Information recording medium and region management method for a plurality of recording regions each managed by independent file system

• US 7,653,796 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2004
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Inoue, Shinji, Maeda, Takuji
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, HONG CHONG
• Application Number:
  US10/546,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20060195672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,168 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/2, 713/100, 711/170, 711/171, 711/172, 711/173, 711/111, 711/156
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0643 Management of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0674 Disk device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0679 Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]

Abstract

A region management method for an information recording medium capable of maintaining data interchangeability among devices and preventing malfunction when one information recording medium shared among devices different in type or number of file systems that can be interpreted by devices is provided. A recording region of the information recording medium is divided into a plurality of regions, and region information such as position and size of each region is held in the information recording medium. Different file systems are constructed in individual data recording regions. In response to a command from an information processing apparatus, accessible regions by the information processing apparatus are changed over by, for example, referring to validity flag information that indicates a presently valid region.

Claims

1. A region management method of an information recording medium, the information recording medium having a data recording region for storing data and a command receiver, the data stored in the recording medium being managed as a file by a file system, the region management method comprising:

dividing the data recording region into a plurality of recording regions each managed by different file systems individually;

receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command, for the command receiver, from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed; and

selecting one of the divided recording regions according to the received changeover command, as a region accessible from outside of the information recording medium,

wherein a changeover to a different divided recording region occurs under a control of the received changeover command,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the selected recording region, access to the region specified by the data read/write command is rejected.

2. The region management method according to claim 1, further comprising:

setting a validity flag indicating a region which is presently valid among the plurality of divided recording regions, in the information recording medium; and

referring to the validity flag, prior to access to the data recording region in the information recording medium, to select the one of the divided recording regions to be accessible.

3. The region management method according to claim 2, further comprising setting the validity flag to a specified value when initializing the information recording medium, and setting the validity flag according to the changeover command received thereafter.

4. The region management method according to claim 1, further comprising storing a size of each divided recording region in the information recording medium, and changing the size of each divided recording region according to a size setting command received from outside of the information recording medium.

5. The region management method according to claim 1, wherein the information recording medium is managed by file systems each constructed in each divided recording region and includes a protect region and a user data region, the protect region being accessible by a device connected to the information recording medium only when the device is authorized, the user data region being accessible from the device independently of authorization.

6. A region management method of an information recording medium, the information recording medium having a data recording region for storing data and a command receiver, the data stored in the recording medium being managed as a file by a file system, the region management method comprising:

dividing the data recording region into a plurality of recording regions each managed by different file systems individually;

storing a plurality of storage blocks in a consecutive recording region in the information recording medium, the storage block having constant data size, each storage block storing a partition table which is provided to each divided recording region and is information about a region management which is used by each file system of each divided region;

storing a valid block number indicating a storage block which includes the partition table for a region in the divided recording regions that is accessible from outside of the recording medium;

receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command, for the command receiver, from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a valid block number and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed; and

according to the received changeover command, referring to the valid block number, selecting one storage block from the plurality of storage blocks, and determining a partition table for a region to be accessible from outside of the information recording medium,

wherein a changeover to a different divided recording region occurs under control of the received changeover command,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the recording region related to the determined partition table, access to the region specified by the data read/write command is rejected.

7. The region management method according to claim 6, further comprising disposing the partition table included in the selected one storage block at a beginning of logic address space of the information recording medium.

8. The region management method according to claim 6, wherein the partition table includes a start address of the region managed by the file system and a size of the region, and regions specified by the partition tables do not overlap each other.

9. The region management method according to claim 6, wherein

the data recording region is managed by file systems each constructed in each divided recording region, and includes a protect region and a user data region, the protect region being accessible by a device connected to the information recording medium only when the device is authorized, the user data region being accessible from the device independently of authorization, and the information about a region management is provided to the user data region and the protect region, and regarding the same divided recording region, a partition table for the user data region and a partition table for the protect region are managed in pairs.

10. An information recording medium, comprising:

a data recording region which is divided into a plurality of regions, a different file system for managing data stored in each region being constructed in each divided region;

a command receiver for receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed;

a region information storage that stores a validity flag showing a region in the divided plurality of regions accessible from an external device; and

an access region judger that selects one valid region by referring to the validity flag and allows access to the selected one valid region by the external device,

wherein a changeover to a different divided recording region occurs under a control of the received changeover command,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the region shown by the validity flag, the access region judger rejects access to the recording region specified by the data read/write command.

