JP5508089B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, video cameras that record moving images and sound on a recording medium are known. In recent years, video cameras for recording these moving images and sounds on a large-capacity flash memory or a memory card incorporating the flash memory have appeared.

  The flash memory writes and reads data in units called blocks, but a defective block in which normal data cannot be written may occur due to a manufacturing process or a later cause. Therefore, a part of the storage area of the flash memory is prepared as an alternative block for such a defective block, and data to be recorded in the defective block is written in the alternative block. In addition, a technique has been proposed in which a warning is notified when the alternative block remaining amount becomes less than a set value (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-085054 A

  A replaceable storage device such as a memory card provided with a flash memory is used by being mounted on various host devices such as a video camera and a digital camera. At that time, the type of data to be handled, the size of data to be written, the data rate, and the like differ depending on the host device. For this reason, even when a warning about a decrease in the remaining capacity of the alternative block is issued as in the past, depending on the host device, the remaining capacity of the alternative block is not sufficient for the data to be reserved when writing data, resulting in a write error. There is a risk that.

  For example, in the case of a host device having a large amount of data to be written at one time, there is a high possibility that many substitute blocks are used at the time of writing once compared to a device having a small amount of data to be written.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to provide an apparatus capable of appropriately detecting the state of the alternative block remaining amount. Another object of the present invention is to prevent erroneous notification of the status of the alternative block remaining amount when the recording medium is used in another host device.

  The present invention writes data to a recording medium having a memory having a plurality of blocks including a replacement block for a defective block and an alarm means for transmitting warning information when the remaining amount of the replacement block falls below a threshold value. An apparatus for communicating with the recording medium; and controlling the communication means to set a threshold value of an alarm means for the recording medium and to initialize the threshold value set for the recording medium Control means.

  It is possible to appropriately detect the state of the alternative block remaining amount.

1 is a functional block diagram of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a functional block configuration of a recording medium in a system including a recording apparatus and a recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention, and a configuration of a storage area of a flash memory. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the threshold value setting process by the recording device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the write-in process in the recording device in connection with embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the write-in process in the recording medium concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the alternative process in the recording medium concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the initialization process of the threshold value in the memory | storage device concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the acquisition process and initialization process of a threshold value in the memory | storage device concerning embodiment of this invention.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system using a recording apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system in FIG. 1 includes a recording device 100 and a recording medium 200. The recording apparatus 100 communicates with the recording medium 200 and transmits various commands and data to the recording medium 200 to execute processing such as writing and reading. The recording medium 200 can take the form of a memory card or the like. The recording apparatus 100 includes a mounting / discharging mechanism (not shown) that can easily mount and discharge the recording medium 200.

  In the recording apparatus 100, the input unit 107 acquires various data such as image data, audio data, and document data from the outside of the apparatus and temporarily stores them in the memory 103. The signal processing unit 101 processes various data such as image data, audio data, and document data input from the input unit 108 in a form suitable for writing to the recording medium 200. The display unit 102 includes a liquid crystal panel and the like, and displays various types of information. The memory 103 stores various data. The control unit 104 includes a CPU and controls the operation of each unit of the recording apparatus 100. The operation unit 105 includes various switches that can be operated by the user, and the control unit 104 controls writing and reading of data with respect to the recording medium 200 or display of information on the display unit 102 in accordance with instructions from the operation unit 105. A recording medium interface (IF) 106 communicates commands and data with the recording medium 200. In the present embodiment, the recording medium IF 106 communicates with the recording medium 200 in accordance with ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) specifications. The internal bus 108 is used for transmitting and receiving data and commands between the respective units of the apparatus.

  FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the recording medium 200. In the recording medium 200, a host interface (I / F) 201 communicates commands and data with a host device such as the recording apparatus 100. The controller 202 has a CPU and controls the operation of the recording medium 200 in accordance with a command received from the recording apparatus 100. A ROM 203 is a read-only memory, and stores a control program for the controller 202 and an initial value of threshold information for warning processing (alarm means) of an alternative block remaining amount. Data stored in the ROM 203 cannot be rewritten by the recording device 100. The controller 202 has a flash memory interface that transmits and receives data to and from the flash memory 204. The flash memory 204 is composed of a known flash memory chip, and the controller 202 writes and reads data.

