written to the disk 11 by a data write (DW) command.

When the transfer data size is smaller than the transfer sector size, the buffer control circuit 19 stores the data of the specific pattern (hereinafter, referred to as data) in the buffer memory 18.
Data blocks to which a stuffing byte has been added are sequentially output to the read / write signal processing circuit. By this processing, the read / write signal processing circuit 20 can write data in sector units to the disk 11 while maintaining compatibility with the current recording method.

(3) The CPU 16 notifies the external device of the end of the command when the writing of the data requested from the external device is completed. [Data Read (DR) Command] In response to the data read (DR) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 stores a transfer data size (TDS) register and a transfer data storage address (TD).
A) register, transfer sector size (TSS) register,
And the value of the disk transfer address (LBA) register is read.

(2) The CPU 16 controls the read / write signal processing circuit 20 and the actuator drive circuit 21 based on the transfer sector size and the disk transfer address read from the register group, and the data block written on the disk 11 Is read. Also, the CPU 16
Controls the buffer control circuit 19 based on the transfer data size (TDS) and the transfer data storage address (TDA), and sequentially stores the data read from the disk 11 in the buffer memory 18.

The buffer memory control circuit 19 counts the number of data stored in the buffer memory 18 and discards the subsequent read data when the number of data matches the data transfer size (TDS). By such processing, the disk 11
A part of the data block written in the buffer memory 18 can be extracted and stored in the buffer memory 18.

(3) When reading of the data requested from the external device is completed, the CPU 16 notifies the external device of the end of the command. [Data transfer (CR) command] In response to the data transfer (CR) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 transfers the transfer data size (TDS) register and the transfer data storage address (TD).
A) The value of the register is read, and the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address are notified to the buffer control circuit 19.

(2) The buffer control circuit 19 sequentially outputs the data in the buffer memory 18 to an external device based on the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address. When the number of output data matches the transfer data size, CP
Notify U16 of the end of data transfer.

(3) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
In response to the data transfer end notification from the server 9, the external device is notified of the end of the command, and the command processing is ended. In the above operation, since the transfer data storage address can specify any address on the buffer memory 18, the data read from the disk 11 can be rearranged and transferred to an external device. FIG. 3 shows an example in which data read from the disk 11 is transferred to an external device in an order different from the reading order.

[Automatic Data Storage Command] In response to the automatic data storage command, the disk device performs the following operation. (1) The CPU 16 reads the values of the transfer data size (TDS) register and the transfer data storage address (TDA) register, and stores the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address.

(2) The CPU 16 periodically transmits the transfer data size and the transfer data storage address to the buffer control circuit 1.
9 and controls the actuator drive circuit 21 and the read / write signal processing circuit 20 to transfer the data stored in the specific area of the buffer memory 18 to the disk 11.
Write to.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the data transferred from the external device is stored in the buffer memory,
Since the stored data can be multiplexed on the buffer memory and then written to the disk, the access operation in the disk device can be reduced, and the recording speed can be greatly improved.

Further, since additional data such as stuffing bytes are added inside the disk device, the size of data transferred from an external device can be reduced, and the substantial recording speed can be improved. Furthermore, by periodically writing data stored in a specific area on the buffer memory designated by an external device to a disk, data loss can be prevented even in the event of an abnormality such as a power failure, and the reliability of the system can be improved. it can.

In the present embodiment, only the data extracted from the data blocks read from the disk is stored in the buffer memory in response to the data read command. However, all the data read from the disk is stored in the buffer memory. A similar effect can be obtained by overwriting the data read from the disk and storing it in the area storing the data to be stored and discarded.

In this embodiment, the data stored in the specific area of the buffer memory is periodically written to the disk in response to the automatic data storage command. In accordance with the number of transfer commands, it is also possible to control the start timing of the data write processing to the disk.

In the present embodiment, the start timing of the data write process on the disk is controlled in response to the data write command. However, a write permission identifier for notifying the start of the write process on the disk is added to the data transfer command. The data write start timing can be controlled according to the write permission identifier.

