JPH0449574A - Information recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently and inexpensively produce an information recording medium with a good yield by recording specific information in a part of a preformat part or a recording part of the information recording medium. CONSTITUTION:An application designating program which designates only an application program 4A out of application programs 4A, 4B, and 4C existing in a program part 4 as the available program is written in a part on the inner peripheral side of a recording part 6 of an information recording medium intermediate body. Thus, the information recording medium with application ROM where the use of only the program 4A out of application programs 4A to 4C is permitted is produced. On the other hand, an application designating program which designates only the application program 4B out of application programs existing in the program part 4 as the available program is written in a part on the inner peripheral side of a recording part 6 of another information recording medium intermediate body.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides application program ROM (R
The present invention relates to a write-once or rewritable information recording medium having a write-once or rewritable information recording medium.

[Background of the Invention] Information recording media that use high energy density beams such as laser beams have been developed and put into practical use.

This information recording medium is disc-shaped and is also called an optical disc, and can be used as a video disc, an audio disc, an image file, a disc memory for a human computer, etc. .

Optical disks have the advantage of having a large storage capacity (more than 500 megabytes (MB) for a 13 cm diameter disk) and faster access speed than magnetic tape.

Optical discs include read-only discs, write-once discs that can be written only once (WO type), and rewritable discs that can be read and written many times (RW type). Among these, WO type and RW type optical discs are particularly useful as optical files and information recording media for computers.

WO type and RW type optical discs generally include a preformat part that includes an address part that represents the physical address of the disc, and a preformat part in which the user writes (records) information.
A recording section (or data section) is provided. Recently, an optical disc in which an application program is formed as a ROM in a preformatted part has been proposed and is beginning to be sold in some cases so that the user can easily and conveniently record information in the recording part. This optical disc with application ROM takes advantage of the fact that optical discs have a very large storage capacity, and when this optical disc is used, a specific application program and the user's information recorded using it are stored together on one optical disc. It is an information recording medium that can be easily and conveniently used by users. Therefore, the application ROM-containing optical disk is expected to be used as a recording medium for small-sized computers such as personal computers, office computers, and microcomputers.

The above-mentioned application ROM-containing optical disc is manufactured by manufacturing an optical disc substrate by injection molding a thermoplastic resin using a stamper in which pre-pits of a preformat part and groups of recording parts are formed, and the surface of this substrate is It is manufactured by forming a recording layer on which information can be recorded using a laser beam, and further forming a reflective layer, a protective layer, an antistatic layer, etc. as necessary. In the preformat section, a specific application program is written in addition to information such as an address section similar to that of an optical disc that does not include a general application program, and pre-pits are formed.

However, in order to manufacture the optical disc containing the application ROM, a stamper must be manufactured for each application program. This stamper is manufactured by polishing a glass disk, applying a photoresist to its surface, applying a laser beam to the photoresist, developing the photoresist, applying an electrode, and electroforming the nickel mask. produced,
The stamper is then manufactured through the process of manufacturing a motherboard and then manufacturing a stamper from the motherboard by electroforming. Therefore, in order to manufacture such a stamper, there are problems in that many troublesome steps are required and a large amount of expense is required.

[Objective of the Invention] The present invention is a write-once type or rewritable type information recording medium in which an application program having the above-mentioned excellent features is loaded as a ROM. The purpose is to provide an information recording medium that can be manufactured efficiently and at low cost.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention is a write-once or rewritable disc-shaped information recording medium having at least a pre-format section and a recording section on which information can be recorded using laser light, wherein the pre-format section is recordable. It includes an address section that may exist and a program section in which a plurality of application programs are written, and the application program to be licensed is stored in the recording section or the address section, or separately in the recording section and the address section. An information recording medium characterized in that an application designation program to be specified is written, and a program specifying that the application designation program is read after reading address information into the address field is additionally written. be.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are as follows.

(1) The above application program is a word processor,
The above-mentioned information recording medium is an application software program for spreadsheets, databases, graphics, business use, numerical calculations, system self-diagnosis, etc.

(2) The recording section is made of a metal (including metalloids, alloys, and metal compounds) on which information can be recorded using a laser beam, or other information can be re-recorded using a laser beam in the area where information has been recorded. ) or a recording layer containing a dye.