  FIG. 2B is a diagram showing the configuration of the storage area of the flash memory 204. The flash memory 204 is divided into a plurality of areas of a management information storage area 205a, a user area 205b, and an alternative area 205c according to the address. The management information area 205a stores information such as a file management table that manages the area of the stored data, a conversion table that indicates the correspondence between logical addresses and physical addresses, and an alternative area management table that manages the usage status of the alternative area. The Furthermore, the management information area 205a stores unique information such as the ID, manufacturer code, and password of the recording medium 200, and information indicating performance such as memory size and access speed. Further, backup data including control information used for communicating with the recording apparatus 100 such as the number of defective blocks and the number of remaining replacement areas is also stored in the management information area 205a. Further, when the controller 202 receives threshold information for warning of the remaining amount of alternative blocks from the recording apparatus 100, the controller 202 writes this threshold information in the management information area 205a. Further, the controller 202 reads the initial value of the threshold information from the ROM 203 in accordance with the threshold information initialization command from the recording apparatus 100, and updates the threshold stored in the management information area 205a with this initial value.

  The user area 205b is an area for storing data transmitted from the recording apparatus 100. The substitution area 205c is allocated as an area for writing data recorded in the bad block when a bad block occurs in the user area 205b.

  Next, threshold value setting processing executed when the recording medium 200 is mounted on the recording device 100 will be described. The mounting process is a process for enabling the recording apparatus 100 and the recording medium 200 to communicate with each other when the recording apparatus 100 is turned on or when the recording medium 200 is mounted on the recording apparatus 100.

  FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing threshold setting processing by the recording apparatus 100. 3 is executed when the control unit 104 loads and executes a control program stored in the ROM 203, for example.

  First, it is determined whether or not the mounted recording medium 200 is a recording medium capable of transmitting warning information based on a comparison between the alternative block remaining amount and the threshold (S301). Specifically, the recording medium IF 106 transmits a command requesting information on the manufacturer code and the standard version to the recording medium 200. The controller 202 of the recording medium 200 reads information regarding the manufacturer code and the version of the standard from the management information storage area 204 a of the flash memory 204, and transmits the information to the recording apparatus 100 by the host IF 201. The control unit 104 determines whether or not threshold information can be set for the recording medium based on the manufacturer code transmitted from the recording medium 200 and information regarding the version of the standard.

  If the manufacturer code of the recording medium 200 is not a specific manufacturer code, or if the standard version is not a specific version, it is determined that threshold information cannot be set, and the process ends.

  On the other hand, if the threshold information can be set, the threshold information of the alternative block remaining amount and a command for requesting the setting are transmitted to the recording medium 200 (S302). In the present embodiment, the setting of threshold information is requested to the recording medium 200 using an ATA SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) command.

  Here, processing of the recording medium 200 when a threshold setting command is received will be described. FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing threshold setting processing in the recording medium 200. Upon receiving the threshold information setting command from the recording apparatus 100, the controller 202 of the recording medium 200 stores the received threshold information in the management information storage area 204a (S311). Then, the remaining amount of the substitute block stored in the management information storage area 204a is compared with a set threshold value (S312), and it is determined whether the remaining amount of the substitute block is larger than the threshold value (S313).

  When the alternative block remaining amount is larger than the threshold, the host IF 201 transmits a response indicating that the setting of the threshold information is completed to the recording apparatus 100 (S314). On the other hand, if the alternative block remaining amount is less than or equal to the threshold, the host IF 201 sends a response indicating completion of setting of the threshold information and an alternative block remaining amount less than the threshold to indicate that the alternative block is insufficient.

