CN1719537B - Storage control method for analyzing volume information of storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A storage control method for analyzing volume information of a storage medium, wherein a volume information analysis module, a volume information temporary storage area, a display device interface and a power modulation circuit are added to a storage controller, so that it can independently read the storage medium in an online or offline state, analyze the recorded storage medium volume information content, and then display the application status related information of the storage medium volume through a display device connected to the display device interface, and display the volume information for user reference.

Description

Storage control method for analyzing volume information of storage media

technical field

The invention relates to a storage device control method with the functions of reading storage media, analyzing volume information recorded in the storage media, controlling a display device to display the information, and providing user reference.

Background technique

With the advancement of technology, information equipment is becoming more mobile and portable, such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), followed by the development of portable storage devices. With the use of flash memory and technological progress, Large capacity portable storage devices are also more common.

At present, there are thin, small and large-capacity storage devices, including removable storage media (such as Zip disks, CDs, and memory cards, etc.), portable storage devices (such as USB flash drives, external hard drives, etc.) etc.), as it only has the function of entity recording information, it can only provide the system side for recording and obtaining information. In addition, relative to these removable storage media are removable transmission media devices (such as Zip disk drives, optical drives and card readers, etc.), which are used as a medium for signal transmission between the removable storage media and the system end.

The above-mentioned portable or removable storage device performs and masters relevant algorithms or control procedures on its sector division, sector formatting, file writing and reading, etc., so the above-mentioned only has information storage and Various storage devices with interface functions cannot display volume-related information after being offline, such as: free space (free space), volume label (volume label), etc.

The controller in the existing storage device only has the function of physical storage. Please refer to the prior art storage control system architecture schematic diagram shown in Figure 1, wherein the structure of the storage control system 10 mainly includes a microprocessor (Micro Processor Unit, MPU) 11, system end interface 12, storage media interface 13, data transmission Buffer 14, program code memory 15, data temporary memory 16, power modulation circuit 17, clock oscillation circuit 18 and other units.

The system end interface 12 of the storage control system 10 is connected to the application system 101. The connected application system 101 can be information products such as a computer system and a digital camera. The storage control system 10 is connected to the storage medium 102 through the storage medium interface 13, and is controlled by The internal microprocessor 11 is connected to the application system 101 according to the communication protocol standard of the system interface 12, analyzes and interprets the access command issued by the application system 101, and accesses the storage medium 102 accordingly, and then performs functions such as data transmission, and can obtain Access recorded information at any time.

The data management operations of the above-mentioned portable or removable storage devices, such as sector division, sector formatting, file writing and reading, etc., are all performed and mastered by an external application system with relevant algorithms or control procedures. The disadvantages of its technology are as follows:

1. Inconvenience to the user: because the user must be in the activated state of the storage control system and through a specific operation program to grasp the important relevant information of the aforementioned storage device, and this is when the content of the storage device is really insufficient , it is necessary to purchase additional or replace storage with other types of storage devices, causing inconvenience.

2. Increase the burden on the storage system: Because these devices that will become the mainstream of storage in the future cannot execute related programs such as calculating storage capacity and available capacity space, the application system must be intervened to process them. This is increasingly integrated with existing peripheral devices. In the era of reducing the load on the system side, it increases the unnecessary load on the system side, especially when removable storage devices such as memory cards are applied to portable devices with limited power such as digital cameras. When the remaining memory capacity of the memory card is reached, the power must be activated once, causing it to consume power for unnecessary work execution.

The present invention adds volume information analysis module, volume information temporary storage area (volume information memory), display device interface (display device interface) and power regulation circuit (power regulation circuit) to the storage control system without increasing the system Under the power consumption and cost, realize the function of volume information analysis and display.

Contents of the invention

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a storage control method for setting a volume information analysis module and a volume information temporary storage area. A function that records volume-related application information.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a control drive interface of the display device in the storage control area system, so that the controller can easily connect to the display device and display volume information on the display device.

