Method for assigning alternative sector, method for reading data, disk drive apparatus, and apparatus for writing/reading AV data

A method for reading data from a recording disk having an alternative sector area in which a collection of alternative sectors is provided and non-defective sectors, said method comprising the steps of:

• a first step of accessing a preceding alternative sector storing data for which a read request is made to read said data;
• a second step of reading data from an alternative sector succeeding said preceding alternative sector during a rotational latency required for a magnetic head to access a non-defective sector storing the next data for which a read request is made;
• and
• a third step of accessing said non-defective sector to read data after said second step.

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a disk recording medium being capable of random access and having an alternative sector area in which a group of alternative sectors are provided;
• a storage section for storing a position of an alternative sector assigned/re-assigned precedently;
• a determination section for determining whether the assignment/re-assignment of an alternative sector succeeding said preceding alternative sector is required within a predetermined time;
• and
• a directive section for assigning/re-assigning said succeeding alternative sector to the same alternative sector area in which the alternative sector the position of which is stored in said storage section exists if said determination section determines that the assignment/re-assignment of said succeeding alternative sector is required within the predetermined time.

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a disk recording medium being capable of random access and having an alternative sector;
• a storage section for storing an address of an alternative sector assigned/re-assigned precedently;
• a determination section for determining whether a physical address of a first defective sector causing said assignment/re-assignment of said preceding alternative sector is adjacent to the physical address of a second defective sector for which it is determined that assignment/re-assignment of an alternative sector is required after the assignment/re-assignment of said preceding alternative sector;
• and
• an assignment/re-assignment section for assigning/re-assigning the address of the alternative sector of said second defective sector so that said address is adjacent to said address stored in said storage section if said determination section determines that the physical address of said first defective sector and the physical address of said second defective sector are adjacent to each other.

A disk drive apparatus comprising:

• a disk recording medium being capable of random access and having an alternative sector;
• a storage section for storing a position of an alternative sector assigned/re-assigned precedently;
• a determination section for determining whether a logical address of a defective sector assigned/re-assigned to said preceding alternative sector is close to the logical address of a defective sector for which it is determined that assignment/re-assignment of an alternative sector is required after said preceding alternative sector;
• a directive section for assigning/re-assigning said defective sector for which it is determined that the assignment/re-assignment of an alternative sector to an alternative sector near the position of the alternative sector stored in said storage section if said determination section determines that the logical address of said defective sector assigned/re-assigned to said preceding alternative sector is close to the logical address of said defective sector for which it is determined that the assignment/re-assignment of the alternative sector is required.

An apparatus for reading and writing audio-visual data, comprising a hard disk which audio-visual data is read from and written on and employs a zone-bit-recording-scheme, a write control section for controlling writing audio-visual data on said hard disk, and a read control section for controlling reading audio-video data from said hard disk, wherein:

• said hard disk has an alternative sector area consisting of a collection of alternative sectors in each zone;
• said write control section performs the assignment/re-assignment of a succeeding alternative sector to the same alternative sector area as the assignment/re-assignment of a preceding alternative sector, if the assignment/re-assignment of a preceding alternative sector and the assignment/re-assignment of a succeeding alternative sector arise and data to be written in said succeeding alternative sector and data written in said preceding alternative sector can be regarded as data constituting a sequence of audio-visual items of data;
• and
• said read control section issues an instruction to read the audio-visual data stored in the alternative sector by said preceding assignment/re-assignment besides the audio-visual data stored in the alternative sector by said succeeding assignment/re-assignment.