(3) The information recording medium has the recording layer provided on a substrate and a protective layer provided on the recording layer.

(4) The above-mentioned information recording medium, wherein the above-mentioned information recording medium is provided with a recording layer containing the above-mentioned dye on a substrate, and a reflective layer made of metal is provided on the recording layer.

(5) The information recording medium is provided with a recording layer containing the dye described above on a substrate, a reflective layer made of metal on the recording layer, and a protective layer on the reflective layer. The above information recording medium.

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The information recording medium of the present invention is a recordable or rewritable disc-shaped information recording medium having at least a preformat section and a recording section capable of recording information, the preformat section and the recording section capable of recording information. /or It is characterized in that specific information is recorded (written) in a part of the recording section.

The information recording medium of the present invention has a basic structure in which a recording layer is provided on a disk substrate. This recording layer may be one in which information can be recorded using a laser beam, that is, it may be a write-once type that can record only -degrees, or it may be a write-once type in which information can be recorded by a laser beam. It may be of a rewritable type (reversible type) that can be re-recorded, that is, can be read and written (reproduced, recorded) many times. Such a recording layer is a recording layer containing either a metal (including semimetals, alloys, and metal compounds) or a dye that can record and/or reproduce information using a laser beam. A protective layer may be provided on the recording layer. Further, when the recording layer contains a dye, a reflective layer made of metal may be provided on the recording layer, and a protective layer may be further provided on the reflective layer.

1- The substrate can be arbitrarily selected from various materials used as substrates for conventional information recording media.

Examples of substrate materials include glass, acrylic resins such as polymethyl methacrylate; vinyl chloride resins such as polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride copolymers; epoxy resins; polycarbonate resins, amorphous polyolefins, and polyesters. Preferably, polycarbonate, polyolefin, and polymethyl methacrylate are used from the viewpoint of substrate optical properties, flatness, processability, handleability, stability over time, manufacturing cost, and the like.

A pre-pre-pit layer and a group layer are provided on the substrate for the purpose of forming tracking grooves or irregularities representing information such as address signals.

As a material for the prepit layer, etc., a mixture of at least one monomer (or oligomer) of acrylic acid monoester, diester, triester, and tetraester and a photopolymerization initiator can be used.

The pre-pit layer and group layer are formed by first coating the above-mentioned acrylic acid ester and polymerization initiator mixture on the densely stacked stamper, and then placing the substrate on top of this coating layer. The liquid layer is cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays through the substrate or the matrix, thereby fixing the substrate and the liquid phase. Next, by peeling the substrate from the matrix, a substrate provided with a pre-pit layer and a group layer is obtained. The thickness of the prepit layer and group layer is generally 0.05 to 10
It is in the range of 0 μm, preferably in the range of 0.1 to 50 μm.

When the substrate material is plastic, a substrate on which the pre-pit layer and the group layer are integrally provided can be directly manufactured by injection molding using a stamper.

A recording layer as described above is provided on this group layer and, if necessary, further on the prepit layer.

Examples of metals used in the recording layer include Te, Zn, I
Metals such as n, Sn, Zr, Al1, Cu, Ga; Bi,
Examples include semimetals such as As and Sb; semiconductors such as Ge and Si; and alloys thereof or combinations thereof. Compounds such as sulfides, oxides, borides, silicon compounds, carbides, and nitrides of these metals or semimetals; and mixtures of stiff compounds and metals can also be used in the recording layer.

Further, as materials for the recording layer, magneto-optical memory materials, phase-change optical memory materials (metals, metal compounds, polymer compounds, etc.), organic photoreversible memory materials, PHB (Pho
tochen+1cal I(ole Burning
) optical memory materials, etc.

The recording layer can be formed on the substrate or on the intermediate coating layer by using the above-mentioned recording material by vapor deposition, sputtering, ion blasting, or other methods. Organic materials etc. can be provided by coating. If desired, an undercoat layer may be interposed below the intermediate layer. The recording layer may be a single layer or a multilayer, but its layer thickness is generally in the range of 100 to 5,500 densities in view of the optical density required for optical information recording.

