JP5073593B2 - Optical disc drive apparatus, image file creation method, image file creation program, and recording medium recording the program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical disc drive apparatus having at least a function of reading data recorded on an optical disc, and an image file creation method using the optical disc drive apparatus.

  In recent years, a personal computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a PC) is generally a PC having only one optical disk drive device in view of downsizing and manufacturing cost.

  However, when an application that handles data supplied on an optical disk is used, a PC having only one optical disk drive device can handle only one application. Therefore, a plurality of applications that handle data supplied on the optical disc cannot be used simultaneously.

  For example, recently, in order to share the operating system (OS) environment of a computer between different computers, there are many opportunities to operate the OS using an optical disk drive device. In such a case, since the optical disk drive device is occupied by the optical disk on which the data for operating the OS is recorded, for example, other applications that handle data supplied on the optical disk such as an encyclopedia can be used. It will disappear.

As a technique for solving the above problems, for example, a technique for creating an image file (so-called virtual disk) of an optical disc on which an application is recorded in a hard disk drive device provided in a host PC, that is, a virtual disc (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). When an image file is recorded on the hard disk drive, the OS can be operated from the virtual disk by changing the setting of the master boot record of the hard disk drive (see, for example, Patent Document 2). .
JP 2001-155420 A (published on June 8, 2001) JP 2006-209367 A (published August 10, 2006)

  However, in the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2, since the creation of an image file on an optical disc is executed by an operation from the host PC, a driver or application for creating the image file needs to be installed in the host PC in advance. There is. That is, the user must operate the host PC when creating an image file of an optical disk mounted on the optical disk drive. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult for a user who is not familiar with PC or a user unfamiliar with PC operation to create an optical disc image file. In addition, since the host PC must be operated every time an image file is created, there is a problem that the creation of the image file is complicated. In particular, it takes a lot of work to create a plurality of image files.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and a main object of the present invention is to easily create an image file of a mounted optical disk without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. An optical disc drive device that can be used is provided.

In order to solve the above problems, an optical disk drive device according to the present invention provides:
An optical disk drive device including a nonvolatile memory,
Of the physical addresses of the non-volatile memory, address management means for recording a physical address for starting recording of data read from the optical disc as a recording start address;
Image file creation means for creating an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory by recording the data in the nonvolatile memory based on the recording start address;
Notifying the host computer of image file identification information for identifying the image file, drive setting means for recording the image file identification information in association with the recording start address,
It is characterized by having.

  The optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention reads out data from the optical disc and creates an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory based on a recording start address at which recording of the data read out from the optical disc is started. That is, in the optical disk drive device according to the present invention, an image file of the optical disk is created by reading data from the optical disk and recording the data read from the optical disk in a nonvolatile memory. In other words, the optical disk drive device according to the present invention simultaneously executes a process for reading data from an optical disk and a process for creating an image file.

  Therefore, a special operation in the host computer for creating the image file of the optical disk can be eliminated. In other words, the optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention has an effect that an image file of an optical disc can be created without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. In addition, since no special operation is required in the host computer, even an inexperienced user can easily create an optical disc image file.

  Moreover, according to said structure, the number of image files currently recorded on the non-volatile memory can be increased according to the number of mounted optical disks. That is, the optical disk drive device according to the present invention has an effect that a plurality of optical disk image files can be created in the nonvolatile memory without forcing the user to perform complicated operations.

  Further, in the case of an optical disc on which an image file is created, data can be read from the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory. That is, even when the optical disk is taken out from the optical disk drive device, it is possible to read data recorded on the optical disk.

  If an optical disk on which data for operating the OS is recorded is recorded as an image file in the nonvolatile memory, the OS is started using the created image file without changing the setting of the master boot record. There is an effect that can be.

  The optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention preferably further comprises an optical disc ejecting means for making the optical disc ready to be removed from the optical disc drive device after the creation of the image file of the optical disc is completed.

  According to the above configuration, even when there is unread data in the data recorded on the optical disc, when the optical disc is taken out from the optical disc drive, the non-read data is recorded in the nonvolatile memory, Creation of the image file of the optical disc can be completed.

  As a result, even if there is data that has not been read out on the optical disk, an effect is obtained that an image file of the mounted optical disk can be created without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. In addition, there is an effect that even a user unfamiliar with the operation of the PC can easily create an image file.

  The optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention further comprises optical disc identification information management means for extracting optical disc identification information for identifying each optical disc and recording it in association with the recording start address. It is preferable to create an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory when the optical disc identification information of the mounted optical disc does not match the optical disc identification information already recorded.

  According to the above configuration, the optical disk drive device creates an image file when the optical disk identification information of the optical disk mounted does not match the optical disk identification information already recorded. That is, when the same optical disk (optical disk on which the same data is recorded) is mounted, no image file is created.

  As a result, it is possible to prevent a plurality of image files having the same data from being created in the nonvolatile memory and preventing the recording area of the nonvolatile memory from being effectively used.

  In the optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention, the drive setting means further notifies the host computer of the image file identification information, and also creates the image file indicating that the creation of the image file identification information and the image file has been completed. Completion information is recorded in association with the recording start address and the optical disc identification information, and the image file creation means matches the optical disc identification information already recorded, and the image file creation completion information is recorded. It is preferable to create an image file of the optical disc by recording data read from the optical disc in the non-volatile memory based on the recording start address associated with the optical disc identification information.

  According to the above configuration, even when the mounted optical disc identification information matches the optical disc identification information, the image file is continuously created when the image file creation completion information is not recorded.

  As a result, when previously recorded data (that is, unfinished image file data) exists in the nonvolatile memory, the data is continuously recorded on the data, so that the image file of the mounted optical disk is recorded. Can be created. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to shorten the time required for creating an image file when there is previously recorded data in the nonvolatile memory.