  After setting the threshold information, the control device 104 determines whether a response indicating that the remaining amount of the alternative block is equal to or less than the threshold has been received from the recording medium 200 (S303). If no response is received indicating that the remaining amount is equal to or less than the threshold value, it is determined that the remaining amount of the alternative block in the recording medium 200 has not reached the threshold value, and the process ends.

  Further, when receiving a response indicating that the remaining amount of the alternative block is equal to or less than the threshold value, it is determined that the remaining amount of the alternative block in the recording medium 200 is small and the data cannot be normally written. Writing data to the recording medium 200 is prohibited. Then, warning information indicating that data cannot be written is displayed on the display unit 102 (S304).

  Here, the alternative block remaining amount threshold set by the recording apparatus 100 will be described. In the present embodiment, data recorded on the recording medium 200 is managed as a file in accordance with a predetermined file system such as FAT. The recording apparatus 100 writes image data such as moving images and still images, audio data, document data, and the like as files on the recording medium 200. At this time, according to the recording format of each data, control information including a file header and various additional information is added to each data and recorded. Therefore, in order to reproduce the recorded file, file system information including a file entry defined by the file system and the control information thereof are required.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, even when the alternative block remaining amount is low during the writing of the file to the recording medium 200, the file system information and the control information can be reliably recorded using the alternative block. Set the threshold. Specifically, the size of control information necessary for reproducing each file is set as a threshold value.

  Next, data writing processing on the recording medium 200 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a writing process by the recording apparatus 100. 4 is executed by the control unit 104 controlling each unit.

  When there is a data write instruction from the operation unit 105, the write data together with the write command is transmitted from the recording medium IF 106 to the recording medium 200 (S401). In the recording medium 200, when a write command is received, a data write process to the flash memory 204 is executed.

  Here, the writing process in the recording medium 200 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the writing process in the recording medium 200 according to the write command. When receiving a write command from the host IF 201, the controller 202 sets and confirms a write address in the flash memory 204 (S501). Then, the transmitted data is written to the designated address (S502). Next, it is determined whether or not a write error has occurred in the written data (S503). A known method can be used for the write error determination process. If a write error has occurred, an alternative process is executed (S504). Further, when the writing error does not occur and the data writing is completed normally, a response indicating the writing completion is transmitted to the recording apparatus 100 by the host IF 201. The controller 202 assigns an address (physical) of the flash memory 204 to an address (logical address) instructed from an external device, and generates a conversion table indicating the correspondence between each logical address and the physical address. When a bad block occurs, the conversion table is changed so that the address of the alternative block is assigned to the designated logical address. The controller 202 stores the conversion table in the management information area 204a.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an alternative process of S504. First, an alternative block remaining amount in the alternative block area 204c in the flash memory 204 is detected (S601). As a result of detecting the remaining amount of the alternative block, it is determined whether or not the remaining amount of the alternative block remains (not zero) and data can be written to the alternative block (S602). If there is no remaining alternative block remaining, a response indicating a write error is transmitted to the recording apparatus 100 by the host IF 201 (S607).

  On the other hand, when the remaining amount of the alternative block remains, data is written in any of the remaining alternative blocks (S603). Then, the contents of the alternative block remaining amount information are updated so as to reduce the remaining amount by the number of used alternative blocks (S604). Next, the remaining amount of the replacement block after the update is compared with the threshold value to determine whether the remaining amount of the replacement block is larger than the threshold value (S605).

  If the alternative block remaining amount is larger than the threshold, a response indicating the completion of writing is transmitted to the recording apparatus 100, and the process is terminated as it is (S608). On the other hand, if the alternative block remaining amount is less than or equal to the threshold, the host IF 201 transmits a response indicating that the alternative block remaining amount is lower than the threshold and has decreased to the recording apparatus 100 (S606). A command specific to the ATA manufacturer can be used as a warning response indicating the low battery level.

  Returning to FIG. 4, it is determined whether there is a write completion response from the recording medium 200 by the processing shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (S402). When a write completion response is received, the process ends.

