Abstract:
Disclosed is a computer readable medium capable of functioning an information processing apparatus without making a reading device to operate inefficiently. The recording medium comprises a main program storing area in which a main program for performing a game is recorded and a component recording area in which program components each of which is used for displaying a game character are consecutively recorded. The main program recorded in the main program storing area includes a routine for causing the reading device to read out a plurality of program components that are consecutively stored in the component recording area and for causing a control unit of the apparatus to store some of program components included in the plurality of program components read by the reading device into a memory.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a computer readable medium storing a game program and to an information processing apparatus which reads information from a recording medium during an operation thereof. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     As is well known, a software to operate an information processing apparatus (that is, a computer, a game machine, etc.) is composed of programs and several pieces of data utilized by the programs, and is distributed through a recording medium in a disk shape (for example, a flexible disk, CD-ROM, etc.). At a time of an execution of the software, a part of the software (that is, program or data) in the recording medium is read out and written over useless information on a RAM of the information processing apparatus. 
     More concretely, a game software for use in an information processing apparatus (a personal computer or a game machine) is distributed through a CD-ROM  100  having a configuration as shown in FIG. 1, for example. That is, the CD-ROM  100  is generally pressed such that a game program including a main program and a plurality of program codes is recorded in a recording area  100   c  at an inner radius side on the disk plane thereof, a group of animation data is recorded in a recording area  100   a  at its outer radius side, and a group of graphic data is recorded in a recording area  100   b  therebetween. In other words, a recording area composed of contiguous storage locations (sectors) that exist near the center of the CD-ROM  100  is used for storing the game program, and a recording area composed of contiguous storage locations that exist near the outer edge of the CD-ROM  100  is used for storing the animation data. Furthermore, the program codes, the animation data, the graphic data and the likes are recorded in the CD-ROM  100  in a form where each information can be identified by a file name. 
     The CPU in the information processing apparatus having a CD-ROM drive that is set with the CD-ROM  100  will operate as follows. At first, the CPU read out the main program within the recording area  100   c  onto the RAM by controlling the CD-ROM drive. Thereafter, the CPU, in accordance with the main program in the RAM, reads out several units of information (usually, several program codes and several graphic data) from the CD-ROM  100  to the RAM. Then, the CPU begins a control using the information prepared on the RAM, and if a predetermined condition (for example, a condition for proceeding to a new stage) is fulfilled, it reads several information corresponding to the fulfilled condition, from the CD-ROM  100 , and stores them on the RAM to overwrite useless information. Then, it begins a control that utilizes this newly prepared information. 
     Thus, in the information processing apparatus that is set with the CD-ROM  100 , processing to read out several pieces of information necessary for continuing the execution of program from the CD-ROM  100  and stored on the RAM is executed. The configuration of the CD-ROM  100  described above causes the CD-ROM drive to operate inefficiently at a time of this processing (hereinafter, it refers to as an update processing) 
     That is, at a time of the update processing, usually, several graphic data and several program codes are read out from the CD-ROM  100 . But, in the CD-ROM  100 , these information are recorded in the recording areas that are separated each other. As a result, there are many occasions that the head of the CD-ROM drive is not located in a neighborhood of the recording area of the information in the CD-ROM  100  at the time when a read instruction for a certain information is issued to the CD-ROM drive during the update processing, which causes that a relatively long latency time is included in a response time (an access time) for each of the reading instructions. 
     Further, in general information processing apparatus, two seek actions must be performed in the CD-ROM drive to read out two files consecutively recorded on the CD-ROM  100 . More specifically, the CD-ROM  100  causes the CD-ROM drive to operate inefficiently at a time of the updating processing, because information are recorded in the recording areas that are separated each other, and each information is recorded as a file. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a computer readable medium capable of operating an information processing apparatus without making a reading device of the apparatus perform a useless operation. 
     It is another object of the present invention to provide an information processing apparatus operates at high speed. 
     In order to achieve the above mentioned object, a computer readable medium which is readable by a computer having a memory through a reading device according to the present invention comprises a program recording area in which a main program to be executed by the computer to perform a game is recorded and a component recording area in which program components each of which is used by the computer executing the main program to display a game character are consecutively recorded. The main program recorded in the program recording area includes a routine for causing the reading device to read out a plurality of program components that are consecutively stored in the component recording area and for storing a some of the program components outputted by the reading device into a memory. 