The aforementioned storage control system consists of a storage medium interface, a system end interface, a data transmission buffer, a microprocessor, a program code memory, a data temporary storage memory, a volume information analysis module, a volume information temporary storage area, a display device interface, and a power modulation circuit and a clock oscillator circuit.

Wherein, the system-side interface is connected to the application system, the storage medium interface is connected to the storage medium, and the display device interface is connected to the display device. The external power input is connected by the power modulation circuit, modulated and supplied with power to each internal unit. The external RC oscillation circuit is connected with the clock oscillation circuit to generate an oscillation clock and supply it to each internal unit. The firmware control program is recorded by the program code memory, and the control program is executed by the microprocessor to control the action relationship of each internal unit, and in the firmware control program, it is set to activate reading in the on-line and/or off-line state Action program for analyzing, recording and displaying volume information on storage media. During this period, there is also a data temporary storage memory to provide storage space to store necessary information such as control variables and data structures when performing the aforementioned control program. The volume information temporary storage area is used to save volume information for reference and comparison during analysis. And set the volume information analysis module to perform the function of volume information analysis.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a storage control system in the prior art;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the storage control system and peripheral devices of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the storage control system of the present invention;

4 is an activation flow chart of the control method for analyzing the volume information of the storage medium according to the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a detailed activation flowchart of the control method for analyzing the volume information of the storage medium in the present invention;

6 is a volume information analysis flowchart of the control method for analyzing the volume information of the storage medium in the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a detailed flow chart of volume information analysis of the control method for analyzing volume information of storage media according to the present invention.

Detailed ways

The present invention can be applied to general storage devices such as hard disks and portable disks, and the control system of the storage device is provided with a volume information analysis module, a volume information temporary storage area (volume information memory), and a display device. Modules such as the display device interface and the power regulation circuit can independently read and analyze the storage media volume information recorded on the storage medium when offline, and display the volume information on the display device through the display device interface Provide user reference.

For the embodiment of the present invention, please refer to the schematic diagram of the architecture of the storage control system and peripheral devices shown in FIG. A plurality of control interfaces connected to external devices, including electrically connecting a system-side interface 22, a display device interface 24, and a storage medium interface 26, etc., are controlled by the system-side interface 22, manage digital information recorded on the storage medium, and control reading and/or Write and other access actions. The storage device controller 20 is connected to and reads and analyzes a storage medium 25 (such as a non-volatile memory) through a storage medium interface 26 in a built-in or external manner, so as to retrieve digital information therein and generate volume-related information of the storage medium, And display the information on the display device 23 .

Wherein, the storage media interface (Storage Media Interface) 26 is an interface for carrying out digitized information transmission between the storage device controller 20 and the storage medium 25, and is electrically connected to the controller 20 to transmit data signals to the application system 21 and the display device 23; The host system interface (Host System Interface) 22 is used to transmit read and/or write access instructions and access digital data between the storage device controller 20 and the application system 21 (such as computer systems, portable access devices, portable digital devices, etc. The information interface is controlled by the controller 20 to access the storage medium 25 and the display device 23; the display device interface (Display Device Interface) 24 is connected to the display device 23 in a built-in or external connection mode, and the controller 20 captures the control of the application system The signal and the volume information of the storage medium 25 are used to display the volume information of the storage medium to provide a reference interface for the user.

As shown in Figure 2, the application system 21 is connected to the storage device controller 20 through the system end interface 22, and the storage medium interface 26 is used to connect and access the storage medium 25, and then through the analysis module (not shown in this figure) in the controller. , which will be described later), the information of the storage medium 25, such as the used space, remaining space, file status and volume label (volume label), etc., is displayed on the display device 23 through the display device interface 24. For the preferred embodiment of the present invention, please refer to the schematic diagram of the architecture of the storage control system shown in FIG. 3 . The main body is the storage device controller 20, and the application system 21 achieves the purpose of connecting the storage medium 25 and the display device 23 by controlling the storage device controller 20, manages the digital information recorded on the storage medium 25, and controls read and/or write access The digitizing action is recorded to generate volume-related information of the storage medium, and the information is displayed on the display device 23 . The storage device controller 20 includes:

The storage media interface (Storage Media Interface) 26 is an interface for transferring and accessing digitized information records between the storage device controller 20 and the storage medium 25.

