Multiple physical optical disc formats in backwards compatible order
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorHenry P. Gabryjelski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mechanism that enables authoring of new optical disc physical media (e.g., HD-DVD) while maintaining backwards compatibility with previous physical media (e.g., DVD-ROM, DVD-Video). The system eliminates film system “switching” and avoids adding new commands to the command specification, while still allowing legacy (e.g., DVD-ROM) drives to use of the content on the legacy layer. The mechanism enables seamless use of any layer should the drive be able to recognize it. The system can employ a single logical block address (LBA) range together with the concept of “sessions” to effect backwards compatibility. As well, logical overwrite techniques can also be employed to accomplish seamless backwards compatibility.
Claims23
A system that facilitates backwards compatibility with respect to a multi-format media component having data stored thereon in at least two disparate formats, comprising:
- a format transition component configured to restrict access to at least a subset of the data stored on the multi-format media component until a desired authentication between a host and a drive occurs and to enable backwards compatibility between the at least two disparate formats,
- a first physical layer of the multi-format media component being rewriteable and conforming to a first format of the at least two disparate formats, and
- a second physical layer of the multi-format media component being read-only and conforming to a second format of the at least two disparate formats, the first format backwards compatible with the second format and the second physical layer being read-only to inhibit data associated with the second format and referenced by data associated with the first format from being overwritten to facilitate the backwards compatibility;
- and
- a format detection component configured to employ a multi-session technique to organize the first format and the second format, the first format organized into a first session comprising a first set of logical block addresses (LBAs) and the second format organized into a second session comprising a second set of LBAs, the first set of LBAs and the second set of LBAs part of a single LBA addressing range.
A method that facilitates backwards compatibility of a multi-format media, comprising:
- restricting access to at least a subset of data stored on a multi-format media component until a desired authentication between a host and a drive occurs, the multi-format media component comprising at least two groups of physical layers, a first group of one or more physical layers being rewriteable and conforming to a first format and a second group of one or more physical layers being read-only and conforming to a second format, the first format different than the second format;
- providing access to the multi-format media component responsive to the desired authentication occurring;
- and
- employing a multi-session technique to organize the first format and the second format and to enable a concurrent view of data stored in the first group and data stored in the second group, the first format organized into a first session comprising a first set of logical block addresses (LBAs) and the second format organized into a second session comprising a second set of LBAs, the first set of LBAs and the second set of LBAs part of a single LBA addressing range, the first set of LBAs not overlapping the second set of LBAs and the first set of LBAs being numerically higher than the second set of LBAs to inhibit data associated with the second format and referenced by data associated with the first format from being overwritten.
A system that facilitates backwards compatibility with respect to a multi-format media component having data stored thereon in at least two disparate formats, comprising:
- a format transition component configured to enable backwards compatibility between the at least two disparate formats,
- a first physical layer of the multi-format media component being rewriteable and conforming to a first format of the at least two disparate formats, and
- a second physical layer of the multi-format media component being read-only and conforming to a second format of the at least two disparate formats, the first format backwards compatible with the second format and the second physical layer being read-only to inhibit data associated with the second format and referenced by data associated with the first format from being overwritten to facilitate the backwards compatibility;
- a format detection component configured to employ a multi-session technique to organize the first format and the second format, the first format organized into a first session comprising a first set of logical block addresses (LBAs) and the second format organized into a second session comprising a second set of LBAs, the first set of LBAs and the second set of LBAs part of a single LBA addressing range;
- and
- a logical-overwrite component configured to acknowledge an inability to write over a sector of the second physical layer and redirect a write request to an alternative sector of the first physical layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.