  The optical disk drive apparatus according to the present invention preferably further comprises image file erasing means for erasing at least one of the image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory.

  According to the above configuration, no special operation from the host computer is required even when erasing the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory.

  As a result, the recorded image file can be erased without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. Further, even a user who is unfamiliar with the operation of the PC can easily erase the recorded image file.

In order to solve the above problems, an image file creation method according to the present invention provides:
In an optical disk drive device including a nonvolatile memory, an image file creation method for creating an image file of an optical disk mounted on the optical disk drive device in the nonvolatile memory,
Address management means for recording, as a recording start address, a physical address for starting recording of data read from the optical disk among physical addresses of the nonvolatile memory,
An image file creation step of creating an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory by recording the data in the nonvolatile memory based on the recording start address;
Notifying the host computer of image file identification information for identifying the image file, and a drive setting step for recording the image file identification information in association with the recording start address;
It is characterized by including.

  According to said structure, there exists an effect similar to the optical disk drive device based on this invention.

  An image file creation program for operating a computer included in an optical disk drive device according to the present invention, wherein the computer is driven as each of the above-described means, and the image file creation program recorded Computer-readable recording media are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the optical disc drive apparatus according to the present invention records the data read from the optical disc based on the recording start address at which recording of the data read from the optical disc is started, so that the image file of the optical disc is recorded in the nonvolatile memory. Create

  As a result, the optical disk drive apparatus according to the present invention has an effect that an image file of the optical disk can be created without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. In addition, even a user unfamiliar with the operation of the PC can easily create an optical disc image file.

Embodiment 1
(Configuration of optical disc drive 1)
An embodiment of an optical disk drive apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the optical disc drive 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the optical disc drive 1 includes a control unit 10, a management setting unit 11, a nonvolatile memory 12, an operation input unit 13, an optical pickup 14, interfaces 15 and 16, and an optical disc 17. The host computer 100 (hereinafter referred to as the host PC 100) and the optical disc 17 shown in FIG. 1 are not members constituting the optical disc drive 1, but are shown in FIG. 1 for convenience in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. Yes. The function of each member constituting the optical disc drive 1 will be described below.

(Control unit 10)
The control unit 10 controls the general operation of the optical disc drive 1. Specifically, the control unit 10 controls the operation of reading data from the optical disc 17 based on the data input through the interface 15, and performs the operation of writing the data read from the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12. Control. Further, the control unit 10 controls an operation of reading data from the nonvolatile memory 12 and an operation of writing data to the nonvolatile memory 12 based on data input via the interface 16.

  Further, the control unit 10 controls the ejection of the optical disc 17 based on the input from the operation input unit 13. Further, the control unit 10 controls erasure of data recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12.

(Management setting unit 11)
The management setting unit 11 performs address management such as address conversion from a logical address to a physical address, and sets the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 so that the host PC 100 can recognize it as a virtual drive. Details of the function of the management setting unit 11 will be described below.

  The management setting unit 11 performs address management such as address conversion from an input logical address to a physical address in the nonvolatile memory 12 based on the management table. An example of the management table of the management setting unit 11 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the management table records optical disc identification information, a recording start address, and an assigned drive name in association with each other.

  The optical disc identification information is information for identifying each optical disc. Details of the optical disc identification information will be described in detail below. The assigned drive name is image file identification information for identifying an image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. That is, this is information for the host PC 100 to identify each image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 from each other. The recording start address is a physical address of the nonvolatile memory 12 and is an address at which recording of data read from the optical disc 17 is started.

  When the management setting unit 11 has the management table shown in FIG. 2, the host PC 100 recognizes that the image file of the optical disk with the optical disk identification information “AAA” is mounted on the “virtual drive D”, and the optical disk identification information “ It is recognized that the image file of the optical disc “BBB” is mounted on “virtual drive E”. That is, the host PC 100 recognizes the (virtual) drive D in which the optical disk having the optical disk identification information “AAA” is mounted and the (virtual) drive E in which the optical disk having the optical disk identification information “BBB” is mounted. By accessing each drive, data can be read from the image file mounted on each drive.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the assigned drive name is not recorded in the image file of the optical disc having the optical disc identification information “BBB”. Therefore, this image file is not recognized by the host PC 100. That is, the fact that the host PC 100 recognizes each virtual drive is synonymous with the fact that the assigned drive name is assigned to the image file.

  The management setting unit 11 can set the number of virtual drives that can be recognized from the host PC 100 according to the number of image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. That is, the management setting unit 11 can increase or decrease the number of virtual drives according to the increase or decrease of the image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12.

  As described above, the management setting unit 11 has a function of a so-called memory management unit (MMU) and a function of a port multiplier (PMP). In FIG. 1, the management setting unit 11 is illustrated as a block in which these functions are combined, but may be configured as separate members having respective functions.

  Note that an “image file” in this specification or the like is a file in which contents recorded in a sector of an optical disc are collectively stored in one file. That is, the data in the image file completely matches the data recorded on the optical disc including the data format. Since the image file is emulated in the host PC as an optical disk mounted in software, it can be handled from the host PC as if it were accessed by inserting the optical disk into the optical disk drive. . Here, in this specification and the like, an image file mounted on a virtual drive is simply referred to as a “virtual drive image file”. In other words, the image file of the virtual drive E means an image file mounted on the virtual drive recognized as the virtual drive E by the host PC.

(Nonvolatile memory 12)
The non-volatile memory 12 is a memory whose stored contents do not disappear even when the power is turned off. The nonvolatile memory 12 functions as a data memory that records an image file on the optical disc 17. Therefore, the nonvolatile memory 12 has a recording capacity that is at least equal to the recording capacity of the optical disk 17 to be mounted.