(Embodiment 2) Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention
Will be described. The hardware configuration of the disk device of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The external device interface circuit constituting the disk device of the present embodiment includes a transfer data size (TDS) register, a transfer data storage address (TDA) register, a transfer sector size (TSS) register, and a disk transfer A register group including an address (LBA) register is incorporated. Further, the external device interface circuit 15
It also has a built-in command register that accepts commands input from external devices. The commands are as follows.

(A) Data transfer (CW) command: Data input from an external device is stored in the buffer memory. (B) Data transfer (CR) command: Transfers data read from the buffer memory to an external device.

(C) Data write (DW) command:
Write the data stored in the buffer memory to the disk. (D) Data read (DR) command: Data read from the disk is stored in the buffer memory.

(E) Data discard (DP) command: Discards data stored in the buffer memory. Note that a data block identifier and a data write order identifier are added to each of the above commands.

The basic operations of the external device interface circuit, the read / write signal processing circuit, the actuator drive circuit, and the buffer control circuit constituting the disk device of this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment.

The CPU 16 according to the present embodiment, like the CPU 16 according to the first embodiment, transmits commands and parameters from an external device to the external device interface circuit 1.
5 and received via the CPU interface circuit 17, interprets the command, and controls the buffer control circuit 19, the read / write signal processing circuit 20, and the actuator drive circuit 21. Thereby, the data transfer between the external device and the buffer memory 18 and the buffer memory 18
Data write / read processing between the disk and the disk 11 is executed. For commands that require a response,
The command response is transmitted to the external device via the CPU interface circuit and the external device interface circuit 15.

The main difference between the CPU 16 of the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that the CPU 16 has a free area management table for managing an area in the buffer memory 18 where data is not stored (hereinafter referred to as a free area). . As shown in FIG. 4, the free area management table stores the start address of a free block and the data size (free size) that can be stored for each continuous free area (hereinafter, referred to as a free block). The CPU 16 controls the buffer memory 1
Every time data is stored in the area 8, the area storing the data is erased from the empty block.

Further, the CPU 16 of the present embodiment has a data block management table for managing the data stored in the buffer memory 18 for each data block identifier notified from an external device. As shown in FIG. 5, the data block management table stores a write order and a data size for each data block notified from an external device. The writing order is notified from an external device as an identifier added to the command.

The processing operation of each command in the disk device configured as described above will be described in order with reference to FIGS. [Data Transfer (CW) Command] In response to the data transfer (CW) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) Based on the transfer data size read from the transfer data size (TDS) register, the CPU 16 selects a data block having a free space larger than the transfer data size from the free space management table (hereinafter referred to as a write data block). Search) and select it.

(2) The CPU 16 notifies the buffer control circuit 19 of the start address of the write data block and the transfer data size, controls the buffer control circuit 19 and the external device interface circuit 15, and transfers the data transferred from the external device. The data is stored in the buffer memory 16.

(3) The buffer control circuit 19 sequentially stores the data transferred from the external device in the buffer memory 18. Further, the buffer control circuit 19 counts the number of data stored in the buffer memory 18, and notifies the CPU 16 of the end of the data transfer when the number of stored data matches the transfer data size, and ends the processing.

(4) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
In response to the data transfer end notification from the server 9, the free space management table and the data block management table are updated, and a data transfer end notification is sent to an external device, thereby ending the processing.

[Data Write (DW) Command] The data write (DW) command is issued from an external device after at least one data transfer (CW) command is issued. The disk device executes the following operation in response to the data write (DW) command.

(1) The CPU 16 reads the values of the transfer data size (TDS) register, the transfer sector size (TSS) register, and the disk transfer address (LBA) register.

(2) The CPU 16 selects a data block corresponding to the data block identifier notified from the external device from the data block management table, and based on the writing order stored in the data block management table, The storage address and the data size of the data to be written to the memory 11 are sequentially notified to the buffer control circuit 19. Further, the CPU 16 controls the read / write signal processing circuit 20 and the actuator drive circuit 21 to sequentially write data read from the buffer memory 18 to the disk 11.

