Patent Application
20060215501
The invention relates generally to computers, and more particularly to controlling storage devices.
As the functionality of personal computers begins to converge with that of consumer electronics, personal computers are beginning to be used in place of traditional consumer electronic devices. For example, a personal computer may be connected to home entertainment components including a television, speakers, stereo receiver, and set-top box to perform the functions traditionally associated with specialized consumer electronics such as DVD and CD players, digital video recorders, stereo components, and the like.
Consumers often expect little or no noticeable noise from consumer electronic devices when such devices are in operation. For personal computers, on the other hand, consumers have come to expect significant noise, particularly as the personal computers perform certain operations.
Most of the new optical drives installed on personal computers are capable of performing data transfer at speeds that far exceed those capable by consumer electronic devices. For example, a personal computer's CD drive may read data on a CD 40 times or faster than the speed that a consumer electronics CD player does. Similarly, a personal computer's DVD drive may read data from a DVD at 8 times or faster than a consumer electronics DVD player. These faster transfer rates are accomplished by turning the media faster. Upon inserting media into a personal computer's optical drive, the drive may spin up to its maximum speed to read the data off the media. When doing so, the drive may create a high volume of noise due to the mechanics and physics of the drive.
What is needed is a method and system of decreasing the noise produced by optical drives of personal computers. Ideally, such a method and system would not suffer in performance when reading data files not normally contained on consumer electronics media.
Briefly, the present invention provides a method and system for controlling the spin rate of an optical device. A device driver provides notification that media has been inserted into the optical device. A control service determines the format of information on the media. The spin rate of the optical device is locked or unlocked based on the format.
In one aspect, if the media includes multimedia files only, the spin rate is locked at a speed compatible (e.g., capable of playing without pauses) to the multimedia files.
In another aspect, if the media includes data files that are not multimedia files, the spin rate of the optical device is unlocked (e.g., the optical device is allowed to access the media at its maximum rate).
In another aspect, if the media includes data files and multimedia files, the spin rate of the optical device may be locked or unlocked based on heuristics.
In another aspect, an application may override the spin rate lock set by the control service.
Other aspects will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:
Exemplary Operating Environment
The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microcontroller-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so forth, which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
With reference to
Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by the computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can accessed by the computer 110. Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
The drives and their associated computer storage media, discussed above and illustrated in
The computer 110 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 110, although only a memory storage device 181 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user input interface 160 or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
Optical Drive Spin Rate Control
The application 205 is a user-mode or kernel-mode process that executes in the environment and that attempts to read from the optical device 220. The control service 210 is a user-mode or kernel-mode process that determines the spin rate of the optical device 220. The control service 210 may register with the optical device driver 215 to be informed when media is inserted into the optical device 220. The control service 210 may also instruct optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at a particular speed (e.g., 1×, 2×, 4×, or some other rate), depending on what is contained in the media inserted into the optical device. For example, if the media contains data in a multimedia format, the control service 210 may instruct the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at 1× or 2× to reduce noise, save battery power, and so forth.
Determining whether the media contains data in a multimedia format may involve various heuristics. For example, if the media includes data formatted as a picture CD, video CD, in red book audio, DVD audio, or some other audio format, in DVD movie format, or in some other industry-defined multimedia format, the control service 210 may determine that the media is in multimedia format and may act accordingly.
If a media includes data files and multimedia files (hereinafter “mixed-mode media”), the percentage of multimedia files to data files may be used to determine whether to lock the optical device 220 at a particular spin rate. For example, in a mixed-mode media if the percentage of multimedia files exceeds a threshold (e.g., 90%), the control service 210 may determine that the optical drive should be locked at a particular spin rate. Multimedia files may include files having extensions such as .JPG, .AVI, .TIFF, .BMP, .WAV, .MP3, .WMA, and other extensions that indicate audio or visual data. When a mixed-mode media includes files that need different access rates (e.g., 150 Kbs, 750 Kbs, 1500 Kbs, etc.), the control service 210 may cause the spin rate of the optical device 220 to be locked at a spin rate that allows the file with the highest access rate to be played (e.g., 1500 Kbs).