  Specific examples of the non-volatile memory 12 include a flash memory. The type of flash memory is not particularly limited, and a NAND flash memory or a NOR flash memory may be used.

(Operation input unit 13)
The operation input unit 13 is an interface that receives an operation input from the user for the optical disc drive 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the operation input unit 13 includes an optical disc ejection button 20 and an image file deletion button 21.

  The optical disk eject button 20 is a button for setting the loaded optical disk 17 in a state where it can be removed from the optical disk drive 1. In other words, it is a button for ejecting the optical disk from the optical disk drive 1. More specifically, it is a button for opening the disc tray if it is a disc tray type optical disc drive, and a button for ejecting the optical disc 17 from the optical disc drive if it is a slot-in type optical disc drive. .

  The image file deletion button 21 is a button for deleting the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. The operation of the optical disc drive 1 when these buttons are pressed will be described below.

(Optical pickup 14)
The optical pickup 14 includes a light source and a light receiving unit for reading data from the optical disc 17. The optical pickup 14 is driven based on an instruction from the control unit 10.

(Interfaces 15 and 16)
The interfaces 15 and 16 are for transmitting and receiving data between the host PC 100 and the optical disc drive 1.

  A bus (data line) extending from the interface 15 is connected to the optical pickup 10 via the control unit 10. That is, an address for reading data from the optical disc 17 is input to the optical disc drive 1 through the interface 15. On the other hand, the bus extending from the interface 16 is connected to the management setting unit 11 via the control unit 10. That is, an address for reading data from the nonvolatile memory 12 and an address for writing data to the nonvolatile memory 12 are input to the optical disc drive 1 via the interface 16.

  Examples of the interfaces 15 and 16 include SATA (Serial AT attachment), USB (Universal Serial Bus), IEEE 1394, and SCSI (Small Computer System Interface). Among these, the interfaces 15 and 16 are preferably SATA or USB from the viewpoint of versatility and data communication speed. Note that ATA (AT attachment) is not limited to SATA in which the transfer method is serial ATA, and ATA in which the transfer method is parallel may be used. The interfaces 15 and 16 may be different types of interfaces or the same type of interfaces.

(Optical disk 17)
The type of optical disc 17 that can be mounted on the optical disc drive 1 is not particularly limited. Specific examples of the optical disc 17 include a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and a BD (Blue-ray Disc). Of course, the optical disk drive 1 is not limited to the one on which only one type of optical disk can be mounted, and a plurality of types may be mounted. Further, the size and shape of the optical disc 17 are not particularly limited. The optical disc 17 may be a disc having a small disc diameter such as a so-called single CD or UMD (Universal Media Disc).

  In the present specification and the like, “mounting an optical disc” means that the optical disc is set in a readable or writable state in the optical disc drive apparatus.

(Host PC100)
Finally, the host PC 100 will be described. The host PC 100 and the optical disk drive 1 are connected by the interfaces 15 and 16 as described above. Accordingly, the host PC 100 recognizes the number of virtual drives corresponding to the number of image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 together with the optical disk drive 1.

  The host PC 100 is not particularly limited as long as it has an interface that can be connected to the optical disc drive 1, and may be a notebook PC or a laptop PC, It may be a portable information terminal such as a PDA.

(Operation of optical disc drive 1)
Next, the image file creation operation of the optical disc 17 in the optical disc drive 1 will be described below with reference to FIG. As described above, since the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 is recognized as a virtual drive by the host PC 100, creation of an image file can be referred to as creation of a virtual drive.

  When the optical disc 17 is mounted on the optical disc drive 1 (step S1), the control unit 10 drives the optical pickup 14 to extract optical disc identification information from the optical disc 17 (step S2). The management setting unit 11 determines whether or not the extracted optical disc identification information is already recorded in the management table (step S3). If the optical disc identification information is already recorded in the management table (Yes in step S3), the control unit 10 determines that the image file of the optical disc 17 has already been created, and ends the image file creation operation of the optical disc 17.

  When the optical disc identification information is not already recorded in the management table (No in step S3), the control unit 10 drives the optical pickup 14 and reads the data requested to be read from the host PC 100 from the optical disc 17 (step S4). The controller 10 reads data from the optical disc 17 and records the read data in the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S5). The optical disc drive 1 creates an image file of the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12 by recording data read from the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12. The operation of recording the read data in the nonvolatile memory 12 will be described in detail below.

  Next, the management setting unit 11 determines whether or not all the data recorded on the optical disc 17 has been recorded on the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S6). That is, the management setting unit 11 determines whether the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 is completed. If the recording of all data recorded on the optical disc 17 is not completed (No in step S6), the control unit 10 continues to read data from the optical disc 17 and record the read data in the nonvolatile memory 12. (Step S4). That is, the control unit 10 repeats steps S4 to S6 until the creation of the image file is completed.

  When the recording of all data recorded on the optical disc 17 is completed (Yes in step S6), that is, when the creation of the image file is completed, the management setting unit 11 sets the assigned drive name, the optical disc identification information, and the recording start. It is recorded in the management table in association with the address (step S7). That is, the management setting unit 11 sets identification information that can be recognized from the host PC 100 for the image file that has been created. The management setting unit 11 notifies the host PC 100 of the assigned drive name assigned to the created image file (step S8). Here, steps S7 and S8 are not necessarily in this order. That is, after the management setting unit 11 notifies the assigned drive name to the host PC 100, the assigned drive name notified to the host PC 100 may be recorded in the management table in association with the optical disc identification information and the recording start address.

  Although not described in the above image file creation operation, in the management setting unit 11, the free area in the nonvolatile memory 12 is smaller than the size of all data recorded on the optical disc 17, that is, the nonvolatile memory 12. If it is determined that the recording capacity for creating the image file is insufficient, the control unit 10 ends the creation of the image file.