The host system interface (Host System Interface) 22 is an interface for transferring access commands and digital information records between the storage device controller 20 and the application system 21.

A data transfer buffer (Data Transfer Buffer) 38 is electrically connected to the storage medium interface 26, the system end interface 22 and the microprocessor 31, and the microprocessor 31 temporarily stores the application system 21 and the storage medium 25 for transmission through the data transfer buffer 38. The memory buffer of information enables a large amount of data to be transmitted without being moved one by one by the microprocessor 31, and the signal data can be directly transmitted between the storage medium interface 26 and the system end interface 22 through the data transmission buffer 38.

The microprocessor (Micro-Processor) 31 is electrically connected to the core processing unit that controls various units and functions of the storage device controller 20 . It executes the firmware control program stored and recorded in the program code memory, and realizes functions such as data transmission of the storage device, storage medium management, volume information analysis, and volume information display.

Program code memory (Program Memory) 34 is electrically connected to the microprocessor 31, and is a memory for storing the firmware program code of the storage device controller 20, and is a memory space for storing and recording the firmware control program executed by the microprocessor 31.

The temporary data memory (Data Memory) 35 is electrically connected to the microprocessor 31 to provide a memory space for storing variables or data structures controlled by the firmware control program.

Volume Information Analysis Module (Volume Information Analysis Module) 33 is a functional module that analyzes the state of storage media volume information based on the storage media 25 under the control of the microprocessor 31, and analyzes the information recorded therein to generate storage volume information. The firmware control program of the microprocessor 31 can be integrated and the analysis function can be executed by the microprocessor 31 .

The volume information temporary storage area (Volume Information Memory) 32 is a recording and storage space for volume information, electrically connected to the volume information analysis module 33 and the microprocessor 31, etc., for integrating the shared data temporary storage space to record and save volume information.

The display device interface (Display Device Interface) 24 is a data transmission interface between the storage device controller 20 and the display device 23.

The power regulation circuit (Power Regulation Circuit) 37 is a circuit for modulating the input power and providing power to the functional units in the storage device controller 20.

The clock oscillation circuit (Clock Oscillation Circuit) 36 generates oscillation and generates a clock with a specific frequency accordingly, so as to provide a synchronous clock to each unit in the storage device controller 20.

The storage device controller 20 shown in FIG. 3 is an embodiment of a control chip that is externally connected to a storage medium 25, an application system 21, and a display device 23, and displays the volume information of the storage medium 25 through the display device 23, that is, through the internally provided The volume information analysis module 33 analyzes and generates volume information according to the information recorded in the storage medium 25, and stores it in the volume information temporary storage area 32, and saves part of the volume information in the volume information temporary storage area 32 for comparison of updated data later. Yes, the comparison method is to record the storage location of the above-mentioned relevant data. When the system writes data, it confirms whether the written data is the same as the volume information already stored in the volume information temporary storage area 32, and then judges whether to update the volume information. Wherein the volume information includes the reference information such as storage medium 25 partition area, file system format (filesystem) and volume label (Volume Label); In addition, volume information analysis module 33 also can scan this storage medium 25 whole to analyze and calculate storage medium current Load and usage status (such as remaining available capacity, space capacity in use, and block damage data), the latest volume information of the storage medium is obtained from the aforementioned reading and scanning actions and the display signal is sent through the microprocessor 31 The display device interface 24 is displayed on the display device 23 .

In particular, the built-in or external display device 23 can be a bi-stable liquid crystal display (Bi-stable Liquid Crystal Display), and the liquid crystal displays its stability characteristics in two different alignment states. These two stable states can be changed by voltage, and can also be identified by optical means, which is the so-called bistable LCD. This kind of storage related device can update its display information when the power is supplied, but it will not update the display information when the power is off, but will latch (Latch) the last updated display information on the screen, so adopt This kind of display unit can display the above-mentioned volume information of the storage medium regardless of the connection, offline or power off, so that the user can view the volume information of the storage medium obtained after analysis and calculation with the minimum power consumption , so that the user can keep track of the usage status of the volume of the storage medium at any time.

