System for managing recording areas on writable type optical disk

Claim 2

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: a writable type optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for the optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has therein file name managing means (109) for managing the relations between file names and file substances, area managing means (111) having area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), recording position deciding means (120) for deciding the recording area upon recording of new data by using erased area management information (105, 115) in said area managing means (111), and erased area making means (110) for performing an erasing process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area, and wherein said erased area making means (110) has a mechanism to asynchronously execute the erasing process and data recording process.

Claim 3

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area to record new data by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process.

Claim 4

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area to record new data by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process.

Claim 5

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: a writable type optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for the optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has therein file name managing means (109) for managing the relations between file names and file substances, area managing means (111) having are management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), recording position deciding means (120) for deciding the recording area upon recording of new data by using erased area management information (105, 115) in said area managing means (111), and erased area making means (110) for performing an erasing process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area, and wherein said erased area making means (110) has a mechanism to asynchronously execute the erasing process and data recording process.

Claim 6

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: a writable type optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for the optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has therein file name managing means (109) for managing the relations between file names and file substances, area managing means (111) having are management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), recording position deciding means (120) for deciding the recording area upon recording of new data by using erased area management information (105, 115) in said area managing means (111), and erased area making means (110) for performing an erasing process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area, and wherein said erased area making means (110) has a mechanism to asynchronously execute the erasing process and data recording process.

Claim 7

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), for one or more continuous areas, each of said management information is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area, and said file system (108) has a step of deciding the area to record new data by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process.

Claim 8

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each area in the optical disk (101), for one or more continuous areas, each of said management information is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area, and said file system (108) has a step of deciding the area to record new data by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process.

Claim 9

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for said optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has a mechanism to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the management information areas in the optical disk, a mechanism to record hysteresis information indicative of a content of an updating process into said erased area with respect to the updating process of each of the management information in place of directly recording the result of the updating to said optical disk (101), and a mechanism to execute an erasing process for converting the used management information area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used management information area.

Claim 10

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for said optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has a mechanism to manage in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the management information areas in the optical disk, a mechanism to record hysteresis information indicative of a content of an updating process into said erased area with respect to the updating process of each of the management information in place of directly recording the result of the updating to said optical disk (101), and a mechanism to execute an erasing process for converting the used management information area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used management information area.

Claim 11

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management information (102) in said optical disk (101), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of recording hysteresis information indi­cative of a content of an updating process into said erased area with respect to the updating process of each of said management information in place of directly recording the result of the updating into the optical disk, a step of asynchronously executing an erasing process to convert used management information area (104, 114) into the erased area by erasing the data in said used management information area and the updating process of the management information, and a step of writing hysteresis information indicative of a content of a change into the optical disk with respect to the change of the management information.

Claim 12

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management information (102) in said optical disk (101), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of recording hysteresis information indi­cative of a content of an updating process into said erased area with respect to the updating process of each of said management information in place of directly recording the result of the updating into the optical disk, a step of asynchronously executing an erasing process to convert used management information area (104, 114) into the erased area by erasing the data in said used management information area and the updating process of the management information, and a step of writing hysteresis information indicative of a content of a change into the optical disk with respect to the change of the management information.

Claim 13

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), and a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115) has therein a step of searching the area into which a file can be written by using the erased area management information and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of said search, recording into said area, and a step of searching the used area in the case where no writable area can be found out and, in the case where the used area was found, executing the erasing process of said used area and, thereafter, recording.

Claim 14

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), and a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115) has therein a step of searching the area into which a file can be written by using the erased area management information and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of said search, recording into said area, and a step of searching the used area in the case where no writable area can be found out and, in the case where the used area was found, executing the erasing process of said used area and, thereafter, recording.

Claim 15

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management informa­tion (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), for one or more continuous areas, each of the management information is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area, and a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115) has therein a step of searching the area into which a file can be continuously written by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of the search, recording into said area, and a step of searching the used area in the case where no writable area can be found out, preferentially performing the erasing process to such an area that the erasing process becomes minimum and into which the continuous recording can be performed and, thereafter, recording.

Claim 16

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management informa­tion (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), for one or more continuous areas, each of the management information is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area, and a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115) has therein a step of searching the area into which a file can be continuously written by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of the search, recording into said area, and a step of searching the used area in the case where no writable area can be found out, preferentially performing the erasing process to such an area that the erasing process becomes minimum and into which the continuous recording can be performed and, thereafter, recording.

Claim 17

A method according to claim 4 or 8, wherein said file system (108) has a step of searching the area into which the file can be continuously written by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of the search, recording into said area, and a step of searching the used area in the case where no writable area can be found out and, in the case where the data in the used area adjacent to the erased area was erased, preferentially executing the erasing process to such an area that the total value is larger than a length of the recording area.