In one embodiment, when a mixed-mode media is in the optical device 220, the control service 210 causes the spin rate of the optical media to be locked at a particular spin rate until an application accesses data that is not in multimedia format (e.g., a word processing document, spreadsheet document, or the like). After an application accesses data that is not in multimedia format, the spin rate may be unlocked and may or may not be locked again even if later a multimedia format file is accessed on the media.
In another embodiment, based on its needs, the application 205 may instruct the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at a particular rate. For example, the application 205 may instruct the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at a rate selected by the application. When an application 205 instructs the optical device driver 215 to lock or unlock the spin rate of the optical device 220, this may override a spin rate lock or unlock set by the control service 210.
If more than one application instructs the optical device driver 215 to lock or unlock the spin rate of the optical device 220, the spin rate of the optical device 220 may depend on the last instruction received by the optical device driver 215. For example, if one application instructs the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate at one rate, and later another application instructs the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate at another rate, the optical device driver 215 may lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at the one rate until the second instruction to lock at the other rate is received. Then, the optical device driver 215 may lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at the other rate. The spin rate may remain locked at the other rate until an application requests that the optical device driver 215 lock or unlock the spin rate or until new media is inserted into the optical device 220.
If an application opens the optical device 220 for exclusive access and instructs the optical device driver 215 to lock the spin rate of the optical device 220, the optical device driver 215 may lock the spin rate of the optical device 220 at the requested rate and may ignore subsequent requests from other applications until the first application releases its exclusive access to the optical device 220.
If no application has requested that the spin rate of the optical device 220 be locked at a specified rate, the control service 210 may determine whether to lock or unlock the spin rate of the optical device 220 depending on the format of data in the media inside the optical device 220. If the control service 210 determines that the optical device may have its spin rate unlocked, the control service 210 instructs the optical device driver 215 to unlock the spin rate of the optical device 220. The optical device 220 may then spin at its maximum rate until new media is inserted therein or an application subsequently locks the spin rate Locking or unlocking the spin rate of the optical device 220 via the control service 210 typically occurs shortly after media is inserted into the optical device 220.
The control service 210 and the application 205 may communicate with the optical device driver 215 through an application programming interface (API) of the optical device driver 215.
It will be recognized that the control service 210 allows the optical device 220 to be spin rate locked even if no applications are aware of this feature. Thus, installing the control service 210 in an existing environment may provide the benefits of spin rate locking and unlocking without requiring that all the applications in the existing environment be updated.
The optical device driver 215 may comprise a kernel-mode or user-mode process that may be used to access data on the optical device 220. The optical device driver 215 may inform any applications (including the application 205 and the control service 210) that have registered with it when media has been inserted in the optical device 220. As previously mentioned, the optical device driver 215 may also lock or unlock the spin rate of the optical device 220 in accordance with instructions received from other processes.
The optical device 220 includes any device that may be used to access optical or optical/magnetic media including a CD, CDRW, DVD, or DVDRW drive, for example. It will be recognized that aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other devices that have controllable spin rates and that may need to spin slower to reduce noise or for other reasons.
At block 310, media is inserted into the optical device. For example, a DVD or CD is inserted into an optical device.
At block 315, the control service receives notification that media has been inserted into the optical device. The control service may receive this notification from an optical device driver, for example.
At block 320, the control service determines the format of the media. If the format is an industry- or otherwise-defined multimedia format, the control service may determine that that the media is in multimedia format. If so, at block 325, processing branches to block 330; otherwise, processing branches to block 335. If the media is in mixed-mode, the control service may determine that the media is not in multimedia format and processing may branch to block 335.