Another feature of the present invention is that when the storage device controller 20 is connected to the computer, it can perform the aforementioned analysis after activation, and can cooperate with the application system 21 to issue instructions to perform the operations of accessing the storage device 25 and transmitting data, which is more cooperative. Based on the analysis results of the volume information, it detects and judges whether the aforementioned access operation affects the application information of the storage media volume, and then directly supports the access action of the application system when it is determined that the aforementioned access operation does not affect the volume information, so as to reduce the impact of adding this function on the storage medium. or when it is determined that the aforementioned access operation will affect the volume information, after completing the access action required by the application system 21, adjust the volume information of the storage medium recorded by the controller according to the information changed by the application system 21, And through the display device interface 24, the volume information of the storage medium displayed on the display device 23 is updated.

Furthermore, after the first analysis is performed during activation, the analysis results are temporarily stored in the volume information temporary storage area 32, which can speed up the update operation, that is, when the volume status is continuously updated, the previously recorded analysis results must be referred to, and As far as the range of data written by the system changes, it is enough to correct the volume information, which can achieve the purpose of accelerating analysis and updating display operations.

Specifically, the control method of the storage control system with the volume information analysis function of the storage medium of the present invention includes an activation method of the volume information analysis of the storage medium and a volume information analysis method, which are described as follows.

Fig. 4 is the main activation flow chart of the control method for volume information analysis of the storage medium of the present invention, the steps are as follows:

Step 41: Turn on the power, activate the storage control system, including the storage media, application system and display device connected thereto;

Step S42: read the active sector (MasterBoot Record, MBR) after system initialization (initialization);

Step S43: After activation, obtain volume parameters of various storage media from the activated sector, such as volume labels, or capacity information obtained in the file system;

Step S44: Calculate the required information through volume parameters, such as occupied or remaining capacity;

Step S45: Display the relevant content on the display device through the display device interface;

Step S46: Enter the standby state (standby) after completion, to wait for the next activation process.

As in the above process, in order to speed up the process of volume information analysis, it reads the file allocation table (FAT) information from the storage medium, stores it in the volume information temporary storage area, and sets and activates the volume information analysis module by the microprocessor. It automatically analyzes the cumulative storage space already occupied by files. The foregoing process can also be realized by firmware to implement the volume information analysis module, and the analysis can be directly performed by the microprocessor. After the analysis is completed, the analysis results and important volume information such as: 1. The address interval for storing important information such as the main active sector (MBR), the basic input and output system parameter block (BIOS Parameter Block, BPB), and the file configuration table ;2. The currently set volume label; 3. The currently set volume capacity; 4. The currently calculated remaining available space, etc., are recorded and stored in the volume information temporary storage area, and are provided for reference comparison when updating volume information. To speed up the subsequent analysis process.

The detailed activation steps of the aforementioned process are shown in Figure 5;

Step S501: activating the storage device controller of the storage control system;

Step S502: Check the status of each unit of the controller;

Step S503: Check the state of the storage medium;

Step S504: Read the main active sector (MBR) of the storage medium. This main active sector is responsible for storing the data of the partition table, and all the data to access the storage medium must be able to know the address of the start and end of the partition;

Step S505: Analyzing the start address of the partition table in the main active sector;

Step S506: read the basic input and output system parameter block (BIOS parameter block, BPB) from the above-mentioned starting address, this BIOS parameter block is included in the first sector of the activation sector, and is mainly used to store various storage The information of the media, such as the required system files, boot programs, etc., and the volume label required by the present invention;

Step S507: Obtain the volume label from the BIOS parameter block. The present invention uses the volume displayed on the display device as the identification of the storage device, which can be displayed as user code, name or other patterns for identification as required ;

Step S508: Obtain volume-related parameters from the BIOS parameter block, including sector size (SectorSize), cluster size (Cluster Size), reserved sectors (Reserved Sector), total sector number (Total Sector) and file system, etc.;

