Flexible magnetic disc drive apparatus for designating alternate sectors for defective sectors

Claim 2

A disc drive system comprising: (a) a disc-type recording medium which includes: a user area, including primary sectors having logical sector numbers indicative of addresses thereof, for recording data information, an alternate area, including a predetermined number of alternate sectors having serially numbered logical sector numbers, for being substituted for defective ones of said primary sectors, and a system area, having a predetermined number of tables in which items are arranged corresponding to the alternate sectors, each of said items including defect information indicative of a defective primary sector associated with said selected one of said alternate sectors, and (b) a disc drive apparatus comprising: disc accessing means for detecting defective ones of said primary sectors and determining addresses of the detected defective sectors; control means for calculating an address of an alternate sector corresponding to a detected defective sector in accordance with the address of the defective sector and a location in one of the tables corresponding to the address of the corresponding alternate sector; and storage means for storing the defect information in the tables during initialization of the disc accessing means, said disc accessing means including means for registering defect information including the address of the defective sector in the one of the tables of said system area in response to calculation of the address of the defective sector by the control means, said control means including means for searching said corresponding location in one of the tables which includes information corresponding to the corresponding alternate sector stored in the storage means in accordance with an address of a primary sector to be accessed, and the disc accessing means accessing (i) the primary sector when it is not defective and (ii) the corresponding alternate sector when the primary sector is defective.

Claim 3

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the storage means includes storage portions corresponding in a one-to-one fashion to the logical sector numbers of the alternate sectors in the recording medium.

Claim 4

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of alternate sectors is 2 n , where n is a positive integer.

Claim 5

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 6

A disc drive system according to claim 2, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 7

A disc drive system according to claim 3, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 8

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of alternate sectors is 2 n , where n is a positive integer; and said control means comprises means for (i) calculating a corresponding table location by performing a logical AND operation between 2 n and the logical sector number of the detected defective primary sector, (ii) determining whether said corresponding table location is filled with information indicative of a different logical sector number of a different defective primary sector, and (iii) iteratively increasing said corresponding table location by one when it is determined that said corresponding table location is filled with said information indicative of said different logical sector number of said different defective primary sector, until a corresponding table location is determined which is not filled with information indicative of said different defective logical sector number of said different defective primary sector.

Claim 9

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein said tables further include rewrite information indicative of a number of times each individual table has been rewritten, said system further comprises buffer memory means, cooperating with said disc accessing means, for reading said rewrite information from said recording medium and storing said rewrite information; said control means cooperates with said buffer memory means to determine which of said tables has the greatest rewrite information and controls said storage means to store said table having the greatest rewrite information; and said disc accessing means updates said rewrite information in response to detecting a defective sector.

Claim 10

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein said control means comprises: means for subtracting a predetermined number of upper digits from aid address of said detected defective sector, and means for calculating said address of said corresponding alternate sector in accordance with remaining lower digits of said address of said detected defective sector.

Claim 11

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of alternate sectors is 2 n , where n is a positive integer; and said control means comprises means for (i) calculating said corresponding table location, (ii) determining whether said corresponding table location is vacant, and (iii) iteratively increasing said corresponding table location by one when it is determined that said corresponding table location is not vacant.

Claim 12

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 13

A disc drive system according to claim 2, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 14

A disc drive system according to claim 3, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 15

A disc drive system according to claim 4, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 16

A disc drive system according to claim 5, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 17

A disc drive system according to claim 6, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 18

A disc drive system according to claim 7, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 19

A disc drive system according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 20

A disc drive system according to claim 9, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 21

A disc drive system according to claim 10, wherein the recording medium comprises a fixed magnetic disc.

Claim 22

A disc drive system according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 23

A disc drive system according to claim 2, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 24

A disc drive system according to claim 3, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 25

A disc drive system according to claim 4, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 26

A disc drive system according to claim 5, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 27

A disc drive system according to claim 6, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 28

A disc drive system according to claim 7, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 29

A disc drive system according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 30

A disc drive system according to claim 9, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 31

A disc drive system according to claim 10, wherein the recording medium comprises a magneto-optical disc.

Claim 32

A disc drive system according to claim 7, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 33

A disc drive system according to claim 8, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 34

A disc drive system according to claim 9, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 35

A disc drive system according to claim 10, wherein the recording medium comprises a flexible magnetic disc.

