JP2003308230A - Recording medium processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] USB used for conventional embedded device applications
Many bridges can recognize only one recording medium, and cannot recognize a plurality of recording media at the same time. SOLUTION: By holding management information of a plurality of recording media 302a and 302b as one virtual management table, it is possible to access a plurality of recording media 302a and 302b. Thereby, the plurality of recording media 302
a, 302b connected digital information recording device 303
, The plurality of recording media 302a and 302b
It can be handled as a single recording medium.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium processing apparatus, for example, a technology for connecting electronic equipment having a plurality of ATA (AT Attachment) devices via a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many digital image recording apparatuses represented by digital still cameras and digital video cameras have an interface for connecting to a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as "personal computer"). Therefore, the recording medium connected to the digital video recording device can be accessed from the personal computer side.

The connection interface with the personal computer is
There are various types such as IEEE 1394 and RS232C, but in a digital still camera and a digital video camera, a USB (Universal Serial Bus, hereinafter referred to as “U”).
(Denoted as "SB") is often used.

USB is a keyboard, mouse, modem,
It is one of the standards for the data transmission path that connects peripheral devices such as joysticks and personal computers, and can connect up to 127 peripheral devices in a star shape. Data can be transferred at a higher speed than the conventional RS232C. In addition, the function to insert / remove the USB connector while the power of the PC is on (hot swap), and the function to perform the setting automatically only by connecting to the PC (plug and play)
It also supports.

ANSI is used as an interface for connecting the digital video recording device and the recording medium processing device.
ATA (AT Attachment) / ATAPI (AT standardized by the American National Standards Institute)
Attachment Packet Interface) interface (hereinafter simply referred to as “ATA interface”) is generally used.

The ATA interface has two channels, a primary channel and a secondary channel, and it is possible to connect two recording medium processing devices to each channel. Further, in the two recording medium processing devices connected to one channel, the positions on the interface are assigned to each of them, and one device is called a master side and the other device is called a slave side. There is.

On the other hand, as a recording medium, not only a magnetic disk or an optical disk but also various recording media using a semiconductor memory, for example, a card type memory card or PCMCIA is used.
(Personal Computer Memory Card International Asso
Various types of memory cards such as a memory card of a standardized shape and a stick-type memory card are provided. A recording medium used in a digital video recording apparatus is generally composed of one partition and has a management table at the head of the partition.

The management table is composed of entries of four partitions. One partition corresponds to one partition entry, and a flag indicating whether the corresponding partition is active (bootable), CHS (Cylinder number, Head)
number, Sector number, hereinafter referred to as “CHS”), partition type, end sector according to CHS, LBA (Logical Block Address, hereinafter referred to as “L”)
(Indicated by "BA") and a partition size.

Digital information recording devices are USB and ATA.
Access to various storage media connected to the digital video recording device is realized by a bus converter of the interface (hereinafter referred to as “USB bridge”).

[0010]

By the way, many USB bridges used for conventional embedded devices are capable of recognizing only one recording medium, and cannot simultaneously recognize a plurality of recording media. . Therefore, even if a plurality of recording media are connected, only one of the recording media can be recognized by the personal computer that is the host.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording medium processing apparatus capable of simultaneously recognizing a plurality of recording media by treating a plurality of recording media as one recording medium. It is what

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The first invention (Claim 1)
Corresponds to), access means for reading the management table of a recording medium having a management table for managing the area having an area for storing digital information, and at least a plurality of the management tables, In a recording medium processing device provided with a storage area capable of storing at the same time and a means for reading the storage area through an interface to which a recording medium is connected, a management table is read from a plurality of recording media and the management table is read out. The recording medium processing apparatus is capable of simultaneously recognizing the plurality of recording media when the plurality of recording media are connected to one interface by combining them to create a virtual management table.

A second aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 2) is the recording medium processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, in which the plurality of recording media are recognized as one recording medium.

In a third aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 3), the management table of the plurality of recording media is MBR (Master Boo).
t Record) type recording medium processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention.

A fourth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 4) is the recording medium according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the plurality of recording media are treated as independent partitions (a plurality of logical drives). It is a processing device.

A fifth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 5) is the recording medium processing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the plurality of recording media are connected to an ATA interface.

A sixth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 6) is an AT.
The recording medium processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention is capable of connecting a number of the recording media exceeding the upper limit value 2 of the recording media connectable to the A interface.

In a seventh aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 7), at least one of the recording media is insertable and removable, and any one of the first to sixth aspects having means for detecting insertion and removal of the recording medium. It is a recording medium processing device of the present invention.

An eighth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 8) is the recording medium processing apparatus according to the seventh aspect of the present invention, which has means for updating the virtual management table when insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected. .