At block 330, the control service locks the drive at a low speed compatible with the multimedia format (e.g., 1×) via the optical device driver. At block 335, the control service unlocks the drive to allow maximum speed. At block 340, the actions end. The actions above may be repeated each time media is inserted into the optical device.
At block 410, media is inserted into the optical device. For example, a DVD or CD is inserted into an optical device.
At block 415, the control service receives notification that media has been inserted into the optical device. The control service may receive this notification from an optical device driver, for example.
At block 420, the control service determines the format of the media. If the format is an industry- or otherwise-defined multimedia format or a mixed-mode media format that is significantly multimedia (e.g., by percentage of multimedia files), the control service may determine that that the optical drive should be spin rate locked. If so, at block 425, processing branches to block 430; otherwise, processing branches to block 435.
At block 430, the control service calculates a bitrate of the content on the media. If the media contains multimedia files of a single type (e.g., MP3), the control service may determine the bitrate needed to play the files. If the media contains non-homogenous multimedia files, the control service may determine the bitrate by finding the maximum bitrate that any of the multimedia files needs to be played correctly. In some multimedia files, the needed bitrates may be found in the headers of the multimedia files. In other multimedia files, the type of file as indicated by its extension determines the bitrate the file needs.
If the bitrate needed to play a file is between two bitrates that are supported by the optical device, the control service may determine that the higher bitrate of the optical device should be used. For example, if an optical device supports 150 Kbps and 300 Kbps bitrates and multimedia files on the media need to be read no slower than 200 Kbps to play correctly, the control service may determine that 300 Kbps should be used on the optical device.
At block 432, the control service locks the spin rate of the drive according to the determined bitrate.
At block 435, the control service unlocks the drive to allow maximum speed. At block 440, the actions end. The actions above may be repeated each time media is inserted into the optical device.
At block 510, the application specifies a speed for the optical drive. The application may specify a particular bitrate (e.g., 1500 Kbps) or a multiple of an industry standard (e.g., 1×, 2×, etc.).
At block 515, the optical device driver locks the speed of the optical drive to the requested speed and overrides any previous spin rate. If the optical drive is not capable of playing information at the speed requested by the application (e.g., the speed falls between two allowed speeds), the optical device driver may lock the spin rate of the optical device at a higher speed (e.g., the higher of the two speeds).
In another embodiment of the invention, the application locks the speed of the optical device by communicating directly with the optical device driver.
At block 520, the actions end. The actions represented in
It will be readily recognized that various aspects of the invention have various advantages. One advantage relates to noise reduction. Locking the spin rate of an optical device may reduce the noise emitted by the optical device. This may make it more practical and pleasing to consumers to replace a specialized consumer electronic device or devices with a personal computer.
Another advantage relates to power consumed by the optical device. An optical device may consume less power if it is locked at a slower rate. This may be important in portable computers that rely on batteries for power. For example, a portable computer may be able to play all of a multimedia DVD or CD or may be able to stay on longer between recharging if the optical device is locked at a slower speed.
Another advantage relates to latency in accessing data on optical media. When a drive is spin rate locked, it may not need to accelerate its spin rate to its maximum speed before accessing data on the drive. Accelerating the spin rate to the maximum speed takes some time and may introduce unacceptable or annoying latencies—particularly right after media is inserted into the optical drive. By allowing the drive to accelerate to only a fraction of its maximum speed, the latency in accessing data on the drive, particularly at spin-up, may be reduced.
Another advantage relates to longevity of the optical device. Spinning an optical device at a speed less than its maximum speed may lengthen the lifetime of the optical device.
Another advantage relates to error correction. Spinning optical media at an accelerated rate may introduce the need for more error correction than spinning the media at a slower rate. By locking the spin rate at a slower speed, less error correction may be needed.
Fewer, more, or other advantages may also be realized by various aspects of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
As can be seen from the foregoing detailed description, there is provided a method and system for controlling the spin rate of an optical device. While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof are shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.