     The computer readable medium according to the present invention is so configured as to have the program recording area in which a main program is recorded and the component recording area in which program components each of which is used by the computer to display a game character are consecutively recorded. The main program which is recorded in the computer readable medium is executed by the computer to make the reading device, at a time when some of the program components is required, read out the program components that are consecutively recorded in the component recording area including said some of the program components and to make the computer write said some of the program components into the memory. 
     By setting this recording medium to the reading device of the information processing apparatus such as a computer or a game machine, a reading of the necessary program components will be completed without causing the reading device to perform a useless operation. Accordingly, using the recording medium of the present invention, the information processing apparatus can be functioned in a state that a latency time is less, in other words, the information processing apparatus can be functioned much faster than the conventional ones. 
     An information processing apparatus of the invention comprises a recording medium in which program components each of which is used for displaying a game character are recorded, a reading device for reading the program components from the recording medium, a memory for temporally storing some of the program components recorded in the recording medium and control means for controlling the reading device to read out a plurality of program components that are consecutively stored in the recording medium and for storing some of the program components read by the reading device into the memory. 
     The information processing apparatus of the present invention is configured as to operate similarly to a computer set with the computer readable medium of the present invention. Accordingly, the information processing apparatus functions much faster than the conventional ones. 
     Note that, in actualizing this information processing apparatus, it is not necessary to record a main program on the recording medium in which program components are recorded. Further, as the recording medium, every type of medium can be used, for example, a compact disc. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
     FIG. 1 is an illustrative diagram showing a configuration of a general CD-ROM; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage configuration of a RAM in the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 4 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on a display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 5 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 3; 
     FIGS. 6A,  6 B and  6 C are diagrams used for explanation of a program code and a graphic code displaying a player characters; 
     FIGS. 7A,  7 B and  7 C are diagrams for illustrating a program code and a graphic code used for displaying an enemy characters # 1 ; 
     FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on the display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 9 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 8; 
     FIGS. 10A,  10 B and  10 C are diagrams used for explanation of a program code and a graphic code displaying an enemy characters # 2 ; 
     FIG. 11 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on the display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 12 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage configuration of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 11; 
     FIGS. 13A,  13 B and  13 C are diagrams used for explanation of a program code and a graphic code used for displaying enemy character # 3 ; 
     FIG. 14 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on a display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 15 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 14; 
     FIG. 16 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on a display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 17 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 16; 
     FIG. 18 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on a display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 19 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 18; 
     FIG. 20 is a diagram showing one example of image displayed on a display screen by the information processing apparatus; 
     FIG. 21 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the RAM at a time of displaying the image shown in FIG. 20; 
     FIG. 22 is an illustrative diagram showing a configuration of a CD-ROM according to the embodiment; 
     FIG. 23 is an illustrative diagram showing a usage status of the program recording area at the outer radius side in the CD-ROM; and 
     FIG. 24 is an illustrative diagram showing the code table that is referred to at a time when reading the data, the codes from the CD-ROM; 
     FIG. 25 is an illustrative diagram showing a procedure for reading the program components from the CD-ROM executed in the information processing apparatus. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The embodiments of the present invention will be described more concretely with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     At first, with reference to FIG. 2, a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described. 
     As shown in the figure, the information processing apparatus  20  according to the present embodiment includes, for example, a control unit  21 , a RAM  22 , a sound processing unit  23 , an input unit  24 , an MDEC  25 , a graphic processing unit  26  and a CD-ROM drive  27 , as the main components thereof. This information processing apparatus  20  is used in a state where it is connected to a display device  30  (so-called home television set) that includes a display screen  30   a  and a speaker, through the graphic processing unit  26  and the sound processing unit  23 . 
     The control unit  21  is composed of a CPU, a ROM and the likes. The control unit  21  (CPU) integratedly controls the respective units within the information processing apparatus  20  in accordance with the program stored in the RAM  22  (or ROM as the case may be). The CD-ROM drive  27  is a reading device for a CD-ROM  10  in which a software (that is, game program) that defines the operation procedures of the control unit  21  is recorded. The CD-ROM drive  27  read out data recorded in the outer radius side of the DC-ROM  10  at faster speed than the inner radius side. 