A ninth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 9) is the recording medium processing apparatus according to the seventh or eighth aspect of the present invention, which does not accept a command for the recording medium during updating of the virtual management table.

The tenth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 10) is
When a command is being issued to another recording medium when the insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected, the virtual management table is updated after waiting for the completion of the command.
9 is a recording medium processing device according to the present invention.

The eleventh invention (corresponding to claim 11) is
The recording medium processing device according to any one of the seventh to tenth aspects of the present invention, in which the virtual management table is updated after compulsorily issuing a command completion notification when the recording medium is inserted / removed during command issuance. Is.

The twelfth aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 12) is
When the insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected during the update of the virtual management table, the command for the recording medium is not accepted until the creation of the virtual management table after the detection is completed. A recording medium processing device.

The thirteenth invention (corresponding to claim 13) is
The management table of the recording medium is in MBR format,
If the total number of connected recording media exceeds four,
The virtual management table is an extended format EBR
It is the recording medium processing device according to any one of the first to twelfth aspects of the present invention, which corresponds to five or more recording media by using (Extend Boot Record).

The fourteenth invention (corresponding to claim 14) is
A recording medium processing apparatus according to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, which corresponds to all the logical drives by using EBR when the total number of logical drives of the recording medium exceeds four.

The fifteenth invention (corresponding to claim 15) is
The recording medium processing apparatus of the present invention is one of the first to fourteenth types, in which the type of the recording medium is a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, an optical disk, or a semiconductor memory.

The recording medium processing apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention is characterized by collecting management information of a plurality of recording media and virtually creating one management table. By recognizing, the above problems are solved.

The recording medium processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by simultaneously recognizing a plurality of recording media and treating them virtually as one recording medium.

Next, in the recording medium processing apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, the management information of the recording medium is MBR (Master Boot Record).
d, hereinafter simply referred to as “MBR”) format, and by creating a virtual MBR and virtually treating a plurality of recording media as one recording medium, It is a solution.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention treats each device as an independent logical drive even if there are directories or files having the same name in a plurality of devices, thereby causing data collision. It is possible to realize access to the device while avoiding such problems.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus of the fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of recording media are connected to the ATA interface.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that more than two recording media, which is the upper limit of the number connectable to the ATA interface, can be connected.

Next, in the recording medium processing apparatus of the seventh aspect of the present invention, at least one of the connected recording media is a storage medium that can be inserted / removed, and has means for detecting the insertion / removal of the recording medium. It is characterized by.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus of the eighth aspect of the present invention is characterized by having means for updating the virtual management table when insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected. It will be realized.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus of the ninth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that it does not accept commands to the recording medium during updating of the virtual management table, and realizes preventing unstable access. It is a thing.

Next, in the recording medium processing device of the tenth aspect of the present invention, when a command is being issued to another recording medium when insertion / removal is detected, the virtual management table is waited for after completion of the command. It is characterized by performing the update of, and realizes higher access security.

Next, the recording medium processing device of the eleventh aspect of the present invention updates the virtual management table after compulsorily issuing a command completion notification when the recording medium is inserted or removed while a command is being issued. The feature is that it is performed, and more reliable data access is realized.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus according to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, when detecting insertion / removal of a device during updating of the virtual management table, issues commands to the recording medium until the virtual management table creation after detection is completed. It is characterized by not accepting, and realizes more reliable access.

Next, in the recording medium processing apparatus according to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, when the management table of the recording medium is in the MBR format, the virtual management table is expanded even if the total number of connected recording media exceeds four. The format is EBR (Extend
Boot Record (hereinafter simply referred to as "EBR") is used to support five or more recording media, and realizes access to all connected recording media. Is.

Next, the recording medium processing apparatus according to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention can cope with all logical drives by using EBR when the total number of logical drives of the connected recording medium exceeds four. And realizes access to all logical drives of the connected recording medium.

[0041]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the following description, the format of the recording medium will be described as the FAT format unless otherwise specified, but the same applies to any file system using the management table.

The connection between the digital video recording apparatus and the personal computer has been described using the USB interface, but the same applies to other hot-swappable interfaces such as IEEE 1394.

Further, although the connection between the recording medium processing device and the digital video recording device is explained using the ATA interface, SCSI (Small Computer System) is used.
Interface) and other interfaces are the same.

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, FIG. 1, FIG. 2 (a), and FIG. 2 (b) will be used for an embodiment of the invention according to claim 1, claim 2, and claim 3 of the present application. Explain.

In FIG. 1, a host 300 is a device such as a personal computer having a large capacity storage medium having an interface for transmitting and receiving data. The USB bridge 301 is a bus conversion device for connecting a personal computer and a recording medium, and is connected to a host 300 having a USB interface and a recording medium processing device 303 having an ATA interface, respectively.

