Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/ – Input/output data processing – Input/output command process
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-17
2004-08-31
Gaffin, Jeffrey (Department: 2182)
Electrical computers and digital data processing systems: input/
Input/output data processing
Input/output command process
C710S008000, C710S015000, C710S022000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06785745
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/playback apparatus for writing or reading continuous data in/from a magnetic disk device which is included in electronic equipment for handling continuous data such as audio and video data, and more particularly, to a recording/playback apparatus which satisfies a device performance that is desired by the operator without interrupting continuous data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional recording/playback apparatus has been provided for recording or reproducing continuous data which have been obtained by digitizing analog data of video or the like by the apparatus itself or which have originally been digital data. The conventional recording/playback apparatus has a recording device using a disk type recording medium, which is a so-called hard disk drive, as a recording/playback means, and an upper control unit for controlling the continuous data and also for integrally controlling data input/output or the like.
FIG. 14
is a block diagram illustrating the construction of the main parts of the conventional recording/playback apparatus.
In
FIG. 14
, numeral
1
denotes a disk type recording medium, and numeral
3
denotes a motor for rotating the disk type recording medium
1
. Further, numeral
2
denotes a recording/playback head for writing digital data that are transmitted from a lower control unit
5
in the disk type recording medium
1
, or for reading the digital data that are written in the disk type recording medium
1
and transmitting the data to the lower control unit
5
. Further, numeral
4
denotes an actuator which enables a seek operation for moving the recording/playback head
2
on the disk type recording medium
1
in the direction of the radius of the medium
1
, and numeral
6
denotes a memory for temporarily holding the data when the data are written in or read from the disk type recording medium
1
or when an error correction process or the like is carried out. Numeral
7
denotes an interface unit for exchanging data and commands with an upper control unit
9
. Numeral
5
denotes a lower control unit for controlling the interface unit
7
, the memory
6
, the actuator
4
, the motor
3
, and the recording/playback head
2
. An apparatus comprising the above-described constituents
1
to
7
is considered as a single device which is known as a hard disk drive, and such a hard disk drive is regarded as a disk device
13
.
Further, numeral
12
denotes an input unit for receiving an input of data such as video data, and numeral
11
denotes an output unit for outputting the data to a video display unit such as a monitor. Numeral
8
denotes an interface unit for exchanging data and commands with the disk device
13
. The interface unit
8
transmits a command or data to be written to the disk device
13
by a command
14
, and the interface unit
8
receives a response or read data from the disk device
13
by a response
15
to the command
14
. Numeral
10
denotes a memory for temporarily holding the continuous data such as video data which are supplied from the input unit
12
, for temporarily holding the data before being outputted to the output unit
11
, or for temporarily holding the data for processing the data, performing an error correction process or the like on the data. Numeral
9
denotes an upper control unit for integrally controlling the processes such as data reading, writing and the like through the input unit
12
, the output unit
11
, the memory
10
the interface unit
8
, and the disk device
13
.
The disk device
13
is considered to be a sort of hard disk drive as a recording unit of a computer. In the conventional recording/playback apparatus, a command to be transmitted by the command
14
is a single command, and the response
15
to the command
14
is also a single response.
Next, the operation of the conventional recording/playback apparatus will be described according to a flowchart shown in FIG.
15
.
FIG. 15
is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the conventional recording/playback apparatus.
Initially, in step S
101
, the upper control unit
9
sends a single command
14
to the disk device
13
.
For example, it is assumed that the command
14
is a command for reading a predetermined quantity of data from an address A on the disk type recording medium
1
.
The disk device
13
, which has received the command
14
in step S
102
, controls the actuator
4
by the lower control means
5
in step S
103
, and moves the recording/playback head
2
to the address A on the disk type recording medium
1
. Then, in step S
104
, it is determined whether a servo is operated or not. When no servo is operated, the disk device
13
returns to an operation for operating the servo. When the servo is operated, the disk device proceeds to step S
105
. In step S
105
, the disk device
13
executes reading of data from the disk type recording medium
1
, and confirms the reading operation in step S
106
. When the reading operation is “OK”, the disk device
13
proceeds to step S
108
; otherwise, the disk device proceeds to step S
107
. In step S
107
, it is determined whether the reading operation exceeds a limited number of times that is previously set. When the reading operation is under the limited number of times, the disk device
13
returns to step S
104
to perform the reading operation again. When the reading operation reaches the limited number of times, the disk device
13
proceeds to step S
110
.
In step S
108
, the lower control unit
5
sends the data which is read in step S
105
to the upper control unit
9
through the interface units
7
and
8
, and the upper control unit
9
receives the data. When the data transmission to the upper control unit
9
is completed, the disk device
13
proceeds to step S
110
, and sends a response
15
to the upper control unit
9
as to whether the process indicated by the command
14
is completed or not.
When the disk device
13
, which is provided with the disk type recording medium
1
and which operates as described above, is used as a recording unit of a computer, the disk rotation speed and the seek speed for moving the recording/playback head
2
are usually set at high speeds for the speed-up of data processing. However, such speed-up causes a drawback in that noise is high and power consumption is also high as a device. As a method for solving this drawback, Japanese Published Patent Application No. Hei. 7-334950 discloses a disk device in which the user can select a mode for reducing the disk rotation speed or the seek speed at the sacrifice of the data processing speed.
In the device disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. Hei. 7-334950, however, when a high rotation speed is selected, stillness and power consumption are sacrificed although high-speed data processing can be achieved. On the other hand, when a low rotation speed is selected, high-speed data processing cannot be achieved although stillness and power consumption are satisfactory.
The reason the above-described operations is as follows. The conventional disk device
13
has been known as a recording unit of a computer and is only required to perform reliable recording and playback of data even when the data are discontinuous on the time axis. Therefore, the stated requirement is satisfied as long as the user can selectively specify a performance on which the user places a great importance as described above.
When the recording/playback apparatus that is provided with the disk device
13
handles video or audio data, it is required, however, that the upper control unit
9
performs processes such as writing/reading of continuous-data on the time axis such as video and audio data in/from the disk device
13
, video display on a video display unit connected to the upper control unit
9
and the like in the state where the data are continuous on the time axis. In order to perform such processes in which continuity should be maintained, by the disk device
13
performing time-divi
Isshiki Atsushi
Miura Kazuyuki
Chen Alan
Gaffin Jeffrey
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
Wenderoth , Lind & Ponack, L.L.P.
LandOfFree
Recording/reproducing device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Recording/reproducing device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Recording/reproducing device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3341215