Step S509: Check to confirm whether the parameter is correct and whether the file system supports it;

Step S510: Calculate the location of the root directory according to the address of the BIOS parameter block and the volume parameter;

Step S511: Calculate the initial position and capacity of the file configuration table;

Step S512: Read all the file configuration tables to accumulate the occupied volume capacity, and put them in the temporary storage area;

Step S513: Calculate the occupied total capacity and the remaining available space according to the file configuration table;

Step S514: Record the volume information to the volume information temporary storage area in the storage device controller, including the address interval for storing important information such as MBR, BPB, and file configuration table, the currently set volume, the currently set volume capacity and The remaining free space calculated at present, etc.; part of the volume information is stored in the volume information temporary storage area for comparison of updated data later. It records the storage location of the aforementioned relevant data. When writing data, it must be quickly confirmed. Whether the written data affects the volume information, and then judge whether to update the display operation;

Step S515: the microprocessor controls the interface of the display device to update and display the latest volume information on the display device;

Step S516: Complete the volume information and display operations and enter the standby state.

When the storage device enters the standby mode, the system interface can be activated, ready to be connected with the application system to perform the volume information analysis process shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 . If the storage device is offline (that is, the storage device controller is not connected to the application system), the storage device will continue to stand by and display that the updated volume information remains unchanged.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart of the main steps of volume information analysis of the control method for storage volume information analysis of the present invention:

Step S61: activating the system-side interface, that is, activating the control interface between the storage device controller and the application system, so as to wait for a control signal from the application system;

Step S62: Check the connection state between the storage device controller and the application system, if there is no connection, continue to detect, otherwise it is the connection state;

Step S63: Detect whether the volume information has changed, if there is no change, there is no need to update the volume information to be displayed;

Step S64: If the application system has an action affecting the volume information of the storage device, update the volume information;

Step S65: display the updated information on the display device;

Step S66: After the display is completed, enter the standby state.

Figure 7 is the detailed disclosure of Figure 6, and the process includes:

Step S701: activating the system-end interface of the storage device controller connected to the application system;

Step S702: Check whether the storage device is offline;

Step S703: If it is offline, continuously check the connection status between the storage device controller and the application system;

Step S704: If the connection state is detected, the application system can activate the system-side communication protocol (protocol) through the system-side interface to access the connection state of the storage medium;

Step S705: The storage device waits for an instruction from the application system, such as delete, store, format, etc., and the controller needs to judge whether the volume information should be updated according to the type of instruction issued by the application system;

Step S706: If the application system has not issued an instruction, maintain a standby state and wait for the instruction to be issued;

Step S707: judging whether the instruction obtained from the application system is in the state of reading or acquiring;

Step S708: If it is a read command, since the capacity used by the volume will not be changed, the volume information will not be updated, and the judging step of step S707 will continue;

Step S709: If the command of the application system is an action that affects volume information such as writing or deleting, it is necessary to determine whether the writing or deleting action will affect the volume information; if the action does not affect the volume information, such as simply file overwrite Write or other moving and copying actions do not update the volume information, and return to the step of detecting the application system command. In other words, if the application system requires the operation of reading information or responding to the status, since the above operation will not change the volume Information or the state of the volume of the storage medium, so the controller can respond immediately and perform data transmission according to the parameters required by the command;

Step S710: If the writing operation performed by the application system will affect the volume information, trigger the volume information update operation;

Step S711: Executing the writing operation to complete the data transmission;

Step S712: The storage device controller then compares the address interval required for writing, and judges whether it belongs to the address interval for storing important information such as MBR, BPB, root directory, subdirectory, etc., when the application system requires the address interval for writing operation , which is the same as the storage location of the aforementioned important information, and will affect the aforementioned important information, then the controller will record this situation and the address range affected by the writing operation of the system, and after completing the writing operation and data transmission, read Store media and update volume information;

Step S713: Update the content of the volume information temporary storage area; since the system write operation may not fully affect the content of the volume information, when updating the volume information, the controller only needs to analyze the content of the affected address range, and based on the temporary The volume information in the volume information temporary storage area and the scope of changes affected by the system write operation can be analyzed and calculated again to obtain the latest results, and then update the volume information recorded in the volume information temporary storage area;

Step S714: Updating the display content of the display device, it is necessary to determine whether to perform the update operation depending on whether the initial position of the written data and the length of the data affect the volume information stored in the storage medium;

Step S715: Return to the standby state after completion, waiting for an instruction from the application system.