Examples of dyes used as materials for the recording layer include cyanine dyes such as indolenine dyes, imidazoquinoxaline dyes, and indolizine dyes, phthalocyanine dyes, pyrylium/thiopyrylium dyes,
Azulenium pigment, squalirium pigment, Ni, C
r-metal complex dyes, naphthoquinone/anthraquinone dyes, indophenol dyes, indoaniline dyes, triphenylmethane dyes, triallylmethane dyes, merocyan dyes, oxonol dyes, aminium/diimmonium mention may be made of pigments and nitroso compounds.

A recording layer containing a dye is formed by dissolving the above dye, and optionally a binder, a metal complex dye, or an aminium/diimmonium dye (quencher) in a solvent, and applying the mixture.
This can be carried out by preparing a 1i solution, then applying this coating solution to the substrate surface to form a coating film, and then drying it.

Solvents for preparing the coating solution include esters such as ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, and cellosolve acetate, ketones such as methyl ethyl ketone, cyclohexanone, and methyl isobutyl ketone, halogenated hydrocarbons such as dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and chloroform, and tetrahydrofuran. , ethers such as ethyl ether and dioxane, alcohols such as ethanol, n-propanol, isopropanol, and n-butanol, amides such as dimethylformamide, and fluorocarbon solvents such as 2.2.3.3 tetrafluoropropanol. I can do it. Note that these non-hydrocarbon organic solvents may contain hydrocarbon solvents such as aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents, alicyclic hydrocarbon solvents, and aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, as long as the amount is within 50% by volume. .

The coating solution also contains antioxidants, UV absorbers, plasticizers,
Various additives such as lubricants may be added depending on the purpose.

When a binder is used, examples of the binder include cellulose derivatives such as gelatin, nitrocellulose, and cellulose acetate; natural organic polymeric substances such as dextran, rosin, and rubber; and carbonized materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyisobutylene. Hydrogen resins, vinyl resins such as polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride/polyvinyl acetate copolymers, acrylic resins such as polymethyl acrylate, polymethyl methacrylate,
Examples include synthetic organic polymeric substances such as polyvinyl alcohol, chlorinated polyolefins, epoxy resins, butyral resins, rubber derivatives, and initial condensates of thermosetting resins such as phenol/formaldehyde resins.

Examples of the coating method include a spray method, a spin code method, a dip method, a roll coat method, a blade coat method, a doctor roll method, and a screen printing method.

When a binder is used as a material for the dye layer, the ratio of the dye to the binder is generally 0.01 to 99% (weight ratio).
It is preferably in the range of 1.0 to 95% (weight ratio).

The dye layer may be a single layer or a multilayer, but its layer thickness is generally in the range of 100 to 5,500 mm, preferably 200 mm.
It is in the range of ~3000 or more.

A reflective layer may be provided on the recording layer.

The light-reflective material that is the material of the reflective layer is a material that has a high reflectance to laser light, and examples thereof include Mg, Se,
Y, Ti, Zr, Hf, V.

Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, M
n, Re, Fe, Co, Ni, Ru
, Rh% Pd, Ir.

Pt, Cu, Ag, Au, Zn,
Cd1 AJ! , Ga, In% Si, Ge,
Te% Pb, Po.

Mention may be made of metals and metalloids such as Sn and Bi. Among these, preferred are Afi, Au, Cr
and Ni. These substances may be used alone, or in combination of two or more or as an alloy.

The reflective layer can be formed by, for example, depositing, sputtering, or ion-blating the above-mentioned light-reflecting substance.
It can be formed on the top of the board. The thickness of the reflective layer is generally in the range of 100 to 3000λ.

A protective layer may be provided on the reflective layer for the purpose of physically and chemically protecting the recording layer and the entire information recording medium. Further, this protective layer may be provided on the side of the substrate where the recording layer is not provided in order to improve scratch resistance and moisture resistance.

Examples of materials used for the protective layer include inorganic materials such as Sin, 5i02, Si3N4, MgF2. SnO
2nd place can be mentioned. In addition, as organic substances,
Examples include thermoplastic resins, thermosetting resins, UV curable resins, etc., with UV curable resins being preferred. This is particularly effective when the organic substance is applied by coating.