(Advantages of optical disc drive 1)
As described above, the optical disc drive 1 creates an image file of the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12 based on the recording start address at which recording of data read from the optical disc 17 is started. That is, the optical disc drive 1 reads out data from the optical disc 17 and records the data of the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12 to create an image file of the optical disc 17. In other words, the optical disc drive 1 simultaneously executes a data read operation from the optical disc 17 and an image file creation operation.

  Therefore, a special operation in the host PC 100 for creating the image file on the optical disc 17 can be eliminated. In other words, the optical disc drive 1 can create an image file of the optical disc 17 without forcing the user to perform complicated operations, and the image file of the optical disc 17 can be easily created even by a user unfamiliar with the operation of the PC. Can be created.

  In the optical disk drive 1, the number of image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 can be increased according to the number of mounted optical disks 17.

  Further, when an image file of the optical disc 17 is created in the nonvolatile memory 12, data can be read from the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. Thereby, even when the optical disc 17 is taken out from the optical disc drive 1, the data recorded on the optical disc 17 can be read out.

  When the optical disc 17 is an optical disc on which data for operating the OS is recorded and is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 as an image file, the created image file is not changed without changing the setting of the master boot record. It is also possible to start up the OS using.

  Furthermore, the optical disk drive 1 does not create an image file when the same optical disk (an optical disk on which the same data is recorded) is mounted. As a result, it is possible to prevent a plurality of image files having the same data from being created in the nonvolatile memory 12 and the recording area of the nonvolatile memory 12 from being effectively used.

(Data read processing from the host PC 100)
The flow of data from the host PC 100 to each member will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing processing when reading data recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 or data recorded on the optical disc 17 from the host PC 100.

  In this embodiment, the case where data is read from the image file mounted on the virtual drive D from the host PC 100 and the case where data is read from the optical disk 17 mounted on the drive R (optical disk drive 1) are taken as examples. I will give you a description.

  When reading data from the virtual drive D, the host PC 100 sends data including information specifying the virtual drive D and an address in the virtual drive D to the control unit 10 via the line 50. At this time, the data is sent to the control unit 10 via the interface 16 shown in FIG. The control unit 10 sends the input data to the management setting unit 11 via the line 51. The management setting unit 11 determines that the input data is data specifying the virtual drive D, and converts the input address based on the management table using the virtual line 60 corresponding to the virtual drive D. After that, data is read from the recording area specified by the converted physical address. The conversion at this time is the reverse process of the address conversion when creating the image file. The control unit 10 sends the data read by the management setting unit 11 to the host PC 100.

  Similarly, when data is read from the virtual drive E, the virtual line 61 is used, and when data is read from the virtual drive F, the virtual line 62 is used. The virtual lines 60 to 62 are lines that are recognized as if they are connected to each virtual drive, and are not physical lines that connect the management setting unit 11 and the nonvolatile memory 12. Since this virtual line is created in the management setting unit 11, it can be increased or decreased according to the increase or decrease in the number of virtual drives.

  When reading data from the drive R, the host PC 100 sends data including information specifying the drive R and the address of the optical disc 17 to the control unit 10 via the line 52. At this time, the data is sent to the control unit 10 via the interface 15 shown in FIG. The control unit 10 reads data recorded in the recording area (sector) specified by the input address using the line 53.

  Note that data transmitted from the host PC 100 is always transmitted via the interface 16 regardless of which virtual drive is designated. That is, there is always one bus connecting the host PC 100 and the nonvolatile memory 12 regardless of the number of image files (number of virtual drives) in the nonvolatile memory 12. Further, the number of image files that can be created is not particularly limited, and is appropriately determined according to the capacity of the nonvolatile memory 12.

(Details of image file creation operation)
Next, a more detailed operation for creating an image file of the optical disc 17 in the optical disc drive 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c) and FIG. Here, as shown in FIGS. 5A to 5C, a case where an image file of the optical disc 17 having the optical disc identification information “CCC” is created will be described as an example. FIGS. 5A to 5C are diagrams showing changes in the management table when an image file of an optical disc is created. FIG. 5A shows a state before recording optical disc identification information, and FIG. The state during image file creation is shown, (c) is a diagram showing the state after the completion of image file creation.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, the management table records only the recording start address before starting the creation of the image file. The optical disc identification information “CCC” extracted from the optical disc 17 is recorded in the optical disc identification information of the management table (FIG. 5B). At this time, for example, when the optical disc identification information extracted from the optical disc 17 is “AAA” and “BBB” (that is, the optical disc identification information extracted from the optical disc 17 is already recorded in the management table), the management setting is performed. The unit 11 does not record the optical disc identification information in the management table. Therefore, the control unit 10 does not create an image file.

  Subsequently, the control unit 10 sequentially records data read from the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12. At this time, the recording destination of the data read from the optical disc 17 is determined based on the management table in the management setting unit 11. Here, the case where the control unit 10 reads data from the sector specified by the address “0x005” of the optical disc 17 will be specifically described as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 5B, the management setting unit 11 records that the address “0x000” of the optical disc 17 corresponds to the recording start address “0x070” in the management table. Therefore, the management setting unit 11 determines that the address “0x005” is an address that designates the sixth sector from the address “0x000” based on the management table, and starts from the sector designated by the address “0x005”. The read data is recorded in the area specified by the physical address “0x075” which is the sixth address from the recording start address “0x070” (FIG. 6). The management setting unit 11 records all data recorded on the optical disc 17 in the nonvolatile memory 12 by repeating the same method.