As mentioned above, in the storage device controller of the present invention, functional units such as a volume information analysis module, a volume information temporary storage area, and a display device interface are provided to independently read the storage medium and analyze the volume-related information of the storage medium recorded therein. , and control the display device via the display device interface to display volume application-related information of the storage medium for user reference. The present invention can reduce the impact of the addition of the aforementioned functions on the application system's access to the storage medium through the aforementioned recording, comparison, and determination processes, and at the same time accelerate the speed of updating the volume information when the application system changes the volume information of the storage medium.

Claims (6)

1. one kind is used for storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed, and this method comprises the method that a volume information that activates medium is analyzed and the step of a volume information analytical approach, it is characterized in that this control method may further comprise the steps:

Activate a storage controller;

Check the state of a medium, an application system and a display device that this storage controller connects;

Check the state of this medium;

Read one of this medium and activate the sector;

Resolve an initial address of a contingency table of this activation sector;

Begin to read a ROM-BIOS parameter block of this activation sector from this start address;

Obtain several volume parameters, wherein this volume parameter comprises the information of a sector capacity, a magnetic bunch capacity, a reserve sector, a Volume Space, a label and a file system;

When this volume information has change, upgrade the volume information that obtains by this volume parameter, and on this display device the volume information of display update, this wherein shown volume information comprises the information of this label, this Volume Space and a remaining space at least;

Enter holding state; And

Carry out this volume information analysis, after this medium reads the information of a file configuration table certainly, the information of this document allocation list is deposited in a volume information working area, and analyze the storage space that this volume is totally taken by a volume information analysis module.

2. the storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed of being used for according to claim 1, it is characterized in that: this volume information analytical approach may further comprise the steps:

Activate a system end interface, promptly activate the control interface of a storage controller and an application system, to wait for the control signal of this application system;

Whether the state that detects a volume information has change, judges promptly whether the information write influences this volume information, if the information that writes does not influence this volume information, represents that then this volume information does not have change and will not upgrade; If this volume information of informational influence that writes represents that then this volume information has change;

When this volume information has change, promptly upgrade this volume information;

The volume information of display update on a display device; And

Enter holding state.

3. the storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed of being used for according to claim 1, it is characterized in that: this volume information analytical approach may further comprise the steps:

Activate the system end interface that a storage controller connects an application system;

Check whether a medium is in off-line state;

Whether if be in off-line state, then continuing to check between this storage controller and this application system is to connect the machine state; If check that then this application system is carried out this medium of access by this system end interface triggering system end communication protocol in order to connect the machine state; Wait for that this application system assigns instruction, comprise deletion, storage, format instruction, the instruction kenel that this storage controller is assigned according to this application system judges whether to upgrade this volume information again;

Whether the state of instruction of judging this application system is for reading or obtain state;

If the write operation that this application system is carried out can influence this volume information, trigger the renewal operation of volume information;

Carry out write operation and finish transmission;

Renewal is used to store the content in a volume information working area of this volume information;

Upgrade the displaying contents of a display device; And

Reply armed state after finishing.

4. the storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed of being used for according to claim 3 is characterized in that: when this application system is not assigned instruction as yet, then keep an armed state and wait for instruction issuing.

5. the storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed of being used for according to claim 3, it is characterized in that: whether trigger the step that this volume information upgrades operation in this, looking the reference position and the data length that write data influences the volume information of media storage and judges whether to upgrade operation.

6. the storage controlling method that the volume information of medium is analyzed of being used for according to claim 3 is characterized in that: after the step of replying armed state, enter and wait for that this application system assigns the step of instruction.

Images