The recording media 302a and 302b are recording media having an ATA interface such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and capable of random access, and are connected to the recording medium processing device 303, respectively.

The recording medium processing device 303 includes a CPU
Alternatively, it is a device including a GA (Gate Array) and a semiconductor memory, and has a plurality of ATA interfaces. A USB bridge 301 and recording media 302a and 302b are connected to the plurality of ATA interfaces, respectively.

FIG. 2A shows a recording medium processing device 303.
Shows an example of partition management in which the recording media 302a and 302b each composed of a single partition are simultaneously connected, and the recording medium 302a is the first partition and the recording medium 302b is the second partition. .

The recording medium processing device 303 includes the recording medium 30.
Read the MBRs of 2a and 302b to create a virtual MBR
Recording medium 302 in the entry of the first partition of
The entry of the partition a is registered as the entry of the partition of the recording medium 302b in the entry of the second partition of the virtual MBR, and is held as the MBR of the virtual drive having two logical drives.

FIG. 2B shows a recording medium 302a having a single partition and assigned LBA numbers from 0 to n, and a single partition having LBA numbers from 0 to m. The allocated recording medium 302b is simultaneously connected, and the recording medium 3
02a is the first partition and recording medium 302b is the second partition
Partition management and LBA as a partition
An example of reassignment of numbers is shown.

The MBR area of the recording medium 302a is assigned addresses 0 to k, the MBR area of the recording medium 302b is assigned LBA numbers from address 0 to j, and the virtual MBR area is assigned addresses 0 to i. When allocating the LBA number of the recording medium 302a, areas (i + 1) to (i + 1) + (nk) are allocated to the area excluding the MBR of the recording medium 302a, and (i + 1) is allocated to the area excluding the MBR of the recording medium 302b. From (+ (n−k) +1) to (i + 1)
Up to + (n−k) +1+ (m−j) addresses are allocated.

When viewed from the host 300, the connected device is recognized as the recording medium 304, and access is performed based on the virtual MBR 305 of the recording medium 304.
Recording medium processing device 3 that has received an access request to the recording medium
03 converts the LBA number in the virtual MBR 305 into the LBA number of the corresponding device and executes the command, so that access to a plurality of recording media can be realized.

(Embodiment 2) Next, an embodiment of the invention according to claims 7 and 8 of the present application will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to (a) and FIG. 3 (b). The same components as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 3A, recording media 302c and 302d are recording media that can be inserted and removed and can be randomly accessed, such as CF (Compact Flash) devices. In addition, the recording media 302c and 302
Each d is composed of a single partition and is connected to the ATA interface of the recording medium processing device 303b.

Further, the recording medium processing device 303b has a CP
The apparatus is provided with a U or GA, a semiconductor memory, a plurality of ATA interfaces, and a function of detecting insertion / extraction of a recording medium connected to the ATA interface.

FIG. 3A shows a recording medium processing device 303b.
2 shows an example of partition management in which the recording media 302c and 302d are simultaneously inserted, and the recording medium 302c is the first partition and the recording medium 302d is the second partition.

At this time, the recording medium processing device 303b is
The MBRs of the recording media 302c and 302d are read, the partition entry of the recording medium 302c is registered in the entry of the first partition of the virtual MBR, and the partition entry of the recording medium 302d is registered in the entry of the second partition of the virtual MBR. It is held as an MBR 305a of a virtual drive having two logical drives.

FIG. 3B shows the recording medium processing device 3 by removing the recording medium 302c from the state of FIG.
The example separated from 03b is shown.

At this time, the recording medium 302c separated from the MBR 305a of the recording medium processing device 303b
After the MBR information is deleted and only the recording medium 302d is inserted, the LBA number is reallocated after the new MBR 305b is created.

As a result, the recording medium can be inserted / removed without turning off the power of the entire apparatus.

(Embodiment 3) Next, claim 10 of the present application
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3 show an embodiment of the invention according to the present invention.
(B), It demonstrates using FIG. The same components as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 shows a processing flow when the recording medium processing device 303b detects insertion / extraction of a medium.
The recording medium processing device 303b detects insertion / removal of the recording medium in step ST1. If insertion / removal is detected,
Transition to step ST3. In step ST3,
Check whether the command for the connected recording medium is being issued. If the command is being issued, the process waits in step ST3 until the completion of the command is detected. When command completion is detected, step ST
2 and change the information of MBR305a to MBR305b
Change to.

Thus, by preventing the mismatch between the virtual management table and the actual connection state, it is possible to insert or remove the recording medium without disconnecting the power supply of the entire apparatus, and the access to the recording medium is high. It is possible to obtain safety.

(Embodiment 4) Next, claim 13 of the present application
An embodiment of the invention according to claim 14 will be described with reference to FIG. The same components as those in the above-described embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 5, recording media 302e and 3e
02f is a recording medium that can be randomly accessed. The recording medium 302e has three partitions, and the recording medium 30
2f is composed of two partitions, each of which is connected to the ATA interface of the recording medium processing device 303c.