  At this time, when random access occurs in the optical disc 17, for example, when the control unit 10 reads the data of the sector specified by the address “0x005” and then reads the data of the sector specified by the address “0x010”, The management setting unit 11 records the data of the sector specified by the address “0x010” in the area specified by the physical address “0x080” of the nonvolatile memory 12 in the same manner as described above. That is, the management setting unit 11 skips the area specified by the physical addresses “0x076” to “0x079” of the nonvolatile memory 12 and records in the area specified by the physical address “0x080”.

  When the creation of the image file is completed, the management setting unit 11 displays information indicating that all data recorded on the optical disc 17 has been recorded (for example, “End Of File (hereinafter simply referred to as EOF)”). Write to the created image file. The management setting unit 11 records the identification information (virtual drive name) of the virtual drive on which the image file on the optical disc 17 is mounted in the management table (FIG. 5C). The virtual drive name may be set so as not to be the same drive name based on the already set virtual drive name. FIG. 5C illustrates a case where the virtual drive on which the created image file is mounted is recognized as the virtual drive F. Further, the management setting unit 11 notifies the host PC 100 that the virtual drive name mounted on the created image file is “drive F” simultaneously with the virtual drive name assignment. As a result, the host PC 100 newly recognizes the virtual drive F.

  Finally, the management setting unit 11 sets a recording start address when creating the next image file. For example, when the image file on the optical disc 17 uses physical addresses “0x070” to “0x089” in the nonvolatile memory 12, the management setting unit 12 sets the recording start address when creating the next image file to “0x090”. "(FIG. 5C). Thus, the optical disk drive 1 can create an image file as long as the recording capacity of the nonvolatile memory 12 permits.

  The size of the created image file can be calculated from the recording start address in the management setting unit 11. For example, in the host PC 100, the recording start address of the image file of the virtual drive E is “0x030”. Since the recording start address of the image file of the next virtual drive F is “0x070”, the size of the image file of the virtual drive E is the size of the recording area specified by the addresses “0x030” to “0x069”.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the recording area of the nonvolatile memory 12 when the management table is in the state shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the nonvolatile memory 12 has “0x000” to “0x100” as physical addresses. In the host PC 100, physical addresses “0x000” to “0x029” in the nonvolatile memory 12 are recognized as addresses of the virtual drive D (logical addresses in the nonvolatile memory 12). Similarly, the physical addresses “0x030” to “0x069” in the nonvolatile memory 12 are recognized as the addresses of the virtual drive E, and the physical addresses “0x070” to “0x089” in the nonvolatile memory 12 are the addresses of the virtual drive F. Recognized as an address.

  In other words, the image file of the virtual drive D is recorded in the area (area α) designated by the physical addresses “0x000” to “0x029” in the nonvolatile memory 12, and the physical addresses “0x030” to “0x069” are recorded. The image file of the virtual drive E is recorded in the area (area β) specified by, and the image of the virtual drive F is stored in the area (area γ) specified by the physical addresses “0x070” to “0x089”. The file is recorded.

  Therefore, when the host PC 100 reads data from the virtual drive D, the management setting unit 11 converts the address input from the host PC 100 into a corresponding physical address among the physical addresses “0x000” to “0x029”.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 6, the logical addresses in the nonvolatile memory 12 are independent for each virtual drive. Therefore, for example, when the management setting unit 11 reads the physical address corresponding to the logical address “0x005” in the nonvolatile memory 12, as shown in FIG. 6, if the address is “0x005” of the “virtual drive D”, The address “0x005” is read, the physical address “0x035” is read when the address “0x005” is “virtual drive E”, and the physical address “0x075” is read when the address “0x005” is “virtual drive F”. .

  In FIG. 6, for the sake of convenience, only the head address in each area is shown for both the physical address and the logical address. For example, in the case of the area α, the physical address at the end of the area α is the physical address “0x029” that is the address immediately before the head address of the area β, but is not shown in FIG. The same applies to other regions. When no image file is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12, that is, when nothing is recorded in the management table, the recording start address is “0x000”.

(Details of optical disc identification information)
Here, details of the optical disc identification information, which is one of the information recorded in the management table, will be described below. The optical disc identification information is information for identifying each optical disc and is recorded on the recording surface of the optical disc 17. That is, the optical disc identification information is read by the optical pickup 14.

  When the optical disc 17 is a DVD or a BD, it is preferable to use a media ID as the optical disc identification information. The media ID is an ID recorded for each disc for the purpose of copyright protection, and is required for content encryption and decryption. The media ID is a unique ID for each optical disc, and there is no optical disc having the same media ID. Accordingly, the optical disks 17 can be distinguished from each other.

  Unlike DVD and BD, no media ID is recorded on CD. Therefore, when the optical disc 17 is a CD, it is preferable to use table of contents (TOC) as the optical disc identification information. The TOC is information recorded in an information writing area called “lead-in” provided in the inner diameter portion of the CD. For example, the number of songs and reproduction time information are recorded. In the TOC, playback time information is recorded in units of 1/100 second. Since there is a very low probability that there is an optical disc in which the number of pieces of music and the reproduction time information match in units of 1/100 seconds, the optical discs 17 can be distinguished from each other as in the case of the media ID.

(Discharging the optical disc 17)
The ejecting operation of the optical disc 17 will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of ejecting the optical disc 17 in the optical disc drive 1. In this specification and the like, the ejection of the optical disk means that the optical disk can be taken out from the optical disk drive.

  When the user presses the optical disc ejection button 20 of the operation input unit 13, the operation input unit 13 sends an instruction to eject the optical disc 17 to the control unit 10 (step S10). At this time, the management setting unit 11 determines whether or not the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 has been completed (step S11). When the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 has been completed (Yes in step S11), the control unit 10 ejects the optical disc 17 (step S17).