Claim 18

A method according to claim 4 or 8, wherein said file system (108) has a step of searching the area into which the file can be continuously written by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and, in the case where the writable area could be found out as the result of the search, recording into said area, and a step of continuously recording into a plurality of erased areas in the case where no writable area can be found out.

Claim 19

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a mechanism to activate at every predetermined period of time a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area.

Claim 20

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a mechanism to activate at every predetermined period of time a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area.

Claim 21

A system and a method according to claim 2, 4, or 11, wherein said file system (108) has a mechanism to check an activating condition of the erasing process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area at every predetermined period of time or each time an access to the optical disk is executed, and a mechanism to activate the erasing process only in the case where said checking mechanism decides that it is desirable to activate.

Claim 22

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management informa­tion (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and wherein said erasing processing step has therein a mechanism for searching the used area and selecting the optimum area to be erased from a layout relation among the areas.

Claim 23

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management informa­tion (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and wherein said erasing processing step has therein a mechanism for searching the used area and selecting the optimum area to be erased from a layout relation among the areas.

Claim 24

A system and a method according to claim 2, 4, or 13, wherein in the file system (108), in the erasing processing mechanism for converting the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area, a condition such that when the used area is searched and the area to be erased is selected, said area is adjacent to the erased area or such that the maximum erased area can be derived after completion of the erasing process is set to a discriminating condition.

Claim 25

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and wherein the step of selecting the recording area has a step of discriminating the optimum erased area from a layout of the areas.

Claim 26

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management informa­tion (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management infor­mation (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), and a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and wherein the step of selecting the recording area has a step of discriminating the optimum erased area from a layout of the areas.

Claim 27

A method according to claim 2, 4, or 15, wherein for the area into which the file is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), in the step of discriminating the optimum erased area from the layout of the areas, said file system (108) preferentially selects the maximum area among the erased areas or the erased area which is sufficiently larger than the file size to be recorded.

Claim 28

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and a step of performing a process of a garbage correction to integrate the erased areas in the optical disk at a predetermined time point by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and used area management information (104, 114), and wherein the data in the used area is previously erased when executing the step of the garbage correction.

Claim 29

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using the management information (102), wherein said file system (108) has area management information for managing in three states of a using area in which valid data is recorded, a used area in which invalid data is recorded, and an erased area which was subjected to an erasing process so as to be rewritable in accordance with a use state of each of the areas in the optical disk (101), a step of deciding the area into which new data is recorded by using the erased area management information (105, 115), a step of asynchronously executing a process to convert the used area into the erased area by erasing the data in the used area and a data recording process, and a step of performing a process of a garbage correction to integrate the erased areas in the optical disk at a predetermined time point by using the erased area management information (105, 115) and used area management information (104, 114), and wherein the data in the used area is previously erased when executing the step of the garbage correction.

Claim 30

A system and a method according to claim 2, 4, or 17, wherein said file system (108) has a mechanism to perform a process to erase all of the data in the used areas in the optical disk (101) at a predetermined time point by using the used area management information (104, 114).

Claim 31

A system according to claim 3 or 5, wherein the file system (108) loads file management information (103, 113) or the area management information into a memory and processes.

Claim 32

A system according to claim 5, wherein said file system (108) has a converting section (1300) for extracting hysteresis information (1711 to 1715) recorded as said respective management information in the optical disk (101) and converting into formats which can be used by the file system, and a memory to store the management information converted by said converting section.

Claim 33

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for said optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said management information (102) has a file entry to discriminate the area in which a file is recorded in the optical disk and an unused area list indicative of recordable areas, and for one or more continuous areas, area designating information in said file entry is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area.

Claim 34

A recording area managing system of a writable type optical disk, comprising: an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data; optical disk control means (107) for performing recording, reproducing, and erasing operations for said optical disk (101); and a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein said management information (102) has a file entry to discriminate the area in which a file is recorded in the optical disk and an unused area list indicative of recordable areas, and for one or more continuous areas, area designating information in said file entry is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area.

Claim 35

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein as said management information, said file system (108) handles a file entry to discriminate the area in which a file is recorded in the optical disk and an unused area list indicative of recordable areas, and for one or more continuous areas, area designat­ing information in said file entry is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area.

Claim 36

A recording area managing method of a writable type optical disk in a computer apparatus in which an optical disk (101) to record data and management information (102) of said data is used as an external storage device and which has a file system (108) to manage the data on a file unit basis by using said management information (102), wherein as said management information, said file system (108) handles a file entry to discriminate the area in which a file is recorded in the optical disk and an unused area list indicative of recordable areas, and for one or more continuous areas, area designat­ing information in said file entry is described by a head of the area and a length or an end position of said area.