In FIG. 5, a recording medium 302e and a recording medium 302f are recording media that can be randomly accessed, and are connected to the ATA interface of the recording medium processing device 303c.

Further, the recording medium processing device 303c has a CP
It is a device including a U or GA, a semiconductor memory, and a plurality of ATA interfaces.

Here, the recording medium 302e and the recording medium 30
The following description will be made assuming that 2f is composed of three partitions and two partitions, respectively. Here, the number of partitions is not limited to three and two, but any combination of partitions may be used.

The recording medium processing device 303c acquires the number of entries of all partitions of the connected recording medium. In this case, since the recording medium 302e has three partitions and the recording medium 302f has two partitions, the recording medium processing device 303c recognizes a total of five partitions. If the number of partition entries exceeds four, the MBR format alone cannot support the recording medium processing apparatus 303c.
Also use the format.

Specifically, the recording medium processing device 303c
Holds the partition information of the recording medium 302e and the recording medium 302f in the respective areas, and then allocates the LBA number. At this time, the recording medium processing device 303
The c performs partition management with the recording medium 302e as the first to third partitions and the recording medium 302f as the fourth to fifth partitions.

As a result, even when a total of more than four logical drives are connected to the recording medium processing device 303c, it is possible to access all the drives.

[0073]

As described above, according to the recording medium processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to access a plurality of connected recording media as one recording medium.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2A is a conceptual diagram of a virtual device according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a conceptual diagram of a virtual device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. (B) Configuration diagram of one embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for detecting insertion / removal according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

300 USB host 301 USB bridge 302 Recording medium 302a Recording medium 302b Recording medium 302c Recording medium 302d Recording medium 302e Recording medium 302f Recording medium 303 Recording medium processing device 303b Recording medium processing device 303c provided with insertion / extraction detection device of connected recording medium Recording medium processing device 304 having EBR compatible function Virtual recording medium 305 Virtual MBR 305a Virtual MBR 305b Virtual MBR

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tomoyasu Amano             1 Juden Matsushita, 1-8 Koshinmachi, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture             Child Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Chiaki Fujii             1 Juden Matsushita, 1-8 Koshinmachi, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture             Child Industry Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5B014 FB04                 5B065 BA01 BA03 BA09 CC04 ZA01                       ZA11 ZA15                 5B082 CA19 EA01 FA04 JA06 JA11

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An access unit for reading the management table of a recording medium having a management table for managing the area and having an area for storing digital information, and at least a plurality of the management tables, In a recording medium processing device provided with a storage area capable of simultaneously storing and a means for reading the storage area through an interface to which a recording medium is connected, a management table is read from a plurality of recording media, and the management table is read out. A recording medium processing device capable of simultaneously recognizing the plurality of recording media when the plurality of recording media are connected to one interface by combining them to create a virtual management table. 2. The recording medium processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of recording media are recognized as one recording medium. 3. The recording medium processing device according to claim 1, wherein a management table of the plurality of recording media is in an MBR (Master Boot Record) format. 4. The recording medium processing device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of recording media are treated as independent partitions (a plurality of logical drives). 5. The recording medium processing device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of recording media are connected to an ATA interface. 6. The recording medium processing device according to claim 5, wherein a number of the recording mediums exceeding the upper limit value 2 of the recording mediums connectable to the ATA interface can be connected. 7. The recording medium processing device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the recording mediums is insertable / unpluggable, and a means for detecting insertion / removal of the recording medium is provided. 8. The recording medium processing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising means for updating the virtual management table when the insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected. 9. The command for the recording medium is not accepted while the virtual management table is being updated.
The recording medium processing device according to 1. 10. When a command is being issued to another recording medium when the insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected,
The recording medium processing device according to claim 7, wherein the virtual management table is updated after waiting for the completion of the command. 11. The virtual management table is updated after compulsorily issuing a command completion notification when the recording medium is inserted or removed while a command is being issued.
0. The recording medium processing device according to any one of 0. 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein when the insertion / removal of the recording medium is detected during the updating of the virtual management table, the command for the recording medium is not accepted until the creation of the virtual management table after the detection is completed. The recording medium processing device according to any one of claims. 13. The management table of the recording medium is M
When the total number of the recording media connected in the BR format exceeds four, the virtual management table uses the extended format EBR (Extend Boot Record) to store five or more recording media. The recording medium processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 12, which corresponds. 14. The recording medium processing device according to claim 13, wherein when the total number of logical drives of the recording medium exceeds four, all logical drives are supported by using EBR. 15. The recording medium processing device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, an optical disk, or a semiconductor memory.