  When the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 has not been completed (No in step S11), the control unit 10 reads out data of a sector that has not yet been accessed on the optical disc 17 (that is, data that has not yet been read out). At the same time (step S12), the read data is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 based on the management table (step S13). That is, data that is recorded on the optical disc 17 and not recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. Since the read data recording method has been described in detail above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

  Next, the management setting unit 11 determines whether or not all the data recorded on the optical disc 17 has been recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S14). That is, it is determined whether the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 is completed. When recording of all data on the optical disc 17 is not completed (No in step S14), the control unit 10 reads unrecorded data from the optical disc 17 and records it in the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S12). That is, steps S12 to S14 are repeated until the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 is completed.

  When the recording of all data on the optical disc 17 is completed (Yes in step S14), that is, when the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 is completed, the management setting unit 11 assigns the assigned drive name of the created image file, Further, it is recorded in the management table in association with the optical disc identification information and the recording start address (step S15). That is, the management setting unit 11 sets identification information that can be recognized from the host PC 100 for the image file that has been created. The management setting unit 11 notifies the host PC 100 of the assigned drive name assigned to the created image file (step S16).

  When the host PC 100 recognizes the virtual drive for mounting the created image file, the control unit 10 ejects the optical disc 17 (step S17).

  As a result, even when there is unread data on the optical disc 17, it is possible to create an image file of the mounted optical disc 17 without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. Further, even a user unfamiliar with the operation of the PC can easily create an image file on the optical disc 17.

  In the above operation, the process of ejecting the optical disc 17 after creating the image file of the optical disc 17 has been described. However, the user may want to remove the optical disc 17 as soon as possible. In this case, in order to prevent a time lag from the time when the user presses the optical disk eject button 20 to the time when the optical disk 17 is ejected, which is caused by the creation of the image file, the ejecting of the optical disk 17 without creating the image file of the optical disk 17 A button (not shown) is preferably provided separately. Since the ejection operation of the optical disc 17 when the user presses the eject button is a conventionally known processing operation, a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the optical disk is ejected by providing a button as a hardware switch as a switch for ejecting the optical disk is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the optical disk ejecting means is a software switch. It may be. Of course, it is good also as a structure provided with both a hardware switch and a software switch.

(Erase image file)
Next, erasing of an image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation for erasing the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12.

  When the user presses the image file deletion button 21 of the operation input unit 13, the operation input unit 13 sends an instruction to delete the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 to the control unit 10 (step S20). The control unit 10 creates an image file list based on the management table recorded in the management setting unit 11 and sends it to the host PC 100 (step S21). The host PC 100 displays the input image file list on a display device such as a monitor so that it can be confirmed by the user (step S22).

  The user selects an image file desired to be deleted from the image file list displayed on the display device (step S23). The information selected by the user is sent from the host PC 100 to the control unit 10, and the control unit 10 erases the image file selected by the user from among the image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S24). At the same time, the management setting unit 11 deletes information corresponding to the image file selected by the user from the management table (step S25). That is, the optical disc identification information and the assigned drive name are deleted.

  As described above, the optical disk drive 1 does not require any special operation from the host PC 100 even when erasing the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. Therefore, the recorded image file can be deleted without forcing the user to perform complicated operations. Further, even a user unfamiliar with the operation of the PC can easily erase the recorded image file.

  FIG. 9A shows a management table after the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 is erased. FIG. 9A is a management table when the image file assigned E drive as the assigned drive name from the management table shown in FIG. 5C is deleted. FIG. 9B is a diagram schematically showing a recording area in the nonvolatile memory 12 after erasing the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. As shown in FIG. 9B, the area (area β) specified by the physical addresses “0x030” to “0x069” of the nonvolatile memory 12 and the area (area δ) specified by “0x090” to “0x100”. ) Is an empty area (a recording area in which no data is recorded) in the nonvolatile memory 12. That is, when an image file on the optical disc 17 is created next, the image file is created in at least one of these areas.

  Further, at least the assigned drive name is displayed in the image file list, but other information may be displayed. For example, when the optical disc drive 1 has the above-described eject button, data that has not been created as an image file is also recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12. In such a case, data that has not been created as an image file is not displayed in the image file list because the assigned drive name is not assigned. Therefore, in order to display data that has not been created as an image file, not only the assigned drive name but also the optical disk identification information and the data recording capacity in the nonvolatile memory 12 are displayed in the image file list. It is preferable.

  Further, when the nonvolatile memory 12 can record only one image file, the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 is erased by pressing the image file erase button 21 without including the above procedure. You may make it do.

  In this embodiment, the case where an image file deletion button that is a hardware switch is provided as a switch for deleting an image file is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the image file deletion means is not limited to this. A software switch may be used. Of course, it is good also as a structure provided with both a hardware switch and a software switch.

(Create split image file)
When creating an image file in the optical disk drive 1, it is preferable to use an unused area list for selecting in which recording area of the nonvolatile memory 12 the image file is to be created. The unused area list is a list in which the recording start address and the size of the empty area are recorded in association with each other in order to manage the empty area, and is recorded in the management setting unit 11. Note that the size of the empty area in the nonvolatile memory 12 can be calculated in the same manner as the calculation of the size of the image file. Although not described in the operation of the optical disk drive 1 described above, when creating a new image file, the control unit 10 may determine a recording start address in the nonvolatile memory 12 with reference to the unused area list. preferable.

  However, an image file is created in the nonvolatile memory 12 in the state shown in FIG. 9B, and an image file having a size larger than the size of the region β may be created. In such a case, it is preferable that the management setting unit 11 records the image file over the two areas of the area β and the area δ. The image file created in this way has non-contiguous physical addresses in the nonvolatile memory 12. In the present specification and the like, an image file having non-contiguous physical addresses in the nonvolatile memory 12 is hereinafter referred to as a divided image file.

  Here, creation of a divided image file will be described below with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11A and 11B. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation for creating a divided image file. The operation up to the recording of the optical disc identification information is the same as the above-described operation, and the description thereof is omitted here.