  If there is no write completion response, it is determined whether a write error response has been received (S403). If a response to the write error is received, it is determined that writing to the recording medium 200 has failed, and information indicating the write error is displayed on the display unit 102 (S407). If there is no response to the write error, it is determined whether a response indicating a decrease in the remaining amount of the alternative block has been received (S404). If there is no response to the remaining amount decrease, the process returns to S402 and waits for a write completion response.

  Further, upon receiving a response indicating a decrease in the remaining amount, writing of data to the recording medium 200 is stopped (S405), and the control information of the file being written is updated (S406). Specifically, the controller 202 creates control information related to the file being written and stores it in the memory 103 in accordance with the data writing process. Then, the control information is read from the memory 103, and the control information is transmitted to the recording medium 200 together with the control information write command. When receiving a control information write command, the recording medium 200 writes the control information to the flash memory 204.

  When the update of the control information is completed, information indicating that data cannot be written to the recording medium 200 is displayed on the display unit 102, and the process ends (S407).

  Next, the threshold information initialization process will be described. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the threshold value of the remaining amount of the alternative block set in the recording medium 200 is initialized at the time of unmount processing. The unmount process is a process for stopping communication between the recording apparatus 100 and the recording medium 200 when the recording apparatus 100 is powered off or the recording medium 200 is ejected from the recording medium 100. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing threshold value initialization processing executed by the control unit 104 during unmount processing. When the operation unit 105 is turned off or the recording medium 200 is ejected and the unmount process is executed, the process starts.

  First, a threshold value initialization command is transmitted from the recording medium IF 106 to the recording medium 200 (S701). As an initialization command, a command specific to the ATA manufacturer is used. After the initialization command is transmitted, the process waits for an initialization completion response. When the initialization completion response is received, the process ends (S702).

  On the other hand, in the recording medium 200, when the controller 202 receives a threshold initialization command from the recording apparatus 100, the controller 202 reads the initial value of threshold information from the ROM 203. Then, by updating the threshold information stored in the management information storage area 204a with this initial value, the value of the threshold information is reset to the initial value. Note that a predetermined value such as 0 is stored in the ROM 203 as an initial value.

  As described above, during the unmount process, after the threshold value of the remaining amount of the alternative block stored in the recording medium 200 is reset to the initial value, communication with the recording medium 200 is stopped. For this reason, when the recording medium 200 is mounted on another recording apparatus, the threshold set by the recording apparatus 100 of the present embodiment is not compared with the remaining amount of the alternative block.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the threshold value of the remaining amount of the alternative block is set for the recording medium 200 during the mounting process. Therefore, it is possible to set a substitute block remaining amount threshold value suitable for the recording apparatus 100.

  Further, since the threshold value of the alternative block remaining amount is reset to the initial value at the time of the unmount process, when the recording medium 200 is mounted on another recording apparatus, it is set by the recording apparatus 100 of the present embodiment. The threshold value and the remaining amount of the alternative block are not compared. Therefore, malfunction can be prevented.

  In addition, not only a power-off instruction, but also a cover for discharging the recording medium 200 may be provided, and the unmount process may be executed in response to the user opening the cover.

(Second Embodiment)
Also in the present embodiment, the configurations of the recording apparatus 100 and the recording medium 200 and the basic processing are the same as those in the first embodiment. In the present embodiment, when the recording medium 200 is mounted, the recording apparatus 100 acquires and stores the initial value of the threshold value from the recording medium 200, and at the time of unmounting, the recording device 200 stores the initial value with respect to the recording medium 200. Reset the threshold.

  FIG. 8A is a flowchart showing threshold information acquisition processing executed by the recording apparatus 100 during mounting, and FIG. 8B is a flowchart showing threshold information initialization processing executed by the recording apparatus 100 during unmounting. It is. 8 is executed by the control unit 104 controlling each unit.