     The sound processing unit  23  creates and outputs a sound signal to generate a voice, a music, a sound effect and the likes from the speaker built in the display device  30 . The sound processing unit  23  creates and outputs a sound signal, based on the data that is read out from the CD-ROM  10  and stored into the RAM  22  under the control of the control unit  21 . The input unit  24  is an interface through which a user inputs information to the information processing apparatus  20 . The respective units other than the input unit  24  in the information processing apparatus  20  are accommodated in a body, and the input unit  24  is accommodated in another device which is called controller and which is to be connected to the body through a cable. The information processing apparatus  20  may be the one of which input unit  24  and other units are accommodated in one body. 
     The MDEC  25  is a circuit that is capable of executing an inverse DCT (discrete cosine transformation) operation at fast speed. The MDEC  25  is used for expanding compressed data (that is, the image data and the animation data that are compressed/recorded in the CD-ROM  10 ) in a format such as the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) or the MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group). The graphic processing unit  26  contains a frame buffer, which draws an image (a polygon) corresponding to an instruction supplied from the control unit  21  on the frame buffer, and concurrently creates and outputs a video signal corresponding to the image drawn on the frame buffer. The graphic processing unit  26  also performs a processing to output a video signal based on the expansion result by the MDEC  25 . 
     In the following, an operation of the information processing apparatus  20 , and a configuration of the CD-ROM  10  will be described in detail. 
     At first, with reference to FIG. 3, a usage configuration of the RAM  22  will be discussed. As shown in the figure, the storage area of the RAM  22  is separated into a system area  22   a , a program area  22   b , a stage data area  22   c , a character control code area, a sound effect/audio data area  22   e  and a stack area  22   f.    
     The system area  22   a  is an area in which an OS (operating system) of the information processing apparatus  20  is allocated. The system stack area  22   f  is a work area of the OS. The program area  22   b  is an area to which a main program recorded in the CD-ROM  10  is read in. Further, in this area, a code table (described in detail below) that is referred to at a time when the various types of codes contained in the CD-ROM  10  is read is also stored. 
     The stage data area  22   c  is an area into which a graphic data used for displaying a background image of a stage the video game is stored. The character control code area  22   d  is an area into which information required for displaying game characters is stored. In this area, for every character that will appear on a stage in the video game, a graphic code defining a basic shape thereof and a program code for displaying the game character in the various attitudes, based on the graphic code are stored. More specifically, in the character control code area  22   d , several pairs of the graphic codes and the program codes (hereinafter, a pair of the program code and the graphic code is referred to as a program component) required for displaying the game characters are stored. The sound effect/audio data area  22   e  is an area into which data to be reproduced as a voice, a music, a sound effect and the like are stored. 
     Reading out the graphic data, the program components and the likes from the CD-ROM  10  to the RAM  22  is performed at each time when the video game on a new stage is started. 
     As shown in FIG. 4, in a stage, a player character  50 , enemy character  51  (the enemy character # 1 ) and a background image  60 A are displayed on the display screen  30   a . At a time the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  5 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 A for the background image  60 A recorded in the CD-ROM  10  is read out and stored into the stage data area  22   c  within the RAM  22 . Further, a program component  90  (which is a combination of a program code  70  and a graphic code  80 ) for displaying the player character in various attitudes, for example, as the ones  50   a ,  50   b  and  50   c  shown in FIGS. 6A,  6 B and  6 C is read out from the CD-ROM land stored into the character control code area  22   d . A program component  91  (which is a combination of a program code  71  and a graphic code  81 ) for displaying the enemy character # 1  in various attitudes, for example, as the ones  51   a ,  51   b  and  51   c  shown in FIGS. 7A,  7 B and  7 C is also read out from the CD-ROM  10  and stored into the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, the player character  50 , an enemy character  52  (an enemy character # 2 ) and a background image  60 B are displayed on the display screen  30   a  as shown in FIG.  8 . At a time the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  9 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 B for the background image  60 B is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  (which is a combination of the program code  70  and the graphic code  80 ) for the player character  50  and a program component  92  (which is a combination of a program code  72  and a graphic code  82 ) for displaying the enemy character # 2  in various attitudes, for example, as the ones  52   a ,  52   b  and  52   c  shown in FIGS. 10A,  10 B and  10 C is read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, the player character  50 , an enemy character  53  (an enemy character # 3 ) and a background image  60 C are displayed on the display screen  30   a  as shown in FIG.  11 . At a time the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  12 