(3) If the data size corresponding to the data block stored in the buffer memory 18 is smaller than the transfer data size or transfer sector size read from the register group, the CPU 16
9, a stuffing byte output request is issued.
The buffer control circuit 18 outputs to the read / write signal processing circuit 20 stuffing bytes for the insufficient data size in response to the stuffing byte output request.

(4) When the writing of the data requested from the external device is completed, the CPU 16 notifies the external device of the end of the command. [Data Discard (DP) Command] In response to the data discard (DP) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 selects a data block (hereinafter, referred to as a discarded data block) corresponding to the data block identifier added to the data discard (DP) command from the data block management table.

(2) The CPU 16 deletes the management information of the discarded data block from the data block management table. (3) Further, the CPU 16 registers a data storage area corresponding to the discarded data block as a free area in the free area management table.

(4) When the above processing is completed, the CP
U16 sends a command end notification to the external device. [Data Read (DR) Command] In response to the data read (DR) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 reads values of a transfer data size (TDS) register, a transfer sector size (TSS) register, and a disk transfer address (LBA) register.

(2) The CPU 16 controls the read / write signal processing circuit 20 and the actuator drive circuit 21 based on the transfer sector size and the disk transfer address read from the register group, and reads data blocks from the disk 11. Further, the CPU 16 determines a transfer data size (TDS) and a transfer data storage address (TDA).
Control the buffer control circuit 19 based on the
The data read from 1 is sequentially stored in the buffer memory 18.

The buffer memory control circuit 19 counts the number of data stored in the buffer memory 18 and discards subsequent read data when the number of data matches the data transfer size (TDS). By such processing, the disk 11
A part of the data block written in the buffer memory 18 can be extracted and stored in the buffer memory 18.

(3) The CPU 16 controls the buffer memory 18
When the data block is stored in the data block management table, the data block management table is updated based on the data block identifier added to the command and notified, and information on the free block area storing the data block is deleted from the free space management table. I do.

(4) After the above processing, a command end is notified to the external device. [Data transfer (CR) command] In response to the data transfer (CR) command, the disk device performs the following operation. (1) The CPU 16 reads the values of the transfer data size (TDS) register and the transfer data storage address (TDA) register.

(2) The CPU 16 reads the head address of the data block corresponding to the data block identifier added to the data transfer (CR) command from the data block management table. Further, the absolute address of the data to be transferred on the buffer memory 18 is calculated by adding the transfer data storage address to the head address of the data block.

(3) The CPU 16 notifies the buffer control circuit 19 of the transfer data size and the absolute address. (4) The buffer control circuit 19 sequentially outputs the data in the buffer memory 18 corresponding to the transfer data size and the absolute address to the external device. When the number of output data matches the transfer data size, the CPU 16 is notified of the end of the data transfer.

(5) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
9, the free space management table and the data block management table are updated in response to the data transfer completion notification from the external device 9, the end of the command is notified to the external device, and the command processing ends.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the data transferred from the external device is stored in the buffer memory,
Since the data stored in the buffer memory can be written to the disk while being rearranged according to the data write command, the access operation in the disk device can be reduced, and the recording speed can be greatly improved. Also, since additional data such as stuffing bytes are added inside the disk device, the data size transferred from the external device can be reduced, and the substantial recording speed can be improved.

In this embodiment, the data block number input from the external device is received as a command identifier. However, a register for identifying the data block number is provided in the external device interface circuit, and the register value is set according to each command. May be read.

In the data write command processing of this embodiment, the stuffing byte output processing of the buffer control circuit is started after the CPU issues a stuffing byte output request to the buffer control circuit. It is also possible for the circuit to control the output start timing and the number of stuffing bytes according to the write data size notified from the CPU.

(Embodiment 3) Next, Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
Will be described. The hardware configuration of the disk device of the present embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment shown in FIG. The external device interface circuit configuring the disk device of the present embodiment includes a transfer data size (TDS) register, a data bank size (DBS) register, a data bank number (DBN) register, and a data segment address as multiplexed information receiving means. A register group including (DSA) registers is provided.

The external device interface circuit 15
Indicates a transfer sector size (TSS) register and a disk transfer address (LB) having the same functions as those of the conventional device.
A) It has a register. Further, the external device interface circuit 15 also has a built-in command register for receiving a command input from the external device. The commands are as follows.