That is, it can also be formed by dissolving a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, or the like in a suitable solvent to prepare a coating solution, and then applying the coating solution and drying it. U
In the case of V-curable resin, apply the coating solution as it is or dissolve it in an appropriate solvent to prepare a coating solution,
It can also be formed by curing by irradiating with υV light. Examples of UV-curable resins include (meth)acrylate oligomers such as urethane (meth)acrylate, epoxy (meth)acrylate, and polyester (meth)acrylate, and 100% polymers such as (meth)acrylic acid ester. Conventional UV curable resins such as UV curable resins can be used. Various additives such as antistatic agents, antioxidants, and UV absorbers may be further added to these coating liquids depending on the purpose. In the present invention, it is preferable to use a UV curable resin.

The thickness of the protective layer is generally in the range of 0.1 to 100 μm.

In addition to the above, the protective layer can be formed, for example, by laminating a film obtained by extrusion of plastic onto the dye recording layer via an adhesive layer.

Alternatively, it may be provided by methods such as vacuum deposition, sputtering, and coating.

Next, the preformat section and the recording section of the information recording medium of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an embodiment of the information recording medium of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an information recording medium 1 is a disk-shaped information recording medium in which a spindle insertion hole 2 for insertion into a spindle of an information recording medium recording/reproducing apparatus is provided in the center, and is configured as described above. . On the plane of the information recording medium 1, an annular address section 3 is formed in the center, and a program section 4 is formed outside the annular address section 3.
The address section 3 and the program section 4 form a preformat section 5, and the information recording medium 1 is formed from the outer periphery of the program section 4.
The recording section 6 is formed up to the vicinity of the outer periphery. A designated program area 7 in which an application designated program is written is formed on the inner circumferential side of the recording section 6. The portion of the recording section 6 other than the designated program area 7 is an area that the user can use for recording and reproducing information.

In the address section 3, a program is written that specifies that the application designation program in the designated program area 7 is to be read after reading the address information along with address information indicating the physical address of the disc provided in a known optical disc. It is.

A plurality of application programs are written in the program section 4. This application program is a program used by the user to write desired information (data) into the recording unit 6. Examples of such programs include various application software programs such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, graphics, business use, numerical calculations, and system self-diagnosis. In Figure 1, program 4
Although a mode is shown in which three types of application programs, A, program 4B, and program 4C are written, the number is not particularly limited as long as it is two or more.

The address section 3 and the program section 4 are a preformat section 5 formed using a standber created to form the preformat section 5 when making the substrate of the information recording medium 1.

In the designated program area 7, an application designated program is written which designates that the user can use only one program 4A, program 4B, or program 4C of the program section 4, or a combination of two or more programs. . The designated program area 7 is written in a part of the recording section 6 after the information recording medium 1 having the preformat section 5 and the recording section 6 is manufactured.

The manner of use of the information recording medium of the present invention will be explained.

The information recording medium of the present invention can be used in exactly the same way as a conventionally known optical disc containing an application program ROM. That is, when the information recording medium of the present invention is loaded into a recording/reproducing device, the device first reads the program in the address section 3, then reads the application designation program in the designated program area 7, and executes this designated program. Access one of the application programs in the program unit 4 specified by , start this application program, record information in the recording unit 6 and record the information using the application program. It becomes possible to reproduce information from 6 onwards.

The operation of specifying a specific application program using the above specified program is automatically performed by the recording and reproducing device, so the user is not aware of the existence of multiple application programs on the information recording medium and the operation of specifying the program as described above. The information recording medium of the present invention can be used in exactly the same way as conventional information recording media without being aware of what is going on. Therefore, in order to use the information recording medium of the present invention, there is no need to particularly modify or change the recording/reproducing device.

The information recording medium of the present invention described above can be manufactured as described above.

First, a pre-pit for a preformat section of the program section 4 including the address section 3 and a plurality of application programs 4A, 4B, and 4C as described above, and a temporary standber for forming a group of the recording section 6 are manufactured. Using this standber, a substrate on which the pre-pits and groups are formed is manufactured. Next, a recording layer as described above is formed in this group 1 to form the recording section 6. If necessary, a reflective layer, a protective layer, etc. as described above are formed. In this way, an information recording medium intermediate having a preformat section and a recording section is manufactured.