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 C for the background image  60 C is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  for the player character  50  and a program component  93  (which is a combination of a program code  63  and a graphic code  73 ) for displaying the enemy character # 3  in various attitudes, for example as the ones  53   a ,  53   b  and  53   c  shown in FIGS. 13A,  13 B and  13 C are read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, the player character  50 , the enemy characters  51 ,  52  (the enemy characters # 1 , # 2 ) and a background image  60 D are displayed on the display screen  30   a  as shown in FIG.  14 . At a time when the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  15 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 D for the background image  60 D is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  for the player character  50 , the program component  91  for the enemy character  51  and the program component  92  for the enemy character  52  are read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, the player character  50 , the enemy characters  51 ,  53  (the enemy characters # 1 , # 3 ) and a background image  60 E are displayed on the display screen  30   a  as shown in FIG.  16 . At a time when the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  17 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 E for the background image  60 E is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  for the player character  50 , the program component  91  for the enemy character # 1  and the program component  93  for the enemy character # 2  are read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, the player character  50 , the enemy characters  52 ,  53  and a background image  60 F are displayed on the display screen  30   a  as shown in FIG.  18 . At a time when the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  19 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 F for the background image  60 F is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  for the player character  50 , the program component  92  for the enemy character # 2  and the program component  93  for the enemy character # 3  are read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     In another stage, as shown in FIG. 20, the player character  50 , the enemy characters  51  through  53  and a background image  60 G are displayed on the display screen  30   a . At a time when the video game on this stage is started, the content of the RAM  22  is updated to the one shown in FIG.  21 . More specifically, a graphic data  65 G for the background image  60 G is read in to the stage data area  22   c . Further, the program component  90  for the player character  50 , the program component  91  for the enemy character # 1 , the program component  92  for the enemy character # 2  and the program component  93  for the enemy character # 3  are read in to the character control code area  22   d.    
     On the CD-ROM  10 , these pieces of information (graphic data, program codes, graphic codes, etc.) which are to be read out and stored in to the RAM  22  under the control of the main program are recorded in the configurations as shown in FIGS. 22,  23 . More specifically, the entire recording area on the CD-ROM  10  is divided into two program recording areas  10   a ,  10   c  and one animation data recording area  10   b  as shown in FIG.  22 . The animation data recording area  10   b  is equivalent to the recording area  100   a  in the CD-ROM  100  shown in FIG.  1 . Animation data recording area  10   b  is stored with movie data in the JPEG format or the MPEG format used at a time when the video game starts, and several movie data each used at a time when a specific event is occurred during an execution of a game, and the likes. 
     Whole of the program recording areas  10   a ,  10   c  is equivalent to whole of the recording area  100   b  and the recording area  100   c  in the CD-ROM  100 . In the program recording area  10   c  at the inner radius side on the CD-ROM  10 , the main program and the code table are recorded. In the program recording area  10   a  at the outer radius side, the various kinds of information (that is, the graphic data for the background image, the program components, and the likes) that are to be read in to the RAM  22  under the control of the main program are recorded. 
     In the program recording area  10   a , the plural program components are recorded consecutively. In this area where the program components are recorded (hereinafter, referred as to the component recording area) , the program components regarding the characters that may be displayed simultaneously are recorded in the proximity recording locations. For example, the above described player character  50  and the enemy characters  51  through  53  (the enemy characters # 1  through # 3 ) may be displayed simultaneously. Accordingly, the program components regarding these characters are, as schematically shown in FIG. 23, contiguonsly recorded in the component recording area  29  within the program recording area  10   a.    
     Further, the CD-ROM  10  contains the above mentioned various kinds of information (the program, data, codes) as one file. Therefore, the code table read out from the CD-ROM  10  and written into RAM  22  is used for reading out the respective information from the CD-ROM  10 . 
     Concretely, as schematically shown in FIG. 24, the code table  95  holds starting position information  96  of 4 bytes and size information  97  of 4 bytes for each of codes # 1  to #N. Here, N is a positive integer, and code #X (X is a integer, where 1≦X≦N) is a bulk of information, that is, the program component, the graphic data and the likes, which may be read singly. The starting position information  92  for the code #X indicates a starting position of the recording area where the code #X is recorded, and the size information  94  of the code #X indicates the size of the code #X. 