  First, the threshold acquisition process will be described. In the present embodiment, the process of FIG. 8A is executed prior to the threshold setting process of FIG. First, it is determined whether the mounted recording medium 200 is a recording medium capable of transmitting warning information by comparing the alternative block remaining amount with a threshold value (S801). If the threshold information cannot be set, the process ends.

  On the other hand, if threshold information can be set for the recording medium 200, a command requesting transmission of the currently set threshold information is transmitted to the recording medium 200 by the recording medium IF 106 (S802). As the threshold information transmission request command, a command specific to the ATA manufacturer is used.

  Upon receiving a threshold information transmission request command from the recording apparatus 100, the controller 202 of the recording medium 200 reads the threshold information stored in the management information storage area 204a. Then, threshold information is transmitted to the recording apparatus 100 by the host IF 201.

  In this way, when threshold information is received from the recording medium 200 (S803), the received threshold information is stored in the memory 103 (S804).

  After acquiring the threshold information from the recording medium 200, the recording apparatus 100 executes the threshold setting process of FIG.

  Next, threshold value initialization processing will be described. As shown in FIG. 8B, first, the control unit 104 reads an initial value of threshold information stored in the memory 103 (S811). Then, the recording medium IF 106 transmits the read threshold information together with the threshold information setting command to the recording medium 200 (S812).

  In the recording medium 200, when receiving the threshold setting command, the controller 202 stores the threshold information received from the recording apparatus 100 in the management information storage area 204a as shown in FIG.

  The control unit 104 waits for a response indicating the completion of threshold setting from the recording apparatus 200 (S813). Then, upon receiving a setting completion response, the process ends. In addition, there is a case where the response of the remaining amount of the alternative block is received together with the response of the completion of setting, but in the initialization process, the response of the remaining amount is ignored.

  Although the present invention has been described in detail based on preferred embodiments thereof, the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments, and various forms within the scope of the present invention are also included in the present invention. included. Furthermore, each embodiment mentioned above shows only one embodiment of this invention, and it is also possible to combine each embodiment suitably.

  Further, in the processing of the above-described embodiment, a storage medium in which a program code of software that embodies each function is recorded may be provided to the system or apparatus. The functions of the above-described embodiments can be realized by the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus reading out and executing the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying such a program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like can be used. Alternatively, a CD-ROM, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, ROM, or the like can be used.

Claims (10)

An apparatus for writing data to a recording medium having a memory having a plurality of blocks including a replacement block for a bad block and an alarm means for transmitting warning information when the remaining amount of the replacement block falls below a threshold,
Communication means for communicating with the recording medium;
A recording apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the communication means to set the threshold value of the alarm means for the recording medium and to initialize the threshold value set for the recording medium.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets the threshold value for the recording medium in response to the start of communication with the recording medium by the communication unit.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit initializes a threshold value set in the recording medium in response to a stop of communication with the recording medium by the communication unit.   The control means causes the communication means to transmit a command for instructing the recording medium to set the threshold and threshold information indicating the threshold to the recording medium by the communication means. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the threshold value is set.   The control means initializes a threshold set for the recording medium by causing the communication means to transmit a command for instructing the recording medium to initialize the threshold to the recording medium. Item 5. The recording apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 4.   The control means initializes the threshold set for the recording medium by causing the communication means to transmit a command for instructing the recording medium to set a threshold and threshold information indicating an initial value to the recording medium by the communication means. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is a recording apparatus.   The control unit causes the communication unit to acquire threshold information set in the recording medium before setting the threshold for the recording medium, and stores the acquired threshold information as the initial value. The recording apparatus according to claim 6. A method for controlling the writing of data to a recording medium having a memory having a plurality of blocks including a replacement block for a defective block and an alarm means for transmitting warning information when the remaining amount of the replacement block falls below a threshold value There,
Communicating with the recording medium to set a threshold used by the alarm means for the recording medium;
A method for controlling data writing comprising: receiving information transmitted from the alarm means; and controlling writing of data to the memory; and initializing a threshold set in the recording medium.   A program that causes a computer to function as each unit of the storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.   A storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as each unit of the storage device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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