Next, among the application programs 4A, 4B, and 4C existing in the program section 4, only the application program 1A can be used on a part of the inner peripheral side of the recording section 6 of this information recording medium intermediate. Write the specified application program.

In this way, an information recording medium containing an application ROM on which only the application program 4A is licensed is manufactured.

On the other hand, it is specified that only application program 4B among the application programs existing in program section 4 can be used in a part of the inner peripheral side of recording section 6 of another information recording medium intermediate manufactured as described above. Write an application specific program to

In this way, an information recording medium containing an application ROM on which only the application program 4B is licensed is manufactured.

Similarly, it is also possible to manufacture an information recording medium containing an application ROM in which only the application program 4C is licensed.

In this way, from the information recording medium intermediate of the same form,
Three different types of information recording media containing application ROMs can be manufactured.

That is, it is possible to manufacture information recording media containing three different application ROMs using the same stamper. By increasing the types of application programs that exist in the program section 4, it is possible to increase the types of information recording media that can be manufactured from the same stamper.

If the recording unit 6 is of a rewritable type, the application specification program can be rewritten as necessary.

Compared to the conventional manufacturing of information recording media using stampers manufactured for each application program,
In the information recording medium of the present invention, the process and cost for producing a complicated and time-consuming stamper for one type of information recording medium are reduced in inverse proportion to the number of application programs that exist in the program section 4. is clear.

The information recording medium of the present invention has an extra application program that cannot be used by the user compared to an information recording medium that has a single application program, but as described above, the optical information recording medium has a storage capacity of JJ9M is extremely large, and the capacity required to write the application program is a small amount of the total storage capacity, and the usable capacity for the user does not substantially exceed JJ9M. In addition, the application cage described in the article!
The capacity required for one specific program is also negligible relative to the user's available capacity.

In the application specification program mentioned above, specifying the application program to be licensed includes not only accessing only the specific application program to be licensed, but also accessing only the specific application program to be licensed. This also includes protecting unlicensed applications other than programs so that they cannot be used.

The program in the above description varies depending on the form, format, etc. of the information recording medium, but can be created as appropriate by those skilled in the art depending on the information recording medium.

In addition, the preformat section and designated program area are
It may also be provided on the outer periphery of the information recording medium.

Furthermore, the symbol or number of the application program among the application specification programs (for example, the number 4 mentioned above)
A, 4B, 40, etc.) are written in the address section 3, and the symbol or number of the application program to be used is written in the recording section 6, so that the application specification program is written in the address section 3 and the recording section 6. You can also write separately. In this case, parts of the application designation program other than the application program symbol or number can be formed in the address section 3 at the time of manufacturing the board, and the application program licensed according to the individual information recording medium can be It is sufficient to write only the symbol or number in the recording section 6.

Furthermore, in the above case, the symbol or number of the application program whose use is not permitted may be written in the recording section 6, and the application symbol (designated program) in the address section 3 may be used to designate the application program whose use is not permitted.

Another aspect of the information recording medium of the present invention is one in which at least a part of the address part can be recorded by providing groups in the address part and a write-once or rewritable recording layer, as described above. An application specification program may be written in the address field.

In this case, as described above, only the symbol or number of the application program may be written separately in the recording section 6.

[Effects of the Invention] The information recording medium of the present invention can be used without any need to make any changes to the recording/reproducing device of the information recording medium, and without any special considerations when using it. This information recording medium has the remarkable effect of reducing the stamper manufacturing process necessary for manufacturing the information recording medium and being able to manufacture it at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an embodiment of the information recording medium of the present invention. 1: Information recording medium, 2 varnish binder insertion hole, 3 near address section, 4 nib program section, 4A, 4B, 4C
: Application program 5 nib format section, 6: Recording section, 7: Specified program area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recordable or rewritable disk-shaped information recording medium having at least a pre-format part and a recording part capable of recording information using a laser beam, the pre-format part having an address part which may be recordable and a plurality of recordable parts. a program section in which an application program is written, and an application specification program for specifying an application program to be licensed is written in the recording section or the address section, or separately in the recording section and the address section; An information recording medium characterized in that a program is additionally written that specifies that the application designation program is read after address information is read into the address section.