Recordable disk recording controller with batch register...

Details Recordable disk recording controller with batch register... Recordable disk recording controller with batch register...

2000-12-22

2004-09-21

Sparks, Donald (Department: 2187)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory

Storage accessing and control

Specific memory composition

C711S004000, C710S022000, C710S308000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06795893

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recordable disk recording controller for use in a multi-media computer system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a recordable compact disk (CD-R)/rewritable compact disk (CD-RW) recording controller with a batch register controller for improving the rate of recording a signal representative of signal data on a CD-R/CD-RW disk.
B. Description of the Related Art
Conventional multi-media computer systems include a CD-R/CD-RW driver for recording multi-media signals on a CD-R/CD-RW disk. One example of the conventional multi-media computer systems is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,358, which is cited in the following with reference to FIGS.
1
(
a
) and
1
(
b
).
FIG.
1
(
a
) is a block diagram showing a conventional multi-media computer system
10
including a host processor
11
, a CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
, a micro-controller
13
, a buffer
14
, a CD-R/CD-RW driver
15
, a ROM
16
, and a RAM
17
. FIG.
1
(
b
) is a flow-chart illustrating the method employed by the conventional multi-media computer system
10
for recording a signal representative of signal data on a CD-R/CD-RW disk (not shown). The host processor
11
comprises a central processing unit to send a multi-media signal, encoded as signal data, and commands to specify information required for recording the signal.
The CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
receives signal data (step
110
shown in FIG.
1
(
b
)) and commands from the host processor
11
, and generates recording signals to record on the CD-R/CD-RW disk a signal representative of signal data. The CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
sends the commands to the micro-controller
13
, which in turn generates a set of control signals to cause the CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
to record on the CD-R/CD-RW disk a signal representative of signal data. The CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
stores in the buffer
14
signal data received from the host processor
11
. In response to control signals generated by the micro-controller
13
, the CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
retrieves signal data from the buffer
14
and generates recording signals to record a signal representative of signal data on the CD-R/CD-RW disk located in the CD-R/CD-RW driver
15
.
To generate such control signals, the micro-controller
13
generates a table corresponding to each command (step
120
shown in FIG.
1
(
b
)) and generates control signals from the table. The ROM
16
stores information used to generate such table, and the micro-controller
13
accordingly accesses the ROM
16
to generate the table corresponding to a command. A table contains information necessary for encoding signal data on several sectors during a recording operation.
In the conventional multi-media computer system, the micro-controller
13
stores in the RAM
17
a table generated corresponding to each command (step
130
shown in FIG.
1
(
b
)). The micro-controller
13
then accesses such a table from the RAM
17
, and generates control signals to the CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
using information in the table (step
140
shown in FIG.
1
(
b
)). Due to such access, the micro-controller
13
potentially accesses the RAM
17
to generate control signals for recording signal data on each sector.
One problem with such a conventional multi-media computer system
10
is that the micro-controller
13
may not have enough throughput performance to support high-speed recording requirements of current computer systems because the micro-controller
13
may make a high number of accesses to the RAM
17
for accessing information in a table.
Due to the throughput performance problems and consequent inability to generate control signals at a sufficient speed, the micro-controller
13
may fail to generate control signals at a corresponding rate at which signal data is received by the CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
. Due to such failure, the CD-R/CD-RW controller
12
misses recording a portion of signal data on the CD-R/CD-RW disk located in CD-R/CD-RW driver
15
. The quality of recorded signals therefore is unacceptable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above-described drawbacks of the conventional CD-R/CD-RW recording controller, an object of the present invention is to provide a recordable disk recording controller that improves the communication efficiency between the encoder controller and the micro-controller. As a result, the recordable disk recording controller according to the present invention never misses recording signal data and achieves the acceptable quality of recoded signals.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer system equipped with a recordable disk recording controller whose throughput performance is enhanced. As a result, the recordable disk recording controller according to the present invention is not a performance bottleneck as in the conventional multi-media computer system during a recording operation.
According to the present invention, a recordable disk recording controller comprises a host interface for receiving a set of signal data and a command from a host processor. A data buffer manager receives the signal data and the command from the host interface and sends the command to a micro-controller. The micro-controller generates a set of register batches from each command and sends the register data and index of the register batch to a batch register controller. The batch register controller receives the register data and index of the register batch from the micro-controller and stores the received register data and index of the register batch in a batch buffer.
Moreover, the batch register controller retrieves the register batches from the batch buffer and writes the master registers of a encoder controller based on the register index and register data of the register batches after the master registers of the encoder controller are updated into the slave registers of the encoder controller. The slave registers of the encoder controller are updated after finishing what should be done according to previous slave registers. The encoder controller generates control signals to a recording circuit depending on updated slave registers. Such control signals cause the recording circuit to record a signal representative of signal data on a recordable disk located in a recordable disk driver.
Therefore, the micro-controller only needs to send the register data that should be changed. Since the number of data sent by the micro-controller is fewer than the prior art, the present invention improves the communication efficiency between the encoder controller and the micro-controller.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4716523 (1987-12-01), Burrus, Jr. et al.
patent: 4742448 (1988-05-01), Sander et al.
patent: 4837677 (1989-06-01), Burrus, Jr. et al.
patent: 5940358 (1999-08-01), Kato

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