Method of verifying defect management area information of...

Details Method of verifying defect management area information of... Method of verifying defect management area information of...

2001-03-14

2004-10-12

Beausoliel, Robert (Department: 2784)

Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery

Data processing system error or fault handling

Reliability and availability

C369S053100, C369S053130, C369S053150

Reexamination Certificate

active

06804797

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which can record information on and reproduce information from a recording and reproducing disc, and more particularly, to a method of verifying that a disc recording and reproducing apparatus normally generates or updates defect management area (DMA) information of a disc, and a test apparatus for performing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording and reproducing disc is an optical disc, which information is recorded on and reproduced from using light such as a laser beam, for example, a digital versatile disc random access memory (DVD-RAM). A DVD-RAM is a rewritable disc. According to “DVD Specifications for Rewritable Disc Part 1 Physical Specifications Version 2.0,” DVD-RAM includes four DMAs, i.e., DMA
1
, DMA
2
, DMA
3
and DMA
4
, on each side thereof for managing the defects thereon.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, DMA
1
and DMA
2
are located in a lead-in area near the inner diameter of a disc, and DMA
3
and DMA
4
are located in a lead-out area near the outer diameter of the disc. Each DMA is followed by a reserved sector.
A disc definition structure (DDS), a primary defect list (PDL) and a secondary defect list (SDL) are stored in the DMA. A DDS includes information on the format structure of a disc, for example, a disc certification flag, a DDS/PDL update counter and a start logical sector number of each zone. A PDL includes information on all defective sectors detected on the disc during initialization of the disc. An SDL includes information on the sector number of each first sector in defective blocks (error-correction code (ECC) blocks) occurring while the disc is in use, information on the sector number of each first sector in spare blocks which are used to replace defective blocks and information on a spare area.
Some information included in the DMA can be immediately read and used. On the other hand, the DMA includes information which varies with the positions and the number of defects on a disc. In addition, some information, for example, the position information of the start sector number of each zone or the position information of a logical sector number 0, can be obtained by performing an algorithm based on defect information registered in the DMA.
Four DMAs exist on each side of a disc to prevent erroneous defect management due to errors in the DMA information. Since such DMA information is closely related to a physical data sector, a recording medium such as a movable optical disc may not be compatible with two different disc recording and reproducing apparatuses when the DMA information is incorrectly written or read.
This is because, when the recording and reproducing architecture of a disc recording and reproducing apparatus (for example, a DVD-RAM recording and reproducing apparatus) is divided into a file system layer, a host interface layer for interfacing a host computer with the recording and reproducing apparatus, a physical disc recording and reproducing apparatus (or a disc drive unit) layer for recording and reproducing physical signals, and a recording medium layer, writing and reading of the DMA information is performed in the physical disc recording and reproducing apparatus layer and the layers therebelow.
In an actual file system, user information to be recorded or reproduced is transmitted to a disc recording and reproducing apparatus based on only a logical sector number, and the disc recording and reproducing apparatus converts the logical sector number into a physical sector number to record or reproduce the user information. In this case, DMA information is used. Accordingly, when the DMA information has erroneously been read or written in a given disc recording and reproducing apparatus, data cannot be correctly read or written in another recording and reproducing apparatus.
Accordingly, a method of verifying that a disc recording and reproducing apparatus correctly reads DMA information recorded on a disc and correctly records DMA information on the disc for generation or update of DMA information is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problem, a first object of the present invention is to provide a method of verifying that a disc recording and reproducing apparatus normally generates or updates defect management area (DMA) information in a supplementary spare area extension mode.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a method of verifying that a disc recording and reproducing apparatus normally generates or updates the DMA information of a disc, which is generated using a blank disc and a DMA mirror file used for a test reference, in a supplementary spare area extension mode.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a test apparatus for verifying that a disc recording and reproducing apparatus normally generates or updates DMA information in a supplementary spare area extension mode.
To achieve the above and other objects of the present invention, there is provided a method of verifying a DMA information generation/updating function of a recording and reproducing apparatus which records information on or reproduces information from a disc with DMA information. The method includes extending the supplementary spare area of a test disc in a recording and reproducing apparatus using the test disc with test reference information and generating test information from the test disc, and comparing reference information expected from the test reference information with the test information and providing the result of verification of the test information.
To achieve the above and other objects of the present invention, there is also provided an apparatus for testing a DMA information generation/updating function of a recording and reproducing apparatus which records information on or reproduces information from a disc with DMA information. The apparatus includes a test disc with test reference information; a reference drive generating test information from the test disc after the recording and reproducing apparatus performs a process using the test disc in a supplementary spare area extension mode; and a verifier comparing reference information, which is expected from the test reference information, with the test information and providing the result of verifying the test information.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4631723 (1986-12-01), Rathbun et al.
patent: 5568454 (1996-10-01), Shima et al.
patent: 5966358 (1999-10-01), Mine
patent: 6088664 (2000-07-01), MacPherson
patent: 6119239 (2000-09-01), Fujii
patent: 6154858 (2000-11-01), Ottesen et al.
patent: 6467054 (2002-10-01), Lenny
patent: 6526522 (2003-02-01), Park et al.
patent: 6542450 (2003-04-01), Park
patent: 6601201 (2003-07-01), Kato
patent: 2003/0133379 (2003-07-01), Shin
patent: 2003/0135800 (2003-07-01), Kim et al.
patent: 1 118 993 (2001-07-01), None
patent: 55-064660 (1980-05-01), None
patent: 03-016025 (1991-01-01), None
patent: 05-307836 (1993-11-01), None
patent: 10-144011 (1998-05-01), None
patent: 00/16329 (2000-03-01), None
OSTA.MultiRead2: Test Plan for MultiRead2. Dec. 6, 1999. pp. 1-14.*
Japanese Office Action for Japanese Application No. 2001-110581 dated Feb. 3, 2004.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,443, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,436, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,446, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,447, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,439, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,438, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,448, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/805,444, Ko et al., filed Mar. 14, 2001.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Method of verifying defect management area information of... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method of verifying defect management area information of..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of verifying defect management area information of... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3309921