Claim 36

A disc drive apparatus using a disc-type recording medium which includes: a user area, including primary sectors having logical sector numbers indicative of addresses thereof, for recording data information, an alternate area, including a predetermined number of alternate sectors having serially numbered logical sector numbers, for being substituted for defective ones of said primary sectors, and a system area, having a predetermined number of tables in which items are arranged corresponding to the alternate sectors, each of said items including defect information indicative of a selected one of said alternate sectors and an address of a defective primary sector associated with said selected one of said alternate sectors, said disc drive apparatus comprising: disc accessing means for detecting defective ones of said primary sectors and determining addresses of the detected defective sectors; control means for calculating an address of an alternate sector corresponding to a detected defective sector in accordance with the address of the defective sector and a location in one of the tables corresponding to the address of the corresponding alternate sector; and storage means for storing the defect information in the tables during initialization of the disc accessing means, said disc accessing means including means for registering defect information including the address of the defective sector in the one of the tables of said system area in response to calculation of the address of the defective sector by the control means, said control means including means for searching said corresponding location in one of the tables which includes information corresponding to the corresponding alternate sector stored in the storage means in accordance with an address of a primary sector to be accessed, and the disc accessing means accessing (i) the primary sector when it is not defective and (ii) the corresponding alternate sector when the primary sector is defective.

Claim 37

A disc drive apparatus using a disc-type recording medium which includes: a user area, including primary sectors having logical sector numbers indicative of addresses thereof, for recording data information, an alternate area, including a predetermined number of alternate sectors having serially numbered logical sector numbers, for being substituted for defective ones of said primary sectors, and a system area, having a predetermined number of tables in which items are arranged corresponding to the alternate sectors, each of said items including defect information indicative of a selected one of said alternate sectors and an address of a defective primary sector associated with said selected one of said alternate sectors, said disc drive apparatus comprising: disc accessing means for detecting defective ones of said primary sectors and determining addresses of the detected defective sectors; control means for calculating an address of an alternate sector corresponding to a detected defective sector in accordance with the address of the defective sector and a location in one of the tables corresponding to the address of the corresponding alternate sector; and storage means for storing the defect information in the tables during initialization of the disc accessing means, said disc accessing means including means for registering defect information including the address of the defective sector in the one of the tables of said system area in response to calculation of the address of the defective sector by the control means, said control means including means for searching said corresponding location in one of the tables which includes information corresponding to the corresponding alternate sector stored in the storage means in accordance with an address of a primary sector to be accessed, and the disc accessing means accessing (i) the primary sector when it is not defective and (ii) the corresponding alternate sector when the primary sector is defective.

Claim 38

A disc drive system according to claim 35, wherein the storage means includes storage portions corresponding in a one-to-one fashion to the logical sector numbers of the alternate sectors in the recording medium.

Claim 39

A disc drive apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the predetermined number of alternate sectors is 2 n , where n is a positive integer; and said control means comprises means for (i) calculating a corresponding table location by performing a logical AND operation between 2 n and the logical sector number of the detected defective primary sector, and (ii) determining whether said corresponding table location is filled with information indicative of a different logical sector number of a different defective primary sector, and (iii) iteratively increasing said corresponding table location by one when it is determined that said corresponding table location is filled with said information indicative of said different logical sector number of said different defective primary sector, until a corresponding table location is determined which is not filled with information indicative of said different logical sector number of said different defective primary sector.

Claim 40

A disc drive apparatus according to claim 35, wherein said tables further include rewrite information indicative of a number of times each individual table has been rewritten; said apparatus further comprises buffer memory means, cooperating with said disc accessing means, for reading said rewrite information from said recording medium and storing said rewrite information; wherein said control means cooperates with said buffer memory means to determine which of said tables has the greatest rewrite information and controls said storage means to store said table having the greatest rewrite information; and said disc accessing means updates said rewrite information in response to detecting a defective sector.

Claim 41

A disc drive apparatus according to claim 35, wherein said control means comprises: means for subtracting a predetermined number of upper digits from said address of said detected defective sector, and means for calculating said address of said corresponding alternate sector in accordance with remaining lower digits of said address of aid detected defective sector.

Claim 42

A disc drive apparatus according to claim 35, wherein the predetermined number of alternate sectors is 2 n , where n is a positive integer; and said control means comprises means for (i) calculating said corresponding table location, (ii) determining whether said corresponding table location s vacant, and (iii) iteratively increasing said corresponding table location by one when it is determined that said corresponding table location is not vacant.