  The management setting unit 11 determines whether or not the image file of the optical disc 17 can be recorded in the composite region (region β + δ) of the region β and the region δ (step S30). When the image file can be recorded in the region β + δ (Yes in Step S30), the control unit 10 reads data from the optical disc 17 and records the read data in the region β in the nonvolatile memory 12 (Step S31). Since the read data recording method has been described in detail above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted here. When the image file cannot be recorded in the region β + δ (No in step S30), the control unit 10 ends the creation of the image file.

  Next, the management setting unit 11 determines whether or not there is a free area in the area β (step S32). That is, the management setting unit 11 determines whether data is recorded in all the areas β. If there is an empty area in the area β (Yes in step S32), the control unit 10 continues to record the data read from the optical disc 17 in the area β (step S31). That is, steps S31 and S32 are repeated until there is no free area in area β.

  If there is no free space in the area β (No in step S32), the control unit 10 continues to record the data read from the sector of the optical disc 17 with the start address of the area δ (address “0x090” in FIG. 9B). Is written (step S33). Thereafter, the control unit 10 records the data read from the optical disc 17 in the area δ in the nonvolatile memory 12 (step S34).

  Next, the management setting unit 11 determines whether or not the creation of the image file on the optical disc 17 has been completed (step S35). If the recording of all data recorded on the optical disc 17 is not completed (No in step S35), the control unit 10 continues to record the data read from the optical disc 17 in the area δ of the nonvolatile memory 12 ( Step S34). That is, the control unit 10 repeats steps S34 and S35 until the creation of the image file is completed.

  When the recording of all data recorded on the optical disc 17 is completed (Yes in step S35), that is, when the creation of the image file is completed, the management setting unit 11 records the assigned drive name in the management table (step) S36). Then, the management setting unit 11 notifies the host PC 100 of the assigned drive name assigned to the created image file (step S37).

  In the case of erasing an image file in a divided image file, it is preferable to delete data recorded in all areas.

  11A and 11B are schematic diagrams of a management table in the case of having a divided image file and a recording area in the nonvolatile memory 12, and FIG. 11A shows the management table, and FIG. Indicates a recording area in the nonvolatile memory 12.

  As shown in FIG. 11A, the optical disc identification information corresponding to the recording start address “0x030” and the optical disc identification information corresponding to the recording address “0x090” are both “DDD” and are the same. is there. The same drive name is assigned to the assigned drive name. As shown in FIG. 11B, logical addresses “0x000” to “0x039” are assigned to the area (area β) designated by the physical addresses “0x030” to “0x060” in the nonvolatile memory 12. The logical addresses “0x040” to “0x050” are assigned to the areas (area δ) designated by the physical addresses “0x090” to “0x100” in the nonvolatile memory 12.

  As a result, the host PC 100 can handle a divided image file having non-continuous physical addresses in the nonvolatile memory 12 in the same manner as an image file (normal image file) having continuous physical addresses. it can. Therefore, the optical disc drive 1 can prevent a lot of intermittent empty areas from being generated in the nonvolatile memory 12 and can efficiently use the recording area of the nonvolatile memory 12.

  In the present embodiment, the creation of an image file divided into two areas in the nonvolatile memory 12 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more areas are of course not limited thereto. Even image files that are divided and recorded can be created in the same manner.

(Modification of management table)
5A to 5C show a case where the management table records the optical disc identification information, the recording start address, and the assigned drive name in association with each other. However, the management table is not limited to this. Is not to be done. For example, the management table may record only the recording start address and the assigned drive name in association with each other. Even in this case. In the nonvolatile memory 12, an image file of the mounted optical disk 17 can be created.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 12A, the management table may further record information indicating the virtualization state (image file creation completion information) in association with each other. The virtualization state is information (flag) indicating whether or not image file creation is completed. Therefore, the virtualization information is preferably recorded in the management setting unit 11 together with the record of the assigned drive name.

  When the management table records the virtualization state in association with each other, the control unit 10 determines that the image file is not created when the optical disc identification information matches and the virtualization state is “continuation”. Can be set as follows. As a result, when the optical disk 17 is taken out without completing the creation of the image file, that is, when there is previously recorded data in the non-volatile memory 12, the data is continuously recorded on the data, so that the mounting is performed. It is possible to create an image file of the optical disc 17 that has been recorded. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the time required for creating an image file when there is previously recorded data in the nonvolatile memory 12.

(Additional notes)
In this embodiment, a drive capable of mounting a recording medium in software is called a virtual drive and is distinguished from a hardware drive. However, the host PC 100 handles a virtual drive in the same way as a physical drive. be able to. When the host PC 100 recognizes a plurality of virtual drives, the optical disk drive 1 can be used as a virtual optical disk changer (for example, a CD changer).

  The optical disc drive 1 may have a writing function for the optical disc 17. For the writing process on the optical disc 17, a conventionally known process may be used.

  Further, when the image file recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 is created from a rewritable optical disc 17 that employs, for example, a phase change recording method, the data of the image file in the nonvolatile memory 12 can be rewritten. In this case, when the optical disc 17 from which the image file is created is taken out, it is preferable to write the rewritten data back to the optical disc 17 in order to maintain consistency with the data recorded on the optical disc 17. .

  Further, when the data of the optical disc 17 that has received a read request from the host PC 100 is recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12, the control unit 10 reads the data recorded in the nonvolatile memory 12 with priority. In general, the non-volatile memory 12 typified by a flash memory has a data reading speed faster than that of an optical disk drive, so that data requested to be read from the host PC 100 can be read quickly.

(Program and recording medium)
Finally, the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11 included in the optical disc drive 1 may be configured by hardware logic. Alternatively, it may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit) such as an MPU as follows.