(A) Data bank setting (DBS) command: A data bank area for data multiplexing is set in the memory buffer. (B) Data segment setting (DSS) command: Sets a data segment in the data bank area. A segment identifier is added.

(C) Data transfer (CW) command: The data input from the external device is stored in the buffer memory. A segment identifier and a data bank identifier are added.

(D) Data transfer (CR) command: The data stored in the buffer memory is transferred to an external device. A segment identifier and a data bank identifier are added.

(E) Data write (DW) command:
Write the data stored in the buffer memory to the disk. A data bank identifier is added. (F) Data read (DR) command: The data read from the disk is stored in the buffer memory. A data bank identifier is added.

(G) Data Discard (DP) Command: Discards the data stored in the buffer memory. The basic operations of an external device interface circuit, a read / write signal processing circuit, an actuator drive circuit, and a buffer control circuit constituting the disk device of the present embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment.

The CPU 16 in the present embodiment, like the CPU 16 in the first embodiment, transmits commands and parameters from an external device to the external device interface circuit 1.
5 through the CPU interface circuit 17, interprets the command, controls the buffer control circuit 19, the read / write signal processing circuit 20, and the actuator drive circuit 21, and transfers data between the external device and the buffer memory 18, and Data write / read processing between the buffer memory 18 and the disk 11 is executed. Also,
In the case of a command requiring a response, a command response is transmitted to an external device via the CPU interface circuit and the external device interface circuit 15.

The CPU 16 of this embodiment is significantly different from that of the first embodiment in that it has a data bank management table for managing a data bank which is a data multiplexing area on the buffer memory 18. As shown in FIG. 7, a segment number and a data address corresponding to the data bank are registered in the data bank management table. Further, the CPU 16 has an empty area management table as in the second embodiment.

The processing operation of each command in the disk device configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. [Data Bank Setting (DBS) Command] In response to the data bank setting command, the CPU 16 reads the bank size from the data bank size (DBS) register,
A data bank as shown in FIG. 6 is set on the memory buffer 18 based on the bank size. The setting of the data bank is performed by deleting the data bank area from the free area management table and registering each information in the data bank management table.

[Data Segment Setting (DSS) Command] The CPU 16 that has received the data segment setting command
Reads a data bank number (DBN) register and a segment address register, and sets a plurality of segments in a data bank set by a data bank setting command as shown in FIG. The segment is set by registering the segment number and the data segment address corresponding to the segment identifier added to the command in the data management table corresponding to the read data bank.

[Data Transfer (CW) Command] In response to the data transfer (CW) command, the disk device executes the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 reads the transfer data size from the transfer data size (TDS) register,
Further, the corresponding segment number and data bank number are interpreted from the segment identifier and data bank identifier added to the command.

(2) The CPU 16 searches and selects the data address of the corresponding data bank and segment from the data bank management table. (3) The CPU 16 notifies the buffer control circuit 18 of the transfer data size and the data address, and further controls the external device interface circuit 15 to store the data transferred from the external device in the buffer memory 18.

(4) The buffer control circuit 19 stores the data transferred from the external device in order from the head of the corresponding segment in the buffer memory 18. Further, the buffer control circuit 19 counts the number of data stored in the buffer memory 18, and notifies the CPU 16 of the end of the data transfer when the number of stored data matches the transfer data size, and ends the processing.

(5) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
In response to the data transfer end notification from the server 9, the data address is updated by adding the transfer data size to the data address. Thereafter, a data transfer end notification is sent to the external device, and the process is terminated.

[Data Write (DW) Command] In response to the data write (DW) command, the disk device executes the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 transfers the transfer sector size (TSS) register and the disk transfer address (LB).
A) Read the value of the register. (2) The CPU 16 selects a data bank corresponding to the data bank identifier added to the command from the data bank management table, and notifies the buffer control circuit 19 of the start address and data size of the selected data bank. The buffer control circuit 19 outputs the data in the selected data bank in order from the head.