     The main program contains instructions for reading out codes from the CD-ROM  10 , each of which includes the code number X corresponding to the code #X. More specifically, the main program causes, at a time when a code of the code number X is to be read out from the CD-ROM  10  into RAM  22 , the control unit  21  to obtain the starting position information  92  and the size information  94  corresponding to the code number X from the code table  90 , and to read out the information which is recorded within an area from the position (sector) that is defined by the obtained starting position information  92 , of which size is defined by the obtained size information  94 , on the CD-ROM  10 . 
     Furthermore, the main program read into the program area  22   a  includes routines which cause the control unit  21  to operate as follows. 
     When updating the content of the RAM  22  in to the one shown in FIG. 9, namely, when the program component  90  and  92  are to be stored in the RAM  22 , the control unit  21  first instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output data stored in a series of contiguous storage locations which begins at the storage location of the program code  90  for the player character  50  and ends at the storage location of the graphic code  92  for the enemy character # 2  (see FIG.  23 ). More Specifically, as schematically shown in FIG. 25, the control unit  21  instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output the program components  90 ,  91 , and  92  by issuing a instruction including a start address of the program component  90  and the size information indicating the total size of these three program components  90 ,  91  and  92 . 
     Then, the control unit  21  stores the program component  90  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  into the memory area on the RAM  22 , which begins at the address “0015 0000H”. Thereafter, the control unit  21  discards the program components  91  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  after the program component  90 , without processing the data, and store the program component  92  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  after the program component  91  into the memory area on the RAM  22 , which begins at the address “0017 0000H”. 
     When updating the contents of the RAM  22  into the one shown in FIG. 12, the control unit  21  instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output data stored in a series of contiguous storage locations which begins at the storage location of the program code  90  for the player character, and ends at the storage location of the graphic code  93  for the enemy character # 3 . More specifically, the control unit  21  instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output four program components  90  trough  93  by issuing a instruction including a start address of the program component  90  and the size information indicating the total size of these program components  90  through  93 . Then, the control unit  21  stores the program component  90  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  into the RAM  22 . Thereafter, the control unit  21  discards the program components  91  and  92  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  after the program component  90 , and stores the program component  93  outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  after the program component  92  in the RAM  22 . 
     When updating the content of the RAM  22  into the one shown in FIG. 17 or FIG. 19, the control unit  21  also executes a similar procedure. More specifically, the control unit  21  instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output data which includes one or more unnecessary program components (that is, the program component  92  in FIG. 17 or the program component  91  in FIG. 9) along with plural necessary program components and which is stored at a series of contiguous storage locations on the CD-ROM  10 . Then, the control unit  21  stores only the necessary program components included in the output of the CD-ROM drive  27  into the RAM  22 . 
     When updating the content of the RAM  22  into the one shown in FIG. 5,  15  or  21 , namely, when starting a stage of video game which needs some program components record at a series of contiguous storage locations on the CD-ROM  10 , the control unit  21  instructs the CD-ROM drive  27  to output data which consists of the necessary program components, and then stores all the program components outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  into the RAM  22 . 
     As described in detail above, the CD-ROM  10  is configured such that plural program components are recorded in one recording area (that is, contiguous storage locations). And the main program recorded in the CD-ROM  10  includes plural routines each for executing a load process, which consists of a process making the CD-ROM drive  27  outputs several program components with one seek action and a process to store some of program component among the program components outputted from the CD-ROM drive  27  in the RAM  22 . Consequently, the information processing apparatus  20  set with this CD-ROM  10  operates without making the CD-ROM drive  27  to perform uselessly, and therefore the information processing apparatus  20  can operate at faster speed than the apparatus set with the CD-ROM  100  shown in FIG.  1 . 
     The CD-ROM  10  of the embodiment may be varied. For example, through the above mentioned CD-ROM  10  is such that the program components are recorded in the storage areas at the outer radius side on the disk, it is desirable to produce the CD-ROM such that the component recording area exists at the inner radius side on the disk when it is designed to be set in the CD-ROM drive in which an access to the data recorded at the inner radius side on the disk can be performed at fast speed. 
     It may be arranged such that the program codes and the graphic codes, which constitute the program component, are to be written into areas separated each other, rather than into consecutive areas on the RAM  22 . In other words, the storage area for use in the program codes and the storage area for use in the graphic codes may be prepared on the RAM  22 , separately. Further, the above mentioned technology may be applied to a recording medium other than the CD-ROM (for example, a DVD or a hard disk). 
     The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.