  That is, the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11 expand a CPU such as an MPU that executes instructions of a program that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores the program, and a format that can execute the program. A RAM (Random Access Memory) and a storage device (recording medium) such as a memory for storing the program and various data are provided.

  The object of the present invention is not limited to the case where the program is fixedly held in the program memory of the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11, but the program code of the program (execution format program, intermediate code program, or This can also be achieved by supplying a recording medium on which the source program is recorded) to the optical disc drive 1, and the optical disc drive 1 reads and executes the program code recorded on the recording medium.

  The recording medium is not limited to a specific structure or type. That is, the recording medium includes, for example, a tape system such as a magnetic tape and a cassette tape, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk / hard disk, and an optical disk such as a CD-ROM / MO / MD / DVD / CD-R. System, a card system such as an IC card (including a memory card) / optical card, or a semiconductor memory system such as a mask ROM / EPROM / EEPROM / flash ROM.

  The object of the present invention can also be achieved by configuring the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11 (or the optical disc drive 1) so as to be connectable to a communication network. In this case, the program code is supplied to the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11 via the communication network. The communication network is not limited to a specific type or form as long as it can supply program codes to the control unit 10 and the management setting unit 11. For example, the Internet, intranet, extranet, LAN, ISDN, VAN, CATV communication network, virtual private network, telephone line network, mobile communication network, satellite communication network, etc. may be used.

  The transmission medium constituting the communication network may be any medium that can transmit the program code, and is not limited to a specific configuration or type. For example, even with wired lines such as IEEE 1394, USB, power line carrier, cable TV line, telephone line, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) line, infrared rays such as IrDA and remote control, Bluetooth (registered trademark), 802.11 wireless, HDR, mobile phone It can also be used by radio such as a telephone network, a satellite line, and a terrestrial digital network. The present invention can also be realized in the form of a computer data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program code is embodied by electronic transmission.

  The present invention has been specifically described above based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims, and different implementations are possible. Embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in each form are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The optical disk drive apparatus according to the present invention can be widely used in general optical disk drives such as a CD drive, a DVD drive, and a BD drive.

It is a block diagram which shows the principal part structure of the optical disk drive based on this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the management table which a management setting part has. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation when creating an image file in the optical disc drive according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically the data read-out process from an optical disk or a non-volatile memory. It is a figure which shows the change of the management table at the time of creating the image file of an optical disk, (a) shows the management table before recording of optical disc identification information, (b) shows the management table after recording of optical disc identification information. (C) is a diagram showing a management table after completion of image file creation. It is the figure which showed typically an example of the recording area of the non-volatile memory. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing operation for ejecting an optical disc in the optical disc drive according to the present invention. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing operation for erasing an image file recorded in a nonvolatile memory in the optical disc drive according to the present invention. It is the figure which showed typically the management table after erasing the image file recorded on the non-volatile memory, and the recording area of the non-volatile memory, (a) shows the management table, (b) the non-volatile memory The recording area is shown. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation which produces the image file which has a non-continuous physical address in a non-volatile memory. It is the figure which showed typically the management table after erasing the image file recorded on the non-volatile memory, and the recording area of the non-volatile memory, (a) shows the management table, (b) the non-volatile memory The recording area is shown. It is a figure which shows the other example of the management table at the time of creating the image file of an optical disk.

Explanation of symbols

1 Optical disk drive (optical disk drive)
10 Control unit (image file creation means, optical disc identification information management means)
11 Management setting section (address management means, drive setting means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12 Nonvolatile memory 13 Operation input part 14 Optical pick-up 15 Interface 16 Interface 17 Optical disk 20 Optical disk ejection button (optical disk ejection means)
21 Image file delete button (Image file delete means)

Claims (8)

An optical disk drive device including a nonvolatile memory,
Of the physical addresses of the non-volatile memory, address management means for recording a physical address for starting recording of data read from the optical disc as a recording start address;
Image file creation means for creating an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory by recording the data in the nonvolatile memory based on the recording start address;
Notifying the host computer of image file identification information for identifying the image file, drive setting means for recording the image file identification information in association with the recording start address,
An optical disc drive device comprising:   2. The optical disc drive apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an optical disc ejecting means for making the optical disc removable from the optical disc drive device after the creation of the image file of the optical disc is completed. Further comprising optical disc identification information management means for extracting optical disc identification information for identifying each optical disc and recording it in association with the recording start address;
The image file creation means creates an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory when the optical disc identification information of the mounted optical disc does not match the recorded optical disc identification information. The optical disc drive apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The drive setting means notifies the image file identification information to the host computer, and also includes the image file identification information and the image file creation completion information indicating that the creation of the image file is completed. Record in association with the optical disc identification information,
The image file creation means associates the data read from the optical disc with the optical disc identification information when the image file creation information matches the already recorded optical disc identification information and the image file creation completion information is not recorded. 4. The optical disc drive apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an image file of the optical disc is created by recording in the nonvolatile memory based on the recording start address.   5. The optical disc drive apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image file erasing means for erasing at least one of the image files recorded in the nonvolatile memory. . In an optical disk drive device including a nonvolatile memory, an image file creation method for creating an image file of an optical disk mounted on the optical disk drive device in the nonvolatile memory,
Address management means for recording, as a recording start address, a physical address for starting recording of data read from the optical disk among physical addresses of the nonvolatile memory,
An image file creation step of creating an image file of the optical disc in the nonvolatile memory by recording the data in the nonvolatile memory based on the recording start address;
Notifying the host computer of image file identification information for identifying the image file, and a drive setting step for recording the image file identification information in association with the recording start address;
A method for creating an image file, comprising:   An image file creation program for operating a computer included in the optical disk drive device according to claim 1, wherein the computer is driven as each of the above means.   A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 7 is recorded.

Images