(3) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
9. The read / write signal processing circuit 20 and the actuator drive circuit 21 are controlled to sequentially write data read from the buffer memory 18 to the disk 11.

(4) When the writing of the data requested from the external device is completed, the CPU 16 notifies the external device of the end of the command. In this command,
When the data size corresponding to the data block stored in the buffer memory 18 is smaller than the transfer data size or the transfer sector size read from the register group, the data transferred from the external device is used as in the second embodiment. Write processing to the disk 11 is performed by adding a stuffing byte.

[Data Discard (DP) Command] In response to the data discard (DP) command, the disk device executes the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 selects a data bank (hereinafter referred to as a discarded data bank) corresponding to the data bank identifier added to the data discard command from the data bank management table.

(2) The CPU 16 deletes the management information of the discarded data bank from the data bank management table. (3) Further, the CPU 16 registers a data storage area corresponding to the discarded data bank as a free area in the free area management table.

(4) When the above processing is completed, the CP
U16 sends a command end notification to the external device. [Data Read (DR) Command] In response to the data read (DR) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 reads the values of the transfer data size (TDS) register, the transfer sector size (TSS) register, and the disk transfer address (LBA) register.

(2) The CPU 16 searches the data bank management table for a data address corresponding to the data bank identifier added to the command, selects the data address, and notifies the buffer control circuit 19 of the data address.

(3) The CPU 16 controls the read / write signal processing circuit 20 and the actuator drive circuit 21 based on the transfer sector size and the disk transfer address read from the register group, and the data written on the disk 11 Read the block.

On the other hand, the buffer control circuit 19 sequentially stores data read from the disk 11 from the top of the data bank area based on the data address. Further, the buffer control circuit 19 counts the number of data stored in the buffer 18 and notifies the CPU 16 of the end of the data transfer when the number of data matches the transfer data size.

(4) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
9, the data bank management table and the free space management table are updated in response to the data transfer end notification. (5) After the above processing, the CPU 16 notifies the external device of the end of the command.

[Data Transfer (CR) Command] In response to the data transfer (CR) command, the disk device performs the following operation.

(1) The CPU 16 reads the value of the transfer data size (TDS) register. (2) The CPU 16 reads a data address corresponding to the data bank identifier and the segment identifier added to the command from the data bank management table.

(3) The CPU 16 notifies the buffer control circuit 19 of the data address and the transfer data size. (4) The buffer control circuit 19 sequentially outputs the data in the segment in the buffer memory 18 to the external device based on the transfer data size and the data address. When the number of output data matches the transfer data size, the CPU 16
To the end of data transfer.

(5) The CPU 16 controls the buffer control circuit 1
In response to the data transfer end notification from the server 9, the external device is notified of the end of the command, and the command processing is ended. As described above, according to the present embodiment, data transferred from an external device can be stored in the buffer memory, and the stored data can be multiplexed on the buffer memory and then written to the disk. The number of operations can be reduced, and the recording speed can be greatly improved. Further, since additional data such as stuffing bytes is added inside the disk device, the data size transferred from the external device can be reduced, and the substantial recording speed can be improved.

In this embodiment, a plurality of data banks are provided in the buffer memory, and a plurality of data segments are provided in each data bank. However, a dedicated temporary storage circuit may be provided for each data segment.

Further, the magnetic disk drive of the present embodiment
When executing the data transfer (CW) command processing, the data address is updated based on the transfer data size, but the buffer control circuit notifies the CPU of the rear end address of the data storage area corresponding to the command, and notifies the CPU of the address. The CPU can also update the data address based on the given address.

Further, the magnetic disk device of the present embodiment writes data stored in the buffer memory to the disk in response to a data write (DW) command.
The data write operation to the disk may be started according to the write permission identifier added to the data transfer command by the external device.

In each of the above embodiments, the data transfer request between the external device and the buffer memory 18 and the data transfer request (read request and write request) between the buffer memory 18 and the disk 11 are separately described. However, a conventional command protocol for executing data transfer between the external device and the disk 11 with one command may be provided at the same time.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a magnetic disk has been described. However, the present invention can be applied to other disk devices such as an optical disk device in the same manner as in the above embodiment. The effect of is obtained.

