Interruptible formatting
AssigneeKoninkljike Philips N.V.
InventorsRobert Albertus Brondijk, Stephanus Josephus Maria Van Beckhoven
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Abstract
A device for recording information on a storage medium is arranged for formatting the storage medium. The device has a medium interface for interfacing with the storage medium for recording data on the medium and retrieving data from the medium, and a host interface for receiving commands according to a protocol (ATA/ATAPI) from a host. The commands include a format command. The device has a formatter for formatting the storage medium according to a format process indicated by the format command. The formatting includes interrupting the format process until a point in time defined by a further command from the host so that no formatting in the background is performed, and therefore real-time performance of the device is not deteriorated by the formatting.
Claims20
A device for recording information on a storage medium, the device comprising:
- medium interface means for interfacing with the storage medium for recording data on the medium and retrieving data from the medium;
- host interface means for receiving commands according to a protocol from a host, the commands including a format command;
- and
- formatting means for formatting the storage medium according to a format process indicated by the format command, the formatting including interrupting the format process until a point in time defined by a further command from the host, wherein the formatting means are arranged for said interrupting the format process after receiving the format command, and wherein the formatting means are further arranged to begin the formatting anew in response to the further command when progress the formatting that was interrupted is unknown and to record again previously recorded format data.
A method of formatting a storage medium for recording data and retrieving data, the method comprising the acts of:
- receiving commands according to a protocol from a host via a host interface, the commands including a format command;
- and
- formatting the storage medium according to a format process indicated by the format command, the formatting act including the act of interrupting the format process after receiving the format command until a point in time defined by a further command from the host,
- wherein the formatting act begins the format process anew in response to the further command when progress the format process that was interrupted is unknown and records again previously recorded format data.
A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying computer instructions which, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to perform the acts of:
- receiving commands according to a protocol from a host via a host interface, the commands including a format command;
- and
- formatting the storage medium according to a format process indicated by the format command the formatting act including the act of interrupting the format process after receiving the format command until a point in time defined by a further command from the host,
- wherein the formatting act begins the format process anew in response to the further command when progress the format process that was interrupted is unknown and records again previously recorded format data.
A device for recording information on a storage medium, the device comprising:
- a medium interface that interfaces with the storage medium for recording data on the medium and retrieving data from the medium;
- a host interface that receives commands according to a protocol from a host, the commands including a format command;
- and
- a formatter that formats the storage medium according to a format process indicated by the format command, the formatter interrupting the format process until a point in time defined by a further command from the host, wherein the formatter is arranged for said interrupting the format process directly after receiving the format command, and wherein the formatter begins the format process anew in response to the further command when progress the format process that was interrusted is unknown and records again previously recorded format data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.