11. An information recording medium having a data recording region for recording data, wherein

a) the data recording region is divided into a plurality of recording regions each managed by a different file system, and

b) the information recording medium includes:

a partition table storage that stores a plurality of storage blocks for storing a partition table which is information about a region management used by the file system in each divided region,

a command receiver that receives a changeover command and a data read/write command from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a valid block number and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed,

a region information storage that stores a valid block number indicating a storage block of the plurality of storage blocks in the partition table storage, the storage block including the partition table which is accessible from an external device, and

an access region judger that selects one storage block from the partition table storage with reference to the valid block number, and determines the partition table which is accessible from the external device, on the basis of the changeover command received from outside of the information recording medium,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the region related to the determined partition table, the access region judger rejects access to the region specified by the data read/write command.

12. A region management method of an information recording medium having a data recording region for storing data, the data stored in the recording medium being managed as a file by a file system, the region management method comprising:

receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command, for a command receiver, from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a type of size of a data recording region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed;

storing a plurality of types of sizes of the data recording region accessible from outside of the information recording medium; and

changing over a size of an accessible region according to the changeover command received from outside of the information recording medium,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the accessible region, access to the region specified by the data read/write command is rejected.

13. The region management method according to claim 12, further comprising:

storing valid region information which is information indicating the size which is presently valid in a plurality of types of sizes of data recording regions accessible from outside of the information recording medium; and

prior to accessing the data recording region in the information recording medium, recognizing the size of the accessible region by referring to the valid region information, and judging possibility of access.

14. The region management method according to claim 13, further comprising:

setting the valid region information to one of the plurality of sizes stored, simultaneously with initialization of the information recording medium; and

setting the valid region information according to changeover command received from outside of the information recording medium.

15. The region management method according to claim 12, wherein the stored size of each region can be changed by a size setting command received from outside of the information recording medium.

16. The region management method according to claim 12, wherein the information recording medium includes a protect region and a user data region, the protect region being accessible by a device connected to the information recording medium only when the device is authorized, and the user data region being accessible from the device independently of authorization.

17. An information recording medium having a data recording region for recording data, comprising:

a region information storage that stores a plurality of types of sizes of the data recording region accessible from outside of the information recording medium, and valid region information which is information indicating the size which is presently valid in a plurality of types of sizes of data recording regions accessible from outside of the information recording medium;

a command receiver for receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying a type of a size of a data recording region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed; and

an access judger that, prior to accessing the data recording region in the information recording medium, recognizes a size of an accessible region by referring to the valid region information, and judges possibility of access,

wherein a changeover to a different type of size of the data recording region occurs under a control of the received changeover command,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the accessible region, the access region judger rejects access to the region specified by the data read/write command.

18. The information recording medium according to claim 17, wherein a stored size of each region can be changed by a size setting command received from outside of the information recording medium.

19. A region management method of an information recording medium having a data recording region for storing data, the data stored in the recording medium being managed as a file by a file system, the region management method comprising:

storing information providing size of data recording region to a specific register;

receiving a changeover command and a data read/write command, for a command receiver, from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying information providing size of a data recording region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed;

setting the information providing size of data recording region in the register simultaneously with initialization of the information recording medium to a specific value smaller than an actual size of the data recording region; and

setting, according to the changeover command received from outside of the information recording medium, the information providing size of the data recording region in the register to an actual size of the information recording medium,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the data recording region of which size is provided by the information stored in the register, access to the region specified by the data read/write command is rejected.

20. The region management method according to claim 19, further comprising preventing the information recording medium from receiving the data read/write command from outside of the information recording medium when setting the size of the data recording region in the register to 0 kB.

21. The region management method according to claim 19, wherein the information recording medium includes a protect region and a user data region, the protect region being accessible by a device connected to the information recording medium only when the device is authorized, the user data region being accessible from the device independently of authorization, at this time, the information providing size of data recording region in the register being set to provide the size of the user data region.

22. An information recording medium having a data recording region for recording data, comprising:

a register that stores information providing size of data recording region to a specific register;

a command receiver that receives a changeover command and a data read/write command from outside of the information recording medium, the changeover command specifying information providing a size of a region accessible from outside of the information recording medium and the data read/write command specifying a size and an offset of a region to be accessed; and

an access region judger that sets the information providing size of data recording region in the register simultaneously with initialization of the information recording medium to a specific value smaller than an actual size of the data recording region, and sets, according to the changeover command received from outside of the information recording medium, the information providing size of data recording region in the register to an actual size of the information recording medium,

wherein a plurality of independent file systems areas are disposed on the information recording medium, and the information recording medium is interpreted by different devices having different file systems, wherein data interchangeability between the different devices is provided, and

wherein, when a region defined by the size and the offset specified by the data read/write command received from outside of the information recording medium exceeds the data recording region of which size is provided by the information stored in the register, access to the region specified by the data read/write command is rejected.