[0131]

As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the buffer memory built in the disk device is effectively used and the control is performed efficiently, so that the performance such as the writing speed is greatly improved. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a disk device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a correspondence example between a data transfer order and a storage order in a buffer memory at the time of recording by the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a correspondence example between a storage order on a buffer memory and a data transfer order during reproduction of the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a free area management table of the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data block management table of the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of setting data banks and segments in the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data bank management table of the disk device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a division control method of a buffer memory in a conventional disk device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the correspondence between data transfer timing and disk write timing in a conventional disk device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Disk 12 Head 15 External device interface circuit 16 CPU 17 CPU interface circuit 18 Buffer memory 19 Buffer control circuit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Yoneno 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and transfer data from an external device to the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. Data transfer means for storing;
Multiplexing information receiving means for receiving data multiplexing information corresponding to the data transfer request from an external device; data multiplexing means for multiplexing data based on the data multiplexing information to generate a data block; A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a write permission accepting unit that receives data write permission information corresponding to the above from an external device; and a data write unit that writes the data block to the storage medium according to the data write permission information. 2. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and transfer data from an external device to the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. Data transfer means for storing;
Multiplexing information receiving means for receiving data multiplexing information corresponding to the data transfer request from an external device, write permission receiving means for receiving data write permission information from an external device, and writing to the storage medium in accordance with the data write permission information Write data selecting means for selecting data to be written, and data multiplexing means for multiplexing the data selected by the write data selecting means in accordance with the data multiplexing information to generate a data block;
A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a data writing unit that writes the data block to the storage medium. 3. The multiplexing information receiving unit receives data storage position information on a temporary storage circuit corresponding to transfer data from an external device as the data multiplexing information from the external device, and the data transfer unit includes: 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a data storage position on the temporary storage circuit is selected based on the data storage position information. 4. The multiplexing information accepting unit receives a writing order corresponding to a data transfer request from an external device as the data multiplexing information from an external device, and the data writing unit temporarily stores the writing order based on the writing order. 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein data on the storage circuit is rearranged and written to the storage medium. 5. The temporary storage circuit temporarily stores data transferred from an external device in order, and stores a plurality of storage units capable of transferring the temporarily stored data to a data writing unit in the order transferred from the external device. The recording / reproducing apparatus further includes a storage circuit selecting unit that selects a storage unit to be a data transfer source from the plurality of storage units based on storage circuit selection information notified from an external device, 3. The writing unit according to claim 1, wherein the writing unit multiplexes data stored in the two or more storage units selected by the storage circuit selection unit and writes the multiplexed data to a storage medium in response to a data write request from an external device. Recording and playback device. 6. A means for searching for a data storage area to be discarded in response to a data discard request from an external device, and a free area management means for registering the searched data storage area as a free area in which no data is stored. 3. The recording / reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 7. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and transfer data from an external device to the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. Data transfer means for storing;
Write size information receiving means for receiving write data information from an external device; area specifying means for specifying a data storage area on the temporary storage circuit according to the write data information; and A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a data writing unit that writes all data stored in a data storage area to a storage medium. 8. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and transfer data from an external device to the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request issued from the external device. Data transfer means for storing;
An additional data generating means for generating additional data according to additional data information from an external device; a data multiplexing means for generating a data block in which the additional data is added to data stored in the temporary storage circuit; A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: a data writing unit that writes the data block to the storage medium in response to a data write request from a device. 9. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, data reading means for reading data from the storage medium in response to a data read request issued from an external device, Discard data information receiving means for receiving discard data information from an external device;
A recording / reproducing apparatus comprising: data extracting means for discarding predetermined data from data read from the storage medium in accordance with the discarded data information and storing the remaining extracted data in the temporary storage circuit. 10. A storage medium for recording and reproducing data, a temporary storage circuit for temporarily storing data, and storing transfer data from an external device in the temporary storage circuit in response to a data transfer request from an external device. A recording / reproducing apparatus, comprising: a data transfer unit that performs data writing; and a data writing unit that periodically writes data stored in a specific area on the temporary storage circuit set from an external device to the storage medium.