Recording Control Apparatus Position Resume and Fragmentation Prevention

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current recording technologies face challenges in ensuring efficient initialization and resume operations on recording media, particularly in maintaining the recording position across power cycles and managing fragmented areas, which affects data integrity and storage efficiency.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a recording control apparatus that utilizes the Suspend AU and Resume AU commands to record and resume data recording from a specific position on the recording medium, ensuring continuous data writing without fragmentation and optimizing storage capacity by designating free areas in advance using the Set Free AU command.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If data is continuously recorded from the head of a free AU in high-speed writing, then recording speed is improved, but data fragmentation occurs and storage efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverecording speedVSAvoidstorage efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by declaring free AUs in advance using the Set Free AU command and recording resume positions before power cycles. This allows the recording apparatus to resume writing at the correct position without fragmentation when power is restored, maintaining both high-speed recording and storage efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses feedback mechanisms by recording the resume position information on the recording medium itself. The recording apparatus reads this feedback information to determine where to continue writing, ensuring continuous recording without fragmentation while maintaining high-speed performance.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Use of energy by moving object

If the recording apparatus is powered off during recording, then power consumption is reduced, but the recording position information is lost and data integrity deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepower consumptionVSAvoiddata integrity
Core Design Contradiction:
Use of energy by moving objectVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Before powering off, the system performs preliminary action by recording the current resume position information to the recording medium. This ensures that when power is restored, the apparatus can recover the position information and continue recording without data loss or corruption, maintaining data integrity while allowing power-saving shutdowns.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Adaptability or versatility

If multiple files are simultaneously recorded using time sharing format, then multi-stream writing capability is improved, but recording speed for each file is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemulti-stream writing capabilityVSAvoidrecording speed per file
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the recording medium into multiple free AUs and assigns different files to different AUs for simultaneous recording. This segmentation allows multiple streams to write in parallel without interfering with each other, maintaining high recording speeds for each file while providing multi-stream capability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP3618426B1Recording control apparatus and control method thereof
Publication Date: 2023.05.10 CANON KK
  • EP3618426B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3618426B1 patent drawingFigure 2A
  • EP3618426B1 patent drawingFigure 2B

AI summary

A recording control apparatus that records data on a recording medium includes a position recording unit configured to record, upon completion of recording of data on to the recording medium, a recording start position for starting recording of subsequent data on the recording medium, an initialization unit configured to initialize the recording medium, and a control unit configured to perform control in such a manner that in a case where the initialization unit executes first initialization processing, the first initialization processing and clear processing for clearing the recording start position recorded on the recording medium are executed, and in a case where the initialization unit executes second initialization processing, the second initialization processing is executed without executing the clear processing.